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 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 John McConnell 
 
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THE BATTLE 
 
 OF 
 
 GROTON HEIGHTS: 
 
 A COLLECTION OF NARRATIVES, OFFICIAL REPORTS, 
 RECORDS, ETC. 
 
 STORMING OF FORT GRISWOLD, 
 
 THE MASSACRE OF ITS GARRISON, AND THE BURNING OF NEW 
 
 LONDON BY BRITISH TROOPS UNDER THE COMMAND 
 
 OF BRIG.-GEN. BENEDICT ARNOLD, 
 
 ON THE SIXTH OF SEPTEMBER, 1781. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES. 
 
 \j^ 
 BY WILLIAM \V. HARRIS. 
 
 (I 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS AND MAPS. 
 
 REVISED AND ENLARGED, WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES, 
 
 BY CHARLES ALLYN. 
 
 "Zebulon and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places 
 
 of the field." Judges, 5 Chapt. iS Perse. 
 
 [Inscription on Monument.] 
 
 NEW LONDON, CT. : 
 
 CHARLES ALLYN. 
 1882. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by 
 
 WILLIAM W. HARRIS, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 Copyright, iSSi, 
 BY CHARLES ALLYN. 
 
 The Riverside Press, Cambridge : 
 Printed by H. O. Houghton and Company. 
 
 TFT 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PACE 
 
 PREFACE 6, 7 
 
 PREFATORY NOTE TO EDITION OF 1870 9 
 
 INTRODUCTION n 
 
 BURNING OF NEW LONDON, FROM CONNECTICUT GAZETTE, SEP 
 TEMBER 10, 1781 17 
 
 LIST OF KILLED, FROM CONNECTICUT GAZETTE, SEPTEMBER 21, 
 
 1781 22 
 
 LIST OF BUILDINGS BURNED, FROM CONNECTICUT GAZETTE, OC 
 TOBER 12, 1781 ... 24 
 
 NARRATIVE OF RUFUS AVERY 29 
 
 NARRATIVE OF STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD 47 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD ... 58 
 
 NARRATIVE OF JOHN HEMPSTED 61 
 
 NARRATIVE OF THOMAS HERTELL 70 
 
 EXPERIENCE OF JONATHAN BROOKS 74 
 
 NARRATIVE OF AVERY DOWNER, M. D 83 
 
 NARRATIVE OF MAJOR GEORGE MIDDLETON .... 89 
 
 BRITISH ACCOUNT OF BATTLE, FROM RIVINGTON S GAZETTE . 94 
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL ARNOLD S OFFICIAL REPORT ... 98 
 
 RETURN OF BRITISH KILLED AND WOUNDED .... 105 
 
 LIEUTENANT-COLONEL UPHAM TO GOVERNOR FRANKLIN . . 108 
 
 COURT-MAKTIAL OF MILITIA OFFICERS 113 
 
 FROM CONNECTICUT ARCHIVES 118 
 
 APPROPRIATIONS OF FIRE LANDS 147 
 
 021 
 
4 Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 GOVERNOR TRUMBULL S LETTER 162 
 
 FORT GRISWOLD 172 
 
 MONUMENTAL RECORDS 180 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES . 212 
 
 PERFECTED LIST OF KILLED 266 
 
 PERFECTED LIST OF WOUNDED AND PRISONERS .... 269 
 
 APPENDIX 275 
 
 SERMON BY REV. E. W. BACON 295 
 
 CENTENNIAL 300 
 
 Centennial Committee 303 
 
 Centennial Celebration . . 316 
 
 Poem by Mrs. Rose Terry Cooke ...... 325 
 
 Oration by General Joseph R. Hawley 334 
 
 Address by General Sherman 360 
 
 Address by John T. Wait, M. C 362 
 
 Poem by Rev. Leonard W. Bacon 366 
 
 Military Parade 370 
 
 Pyrotechnic Display . . . 372 
 
 Nathan Hale Memorial Day 373 
 
 Procession 373 
 
 Oration of Edward Everett Hale 375 
 
 Appendix B. 392 
 
 INDEX TO INDIVIDUAL NAMES 395 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 SKETCH OF NEW LONDON (Frontispiece). From Faden Collection. 
 
 OLD MILL, BUILT IN 1650 24 
 
 OLD WAREHOUSE ON BEACH STREET 27 
 
 HELIOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF A PORTION OF AVERY S NARRA 
 TIVE 44 
 
 PORTRAIT OF STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD 57 
 
 HELIOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF A PORTION OF JOHN HEMPSTED S 
 
 NARRATIVE 69 
 
 PORTRAIT OF BENEDICT ARNOLD 98 
 
 PLAN OF FORT GRISWOLD. From Faden Collection . . . 172 
 
 BATTLE MONUMENT 178 
 
 OLD FIRST BURYING GROUND, NEW LONDON . . . .181 
 
 LEDYARD MONUMENT 186 
 
 TOMBSTONE CUTS 187 
 
 PORTRAIT OF PHILIP TURNER, M. D 216 
 
 PORTRAIT OF CHARLES ELDREDGE, JK. .... 242 
 
 HELIOTYPE OF OLD AVERY HOUSE 256 
 
 UNION SCHOOL-HOUSE 378 
 
IN the History of Connecticut, written by " A gentleman of the prov 
 ince" (Rev. Samuel A. Peters), and printed in 1781, are many things 
 which show that this Colony was filled very early with revolutionary sen 
 timents, and became an object of extreme hostility among the British. 
 He says that Governor Trumbull wrote a letter April 28, 1775, to General 
 Gage, at Boston, from which he quotes as follows : " But at the same 
 time, we beg leave to assure your Excellency that, as they [the people of 
 this Colony] apprehend themselves justified by the principles of self-de 
 fence, so they are most firmly resolved to defend their rights and privi 
 leges to the last extremity ; nor will they be restrained from giving aid to 
 their brethren, if any unjustifiable attack is made upon them." He adds, 
 of the Colony : " They had commissioned Motte and Phelps to draft men 
 from the militia . . . for a secret expedition which proved to be against 
 Ticonderoga and Crown Point ; and the treasurer of the Colony, by order 
 of the Governor and Council, had paid .1,500 to bear their expenses." 
 After these remarks he adds : " Thus did Connecticut, from its hot-bed 
 of fanaticism and sedition, produce the first indubitable overt act of high 
 treason in the present rebellion, by actually levying war, and taking, vi 
 et armis, the King s forts and stores ; AND, MOST PROBABLY ITS OBSTI 
 NACY WILL RENDER THIS THE LAST OF ALL THE REVOLTED STATES TO 
 ACKNOWLEDGE THE SUPREMACY OF PARLIAMENT." 
 
 Though Peters has not been accepted as good historical authority, this 
 shows such a knowledge of the spirit of the people that the account of 
 Ihis fight against almost hopeless odds seems but the fulfilment of his 
 prophecy. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 A will be seen by the dates, these different narratives were 
 called forth by the interest freshly awakened in this event by the 
 laying of the corner-stone, building, and dedication of the Groton 
 Heights Monument. It is to be regretted that more thorough meas 
 ures were not taken at that time to preserve for future generations 
 more of the instances of self-sacrifice and heroic devotion to duty 
 on the 6th of September, 1781. Many of these are now forever 
 lost to the world. 
 
 The interest again awakened by the approaching centennial seems 
 to call for an effort to supply as far as possible the omission of the 
 past by a gathering together of all the facts now obtainable, relating 
 to the old Fort Griswold and its defenders, both those who were so 
 fortunate (since all must die) as to give up life in so glorious a cause 
 and in so eminent a position, and these who, equally accepting the 
 risks of battle and doing their utmost in defence of home and 
 country, were more fortunate in living to enjoy the fruits of their 
 labors, in the freedom and prosperity of the nation. I have here 
 endeavored to embalm the names of all who were willing to risk 
 their lives on that 6th of September in defence of their country by 
 resisting the attack on New London and Groton. 
 
 The names of only a part of the wounded or killed have ever 
 before appeared in any printed list, while no effort has been made 
 to give the names of those carried away prisoners. These omis 
 sions I have endeavored to supply, and in this effort I have been 
 greatly aided by the now prevalent interest so deeply awakened in 
 the minds of the inhabitants of the county, and particularly among 
 .he descendants of the heroic dead. I have also been assisted in 
 my work by the collections of the New London County Historical 
 Society, the Connecticut and New York Historical Societies, the 
 custodians of ihc Archives of our State, and the Commissioner of 
 
8 Preface. 
 
 Pensions at Washington. The cordial good-will of many of our 
 citizens has brought me family traditions, old letters and papers, 
 beside calling my attention to other treasures which I could exam 
 ine. I have been almost universally kindly received, welcomed, 
 and heartily encouraged. The narrative of Thomas Hertell has 
 never been in print before ; the manuscript was given to me, but the 
 gentleman who knew about him is dead, and I can get no informa 
 tion of who he was, but have no doubt he was of the family to 
 whom "John Kartell " belonged, whose workshop on Main Street 
 was among those burned by the enemy. Several persons of the 
 name of Hertell are buried in the old burying ground. The nar 
 rative of Major George Middleton, first gathered from a local news 
 paper, was kindly furnished by his kinsman, Rev. John C. Middle- 
 ton, now rector of St. Paul s, Glen Cove, N. Y. The publication 
 of this work in 1870, by W. W. Harris, was the first attempt to give 
 a complete and perfect account of this battle, and of the destruc 
 tion of our town, and is the basis of the present work, which con 
 tains more than twice the matter of the old edition. The criticism 
 which every new book receives may serve to bring to light incidents 
 and family traditions that have escaped me. 
 
 Let not the worthy deeds of our ancestors pass out of mind. 
 
 A. 
 
 NEW LONDON, July, 1881. 
 
PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 TO EDITION OF 1870. 
 
 THE actors in the bloody scene at Groton and New London, on 
 the 6th of September, 1781, have long since been gathered to then 
 fathers, and those who with boyish awe heard its vivid recollections 
 from their lips are becoming aged and fast following them. A fear 
 that, as with each year the event receded into the past, the details 
 would become more dim, until all that remained of its features 
 would be the outlines in the nation s history, led to the attempt, as 
 far as possible, of gathering all information upon the subject with 
 a view to its preservation. 
 
 It is true that valuable and interesting accounts of this event have 
 been given to the public, but, with the exception of Rathbun s edi 
 tion of Hempstead s and Avery s Narratives (published in 1840 and 
 now virtually out of print), they are embodied in large and expen 
 sive volumes of extraneous history, which by many would be thought 
 too costly. A farther reason for publishing this work was, that all 
 histories before published are but partial ; extracts from reports 
 and narratives are given, but a full and complete collection of all 
 papers bearing upon the subject has never been made. 
 
 The writer felt that its importance in history, particularly in that 
 of his own town and State, warranted a full account in a volume 
 especially devoted to the purpose ; a conviction strengthened by 
 expressions of approval from friends in whose opinions he has great 
 confidence. The plan of publication has been to present the reader 
 with the contemporaneous accounts as given by each side in order 
 to allow him to draw his own conclusions regarding the event. To 
 carry out this plan fully it is necessary to publish what it is feared 
 will, to some, appear dry, uninteresting details, yet which are indis 
 pensable to a complete work ; for example, the reports of the Court 
 Martial and the Memorial from citizens of New London to the 
 
io Prefatory Note. 
 
 Governor and Council of Safety, which, although they add no new 
 facts of interest to the action proper, throw much light upon the 
 actual condition of New London for defence at that time, and re 
 lieve the reputation of an officer from an unjust imputation which 
 has, from public ignorance in the matter, clouded it to the present 
 day. 
 
 The narrative of the late Jonathan Brooks, and especially that of 
 the quaint John Hempstecl, showing the serio-comic side of the 
 tragedy, will, in their amusing truthfulness, it is thought, more than 
 compensate for the barrenness and dry detail inseparable from of 
 ficial reports. 
 
 These narratives, as also that of Dr. Downer, have never before 
 been published. In all of them the peculiar orthography of the 
 authors has been scrupulously preserved, as an attempt to change 
 to our modern style might, in some cases, also alter the sense from 
 that intended. In the preparation of the notes in the text great 
 care has been taken to make no statement as positive in which there 
 is the least shade of doubt ; when made by extract the authority is 
 given ; and when suggested by probabilities it is so expressed. 
 
 H. 
 
 NEW LONDON, July, 1870. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IN the latter part of the summer of 1781 Sir Henry 
 Clinton, commander-in-chief of the British forces 
 in North America, became apprised, by intercepted 
 letters, 1 written by Washington, of a meditated attack 
 upon New York by the allied French and American 
 forces. Acting on this information, he called to his 
 aid a considerable portion of the " Army of the South," 
 under Cormvallis. 
 
 On this fact becoming known to Washington, he im 
 mediately reversed his entire plan of proposed opera 
 tion, and determined to fall upon Cornwallis with an 
 overwhelming force before Sir Henry Clinton should 
 
 1 To what extent Washington was surprised and annoyed by the capt 
 ure of these letters may be judged by the extract given below, taken from 
 his letter of July, 1788, to Hon. Noah Webster, now in possession of Gor 
 don L. Ford, Esq., of Brooklyn, N. Y., from which he has permitted me 
 to copy : 
 
 ..." I only add that it never was in contemplation to attack New 
 York unless the garrison should first have been so far degarnished to 
 carry on the southern operations as to render our success in the siege of 
 that place as infallible as any future military event can ever be made. 
 . . . That much trouble was taken and finesse used to misguide and be 
 wilder Sir Henry Clinton in regard to the real object, by fictitious com 
 munications, as well as by making a deceptive provision of Ovens, Forage 
 & Boats in his neighborhood, is certain. Nor were less pains taken to 
 deceive our own Army ; for I had always conceived, when the imposition 
 did not completely take place at home, it could never sufficiently succeed 
 abroad." , 
 
1 2 Introduction. 
 
 be able to amend his mistake by reinforcing the Earl. 
 Washington gladly adopted a movement in which the 
 prospects were good of retrieving the fortunes of the 
 American arms in the South, which, under command 
 of General Greene, had, except in two or three unim 
 portant skirmishes, been disastrous during the cam 
 paign of that year. 
 
 To completely distract the attention of Sir Henry 
 from his true design, Washington, while vigorously 
 perfecting his plans of organization, preserved a formi 
 dable appearance of design against New York. Count 
 de Grasse, who had recently arrived from France with 
 a powerful naval force, was ordered to the Chesapeake, 
 to act in conjunction with an allied army which had 
 quietly been withdrawn from the North and despatched 
 to that point. So discreetly and with so much se 
 crecy was this important movement conducted that 
 Sir Henry was not aware of it until too late to pre 
 vent, by reinforcements, its probable disastrous conse 
 quences upon his lieutenant. 
 
 On acquaintance with the fact, and realizing the im 
 possibility of strengthening Cornwallis in time, he re 
 solved, as a last resort, to send an expedition against a 
 Northern port still in possession of the Americans. 
 
 By this measure he hoped to induce Washington to 
 recall either the whole or a great part of his expedition 
 in order to protect the threatened point. A strong 
 American army of observation still menaced New 
 York, and he therefore could not prudently withdraw 
 from its defence a sufficient force to make the attempt 
 on a distant or strongly fortified point; yet at the same 
 time it was necessary that the point attacked and the 
 apparent consequence of its fall should be of sufficient 
 importance to divert Washington from his descent on 
 Cornwallis. 
 
Introduction. 1 3 
 
 New London, above all others, appeared the proper 
 point. Its deep and capacious harbor, in the event of 
 a permanent lodgment, would be unequalled as a sta 
 tion and rendezvous for the immense naval force ex 
 pected from England in the following spring. It was 
 within a few hours sail of New York, and in case the 
 attack upon it should be unsuccessful the retreat would 
 be open and safe. From its port swarmed the dreaded 
 privateers, which, while by their captures they furnished 
 the rebels with stores and munitions with which to 
 continue the war, at the same time cut off the supplies 
 and weakened the royal armies powers of offence. By 
 the capture of the harbor their great rendezvous would 
 be broken up. Beside these very strong reasons were 
 others no less important. Should its reduction be fol 
 lowed by permanent occupation it would open a most 
 favorable route for the invasion of Central New Eng 
 land, for a large portion of which it was the natural 
 port. In addition to all other incentives for its attack 
 was the rich prospect of immediate plunder. At this 
 time the accumulation of captured military and other 
 stores here was immense, the cargo of the merchant 
 ship Hannah alone being valued at four hundred thou 
 sand dollars. The fortifications were comparatively 
 small and inefficiently garrisoned. The regular garri 
 sons consisted nominally of one company of artillery 
 and one of infantry in each, Fort Trumbull on the 
 west or New London side, and Fort Griswold on the 
 opposite or Groton side, of the river. A small battery 
 on Town Hill, known as Fort Nonsense, was manned 
 by detachments from Trumbull. Captain Adam Shap- 
 ley commanded the artillery, and was senior officer of 
 the latter fort. William Latham was captain of artil 
 lery, and Oliver Coit of infantry, at Fort Griswold. 
 
14 Introduction. 
 
 Colonel William Ledyard commanded the military dis 
 trict, comprising the towns of New London and Gro- 
 ton, the harbor and its defences. 
 
 At this time the garrisons, which were very seldom, 
 if ever, full, were especially depleted ; most of the men 
 who were capable of bearing arms were either in the 
 armies operating in the field, or, as was more generally 
 the case, were, by the force of habit and the associ 
 ations of a people peculiarly maritime, drawn into 
 either the public or private naval service. 1 
 
 All these advantages for attack being offered by 
 New London, Sir Henry Clinton decided to equip 
 a force with all possible despatch for its reduction. 
 Arnold had just returned from a predatory incursion 
 on the Southern coasts, and his success on that, no less 
 than his peculiar fitness for this expedition to the 
 neighborhood of his early home, induced the command- 
 er-in-chief to intrust its conduct to him. There is no 
 doubt that the intention of the enemy was to enter the 
 harbor at night, and in the surprise seize the shipping 
 and forts, make the garrisons prisoners, and, after 
 making themselves masters of the town, load their 
 transports with the rich plunder, and despatch them 
 with the captured vessels to New York. 
 
 All this the enemy reasonably supposed could be ac 
 complished, the sloops-of-war brought before the town 
 
 1 In the State archives at Hartford is a petition to the Legislature of 
 1787, by Amos Prentice, Peter Avery, and Robert Allyn, selectmen of the 
 town of Groton, asking remission of a fine of fx> for being four men 
 short on the town s quota of 1781 : for the reason it was not possible to 
 enlist them before September 6, so many being already in service, on the 
 seas and in the sea-coast defence, and " on said day about 70 men were 
 killed and many wounded and carried away prisoners." 
 
 There was "allowed only such remission of the fine as would come out 
 of sufferers who have had taxes abated." 
 
Introduction. 1 5 
 
 and the forts garrisoned by British soldiers before the 
 alarm could be given by the inhabitants. When once 
 in possession, the holding of the forts and town by 
 these disciplined troops, with their facilities for commu 
 nicating with New York, against the untrained militia, 
 would be a matter of comparative ease. In case the 
 capture did not recall Washington, a safe base from 
 which to make an invasion of New England would be 
 secured. On the afternoon of Sept. 4th the fleet of 
 transports and sloops-of-war, under command of Cap 
 tain Beazley in the Amphion, weighed anchor, and 
 under easy sail proceeded with a fair wind down the 
 Sound toward its objective point. On the following 
 day, the 5th, at two P. M., it came to anchor under Long 
 Island shore, directly across from and within about 
 thirty miles of New London. The reason of this de 
 lay was to avoid appearing off New London before 
 darkness should cover their approach. Thus far all 
 had apparently tended to the enemy s advantage, but 
 now they miscalculated on the continuance of the 
 wind in their favor. Along the New England coast, 
 during the summer and early autumn, with a regu 
 larity almost unbroken, except by storms, the wind, 
 soon after twelve o clock, M., commences to blow from 
 the south and west, gradually decreasing in force, until 
 at about three o clock in the morning, when, after a 
 short period of rest (like the turning of the tide), it 
 begins to blow from the north and west, in which di 
 rection it continues until at not far from eleven A. M., 
 when it is succeeded by a calm, followed by a south 
 erly breeze. 
 
 The British officers calculated on this south wind 
 continuing as usual, and by availing themselves of it, 
 expected to arrive off the town at from about mid- 
 
1 6 Introduction. 
 
 night to an hour later. They accordingly weighed 
 anchor at seven P. M., not doubting that the five or six 
 miles an hour required to reach New London by the 
 appointed time would be easily accomplished. In this 
 they were disappointed. The south wind died away, 
 and was succeeded by that from the north nearly two 
 hours earlier than usual ; so that by beating, the fleet 
 was just able to arrive at the mouth of the harbor at 
 nine o clock in the morning, some four or five hours 
 after it had been observed from the forts, and its ap 
 proach heralded to the startled country by the alarm 
 guns. As soon as the hostile intentions of the enemy 
 were manifest, Colonel Ledyard repaired to New Lon 
 don, and despatched expresses to Governor Trumbull 
 at Lebanon and the various militia commanders in the 
 neighboring towns, apprising them of his danger, and 
 soliciting aid in making a stand in defence of their 
 homes and the honor of their country. He then re- 
 crossed the river to Fort Griswold, and prepared, so 
 far as his limited means would allow, to meet the storm 
 which he saw was inevitable. . . . We have now ar 
 rived at the point in the history of that eventful day at 
 which begins the graphic description of its bloody 
 scenes by participants. As it is no part of the plan of 
 this work to give a new version of the battle, but 
 rather to preserve the old, these introductory remarks 
 properly close here, and give place to the story as re 
 lated by eye-witnesses and their contemporaries. 
 
AN ACCOUNT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BURNING OF NEW LONDON, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 6TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1781. 
 From the Connecticut Gazette of Friday, September ?th. 1 
 
 AT about day-break on Thursday morning last, 
 twenty-four sail of the enemy s shipping ap 
 peared to the westward of this harbor, which by many 
 were supposed to be a plundering party after stock. 
 
 Alarm guns were immediately fired, but the dis 
 charge of cannon in the harbor has become so fre 
 quent of late that they answered little or no purpose. 2 
 
 1 The date of this paper on the title-page is 7th, but this account be 
 gins near the end of column I, page 3, under date " loth." " We had 
 prepared our paper thus far for publication when," etc., as above. 
 
 2 During the war the privateers which swarmed from New London 
 were in the habit of announcing their successes on their return to port 
 by firing salutes from their guns. Colonel Samuel McCIellan, of Wood 
 stock (great-grandfather of General G. B. McCIellan), who, after the death 
 of Colonel Ledyard, assumed command of New London harbor and its 
 defences, soon after the battle forbade the firing of guns in the harbor, 
 except in hostilities with the enemy, by the following order : 
 
 " Whereas the promiscuous firing of Cannon confuses the proper Sig 
 nals and hath repeatedly alarmed the Country : The Commanders of 
 Privateers and other armed Vessels are hereby requested to discontinue 
 the Practice, and on no Pretence to fire a Cannon while riding in the Har 
 bour of New London. SAMUEL M CLELLAN, 
 
 " Colonel Commandant. 
 
 "NEW LONDON, Octo. i8th, 1781." 
 
 2 
 
1 8 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 The defenceless state of the fortifications and town 
 are obvious to our readers. A few of the inhabitants 
 who were equipped advanced toward the place where 
 the enemy were tho t likely to make their landing, and 
 manoeuvred on the heights adjacent, until the enemy, 
 about 9 o clk, landed in two divisions of about 800 
 men each, one of them at Brown s farm near the light 
 house, the other at Groton point. The division that 
 landed near the light-house marched up the road, 
 keeping out large flanking parties, who were attacked 
 in different places on their march by the inhabitants 
 who had spirit and resolution to oppose their prog 
 ress ; the main body of the enemy proceeded to the 
 town and set fire to the stores on the beach, 1 and im 
 mediately after to the dwelling-houses lying on the 
 Mill Cove. The scattered fire of our little parties 
 unsupported by our neighbours more distant galled 
 them, so that they soon began to retire, setting fire to 
 stores and dwelling-houses promiscuously in their 
 way ; the fire from the stores communicated to the 
 shipping that lay at the wharfs, and a number were 
 burnt; others swung to single fasts and remained un- 
 burnt. At 4 o clk they began to quit the town with 
 great precipitation, and were pursued by our brave 
 citizens with the spirit of veterans and drove on board 
 their boats. Five of the enemy were killed and about 
 20 wounded. Among the latter is a Hessian captain, 
 who is a prisoner, as are seven others. We lost four 
 killed and ten or twelve wounded none mortal. 
 The most valuable part of the town is reduced to 
 ashes, and all the stores. Fort Trumbull not being 
 
 1 What was then known as "the beach " is now Water Street. It at 
 that time was the business part of the town. On it were the public 
 and large private store-houses. 
 
Burning of New London. 19 
 
 tenable on the land side, was evacuated as the enemy 
 advanced, and the few men in it crossed the river to 
 Fort Griswold, on Groton Hill, which was soon after 
 invested by the division that landed on the point. 
 The fort having in it only 120 men, chiefly militia, 
 hastily collected, who defended it with the greatest 
 resolution and bravery, and once repulsed the enemy, 
 but the fort being out of repair could not be defended 
 by such a handful of men, th brave and determined, 
 against so superior a number, they did ALL that men of 
 spirit and bravery in such a situation could do; but 
 after having a number of their party killed and 
 wounded they found that further resistance would be 
 in vain, and resigned the fort. Immediately on their 
 surrendery the valient Colonel Ledyard, whose fate in 
 a particular manner is much lamented, and 70 other 
 officers and men, were murdered, most of them heads 
 of families. The enemy lost a Major Montgomery and 
 forty-one officers and men in the attack, who were 
 found near the fort ; their wounded were carried off. 
 Soon after the enemy got possession of the fort they 
 set fire to and burnt a number of dwelling-houses and 
 stores on Groton bank, and embarked about sunset, 
 taking with them sundry of the inhabitants of New 
 London and Groton. A Colonel Ayres, 1 who com 
 manded the division, was wounded, and it is said died 
 on board the fleet the night they embarked. 
 
 About 15 sail of vessels with effects of the inhab 
 itants retreated up the river on the approach of the 
 enemy, and were saved, and four others remained in 
 the harbour unhurt. The troops were commanded by 
 that infamous traitor to his country, Benedict Arnold, 
 
 Eyre. 
 
2O Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 who headed the division which preceded to the town. 
 By this calamity it is judged that more than one hun 
 dred families are deprived of their habitations, and 
 most of them their ALL. This neighborhood feel 
 sensibly the loss of many deserving citizens, and, th 
 deceased, can 5 but be highly indebted to them for 
 their spirit and bravery in their exertions and manly 
 opposition to the merciless enemies of our country in 
 their last moments. 
 
 From the same Paper of September i^fA, 1781. 
 
 The following savage action, committed by the 
 troops who subdued Fort Griswold on Groton hill, on 
 Thursday last, ought to be recorded to their eternal 
 infamy : 
 
 Soon after the surrendery of the fort they loaded a 
 wagon with our wounded men, by orders of their offi 
 cers, 1 and set the wagon off from the top of the hill, 
 which is long and very steep ; the wagon went a con 
 siderable distance with great force, till it was suddenly 
 stopped by a tree ; the shock was so great to those 
 faint and bleeding men that part of them died in 
 stantly ; the officers ordered their men to fire on the 
 wagon while it was running. 2 
 
 1 This order for the removal of the wounded was no doubt given by 
 the officers with the best intentions, since their orders were to burn the 
 barracks and blow up the magazine (see Arnold s report to Clinton), a 
 course naturally involving the death of every one in the fort when the fire 
 and explosion should come. This order for removal was carried out by 
 the soldiery with a most villainous disregard of the comfort of the 
 wounded, throwing them on top of each other like logs. 
 
 Mr. Andrew Gallup, wounded in the hip, and who died in Ledyard 
 (Groton), March i6th, 1853, in speaking of the battle, said to a well-known 
 citizen : " 1 had the honor to ride down-hill in that wagon. Some of them 
 meant well enough, and chained the wheel ; but the chain broke, so they 
 .et us go." 
 
 2 This is the only mention of this circumstance I have been able to 
 
Burning of New London. 2 1 
 
 From the same Paper of September list, 1781. 
 
 Arnold s burning fleet, after leaving this harbour, 
 plundered great part of the inhabitants on Long 
 Island ; 400 of them landed at Southold, and plun 
 dered and carried off to the value of ,3,000. 
 
 Monday se n night a flag sailed from hence with five 
 of Arnold s burning party that were taken prisoners 
 here; the flag overtook the fleet at Whitestone, and 
 returned here last Sunday with five .lads that were 
 taken at Fort Griswold. 
 
 Since our last 7 or 8 dead bodies of officers and sol 
 diers have drove ashore on the Great Neck, and 3 
 others on Groton shore which were thrown out of 
 Arnold s burning fleet. Our advices from New York 
 are that the enemy lost- 2 20 men, killed and dead of 
 their wounds, in their attack on Groton Fort and this 
 place, besides about 70 deserters. 
 
 The following is the most accurate list J we have 
 been able to collect of the names of the brave and 
 worthy citizens who were murdered at Fort Griswold, 
 Sept. 6, 1781, including those who have since died of 
 their wounds. 
 
 The whole number of killed and those since died 
 of their wounds is said to be 82. Should we be able 
 to collect the names of the others, they shall be pub 
 lished. 
 
 find. It seems unaccountable that Avery, Hempstead, and the rest of 
 the eye-witnesses should have overlooked, or forgotten to mention, so 
 atrocious an action, if true; yet it is singular that so careful an editor 
 as Timothy Green gave circulation to a statement so wide of the facts. 
 
 1 This list gives but 79 names, unless we count Captain Ellis and Henry 
 Halsey two, who is generally called Captain Elias Henry Halsey. 
 
22 
 
 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 BELONGING TO GROTON. 
 
 Lieut-Col. William Ledyard, Mess. Luke Perkins, 
 
 Mess. Elijah Avery, 
 John Williams, 
 Simeon Allen, 
 Samuel Allen, 
 Amos Stanton, 
 Hubbart Burrows, 
 Nathan Moor, 
 Youngs Ledyard, 
 Joseph Lewis, 
 Henry Williams, 
 Ebenezer Avery, 
 John Lester, 
 John Stedman, 
 Daniel Avery, 
 David Avery, Esq., 
 Daniel Chester, 
 Solomon Avery, 
 Jasper Avery, 
 Elisha Avery, 
 Thomas Avery, 
 David Palmer, 
 Sylvester Walworth, 
 Philip Covil, 
 Ezekiel Bailey, 
 Jeremiah Chester, 
 David Seabury, 
 Henry Woodbridge, 
 Christopher Woodbridge, 
 Elnathan Perkins, 
 
 Luke Perkins, Jun., 
 Elisha Perkins, 
 Asa Perkins, 
 Simeon Perkins, 
 John Brown, 
 John P. Babcock, 
 Nathaniel Adams, 
 Barney Kinne, 
 Samuel Hill, 
 Nathan Sholes, 
 Joseph Moxley, 
 Thomas Starr, Jun., 
 Nicholas Starr, 
 Moses Jones, 
 Rufus Hurlbut, 
 Belton Allen, 
 Benadam Allen, 
 Andrew Billings, 
 Simeon Morgan, 
 Patrick Ward, 
 Christopher Avery, 
 Jonas Lester, 
 Edward Mills, 
 Wait Lester, 
 Thomas Miner, 
 Andrew Baker, 
 Solomon Tift, 
 Josiah Wigger. 
 
Burning of New London. 23 
 
 BELONGING TO NEW LONDON. 
 
 Mess. Peter Richards, Mess. Stephen Whittelsey, 
 
 James Comstock, Eliaday Jones, 
 
 Richard Chapman, Jonathan Butler, 
 
 John Holt, Wm. Comstock, of 
 Samuel Billings, Fort Trumbull, 
 
 John Clark, Daniel Williams, 
 
 John Whittelsey, William Bolton. 
 
 BELONGING TO STONINGTON. 
 
 Mess. Enoch Stanton, Daniel Stanton. 
 
 Thomas Williams, 
 
 BELONGING TO PRESTON. BELONGING TO LONG ISLAND. 
 
 Mr. John Billings. Capt. Ellis, 
 
 Henry Halsey. 
 
 NEGROES. 
 
 Lambo Latham, Jordan Freeman. 
 
 By the best information we can get there were 6 
 of the above killed and 20 wounded, previous to the 
 enemy s gaining possession of the Fort. 
 
 The number of the enemy found buried in Groton 
 amounts to 61. 
 
 From Connecticut Gazette of October izth. 
 The following is a list of dwelling-houses, stores, 
 &c., in New London which were set on fire by the 
 enemy and consumed. The names of the owner or 
 occupant are indiscriminately mentioned in this list. 
 
Battle of Groton Heigkts. 
 
 Old mill built in 1650 on the Governor Winlhrop estate, still in use, standing near 
 Main Street, at the head of " Mill " or " Winthrop Cove," and now owned 
 by Charles A. Lewis. 
 
 North end of the town, and Main Street, 
 
 Picket Latimer s house and barn . 
 
 Widow Plumbe s house and barn 
 
 Henry Latimer s (late) house 
 
 Late Deacon Green s house and shop 
 
 Christopher Prince s house .... 
 
 James Pitman s house ..... 
 
 Daniel Byrne s house ..... 
 
 Roswell Saltonstall s house and cooper s shop 
 
 Joseph Hurlbut s house and cooper s shop . 
 
 Widow Rogers s house 
 
 Henry Deshon s house 
 
 Gen. Saltonstall s house, 2 stores, shop and barn 
 
 No. of Families 
 I 
 2 
 I 
 
 4 
 I 
 I 
 I 
 
 I 
 I 
 I 
 
 I 
 I 
 
Burning of New London. 25 
 
 Store improved by Owen Neil for a house . . i 
 Late Duncan Stewart s house .... 2 
 
 Heirs of Peter Harris, i store and one barn. 
 
 Joseph Packwood s store. 
 
 Roger Gibson s house ...... 2 
 
 Samuel and Richard Latimer s house . 2 
 
 Ichabod Powers s house ..... 2 
 
 Peter Latimer s house and cooper s shop . . 4 
 
 Widow Shapley s house . . . . . . i 
 
 Guy Richards & Son, 3 stores and slaughter house. 
 John Kartell s work-shop. 
 
 On Beach Street} 
 
 Widow Elliot s house and barn .... 2 
 Edward Hallam & Co., 3 stores and barn. 
 David Mumford s store. 
 Roswell Saltonstall s distill house, and store. 
 
 do do opposite thereto i store and 
 
 a cooper s shop improv d as a house . . i 
 
 Store improv d by John Springer s family . i 
 
 Thomas Wilson s store. 
 Shoe-maker s shop. 
 Nathaniel Shaw s two stores. 
 Joseph Packwood s store. 
 
 John Deshon s house and two stores I 
 
 Widow Skinner s house ..... i 
 
 Elijah Richards s house ..... i 
 Widow Potter s house ..... 2 
 
 Barsheba Smith s house . . . . . i 
 Court house, church, jail, jail-house, watch-house 
 
 and barber s shop ...... 2 
 
 1 When the enemy, passing down Main Street, came to Hallam Street, 
 through which they entered Water Street, Arnold is said to have ex 
 claimed, pointing with his sword in the direction of the street with its 
 rich stores, " Soldiers, do your duty ! " 
 
26 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 On the Bank. 1 
 
 Samuel Belden s store. 
 
 do do do on the wharf improv d by a 
 
 family ....... I 
 
 Widow Hancock s two houses . 2 
 Shop improv d by Thomas Gardiner. 
 
 John Erving s house, one store and barn . . i 
 
 Jonathan Douglass s house and cooper s shop . i 
 
 Daniel Deshon s house ..... 3 
 
 Widow Leete s house ...... i 
 
 Charles Chadwick s house and empty store . i 
 John Champlin s shop. 
 
 James Thomson s house and barn ... 2 
 
 Samuel Belden s house and barn . . . . i 
 
 John M Curdy s house, 2 stores, and barn . i 
 
 Widow M Neil s house, and shop opposite . . i 
 
 Richard Potter s house and store ... i 
 
 Widow Bulkley s two houses .... 4 
 
 Widow Fosdick s house and barn ... i 
 Jonathan Starr s work-shop. 
 
 Jere. Miller s house, store, and barn i 
 
 Joshua Starr s house and work-shop . . 2 
 
 do do do and barn . . . . i 
 
 Titus Hurlbut s 2 houses, 2 shops, and barn . 5 
 
 James Tilley s house, rope-walk, and barn . . i 
 
 Doct. Wolcott s house and barn ... i 
 
 Jacob Fink s house and slaughter house . . i 
 
 John Way s house and cooper shop ... i 
 
 Russel Hubbard s house, store, and barn . . 3 
 
 James Lamphear s house ..... 2 
 
 Widow Short s house . ... 4 
 
 Andrew Palmes s house . ... 2 
 
 1 Now known as Bank Street. 
 
Burning of New London. 27 
 
 Nathan Douglas s house, tan-house, and barn . i 
 
 Jere. Miller s house improved by W. Constant . i 
 
 Joseph Coit s house and two barns i 
 do do on the wharf, one house and two 
 
 stores ....... i 
 
 Nath l Shaw s house, shop, and two stores . 3 
 
 At the head of Long Bridge Cone. 1 
 
 Deshon & Christopher s house and tan-house . i 
 A house on Hog Neck 2 ..... i 
 
 Total, 65 houses containing 97 families, 31 stores, 18 
 shops, 20 barns, 9 public and other buildings, besides 
 a variety of other small buildings of different kinds not 
 here enumerated. 
 Total of buildings here enumerated . . . 143 
 
 Old warehouses on Beach Street, or " The Beach," now Water Street. One of these escaped the 
 fire, and the other was built to replace those burned, and is in the style of thattim*. 
 
 1 Now Truman, Blinman, and Coit Streets. 
 
 2 Howard Street. 
 
28 
 
 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 There were burnt at Groton at the same time i 
 school-house, 4 barns, 2 shops, 2 stores, and 1 2 dwell 
 ing-houses. 
 
 NAMES OF THE OWNERS OF HOUSES BURNED. 
 From a list in the papers of Colonel Benadam Gallup. 
 
 " HOUSES BURNT." 
 
 Elihu Avery, 
 Benjamin Chester, 
 Elijah Avery, 
 Esqr. Ledyard, 1 
 Youngs Ledyard, 
 Jason Chester, 
 Captn. Leeds, 2 
 
 Captn. More, 8 
 John Chester, 
 Micha Jefford, 
 Edward Jeffors, 
 Doctor Prentis, 4 
 Esqr. Mumford, 6 
 Ensn. Eldridge. 6 
 
 1 Ebenezer Ledyard. 
 
 2 William Leeds. 
 
 * Frederick Moore. 
 
 4 Amos Prentice. 
 6 Thomas Mumford. 
 8 Charles Eldridge, Jr. 
 
RUFUS AVERY S NARRATIVE. 
 
 From his Original Manuscript. 1 
 
 AS I belonged to the garrison at Fort Griswold 
 when Benedict Arnold s army came to New Lon 
 don and Groton, on the sixth of September, 1781, and 
 made their attack on both places, I had every oppor 
 tunity to know all the movements through the day 
 and time of the battle. I am requested to give a par 
 ticular account of the conduct of the enemy. I had 
 charge of the garrison the night before the enemy ap 
 peared anywhere near us, or were expected by any one 
 at that time to trouble us. But about three o clock 
 in the morning, as soon as I had daylight so as to see 
 the fleet, it appeared a short distance below the light 
 house. The fleet consisted of thirty-two vessels in 
 
 1 A publication purporting to be this narrative has been twice printed: 
 first, by one Rathbun, in 1840, who had the effrontery to put at the head 
 of it, " In his own words, 1 while in the story were many changes and ad 
 ditions (amounting to pages in his pamphlet), in places converting the 
 simple English of Mr. Avery into bombastic nonsense ; Mr. Harris, ac 
 cepting the " In his own words " as a sufficient guarantee of genuine 
 ness, copied it entire in 1870. 
 
 I had the good fortune to have a friend remark that he " had read 
 the original, and thought it had been fixed up some," but was not quite 
 sure, as it was " some years ago." I at once got the original manuscript, 
 by the kindness of its owner, and read it with the printed copy, and now, 
 for the first time, is the original manuscript given in print. I have taken 
 the liberty of using the present popular spelling, rather than the some 
 what " phonetic " manner of the writer, perhaps to be made popular by 
 spelling-reform advocates." A. 
 
30 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 number, ships, brigs, schooners, and sloops. I im 
 mediately sent word to Captain William Latham, who 
 commanded the said fort, and who was not far distant. 
 He very soon came to the fort, and saw the enemy s 
 fleet, and immediately sent a notice to Col. William 
 Ledyard, who was commander of the harbor, Fort 
 Griswold, and Fort Trumbull. He soon arrived at 
 the garrison, saw the fleet, then ordered two large 
 guns to be loaded with heavy charges of good pow 
 der, &c. Captain William Latham took charge of 
 one gun that was discharged at the northeast part of 
 the fort, and I took charge of the gun on the west 
 side of the fort, so as to give a " larum " to the coun 
 try in the best manner that it could be done. We 
 discharged then regular " larums." Two guns was the 
 regular " larum," but the enemy understood that, and 
 they discharged a third gun similar to ours and timed 
 it alike, which broke our alarm, which discouraged 
 our troops coming to our assistance. Col. William 
 Ledyard immediately sent out two expresses, one from 
 each fort, to call on every captain of a militia com 
 pany of men to hurry them in to our relief. But 
 not many came to our assistance. Their excuse was 
 that they supposed it to be only a false alarm. The 
 discharge of the third gun by the enemy entirely 
 changed the alarm. It was customary, when there 
 was a good prize brought into the harbor, or on the 
 receipt of any good news, to rejoice by discharging 
 three cannon, and this the enemy understood. They 
 landed eight hundred officers and men and some 
 horses and large guns and carriages on the beach at 
 Eastern Point, Groton side of the river, about eight 
 o clock in the morning, and on New London side of 
 the river below the lisfht-house on the beach seven 
 
 
 
Rufus Averys Narrative. 31 
 
 hundred officers and men at the same time. The 
 army on the Groton side was divided into two di 
 visions, about four hundred in each division. Col. 
 Aires l took command of the division southeast of the 
 fort, about one hundred and thirty rods from the fort, 
 behind a ledge of rocks. Major Montgomery took 
 command of his division about one hundred and fifty 
 rods from the fort, behind a high hill of land. The 
 army on New London side of the river found better 
 and more accommodating land for marching than on 
 Groton side, and as soon as they got against Fort 
 Trumbull they separated into two divisions : one went 
 on to the town of New London, and plundered and set 
 fire to the shipping and buildings, and the other di 
 vision marched directly down to Fort Trumbull. 
 Capt. Shapley, who commanded the fort, saw that he 
 was likely to be overpowered by the enemy, spiked up 
 the cannon, and embarked on board his boats, which 
 were prepared for him and his men if wanted. But 
 the enemy were so quick upon him that before he and 
 his small company could get out of gunshot in their 
 boats a number of his men got badly wounded. Those 
 that were able to get to Fort Griswold reached there, 
 and most of them were slain. Col. Aires and Major 
 Montgomery had their divisions stationed about nine 
 o clock in the morning. As soon as they appeared in 
 sight we hove a number of shot at them, but they 
 would endeavor to disappear immediately. About ten 
 o clock in the forenoon they sent their flag to demand 
 of Col. Ledyard the surrender of the fort. The party 
 with the flag approached within about forty rods of 
 the fort, and we discharged a musket b T-H before them, 
 and brought them to a stand. Col. Ledyard called a 
 
 1 Eyre. 
 
32 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 council of war to take the minds of his fellow officers 
 and friends as to what was to be done. They agreed 
 to send a flag to meet theirs, and chose Capt. Elijah 
 Avery, Capt. Amos Stanton/and Capt. John Williams. 
 They immediately met the British flag, and received a 
 demand to give up the fort to them. Our flag soon 
 returned with the summons, which was to surrender 
 the fort to them. Inquiry was made of the council as 
 to what must be done, and the answer was sent to the 
 British flag that the fort would not be given up. 
 Their flag went back to Col. Eyre s division, and soon 
 returned to within about seventy rods of the fort, when 
 they were again met by our flag, which brought back 
 to Col. Ledyard the demand if they had to take the 
 fort by storm they should put martial law in force ; 
 that is, whom they did not kill with balls should be 
 put to death with sword and bayonet. Our flag went 
 to the British flag with Col. Ledyard s answer that he 
 should not give up the fort to them, let the conse 
 quence be what it might. While the flags were pass 
 ing between us we were exchanging shots with the 
 British at Fort Trumbull, of which they had got pos 
 session of said fort before the commencement of the 
 battle at Fort Griswold. We could heave a shot into 
 Fort Trumbull among the enemy without difficulty, 
 but they could not raise a shot so high as to come into 
 Fort Griswold. Having obtained possession of our 
 good powder and shot left by Capt. Shapley in the 
 fort, they used it against us. 
 
 1 Captain Stanton, a man of almost gigantic stature and herculean 
 strength, on seeing the slaughter continued after the surrender, is said to 
 have seized a heavy musket by the muzzle, and exclaiming, " My God, 
 must we die so ! " sprang upon the platform on the west side of the fort, 
 and nearly cleared it of the enemy before he was brought down by a 
 musket shot. H. 
 
Rufus Averys Narrative. 33 
 
 About eleven o clock in the forenoon the enemy 
 found out what we were determined to do. Both di 
 visions started ; that of Col. Eyre came on in solid 
 column. As soon as he got on level ground we were 
 prepared to salute them with a gun that took in an 
 eighteen-pound ball, but was then loaded with two 
 bags of grape shot. Capt. Elias Henry Halsey di 
 rected the gun, and took aim at the enemy. He had 
 practiced on board of privateers, and he did his duty 
 well. I was present with him and others near the 
 gun, and when the shot struck among the enemy it 
 cleared a wide space in their solid column. It was 
 reported on good authority that about twenty men 
 were killed and wounded by that charge of grape shot. 
 As soon as the enemy s column was broken by their 
 loss of officers and men, they scattered and trailed 
 their arms, and came on with a quick march and ob 
 lique step toward the fort inclining to the west. Dur 
 ing this time we hove cannon and musket shot among 
 the enemy. Col. Eyre s division came up to the south 
 side and west side of the fort, where he was mortally 
 wounded. Major Montgomery, who started with his 
 division at the same time that Eyre did to come to 
 the fort in solid column, inclined to the north, until 
 they got east of the redoubt or battery, which is east 
 of the fort, when a large number of them came very 
 quick into the battery. Our officers threw a heavy 
 charge of grape shot among them, which destroyed a 
 large number. They then started for the fort, a part 
 of them in platoons, discharging their guns as they ad 
 vanced, while some scattering officers and soldiers 
 came round to the east and north part of the fort. 
 As soon as the enemy got round the fort one man at 
 tempted to open the gate. He lost his life. There 
 
34 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 was hard fighting some time before the second man 
 made the trial to open the gate, which he did. Our lit 
 tle number of one hundred and fifty-five officers and 
 soldiers, most of whom were volunteers when the bat 
 tle began, were soon overpowered. Then there was 
 no block-house on the parade, as there is now, and 
 the enemy had every opportunity to kill and wound 
 almost every man in the fort. When they had over 
 powered us and driven us from our stations at the breast 
 work of the fort, Col. Wm. Ledyard seeing what few 
 officers and men he had left to do any more fighting, 
 they quit their posts, and went on the open parade in 
 the fort, where the enemy had every opportunity to 
 massacre us, there was about six of the enemy to one 
 of us. The enemy mounted the parapet seemingly 
 all as one, swung their hats around once, and dis 
 charged their guns, and them they did not kill with 
 ball they meant to kill with the bayonet. I was on 
 the west side of the fort, with Capt. Edward Latham 
 and Mr. Christopher Latham, on the platform ; had a 
 full sight of the enemy s conduct, and within five feet 
 of these two men. I had at that time a ball and bay 
 onet hole in my coat. As soon as the enemy dis 
 charged their guns they knocked down the two men 
 before mentioned with the britch of their guns, and put 
 their bayonets into them, but did not quite kill them. 
 By this time Major Montgomery s division, then under 
 the command of Capt. Bloomfield l (the other gates 
 having been unbolted by one of the men), marched in 
 through the gates, and formed a solid column. At this 
 time I left my station on the west side of the fort, and 
 went across the south part of the parade towards the 
 south end of the barrack. Col. Wm. Ledyard was on 
 
 1 Bromfield. 
 
Rufus Averys Narrative. 35 
 
 the parade, marching towards the enemy under Capt. 
 Bloomfield, raising and lowering his sword. He was 
 then about six or eight feet from the British officer. I 
 turned my eyes from Ledyard and stepped up to the 
 door of the barrack, and saw the enemy discharging 
 their guns through the windows. I turned myself im 
 mediately about, and the enemy had executed Col. Led 
 yard, in less time than one minute after I saw him. 1 
 
 1 Since this transaction there has ever existed in the public mind great 
 uncertainty as to iuho was the murderer of Colonel Ledyard, the odium 
 being divided between Major Bromfield, who succeeded Major Mont 
 gomery in command of the British troops on that occasion, and Captain 
 Beckwith, of the 54th regiment. No person who actually witnessed the 
 deed survived the battle,* or if any did they left no account of it behind 
 them ; and therefore the version of the manner of Ledyard s death com 
 monly received as the correct one is but merely a conjecture, at the most. 
 By this, the deed is ascribed to the officer who received Ledyard s sur 
 render of the fort, supposed by the greater number to have been Major 
 Bromfield; others at the time, and for a long time subsequent, laid the 
 infamous transaction to the charge of Captain Beckwith, supposing him 
 to have been the officer who met Ledyard and demanded the surrender. 
 
 Let us consider the matter a little, and see if we be able to reconcile 
 the known facts and strong probabilities in the case, with this generally 
 received opinion. Upon the entry of the British officer to the fort, and 
 at his demand of who commanded it, Colonel Ledyard advanced to an 
 swer, " I did," etc., at the same time tendering him the hilt of his sword 
 in token of submission. It is obvious that in this action Colonel Ledyard 
 must have presented the front of his person to that officer. Now, had 
 the latter, in taking the surrendered sword, instantly (as all accounts 
 charge him with having done) plunged it into him, is it not also evident 
 that it must have entered in front and passed out of the back of his per 
 son ? The vest and shirt worn that day by Colonel Ledyard, preserved 
 in the Wadsworth Athenaeum at Hartford, upon examination reveal two 
 rough, jagged openings, one on either side, a little before and in a line 
 
 * Mr. Harris is in error here, I believe, as I myself have heard this action 
 described by three people whose fathers saw the murder, and often told of it 
 to their children (see notes on Andrew Gallup and Caleb Avery). This being 
 the case, most of the ground for Mr. Harris s argument is taken away. The ar 
 gument, though ingenious, is not conclusive, since no one can by reasoning be 
 certain what positions would be taken in moments of such excitement. The most 
 natural positions are those which agree with the popularly received account, as 
 men of military experience and education, I think, will agree. A. 
 
36 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 The column then continued marching toward the south 
 end of the parade. I could do no better than to pass 
 
 with the lower edge of the arm-holes of the vest. The larger of these 
 apertures is upon the left side ; the difference in size between it and that 
 on the right corresponds with the taper of a sabre blade from hilt to 
 point, showing conclusively that the weapon entered from the left and 
 passed out at the right, and that the person by whom the wound was in 
 flicted must have stood upon the left side of the wearer when the plunge 
 was made. These holes are marked : that on the left as " where the 
 sword entered," and that on the right as " where the sword came out," 
 so marked, doubtless, by the person who presented these memorials to 
 the society, a near relative of Colonel Ledyard, and who considered them 
 as the marks of the fatal wound. These are the only marks visible upon 
 the garment. It is a reasonable supposition that when the British officer 
 entered and thundered his demand he carried his drawn sword in his 
 right hand ; for we can scarcely imagine an officer rushing unarmed into 
 a place of such danger and demanding a surrender. Now, in case he 
 did so carry his sword, he must necessarily either have sheathed, dropped; 
 or changed it to his left hand, in order to receive Ledyard s with the 
 right ; and this hardly seems possible. We must therefore suppose that 
 he received it in his left hand ; and if so, does it not appear as most un 
 reasonable that, having a sword in either hand, he would have used that 
 in his left with which to make the thrust ? Yet he must have done so if 
 it was by his own swordthat Ledyard met his death. Neither does it 
 appear possible that in the heat and excitement of the engagement, 
 coolly calculating the chances, he would have passed around to the left 
 of his victim for the purpose of making the wound more surely fatal, 
 the only reason for which we can suppose it to have been done. 
 
 We have seen from the position occupied by the parties that the 
 wound, if inflicted instantly on the surrender of the sword, must have 
 been given in front ; the marks in the vest conclusively prove it to have 
 been given in the left side. We have seen the awkward position of the 
 officer with his own sword in his right and Ledyard s in his left hand, a 
 situation almost precluding the idea of his making the stab with the latter. 
 We have also seen that no person who witnessed it left any testimony 
 regarding the affair, and that all that the commonly received version of 
 it is based upon is really but the surmises of a people wrought almost to 
 desperation by their losses and wrongs, who in the first moments of ex 
 asperation would naturally attribute an act of such enormity to the com 
 mander as the representative of the enemy. Now, after considering all 
 these facts and probabilities, is it not a more rational conclusion that the 
 wound was given by a by-slanding officer a subaltern or aid, perhaps 
 than that it was inflicted by the officer to whom Ledyard offered his 
 sword ? It certainly so appears to us. But in case that, despite all these 
 
Rujus A very s Narrative. 37 
 
 across the parade before the enemy s column, as they 
 discharged the volleys of three platoons, the fire of 
 which I went through I believe there was not less 
 than five or six hundred men of the enemy on the 
 parade in the fort. They killed and wounded nearly 
 every man in the fort as quick as they could, which 
 was done in about one minute. I expected my time 
 to come with the rest. One mad-looking fellow put 
 his bayonet to my side, and swore, " bejasus, he would 
 skipper me." I looked him very earnestly in the face 
 and eyes, and asked for mercy and to spare my life. 
 He attempted three times to put the bayonet in me, 
 
 reasons for believing that officer innocent of the crime, he was really 
 guilty, of the two to whom it has been charged, against but one is there 
 any evidence to sustain the charge, and this is purely circumstantial. Cap 
 tain Beckwith acted as aid to Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre on the clay of the 
 battle, and was the officer sent to demand the surrender of the fort. He, 
 with Lord Dalrymple, was sent by Arnold as bearer of despatches to Sir 
 Henry Clinton, and in all probability furnished the account of the 
 battle for Rivington s Gazette, which appeared in that paper before the 
 remainder of the expedition had reached New York. In this account, 
 in which the details of the conference regarding the surrender are given 
 with a minuteness with which only an eye-witness could give them, per 
 sonal malice toward Colonel Ledyard is a salient feature, which the most 
 unobservant reader cannot fail to notice. The writer appears to have 
 considered the flag and the officers bearing it insulted in the conference ; 
 and in his references to the garrison, and to Colonel Ledyard in particu 
 lar, he expresses himself in the most contemptuous and bitter terms. 
 
 If he was the officer to whom the surrender was made, it is possible 
 that on beholding the man who he fancied had insulted him he allowed 
 his rage to supplant his manhood, and, forgetting his military honor, 
 plunged his sword into his vanquished enemy. From Miss Caulkins 
 History of New London we learn that he afterward passed through New 
 York on his way to Barbadoes. While there he was charged by the 
 newspapers of that city with the murder, which he indignantly denied. 
 A correspondence was opened between him and a relative of Colonel 
 Ledyard in reference to the question, when he produced documents which 
 exculpated him. In view of this, however, as between him and Major 
 Bromfield, circumstantial evidence is strongly in favor of the latter, who 
 doubtless could have furnished as full documentary proof of his inno 
 cence, had he been called upon for it. H. 
 
38 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 but I must say I believe God forbade him, for I was 
 completely in his power, as well as others that was 
 present with the enemy. The enemy at the same time 
 massacred Lieut. Enoch Stanton within four or five 
 feet of me. A platoon of about ten men marched up 
 near where I stood, where two large outer doors to the 
 magazine made a space wide enough for ten men to 
 stand in one rank. They discharged their guns into 
 the magazine among the dead and wounded, and some 
 well ones, and some they killed and wounded. That 
 platoon fell back, and another platoon came forward to 
 discharge their guns into the outer part of the maga 
 zine, where the others did. As they made ready to 
 fire, Capt. Bloomfield came suddenly round the corner 
 of the magazine, and very quickly raised his sword, 
 exclaiming, "Stop firing! You ll send us all to hell 
 together ! " Their language was bad as well as their 
 conduct. I was near him when he spoke. Bloomfield 
 knew there must be, of course, much powder scattered 
 about the magazine, and a great quantity deposited 
 there, but I expect the reason it did not take fire was 
 that there was so much human blood to put it out. 
 They did not bayonet many after they ceased firing 
 their guns. I was amongst them all the time, and they 
 very soon left off killing, and then went stripping and 
 robbing the dead and wounded, and also those that 
 were not wounded. They then ordered each one of us 
 to march out to the northeast part of the parade, and 
 them that could not go themselves, from their wounds, 
 were to be helped by those that were well. Mr. Sam 
 uel Edgecomb, Jr., and myself were ordered to take 
 Ensign Charles Eldredge out of the magazine. He 
 
 o o o 
 
 was a very large, heavy man, who had been shot in the 
 knee-joint. We poor prisoners were taken out on the 
 
Rufus Averys Narrative. 39 
 
 parade, about two rods from the gates of the tort, and 
 every man ordered to sit down immediately, and if not 
 obeyed at once the bayonet was to be put into him. 
 The battle was then finished, which was about one 
 o clock in the afternoon ; the enemy began to take care 
 of their dead and wounded. The first thing they did 
 was to take off six of the outer doors of the barrack, 
 and with four men to a door would bring in one man 
 at a time on each door. There were twenty-four men 
 at work about two hours as fast as they could walk 
 and deposit them on the west side of the parade in the 
 fort, where it was the most comfortable place they could 
 find, while we poor prisoners were put in the most un 
 comfortable spot on the parade, in the fort, where the 
 sun shone down so very warm on us that it made us 
 feel more unhappy. Some of the wounded men lay 
 dying. Captain Youngs Ledyard and Capt. Nathan 
 Moore were among the number. I sat on the ground 
 with the other prisoners, and these two fine men lay 
 on the ground by me, Ledyard s head on one thigh, and 
 Moore s head on the other. They both died that night. 
 While I was with them they had their reason, and re 
 quested water for their thirst. I asked of the enemy 
 water for my brother prisoners to drink, as well as for 
 myself. They granted my request. The well was 
 within two rods of us. I watched them when they 
 brought the water to me for us to drink, to see that 
 they did not put anything in it to poison us ; for they 
 had repeatedly said that we must all die before the sun 
 went down, because that was in the summons sent to 
 Col. Win. Ledyard that those who were not killed by 
 the musket-ball should die by the sword and bayonet. 
 But happy for us that was alive they did not offer to 
 hurt any one man, and they said that was a falsehood. 
 
40 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 They kept us on the ground in the garrison about two 
 hours after the battle was over, and then ordered every 
 man who was able to walk to rise up immediately. 
 Sentries with loaded guns and fixed bayonets were 
 placed around us, with orders to shoot or bayonet any 
 one that did not obey the officer. I was obliged to 
 leave two dying men that were resting on me as they 
 lay on the ground beside me. We marched down on 
 the bank by the river so as to be ready to embark to 
 go on board the British fleet. Then, about thirty of us, 
 every man was ordered to sit down, and, as at other 
 times, was surrounded with sentries. Capt. Bromfield 
 came and took the names of the wounded that were able 
 to march down with us. I sat where I had a fair view 
 of the enemy s conduct. The sun was about half an 
 hour high, and they were setting fire to the buildings, 
 and bringing down plunder by us as we were placed at 
 the lower part of the village. At the same time a large 
 number of the enemy between us and the fort were get 
 ting ready to quit the ground. They loaded up our 
 very large, heavy ammunition wagon that belonged to 
 the fort with the wounded men who could not go them 
 selves, and about twenty of the soldiers drew it out of 
 the fort and brought it to the brow of the hill on which 
 the fort stood, which was very steep, and about thirty 
 rods distance. As soon as the enemy began to move 
 the wagon down the hill, they began to put themselves 
 in a position to hold it back with all their power. 
 They found it too much for them to do ; they released 
 their hold on the wagon as quick as possible to prevent 
 being run over by the wagon themselves, leaving it to 
 run down the hill with great speed. 1 It ran about 
 
 1 This description of their action seems to confirm the story of Andrew 
 Gallup, in note I, page 20. A. 
 
Rufus A very s Narrative. 41 
 
 twelve rods to a large apple-tree stump, and both shafts 
 of the wagon struck very hard, and hurt the wounded 
 men very much. A great number of the enemy were 
 near where the wagon stopped, and they immediately 
 ran to the wagon, and brought that and the wounded 
 men by where we prisoners were sitting on the ground, 
 and deposited them in the house near by, that belonged 
 to Ensign Ebenezer Avery, who was one that was in 
 the wagon when it started down the hill. Some of 
 the enemy had set fire to the house before the wounded 
 prisoners were placed in it, but the fire was put out 
 by some of the others. Capt. Bloomfield paroled the 
 wounded men who were left, and took Ebenezer Led- 
 yard, Esq., as a hostage for them left on parol, to see 
 them forthcoming, if called for. By this time the 
 enemy s boats came up to the shore near where 
 we prisoners were. The officer spoke with a doleful 
 sound: " Come, you rebels, go on board the boats." 
 That touched my feelings more than anything that 
 passed for the day. I realized that I should have to 
 leave my dear wife and my good neighbors and friends, 
 and also my native land, and suffer with cold and 
 hunger, as I was in the power of a cruel foe or enemy; 
 but I was still in the hands of a higher power, which 
 was a great consolation to me, for I am sensible that 
 God has preserved my life through many hardships, 
 and when in danger of losing my life many times in the 
 wars, etc. When we prisoners had marched down to 
 the shore, the boats that were to receive us on board 
 were kept off where the water was about knee-deep, 
 and we were marched down in two ranks, one on 
 each side of the boat. The officer that had the 
 command very harshly ordered us to " get on board 
 immediately." There were about twelve prisoners in 
 
42 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 a boat. They rowed us down to an armed sloop, com 
 manded by one Captain Thomas, as they called him, 
 a refugee tory, who lay with his vessel within the fleet. 
 As soon as they put us on board the sloop they shut 
 us down in the hold of the vessel, where they had a 
 fire for cooking, which made it very hot and smoky. 
 They stopped up the hatchway, making it so close that 
 we had no air to breathe. We begged that they would 
 spare our lives, and they gave us some relief by open 
 ing the hatchway, and letting one or two of us come 
 on deck at a time during the night, but with sentries 
 with guns and bayonets to watch us. They did not 
 give us anything to eat or drink for about twenty-four 
 hours, and then only a mess made of hogs brains that 
 they caught on Groton bank, with other plunder. 
 While we were on board Thomas s sloop we had 
 nothing to eat or drink that we could hardly swal 
 low. This continued about three days. There were 
 a number of weapons of war where we were placed in 
 the vessel, and some of the prisoners whispered to 
 gether that there was an opportunity to make a prize 
 of the sloop. This somehow got to the officers 
 ears, and they immediately shut us all down in the 
 hold of the vessel. I felt very certain that we would 
 have to suffer, for they seemed so enraged that they 
 appeared to have an intention to massacre us all. 
 They soon got ready, and began to call us up on deck 
 one by one. As I came up they tied my hands behind 
 me with strong rope yarns, binding them together, and 
 winding the rope yarn so hard as to nearly bring my 
 shoulder blades to touch each other. Then they had 
 a boat come from a fourteen-gun brig commanded by 
 a Captain Steel, by name and nature. I was ordered 
 to get over the side of the sloop without the use of my 
 
Rufiis Averys Narrative. 43 
 
 hands, the bulwarks above the deck being all of three 
 feet in height, and then I had to fall into the boat that 
 was to carry us to the brig, and was made to lay down 
 under the seats on which the rowers sat, as though we 
 were brutes about to be slaughtered. After we were 
 put on board the brig, we were ordered to stand in one 
 rank beside the gunwale of the vessel, and a spar was 
 placed before us leaving about one foot space for each 
 man to stand in, with a sentry to nearly every man, 
 with orders to bayonet or shoot any one that offered 
 to move. They kept us in that situation about two 
 hours in the rain and cold with very thin clothing upon 
 us, and then gave us liberty to go about the main deck, 
 and were obliged to lie on the wet deck without any 
 thing to eat or drink for supper. We were on board 
 the brig about four days, and then put on board a ship 
 commanded by Capt. Scott, who appeared very friendly 
 to we prisoners. He took me on the quarter deck with 
 him. He was apparently about sixty years of age, and 
 I remained with him until I was exchanged. Captain 
 Nathaniel Shaw came down to New York with the 
 American flag after me, and four young men that were 
 made prisoners with me that belonged to the garrison 
 at Fort Griswold, and during the time of the battle 
 behaved like good soldiers. General Mifflin came with 
 the British flag to meet the American flag. I sailed 
 with him about twenty miles in the flag-boat. He 
 asked me some questions, but I gave him little or no 
 information, and told him I was very sorry that they 
 came to destroy so many good men, and cause so much 
 distress to families and desolation in the community, 
 by burning so much valuable property, and further, 
 that I did not believe that they would gain any honor 
 by it. He replied, we might thank our own country- 
 
44 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 men for it. I told him that / should not. I then 
 turned to the General and said, will you answer me a 
 few questions ? " As many as you please, Sir," was 
 his reply. I made many inquiries, and asked him how 
 many of the enemy was missing that were engaged in 
 the attack on Groton and New London, remarking, 
 " Sir, I expect you can tell as you are the Commissary 
 of the British Army." He said, " I find in the returns 
 that there were two hundred and twenty odd missing, 
 but I dont know what became of them." Here I con 
 clude the foregoing particular account from my own 
 personal knowledge of the British attack and capture 
 of Fort Griswold, and their brutal conduct at New 
 London and Groton, and also of their barbarous treat 
 ment of the prisoners who fell into their hands. 
 ATTEST : RUFUS AVERY, 
 
 Orderly Sergeant, under Captain William Latham, who 
 commanded the Matross Company at Fort Griswold, 
 Sept. 6, 1781. 
 
1! 
 
NARRATIVE 
 
 OF 
 
 STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD. 1 
 
 ON the morning of the 6th of September, 1781, 
 twenty-four sail of the enemy s shipping appeared 
 to the westward of New London harbor. The enemy 
 landed in two divisions, of about 800 men each, com 
 manded by that infamous traitor to his country, Bene 
 dict Arnold, who headed the division that landed on 
 the New London side, near Brown s farms ; the other 
 division, commanded by Colonel Ayres, landed on 
 Groton Point, nearly opposite. I was first sergeant of 
 Captain Adam Shapley s company of state troops, and 
 was stationed with him at the time, with about twenty- 
 three men, at Fort Trumbull, on the New London 
 side. This was a mere breast-work or water battery, 
 
 1 This narrative was communicated to the Missouri Republican in 1826, 
 accompanied by the following note of which I have seen but one printed 
 copy. A- 
 
 " Mr. Charles I have thought since last fall that I would send you an 
 account of the battle of Fort Griswold on Groton Heights on the 6th of 
 September 1781. The celebration of that event in September last caused 
 several notices of it to appear in different newspapers none of which 
 I think are sufficiently particular or wholly correct. As I was a partici 
 pant in that catastrophe and had an opportunity of knowing most of the 
 circumstances, and reasons for remembering them, besides some notes 
 taken subsequently, I am enabled I think to give a clearer account of it 
 (particularly in detail) than any I have seen, and if you believe the follow 
 ing worthy of publication, you are at liberty to do so. 
 
 "STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD." 
 
48 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 open from behind, and the enemy coming on us from 
 that quarter, we spiked our cannon, and commenced a 
 retreat across the river to Fort Griswold in three boats. 
 The enemy was so near that they over-shot us with 
 their muskets, and succeeded in capturing one boat 
 with six men commanded by Josiah Smith, a private. 
 They afterwards proceeded to New London and burnt 
 the town. We were received by the garrison with 
 enthusiasm, being considered experienced artillerists, 
 whom they much needed, and we were immediately 
 assigned to our stations. The fort was an oblong 
 square, with bastions at opposite angles, its longest 
 side fronting the river in a northwest and southeast 
 direction. Its walls were of stone, and were ten or 
 twelve feet high on the lower side, and surrounded by 
 a ditch. On the wall were pickets, projecting over 
 twelve feet ; above this was a parapet with embrasures, 
 and within a platform for the cannon, and a step to 
 mount upon to shoot over the parapet with small arms. 
 In the southwest bastion was a flag-staff, and in the 
 side, near the opposite angle, was the gate, in front of 
 which was a triangular breast-work to protect the gate ; 
 and to the right of this was a redoubt, with a three- 
 pounder in it, which was about 120 yards from the 
 gate. Between the fort and the river was another bat 
 tery, with a covered way, but which could not be used 
 in this attack, as the enemy appeared in a different 
 quarter. The garrison, with the volunteers, consisted 
 of about 1 60 men. Soon after our arrival the enemy 
 appeared in force in some woods about half a mile 
 southeast of the fort, from whence they sent a flag of 
 truce, which was met by Captain Shapley, demanding 
 an unconditional surrender, threatening at the same 
 time, to storm the fort instantly if the terms were not 
 
Stephen Hempstead s Narrative. 49 
 
 accepted. 1 A council of war was held, and it was the 
 unanimous voice, that the garrison were unable to de 
 fend themselves against so superior a force. But a 
 militia colonel who was then in the fort, and had a 
 body of men in the immediate vicinity, said he would 
 reinforce them with 2 or 300 men in fifteen minutes, if 
 they would hold out. Colonel Ledyard agreed to send 
 back a defiance, upon the most solemn assurance of 
 immediate succor. For this purpose Colonel - 
 started, his men being then in sight ; but he was no 
 more seen, nor did he even attempt a diversion in our 
 favor. When the answer to their demand had been 
 returned by Captain Shapley, the enemy were soon in 
 motion, and marched with great rapidity, in a solid 
 column, to within a short distance of the fort, where, 
 dividing the column, they rushed furiously and simul 
 taneously to the assault of the southwest bastion and 
 the opposite sides. They were, however, repulsed with 
 great slaughter, their commander mortally wounded, 
 and Major Montgomery, next in rank, killed, having 
 been thrust through the body, whilst in the act of scal 
 ing the walls at the southwest bastion, by Captain 
 Shapley. The command then devolved on Colonel 
 Beckwith, a refugee from New Jersey, who commanded 
 a corps of that description. The enemy rallied and 
 returned the attack with great vigor, but were received 
 and repulsed with equal firmness. During the attack 
 a shot cut the halyards of the flag, and it fell to the 
 ground, but was instantly remounted on a pike-pole. 2 
 
 1 Lieutenant-colonel Eyre formed his men behind the ledge of rocks 
 which forms the eastern boundary of the burial-ground. Major Mont 
 gomery s column formed in the rear of a hillock, a short distance north 
 east of that point. 
 
 2 Luke Perkins is said, without contradiction as far as I can learn, to 
 have been the one who performed the action here described. A. 
 
 4 
 
50 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 This accident proved fatal to us, as the enemy sup 
 posed it had been struck by its defenders, rallied again, 
 and rushing with redoubled impetuosity, carried the 
 southwest bastion by storm. Until this moment our 
 loss was trifling in number, being six or seven killed, 
 and eighteen or twenty wounded. Never was a post 
 more bravely defended, nor a garrison more barba 
 rously butchered. We fought with all kinds of weap 
 ons, and at all places, with a courage that deserved a 
 better fate. 1 Many of the enemy were killed under the 
 walls by throwing simple shot over on them, 2 and never 
 
 1 John Daboll, one of the garrison, discharged his musket no less than 
 seven times at one particular soldier, who also seems to have singled him 
 out as his opponent. The singular duel was terminated by the eighth 
 shot from the enemy carrying away the lock of DabolPs musket, arid se 
 verely wounding him in the head. This incident was related to the writer 
 by an old gentleman now living in Groton, who had frequently heard the 
 story from Daboll. H. 
 
 Thomas, son of Lieutenant Parke Avery, aged seventeen, was killed 
 fighting by the side of his father. Just before he fell (the battle growing 
 hot) the father turned and said, " Tom, my son, do your duty ! " " Never 
 fear, father," was the reply, and the next moment he was stretched upon 
 the ground. " Tis a good cause," said the father, and he remained firm 
 at his post. Caulkins. 
 
 Lieut. Avery had another son near three years old at this time named in 
 honor of his fellow-townsman, one of the Continental agents in France, 
 Silas Deane Avery. After the battle, in honor of the young hero, Silas 
 Deaire was changed for Thomas, a name more strongly demanding of him 
 affection and reverence than that of diplomatic agent or statesman, how 
 ever eminent, who had not with his blood sealed his belief in resistance 
 to George III. A. 
 
 2 Samuel Edgcomb, Jr.> of a family justly celebrated for the great size and 
 strength of its members, hurled iS-pound shot, one with each hand, upon 
 the assailants with fearful effect, as they, after breaking through the fraiz- 
 ing attempted to scale the ramparts. After the enemy gained the fort on 
 the other side, and the massacre became general, further resistance being 
 useless, he dropped on the ground among the wounded and dead, escaping 
 with a wound in the right hand. He was afterwards ordered to assist 
 in the removal of the wounded, as his son, Daniel D. Edgcomb, now of 
 Mystic River, remembers his statement that he carried off upon his back 
 
Stephen Hempslead s Narrative. 5 1 
 
 would we have relinquished our arms, had we had the 
 least idea that such a catastrophe would have followed. 
 To describe this scene I must be permitted to go back 
 a little in my narrative. I commanded an eighteen- 
 pounder on the south side of the gate, and while in the 
 act of righting my gun, a ball passed through the em 
 brasure, struck me a little above the right ear, grazing 
 the skull, and cutting off the veins, which bled pro 
 fusely. A handkerchief was tied around it, and I con 
 tinued at my duty. Discovering, some little time after, 
 that a British soldier had broken a picket at the bas 
 tion on my left, and was forcing himself through the 
 hole, whilst the men stationed there were gazing at the 
 battle which raged opposite to them, cried, "my brave 
 fellows, the enemy are breaking in behind you," and 
 raised my pike to dispatch the intruder, when a ball 
 struck my left arm at the elbow, and my pike fell to 
 the ground. Nevertheless, I grasped it with my right 
 hand, and with the men, who turned and fought man 
 fully, cleared the breach. The enemy, however, soon 
 after forced the southwest bastion, where Captain 
 Shapley, Captain Peter Richards, Lieutenant Richard 
 Chapman, and several other men of distinction, and 
 volunteers, had fought with unconquerable courage, 
 and were all either killed or mortally wounded, and 
 which had sustained the brunt of every attack. 
 
 Captain P. Richards, Lieutenant Chapman, and sev 
 eral others, were killed in the bastion ; Captain Shap- 
 
 Daniel Elclriclge, who was wounded in the knee. Samuel E. was plough 
 ing for rye at the time of the alarm and left for the fort at once, not stop 
 ping to loose his oxen. He was 21 years of age, and died at the age of 83 
 years, at the old homestead on the west slope of Fort Hill, in the same 
 house in which he was born. His brother Gilbert was carried away pris 
 oner. A. 
 
52 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 ley and others wounded. He died of his wounds in 
 January l following. 
 
 Colonel Ledyard, seeing the enemy within the fort, 
 gave orders to cease firing, and to throw down our 
 arms, as the fort had surrendered. We did so, but they 
 continued firing upon us, crossed the fort and opened 
 the gate, when they marched in, firing in platoons 
 upon those who were retreating to the magazine and 
 barrack-rooms for safety. At this moment the ren 
 egade Colonel Beckwith commanding, cried out, "Who 
 commands this garrison ? " Colonel Ledyard, who 
 was standing near me, answered, " I did sir, but you do 
 now," at the same time stepping forward, handed him 
 his- sword with the point towards himself. At this in 
 stant I perceived a soldier in the act of bayoneting me 
 from behind. I turned suddenly round and grasped 
 his bayonet, endeavoring to unship it, and knock off 
 the thrust, but in vain. Having but one hand, he suc 
 ceeded in forcing it into my right hip, above the joint, 
 and just below the abdomen, and crushed me to the 
 ground. The first person I saw afterwards was my 
 bfave commander, a corpse by my side, having been 
 run through the body with his own sword, by the 
 savage renegade. 2 Never was a scene of more brutal 
 wanton carnage witnessed than now took place. The 
 enemy were still firing upon us in platoons, and in the 
 barrack-rooms, which were continued for some min 
 utes, when they discovered they were in danger of be 
 ing blown up, by communicating fire to the powder 
 
 1 Shapley s death occurred February I4th, as per his tombstone. A. 
 
 2 The chivalrous Ledyard seems to have felt a premonition of impend 
 ing calamity from the beginning. On stepping into the boat to cross from 
 New London on that morning, he remarked to friends gathered about 
 him, " If this day I lose my honor or my life, which it will be, you who 
 know me, can tell already." 
 
Stephen Hempstea<fs Narrative. 53 
 
 scattered at the mouth of the magazine while deliver 
 ing out cartridges ; nor did it then cease in the rooms 
 for some minutes longer. All this time the bayonet 
 was " freely used," even on those who were helplessly 
 wounded and in the agonies of death. I recollect 
 Captain William Seymour, 1 a volunteer from Hartford, 
 had thirteen bayonet wounds, although his knee had 
 previously been shattered by a ball, so much so, that 
 it was obliged to be amputated the next day. But I 
 need not mention particular cases. I have already 
 said that we had six killed and eighteen wounded pre 
 vious to their storming our lines ; eighty-five were 
 killed in all, thirty-five mortally and dangerously 
 wounded, and forty taken prisoners to New York, 
 most of them slightly hurt. 
 
 After the massacre they plundered us of everything 
 we had, and left us literally naked. When they com 
 menced gathering us up, together with their own 
 wounded, they put theirs under the shade of the plat 
 form, and exposed us to the sun, in front of the bar 
 racks, where we remained over an hour. Those that 
 could stand were then paraded, and ordered to the 
 landing, while those that could not (of which number I 
 was one) were put in one of our ammunition wagons, 
 and taken to the brow of the hill (which was very steep, 
 and at least one hundred rods in descent), from whence 
 it was permitted to run down by itself, but was arrested 
 in its course, near the river, by an apple-tree. The pain 
 and anguish we all endured in this rapid descent, as the 
 wagon jumped and jostled over rocks and holes, is in 
 conceivable ; and the jar in its arrest was like bursting 
 the cords of life asunder, and caused us to shriek with 
 
 1 Nephew of Colonel Ledyard. 
 
54 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 almost supernatural force. Our cries were distinctly 
 heard and noticed on the opposite side of the river 
 (which is a mile wide 1 ), amidst all the confusion which 
 raged in burning and sacking the town. We remained 
 in the wagon more than an hour before our humane 
 conquerors hunted us up, when we were again paraded 
 and laid on the beach, preparatory to embarkation ; 
 but, by the interposition of Ebenezer Ledyard, brother 
 to Colonel Ledyard, who humanely represented our 
 deplorable situation and the impossibility of our being 
 able to reach New York, thirty-five of us were paroled 
 in the usual form. Being near the house of Ebenezer 
 Avery, who was also one of our number, we were taken 
 into it. Here we had not long remained before a 
 marauding party set fire to every room, evidently in 
 tending to burn us up with the house. The party 
 soon left it, when it was with difficulty extinguished, 
 and we were thus saved from the flames. 2 Ebenezer 
 Ledyard again interfered, and obtained a sentinel to 
 remain and guard us until the last of the enemy em 
 barked, about 1 1 o clock at night. None of our own 
 people came to us till near daylight the next morning, 
 not knowing previous to that time that the enemy 
 had departed. 
 
 Such a night of distress and anguish was scarcely 
 ever passed by mortal. Thirty-five of us were lying 
 on the bare floor, stiff, mangled, and wounded in every 
 manner, exhausted with pain, fatigue, and loss of 
 blood, without clothes or anything to cover us, 
 
 1 He gives here the popular estimate of the width of the river, current 
 even now. It was measured on the ice in January, 1821, and, from the 
 present ferry wharf to the opposite shore, it was found to be 144 rods, or 
 16 rods less than half a mile. A. 
 
 2 This house is on the right side of the main street, south of the ferry ; 
 it is now occupied by Simon Huntington, Esq. 
 
Stephen Hemps tead s Narrative. 55 
 
 trembling with cold and spasms of extreme anguish 
 without fire or light, parched with excruciating thirst, 
 not a wound dressed, nor a soul to administer to one 
 of our wants, nor an assisting hand to turn us during 
 these long, tedious hours of the night. Nothing but 
 groans and unavailing sighs were heard, and two of 
 our number did not live to see the light of the morn 
 ing, which brought with it some ministering angels to 
 our relief. The first was in the person of Miss Fanny 
 Ledyard, of Southold, L. I., 1 then on a visit to her 
 uncle, our murdered commander, who held to my lips 
 a cup of warm chocolate, and soon after returned with 
 wine and other refreshments, which revived us a little. 
 For these kindnesses she has never ceased to receive 
 my most grateful thanks, and fervent prayers for her 
 felicity. 
 
 The cruelty of our enemy cannot be conceived, and 
 our renegade countrymen surpassed in this respect, if 
 possible, our British foes. We were at least an hour 
 after the battle within a few steps of a pump in the 
 garrison, well supplied with water, and, although we 
 were suffering with thirst, they would not permit us to 
 take one drop of it, nor give us any themselves. Some 
 of our number, who were not disabled from going to 
 the pump, were repulsed with the bayonet ; and not 
 one drop did I taste after the action commenced, 
 although begging for it after I was wounded of all who 
 came near me, until relieved by Miss Ledyard. We 
 were a horrible sight at this time. Our own friends 
 did not know us. Even my own wife came in the 
 room in search of me, and did not recognize me, and 
 
 1 I think there can be no doubt this was a sister of John Ledyard, the 
 traveler, who was a nephew of Colonel Ledyard, and whose mother and 
 sister lived on Long Island at the time. A. 
 
56 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 as I did not see her, she left the room to seek for me 
 among the slain, who had been collected under a large 
 elm-tree near the house. It was with the utmost diffi 
 culty that many of them could be identified, and we 
 were frequently called upon to assist their friends in 
 distinguishing them, by remembering particular wounds, 
 &c. Being myself taken out by two men for this pur 
 pose, I met my wife and brother, who, after my wounds 
 were dressed by Dr. Downer, from Preston, took me 
 not to my own home, for that was in ashes, as also 
 every article of my property, furniture, and clothing 
 but to my brother s, where I lay eleven months as help 
 less as a child, and to this day feel the effects of it 
 severely. 
 
 Such was the battle of Groton Heights ; and such, 
 as far as my imperfect manner and language can de 
 scribe, a part of the sufferings which we endured. 
 Never, for a moment, have I regretted the share I had 
 in it. I would, for an equal degree of honor, and the 
 prosperity which has resulted to my country from the 
 Revolution, be willing, if possible, to suffer it again. 
 
 STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD. 
 
STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD, >E. 76. 
 
 A soldier of the Connecticut or Continental Line, from May, 1775, " 7^2- In 
 the battle of liunker Hill ; a sergeant under Capt. Nathan Hale; left for dead 
 at Harlem Plains ; and wounded in defence of Fort Griswold, September 6, 1781. 
 He died in 1831, aged 77. 
 
 Engraved from it miniature painted in St. Louis, Mo., fSjo. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 OF 
 
 STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD. 
 
 STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD, son of Stephen and 
 Sarah Hempstead, lineal descendant of Robert 
 Hempstead, one of the chief settlers of the town, was 
 born in New London, Conn. May 6, 1754. In the 
 summer of 1775 he was lieutenant of a guard of 15 
 or 20 men under Capt. Nathaniel Saltonstall, which 
 in the first movement to screen the country from in 
 vasion, manned the old fort in New London on the 
 parade near the water s edge. 
 
 On the spilling of the first American blood at Lex 
 ington i gth April, 1775, he volunteered (May 6th) as 
 a private soldier into the service of his country. He 
 went from New London to Boston, served a term of 
 seven months and was present at the affairs of Cam 
 bridge, Bunker s (Breed s) Hill, and Roxbury, and had 
 the pleasure to see the British evacuate Boston. Upon 
 the expiration of his first term (December loth), he 
 entered the service for a second term, as a sergeant in 
 Capt. Nathan Hale s company and marched to New 
 York. 
 
 Hale s company was part of Col. Webb s regiment 
 Continental troops. 
 
 The British now occupied Long Island and New 
 York city, and the Americans lay on Haerlem Heights. 
 
Sketch of Stephen Hempstead. 59 
 
 General Washington, anxious to know the strength 
 and position of the enemy, engaged Capt. Hale to ex 
 amine it. Hempstead accompanied him to the point 
 of his departure from the Connecticut shore, took 
 charge of his uniform and valuables that it was not 
 safe to take on a tour through the British camp. As 
 Hale lost his life on this expedition, and his enemies 
 buried him like a dog, Hempstead was the last com 
 panion in arms, perhaps the last friend, who saw him. 
 
 Mr. Hempstead followed General Washington in 
 the noble retreat from Long Island September, 1776. 
 He, under Thos. Updike Fosdick, with sixteen men, 
 mostly New London boys, volunteered to go in one of 
 the fireships directed by the General to burn the Asia, 
 a man-of-war of 84 guns, then in the Hudson River 
 above New York. Was grappled to her for twenty 
 minutes, and exposed to the fire of the cannon and 
 small arms of the Asia and a frigate, without having a 
 man killed ; and though unsuccessful, the expedition 
 was so satisfactory to General Washington that he 
 thanked them in General Orders and directed $40 to 
 be paid to each man. October 27th, Mr. H. was on 
 Haerlem Heights and had two ribs broken by the 
 grape-shot from a British field piece. He was left for 
 dead, and did not recover from his wound till the ex 
 piration of his term of service in 1777. The next year 
 he entered into the State service of Connecticut, and 
 on the capture of Fort Trumbull September 6, 1781, 
 he crossed under fire to Fort Griswold on the other 
 side of the river Thames at New London. Here he 
 was again severely wounded. The capture of the fort 
 exposed the town of New London. It was sacked and 
 burnt by the " Traitor Arnold." Mr. Hempstead s fam 
 ily lived there and shared the fate of the place. Their 
 
60 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 house and property was destroyed, and his wife, nee 
 Mary Lewis, with some young children, 1 and afflicted 
 with the small-pox, fled six miles through the country. 
 Mr. Hempstead did not again enter the army. Soon 
 after, the capture of Cornwallis put an end to hostili 
 ties. It was twelve months before he recovered of his 
 wounds. He moved to St. Louis in 1811, where he 
 died in 1831. 
 
 1 One of these "young children " was Edward Hempstead, born 1780, 
 afterward first member of Congress from all the country west of the Mis 
 sissippi River, from whose memoir written 1818 by his friend Col. 
 Thomas H. Benton, author of Thirty Years in United States Senate, I 
 have taken much of the above account of Hempstead, Sr. A. 
 
NARRATIVE 
 
 OF 
 
 JOHN HEMPSTED. 1 
 
 I NOW Setdown to give a narrative of My proseding 
 on the 6th Day of Sept., 1781. All tho itt is forty- 
 eight years Sense the town of New London was Sack d 
 and Burnt By the British Solders under the command 
 of that infamos trater Benedick Arnel, itt is formillyer 
 as iff it was transacted yesterday. In the morning of 
 the sd day I was att my house in bed, between Brake 
 of Day and Sunrise. I hard the Signel of an-larm 2 by 
 the fireing of thre Cannon, althow Our Signol was two 
 cannon near to gether ; they fir d 3 to Deceve ; how 
 ever I turn d Out and ask d my wife to git Brakefast 
 as soon as possabel for I must go off. I went Down 
 on the hill about half mild Distant, now caled prospect 
 hill, Whare the fleet was in fare Site in a line acrost 
 the haber. There was 15 Sale of Ships an other 
 Square rig d Vessels, besides other Vesels. I came 
 
 1 That Mr. Hempsted was a laborious writer whose thoughts outran 
 his pen is evident from the interlineations and omissions of words in the 
 manuscript ; that he was a careless speller is seen in the fact that " fort " is 
 spelled correctly at first and afterward in four ways. Manwaring is right 
 and wrong almost in the same line, while the free use of capitals, strange 
 as it may seem to us now, is in accordance with the habit of the time in 
 which he was educated. A. 
 
 " I find in orders and other manuscripts of the time this word either an- 
 larm or a-larum. A. 
 
6a Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 home. My brakefast was redy. After Brakefast I 
 Said to my Son John to take the team & go intown 
 and Bring out his granmother Bill. My hors Being 
 redy I Slung my Musket & Cartrig Box and mounted 
 with my littel Black Boy to bring the hors Back. Ex- 
 peting to find people att the alarum post at Manwar- 
 ings hill. After I got Under Way my wife Called to 
 me prety loud. I Stopt my hors and ask d her What 
 She wanted. Her answer was Not to let me hear that 
 you are Shot in the Back. 
 
 I proseded to the alarum post and found nobody 
 thare. I rode down into the Strete, where my father 
 formerly liv d, and gave up my hors to my black Boy, 
 and Started on a foot, which was on my way to my Lit 
 Collon harris, but was overtaken by Capt. John Deshon 
 and Capt. Mickel Malley. They asked mee to gitt up 
 Behind One of thim & I Did, but I hav forgot which. 
 We Sune got to Col. Haris, & I Saw him Standing 
 on his Dore Stone. I Slipt of the hors & met the 
 Colo half the way from his house to the highway with 
 a Short willow Stick in his hand. My reply to him 
 was what is the news Colo? he replid the Enemy are 
 landing att Brown s farm. What is the order ? his 
 answer, go Down & make the best Defence you Can 
 with what men you Can gitt. I hope you will go with 
 me. his answer, I have Ben Sencherd for not giving 
 timely notis. You had Beter go with mee & So wee 
 parted. I went Down to Brown s farm. I got there 
 Sometime Before they landed & there was But About 
 forty men arm d. Wee watted while the enemy was 
 maning there botes. After they ware all mand they 
 Opend there brode Sides upon Both Shores, and all 
 landed under ther Cannon whos balls flew over Our 
 heads like hale Stones untill they ware all landed, itt 
 
Narrative of John Hemps ted. 63 
 
 was verry Still, there was One man Drest in Red 
 Stud up in the Starn of One of the botes, with his 
 Sword Drawn & Brandishing itt Over his head, & Said 
 Pull a way, God Dam you, Pull away, which I thaught 
 wass arnald. the men Sune landed and form d a line 
 from Lester gut to the White Beach & the Enemy ad- 
 Vanced with a Slow march untill they got upon high 
 Ground, & then they went quick from one wall to 
 another, and wee Retreted Exchangen Shot every 
 Opertunty. We Continued untill wee Brought them 
 within Cannon Shot of the foart On town hill, Vulgarly 
 Called fort Nonsence. When the forte opened upon 
 the Enemy the Shot fell Short, & wee ware between 
 two fires. Capt. Wm. Coit Spoke to me as he had no 
 Commanding ofesser, for God Sake Send or go to the 
 fort to Stop the fireing. I told him to go him Self, 
 he Repld that he had no Command. I told him then 
 go in my name, & he Went, & the firing Seased. We 
 Retreted, and Sune got near the fort att the house of 
 Wm. Hempsted. he Caled to mee and Asked me iff 
 I wolde take Sum jinn. I told him yes & thanky two. 
 I went to his dore next the Street, & he had a Case of 
 holland Jinn, which was well Excepted. Wm. was 
 harnest redy to march as itt hapen d-Capt. Willam 
 Coit, & Capt. Richard Deshon, Capt. Jonathan Cal 
 kins, & Capt. Nathll Salstanstell, which I Hed not 
 Sean before that day. We all Drank & Desperst, 
 Wm. Hempsted and all. I spoke to Sd Hempsted if 
 he was going to leave his Case of jin there; he Said 
 itt was no matter whare it was, the Dogs will find itt. 
 Come take hold of One handil, and wee Carred itt 
 west of his house, about Six rod, to a pease of patoes 
 with high weads, & wee bent the weades over them 
 & they never fownd the case of jinn. And then wee 
 
64 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Despers d. While wee ware there I presev d that the 
 Enemy fil d of from the left, as thoe there Intention 
 was to Soround the fort, by this time there wass 
 more peopel got there, & I spoke to them. Who will 
 goe along with mee ? Mr. George Smith sd I will go. 
 With that two more Said I will go with you, & wee 
 went to the northwest over the hill, and we posted Our 
 Selves In a Very advatagos place. We Soon Saw 
 thee enemy Comming ; wee Saw ther bagnert above 
 the corn advancing in a Ingan file. We before the 
 Enemy made any Stand we a gread to Reserve our 
 fire, they Said One and all lit Us fire. I told them I 
 would reserve my fire and wate for Orders. Very 
 Will, the Enemy by this time had got up to a Stone 
 wall about Six rods in Our frunt. this Wall was on 
 Our lefhand. When they ware 12 or 15 in number I 
 gave the word fire, it was no Suner Sad then Dun. 
 the Enemy return d the fire, but the men went to the 
 foart as I supos d. By this time perhaps 25 men had 
 Got in a huddel. I arose took Good ame. I Sea that 
 they ware Confused. I took a cartrig out of my Box. 
 But they Sune return d the fire. But Before I could 
 Load my pease two men with grene Cotes and long 
 fethers gumt over the wall with ther peases upon Re 
 cover. I Remembr what I thought. I can git as fur 
 from the Wall as they ware. I run towarde the fort, 
 that was about 30 Rod Distant. I had got but about 
 Six Rod from the wall. 1 look d Over my Sholder 
 when their Guns flasht, but hapy for mee one of thir 
 balls Struck a potato hill, clos by my feet, and the other 
 whistled by my hed. I Rember what I thaught that 
 they ware not Very good marks men. 
 
 I Repar d to the fort and found nobody there. I 
 
Narrative oj John Hemps ted. 65 
 
 found a quille of Riging on the prade. I Rold itt 
 under the platform & went Out of the Gates, & turned 
 to the right into the Intrenchment, & as I was in the 
 intrenchment the Enemy fired upon Mee & ther Shot 
 scoward the Dich On both Sides of Mee. I got 
 Round the corner & was Sum putoit 2 to get up the 
 dich. however I got up & over in Esq. millers Or 
 chard, which was Very thick and ful of leaves. By 
 this time the Enemy got into the fort & husard, and 
 they were answerd By a man, " Wilkom God damyou 
 to fort Non Sence." I look and Saw the man behind 
 a tree. I got behind another & they gave Us a Shot 
 in the orchard, but to no purpus. I mad the beste of 
 my way touards town. I got near David holtes, Now 
 John Coites, I heard Cannon On Manorng hill. I 
 made my way to the sd hill cross lots there. I found 
 2 feald peases, & Near a hundred men Olmost un- 
 arm d. there I found Capt. Richard Deshon & Wm. 
 Ashcraft, which Stuck By the Stuff, when as the Ene- 
 my advanced they all left us, But wee gave them two 
 Shot, as the Enemy apeard in Sight the peaple all 
 fled but Capt. Deshon & Wm. Ashcraft. I told Capt. 
 Deshon we would not be kild with Our One wepens. 
 I Sholderd a Sack of Cartridg s & Deshon the Ramer 
 & Spunge Ladel, and put them under the Brig By 
 Chapman house, & I put the Cartridges In Robart 
 Manworings lott and Bent the tops of weds over them. 
 I niver Saw Deshon after that for the day. After I 
 hid the Cartrgs I went down the hill. I intended to 
 git Behind Rich d Chapmans Barn. I Rec d a Volly 
 of Shot I Judg d about 20. the Shot Cut thrugh the 
 grass on Both Sid of me. I must Riturn back to 
 
 1 Coil of rigging. 2 Put to it. 
 
66 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 manworing hill, before Wee left the hill I Spok to 
 Wm. ashcraft to go to Chapmans house & get Sun- 
 thing to Spike up the Guns, & I Spoke Sumthing 
 Starn to him, & he Stopt & said there will bee nobody 
 har when I Com Back, yes I will be hear, hee went, 
 my speaking Loud Sumbody Cald to me and Said, 
 what Do you want, & I look d & itt wass Coin Haris, 
 whith I never see Sense morning with the same Stick, 
 harris went into the house & brought Out the Shank 
 of a Spike Gimblet, which answered no purpos. I 
 riturn d Behind Chapmans Barn. I went from the 
 Barn toward the highway to a pare of Bars, & as I was 
 Citing over the Bars, a musket Bal stuck into the lim 
 of a apel tree that Brancht over the bars about two 
 feet from my head, then I made my way for home for 
 this Reason, my father Died Lately, & his estate not 
 Setled, 1 I had all his Books & papers att my house. 
 But I Coold not Git horn no other way but to go 
 round mr. Winthrops house, By being Sorround by 
 the enemy. I had not got more than half the way to 
 where magor Richards after liv d I Saw the Enemy on 
 the top of mr. Winthrups house. I maid my way to 
 qaker hill, & there I found I Should say 5 hunderd 
 men, sum arm d & sum no armes. while I was there 
 majer D arrow Come Riding Down, & Said to the men 
 
 1 In the Gazette of September yth, the day following the battle, is the 
 following notice : 
 
 "All persons that are indebted to the estate of JOHN HEMPSTED, 
 Esq., late of New London, decesd, by book or note, are once more called 
 upon in the most pressing manner to settle the same, or they must not 
 take it amiss if after this notice they should be called upon in a more 
 disagreeable manner, which they may speclily expect (without respect of 
 persons) should they neglect a compliance with this request. 
 
 "JOHN HEMPSTED, Executor. 
 
 "New London, Sept. 4th, 1781." 
 
Narrative of John Hempsted 67 
 
 why the Devel dont yoo Go down & meet the Enemy? 
 Picket Latimer sd as he was there that he would not 
 Resk his life to Save other mens property, tho he was 
 the Capt. of the Endependt Cumpany att that time. 
 (Latimer was Burnt first.) I then mad the best of my 
 Way hom & packt up my fathers papers & books & 
 Carid them into the Swamp taking my Sun John & 
 young James Smith With mee that they might find 
 them if I didnot Come Back. I Eat my Dinner & 
 Sett out agane to follow the Enemy, but passing 
 Daniel Latimers, whare I supose thare was a hundred 
 men, I past them and had gott 20 or 30 Rods By, Colo. 
 Latimer Cauld to me to Cum back. I Repl d I could 
 not, I was In persute of the enemy, his Reply to me 
 was, I Command You to com back, then I Stopt & 
 Went back, he Detaned mee abot onei anower, & 
 Sent with me 2 other men, but whilst I was thare 
 Capt. John mcCarty & David Robart Came Riding 
 up to the Doare and Said Whare is that Dam d tory, 
 & they Rusht in to the house, & I Clost to there heels, 
 they saing whare is that Damid Tory, they was stopt 
 with the point of the baganet, by a Solder that stud 
 as a gard Over Thos. Fitch, whih ware taken near 
 Black point with a Drove of Sheep to Send to the 
 Enemy. I Return. On my progres from Latimers I 
 Shapt my Cours a cross lots, in Crossing Samuel 
 Garners lot about forty or fifty Rod West of Robart 
 Manworings house, I Come a Crost a man that was 
 Shot Throug the body with a musket ball. I had 
 sum Descorse with him & found out who hee was. I 
 found him to be What was Cauled A Refege. I left 
 him & past on. before I got halv way from Where 
 John Coits now lives & Col. Harris, I mett sum men 
 Brengin Sam el B. Hempsted in a blanket, he had a 
 
68 Battle of Grolon Heights. 
 
 Shot throug his thi. I wint a littel further & I met 
 Sum more men Brengin Jonathan whaly whih was 
 wounde. the Enemy had Gott So far & so few to fol 
 low, I Riturnd back into the town, which was then all 
 in ashes. I sot to Mr. Shaws Stone house whih was 
 
 o 
 
 on fire on the Ruf. this must Sarve for this Day, ex- 
 epting I returnd home & found nearly one hundred 
 peple woming & Children. The next Day I wint to 
 groten, & when I got over the other Side there I saw 
 Liet. Richard Chapman, John Holt, & John Cleark, in 
 a Bote Dead to bee Cared to New London. I went 
 to the fort on Groten hill to See the Carnag which 
 was Dredfull to Behold, there was about twenty men 
 lay Dead Side by Side, we found one man under the 
 platfm Dead, & there ware a Great many of the enemy 
 In the Ditch Round the Redout, which is before the 
 Gate, how many I Cant tell, for they ware not taken 
 out Whilst I was there. But the Enemy Intended to 
 blow up the fort for they Stroed a train of powder 
 from the gate to the magesean & itt burnt from the 
 gate about half way to the magesean, and the Comun- 
 ication was cut of by a mans fingers which Sean in the 
 durt. I Stay d there until all most night & I went 
 home, the 3 Day I took my hors and Went to town 
 hill, to fourt Nonsence, as itt Was Call d, & as I was 
 
 Seting on my hors looking into the fort, Mr. William 
 Hempstead Called to mee. I asked him Watt he 
 Wanted, his answer wass Cum & Drink Sum of Your 
 Jin, & I wint to him. he Sase to me I have Got the 
 Jin. the Dogs hav not found itt. through your 
 means I Saved it. He said to me which way did you 
 go when you left me. I told him that I was Jellos that 
 the enemy was Going to Surround us & cut us of from 
 
<; 
 
 K; 
 
 , ,, ,,, ; 
 
Narrative of John Hempsted. 69 
 
 the fort. I Saw them filing of from there left Wing, 
 as tho that was thar Desine. I went over into Mr. 
 Ways lot. I Saw them advans. I saw ther Byonets 
 over the Growing Corn, & wee three in number lay In 
 ambush in a very safe place, & the Enemy advancin 
 in an Indian file, they advansed to a Stone Wall that 
 Coverd our left hand. Wee lay conseald untill they 
 Gethered ; about a Dusen or fifteen had Colected. I 
 Bid them to fire. I had agred before, that I would 
 Reserve my fire, they Ware about Six rod Distant 
 from us. they Deschargd there peases & run to the 
 fort, they returnd the fire. by this time I supose 
 about twenty Colected. then I arose & Gave them a 
 Shot & Run toward the fort. Hempsted, he sade, Did 
 you Know you kild any of them. I Didnot carting. 1 
 well there Was two Kild, and wee went to See, & It 
 was as Evident as that there had been two hogs kild, 
 By the blood & whare they Draged them away 
 through a feald of potoes, & ther Sholders tore up the 
 potatoes out of the hills. 
 
 From the three Black marks on the other Side 
 Back of this Was the Descorse that past Between 
 Wm. Hempsted and myself on the 3d Day after. I 
 had the command of a company of militia of forty od 
 men, & I never Saw but Seven of them that day, as 
 they lived upon the shore, and ther famely ware ex 
 posed to the ravagis of the Enemy. 
 
 The Fore going is What I past throug the 6th Day 
 of Septr., 1781. 
 
 JOHN HEMPSTED. 
 
 1 Certain. 
 
NARRATIVE OF THOMAS HERTELL. 
 
 NEW YORK, 1832. 
 
 COL. JOHN FELLOWS. SIR: In answer to 
 your inquiries in regard to the conduct of the 
 British troops which stormed Fort Griswold at Gro- 
 ton in Connecticut during the Revolutionary War, it 
 may be proper to premise that being in New London 
 at the time of its capture and conflagration by the 
 British forces under the command of that infamous 
 traitor Gen. Benedict Arnold on the 6th of September, 
 1781, I was an eye-witness of the attack on Fort 
 Griswold on the east side of New London Harbor. 
 Though a minute detail of all the interesting occur 
 rences connected with that affair may not be necessary 
 to the object of your inquiry, I deem it proper to em 
 brace the present occasion to note among others some 
 matters which I have not seen recorded in any history 
 of the Revolution. That portion of Arnold s forces 
 which invested Fort Griswold was variously stated at a 
 Thousand to Fifteen Hundred men [the British said 
 eight hundred] and were commanded by Lieut. Col. 
 Eyre. This incursion early in the morning was so 
 sudden and unexpected that only 1 78 militia [officers 
 included] were enabled to reach the Fort before it be 
 came necessary to close the gates. 
 
 The enemy divided into two columns made the at 
 tack simultaneously on the east and west sides of the 
 fort. That on the east was led by Lieut-Col. Eyre, 
 who fell in the first assault. That on the west was 
 
Narrative of Thomas Hertell. 71 
 
 commanded by Major Montgomery, who was killed 
 near the close of the action. 
 
 Three times did the British columns advance in 
 close order with trailed arms and on a run at full speed, 
 with their officers in their rear to oblige them to keep 
 their position and to goad them on ; and three times 
 did they quail before a little band of brave but undis 
 ciplined republican soldiers who caused death and de 
 struction, in a " lead and iron tempest," exultingly to 
 revel in blood and carnage through their fugitive and 
 flying ranks. Then the conflict seemed to be drawing 
 to a close. The fort ceased firing, and nothing was 
 seen of the enemy but a few officers riding to and 
 fro and endeavoring to rally scattered fragments of 
 their broken columns. The men, dismayed and dis 
 heartened, had taken shelter, some behind rocks, some 
 in holes, some behind hillocks, and others lay flat un 
 der cover of the undulations of the ground, and none 
 appeared standing within sight and reach from the fort. 
 
 They had ceased firing. Except as if in despair, and 
 as if in despite a single musket was occasionally dis 
 charged from the lurking-place of a skulking fugitive. 
 A random shot from one of these accidentally cut the 
 halyards of the flag-staff, and the colors were con 
 sequently, by a brisk southwest wind, blown outside 
 the fort. This unfortunate occurrence scarcely gave 
 plausibility to the falsehood immediately proclaimed 
 by the British officers, that the fort had struck, or in 
 their polished and more common phrase, " the damned 
 Yankees had struck tkeir colors * 
 
 Thus deceived and drawn from their hidinsr-places 
 
 O 1 
 
 a fourth attack ensued; though more irregular, pro 
 tracted, and bloody than either of the preceding, was 
 finally successful. But a dear-bought victory it was. 
 
J2 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 The loss of the British was more than double the whole 
 number of Americans in the fort. Considering the 
 great disparity of the conflicting forces, a few undisci 
 plined citizens and farmers, many of whom had never 
 before been in battle, or had never seen a gun fired in 
 anger, engaged with more than four times their own 
 numbers of veteran regular disciplined troops : a more 
 obstinate, determined, resolute, and gallant defence per 
 haps never before occurred in any nation. A more 
 protracted, hard-fought, and bloody battle probably was 
 not fought during our Revolutionary struggle, and cer 
 tainly none which reflected more honor on American 
 bravery or more dishonor on British troops. 
 
 On entering the works the officer, on whom had de 
 volved the command of the remnant of the British 
 forces, demanded, " Who commands this fort ? " The 
 gallant Col. Ledyard advancing, answered, " Sir, I had 
 that honor but now you have," - - and presented the hilt 
 of his sword to the victor, who demanded, " Do you 
 know the rules a/war?" " Certainly," said Col. Led 
 yard. " Then," replied the savage victor, " You rebel, 
 prepare for death," and immediately with Col. Led- 
 yard s own sword run him through the body. 
 
 A general massacre by the British then ensued; 
 after which seventy or more of the dead and badly 
 wounded of the Americans were collected and laid 
 side by side on their backs and brutally bayoneted 
 again. One young man, a nephew of Col. Ledyard, 
 was discovered secreted in the gun-room covered with 
 wounds, but who saved his life by bribery. Only one 
 man (John Clark of New London) was killed before 
 the enemy entered the fort, when the British had 
 lost nearly half their troops. And only one man of the 
 Americans (and he by stratagem) escaped without a 
 wound. 
 
Narrative of Thomas Her tell. 73 
 
 To complete the work of cruelty and death, the re 
 maining wounded Americans, some of whom might 
 have survived, were thrown into wagons and precipi 
 tated down the hill, on the summit of which the fort 
 is situated, toward the river. Some were instantly 
 killed, and others badly injured, and but few if any sur 
 vived this act of wanton cruelty ; and certainly no indi 
 vidual American who defended the fort and escaped 
 death was indebted for his life to the magnanimity or 
 humanity of British officers or men. 
 
 In concurrence with the general and deep indigna 
 tion excited by the above-mentioned cruelties of the 
 enemy, Gen 1 Washington gave orders to Gen 1 Wayne 
 to retaliate on the British garrison at Stony Point, dis 
 obedience of which order was overlooked and excused 
 on account of its humanity. 
 
 I could add many other interesting details of occur 
 rences that took place on the memorable occasion 
 above noted and which would honorably contrast the 
 bravery and humanity of American citizen soldiers 
 with the savage brutality of the mercenary myrmidons 
 of the British King George III. I presume, however, 
 the above is sufficient for the object of your inquiry. 
 Very Respectfully, 
 
 THOS. HERTELL.i 
 
 1 This account of Hertell contains many statements that are not in 
 agreement with the other accounts, but it serves to show the town talk 
 of the time, and its recollections by him fifty-one years after. The state 
 ment that the colors fell outside the fort does not agree with the fact that 
 Luke Perkins mounted them on a pike-pole. The loss of the British is 
 greatly exaggerated, and helps to show how hard a matter it is to get at 
 the true facts of minor incidents. Stony Point retaken July 16, 1779. 
 
 The account of the conversation occurring before the death of Colonel 
 Ledyard is entirely new. I never heard of it before, or met with any one 
 who had. It is probably such as Hertell heard, and is certainly of the 
 nature of the altercations of the heroes of Troy as related by Homer. 
 There seems no reason to doubt his belief in the truth of the story. A. 
 
THE EXPERIENCE 
 
 OF 
 
 JONATHAN BROOKS, 
 
 AT NEW LONDON, ON THE 6TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1781. 
 
 MY father, who belonged to what was called the 
 Independent Company in the militia, and was 
 also a business man, rose at early dawn and walked 
 down to the bank so called, which was the lookout 
 for the harbor. There he saw the enemy s fleet at the 
 mouth of the harbor, and quickly returned and took 
 me down with him to see what was going on. The 
 fleet had not then all anchored, but were dropping in 
 by the western point fast. He said, " they are going 
 to land ; go home, take the bridle and get the horse 
 from the pasture as quickly as possible." I did so, 
 and the horse was soon at the door, the pasture being 
 about a mile and a half off. The horse was then 
 loaded with a bed and some clothing and other valua 
 ble^. My father then mounted and was gone about 
 one hour and a half, and on returning said he had 
 deposited his load and provided quarters for his family 
 at a place he named, about two miles and a half dis 
 tant. He then gave directions that my brothers Na 
 than, seven, and John, five years of age, should drive 
 the cow to the rendezvous and remain there, and that 
 my mother and sister should repair thither with all 
 possible speed. 
 
Experience of Jonathan Brooks. 75 
 
 He then armed and equipped himself, mounted his 
 horse, taking me behind him to bring the horse back, 
 telling the family I should be left in charge of the 
 house when I returned. There I was to await the ar 
 rival of the enemy in case they succeeded in carrying 
 the fort and town, at the same time charging me to 
 treat them civilly, and furnish them with whatever they 
 called for that the house afforded which at that 
 time was well stocked with good things ; that he him 
 self should, in case he was not killed or badly wounded, 
 and the enemy made good their landing and could 
 not be defeated or stopped, retreat back to his prop 
 erty, which was in buildings and his all, and there 
 make a stand and act according to circumstances. 
 We rode by the fort gate on the lower road, meaning 
 to go to the lighthouse by White Beach, but on com 
 ing to the beach it was found that the enemy s small 
 craft were so near in, that we could see the soldiers 
 plainly, and hear them converse. The ships at this 
 time kept up a heavy cannonade; we then left the 
 shore and struck for the heights across the lots. 
 Being unacquainted we came to a place that was miry, 
 and very difficult for the horse to pass through; in 
 short he stuck fast, and we then dismounted and eot 
 
 O 
 
 the horse out of the mire. Before we re-mounted, 
 being but a little distance from where the horse mired, 
 a shot passed through the thicket directly across 
 where we stood to disentangle him, and cut off several 
 saplings of the size of a man s wrist. Whether we 
 were discovered by the ships and fired at, or whether 
 it was a chance shot I know not ; at any rate it made 
 us look around. We then made for the cross road 
 that connects the upper and lower roads. At the head 
 of the road we fell in with about one hundred citizens, 
 
76 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 volunteer soldiers armed and equipped. My father 
 dismounted and joined them. The party then fell 
 into conversation about how they should manage, hav 
 ing no commanding officer. Some who had no ex 
 perience in war matters were for fighting at any odds, 
 saying, " let us form where we are and contest the 
 ground inch by inch ; " but Captain Nathaniel Salton- 
 stall, who once commanded the ship Putnam, said, 
 " gentlemen, whether I have as much courage as many 
 who have given their opinion, I shall not undertake to 
 say ; but this I will say, for one I will not be such a 
 fool as to stand here open breasted and be shot down 
 by the very first volley of the enemy s fire." The 
 enemy were at this time in sight marching in solid 
 columns. At this juncture Colonel Harris rode up 
 with his sword by his side. I can this instant in 
 imagination see him. The band were all much 
 elated at seeing him, saying, " now, colonel, we have 
 somebody to command us, and are at your service." 
 The colonel replied, " You must excuse me, gentle 
 men, as I have a violent sick-headache this morning, 
 and can hardly sit on my horse," then turning his 
 horse and riding off. This conduct of the colonel so 
 enraged many of the people that they were almost 
 like madmen, some cocking and presenting their guns, 
 which were loaded, exclaiming, " let s shoot the d d 
 rascal." The party now left to themselves, on the 
 sober second thought hapened to hit upon Captain 
 Saltonstall, to whom they now looked to command 
 them, and asked him what they should do there was 
 no time for parley now. He said, " My advice is to 
 divide ourselves into two parties, each taking the stone 
 wall which is on each side of the road for our shelter ; 
 each man take care of himself, and get a shot at the 
 
Experience of Jonathan Brooks. 77 
 
 enemy as best he can." This course was taken, and 
 Benedict Arnold and his army of traitors (for they 
 were almost all of them refugees) were much annoyed 
 by them. My father now told me to return home, put 
 the horse in the barn, and await the arrival of himself 
 or the enemy. I mounted and rode as far as Fort 
 Nonsense, on Town Hill. Seeing quite a bustle there, 
 and having some notion of seeing the fight, I hitched 
 my horse to the wall, and mounted to the top of a very 
 tall sycamore tree. I stayed in the top of the tree 
 until I saw the drag-ropes fixed to the field-pieces and 
 manned for retreat. I then took myself down not very 
 slow, and was off. Directly afterward I fell in with a 
 great booby of a boy whom I knew ; he was crying ; 
 he said his horse had thrown him, and he wished to go 
 to his Uncle Harris s, the colonel s, almost opposite 
 Fort Nonsense. 1 I said to him, Charles, if you go that 
 way you may see trouble. He cried, and I assisted 
 him to re-mount, and my horse soon cut dirt for home. 
 I was inquired of as I passed, and I told them the 
 enemy had landed, and would be upon them in a 
 twinkling. There was motion and commotion then in 
 good earnest. I arrived safe home, put the horse in 
 the barn according to orders, and then seated myself 
 in a conspicuous place on the side of the street, wait 
 ing with anxiety to see the red coats enter Bradley 
 Street. All was perfect silence, and there seemed to 
 be a kind of solemnity reigning in the place. 2 The si- 
 
 1 The house occupied at that time by Colonel Harris is still preserved, 
 and known to the citizens of New London as the "Robinson House," 
 now owned by Thomas Fitch, Esq. H. 
 
 2 Bradley Street, at that time containing twelve to fifteen buildings, 
 consisting mostly of humble dwellings, entirely escaped the conflagra 
 tion. It has been said these were spared because it was called the " Wid 
 ows Row." 
 
78 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 lence was soon broken by the entrance of five or six 
 shabby looking fellows into the street on the full run 
 from the south. They passed me without notice, so 
 intent were they probably on the prospect before them, 
 for they shouted as they passed, "by G d, we ll have 
 fine plunder by-and-by." Very soon I heard a great 
 noise, and I mounted higher on the fence and looked 
 in the direction that the noise proceeded from and 
 saw the doors of a storehouse open, 1 which contained 
 the goods of the prize ship Hannah, fhe invoice of 
 which was ,80,000 sterling. The goods were flying 
 out of the store, and I should think thirty or forty per 
 sons were loading themselves with plunder and scam 
 pering off. 
 
 I now heard the call of my mother, who I supposed 
 had gone and left the house. She inquired where the 
 horse was, and on being informed told me to get it 
 and bring it to the door as quick as possible. I did 
 so. She then brought a large sack, saying, |; these are 
 very valuable papers of your father s, and you must 
 take them out to your Uncle Richard s," 2 (the place 
 provided for the family to flee to.) I remonstrated, 
 saying, " my father s orders were not to leave the 
 house, and that I should lose the chance of seeing the 
 Regulars " for so the British troops were then called. 
 But she urged me to go, saying, " go, my son, you can 
 get back time enough to see them ; I shall follow di 
 rectly after you." I did go, but I had not proceeded 
 fifty rods before I heard the musketry going crack, 
 
 1 This store-house was situated on " the beach " (Water Street), the 
 second street below that in which Brooks had taken his stand of observa 
 tion. 
 
 2 Lieutenant Richard Chapman, who fell that day in the defence of 
 Fort Griswold. 
 
Experience of Jonathan Brooks. 79 
 
 crack, on the whole westerly side of the town. I, how 
 ever, moved quickly on, and when I came to the head 
 of the cove the street was so crowded with the fleeing 
 women and children, all loaded with something, that I 
 had to move slowly. They inquired where the enemy 
 were. I said, " they will be among you within five 
 minutes if you delay." Their loading was soon thrown 
 down, and they started on a quick pace. 1 I passed 
 on, turning the corner toward Post Hill, and when I 
 turned the corner into the Cohanzy Road the bullets 
 flew whistling over my head at no small rate ; I just 
 went clear and that was all, for the enemy were in 
 possession of Post Hill. I went with my bag of pa 
 pers to the place directed, and went out and gathered 
 peaches, for to return to town at this time was out of 
 the question. In about one hour my mother arrived. 
 She inquired of me where Nathan and John were. It 
 will be recollected that they were sent with the cow 
 in the morning. I told her I had not seen them. 
 She appeared to be violently agitated and alarmed, 
 and at length she said : " Get up the horse and look 
 for them ; go here, go there, go everywhere " - all in 
 a breath. I did go, and rode and rode, and returned 
 and reported no tidings of the boys, and off again, 
 until at length I was almost wrought up into a frenzy 
 myself. I then made up my mind to cross over to 
 
 1 Miss Caulkins, in writing of the terrible consternation and alarm of 
 this day, relates the following affecting incident : 
 
 "Amid the bustle of these scenes, when each one was laden with what 
 was nearest at hand or dearest to his heart, one man was seen hastening 
 alone to the burial-ground, with a small coffin under his arm. His child 
 had died the day before, and he could not leave it unburied. In haste 
 and trepidation he threw up the mold, and deposited his precious burden ; 
 then covering it quickly and setting up a stone to mark the place, he hur 
 ried away to secure other beloved ones from a more cruel spoiler." 
 
80 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Quaker Hill, on the Norwich road, and if I could not 
 hear of them there, to enter the town at all hazards, 
 for I conceived it possible that being unable to drive 
 the cow where directed, for she was in her former pas 
 ture, that they were disheartened, and had returned to 
 the house in town, and as the town was on fire, might, 
 as I conceived, be burnt in the house. My God, how 
 my heart-strings vibrated at this idea ! Go ahead and 
 save them, says I. With much difficulty I crossed 
 over the lots an unknown way to me to the Nor 
 wich road, and made fruitless inquiries. 
 
 The militia from Norwich and the adjacent country 
 had arrived, commanded by a Colonel Rogers, I be 
 lieve, and were ordered to halt on the hill. I, how 
 ever, pushed on for the town, but was immediately 
 stopped by a sentinel, who inquired where I was going. 
 I replied, " into New London." He said, " you cannot 
 go, the enemy are there." I told him I must and 
 should go, come what might. The soldier seeing my 
 determination, seized my bridle and lifted me off the 
 horse and sent me to the colonel. The colonel told 
 me that he was very busy, but that I must not go into 
 town. He was then conversing with his officers about 
 going on a reconnoitering party to a projecting point 
 of land that hung, as it were, over the town. As soon 
 as the party were mounted I stepped up to the colonel 
 and said, " Sir, will you please to let me go with you ? " 
 He replied, " certainly, my lad." I mounted my horse 
 and followed along in the rear. When we came to the 
 brink of the hill the party turned to the left into a 
 private road that led to a farm, in order to gain the 
 point of observation. At this time they were much 
 engaged in conversation. Now s your time, says I to 
 myself; go it, Jenny for that was the name of the 
 
Experience of Jonathan Brooks. 81 
 
 mare and I put on the string. I entered the north 
 end of the town, passed into Main Street about twenty 
 rods, when the heat and smoke of the burning build 
 ings was such that I could not urge the mare on. I, 
 however, retreated back about twenty rods, put on the 
 whip, and she went through. I had just cleared the 
 burning district at that point, when there was a store, 
 containing a large quantity of gunpowder, blew up, 
 which filled the air with smoke and fragments, which 
 fell around me in every direction. I, however, jogged 
 on unharmed, passed into Bradley Street, where my 
 father s principal buildings were, none of which were 
 burnt, and I satisfied myself that there was no one in 
 the house we occupied. I saw a heavy fire raging on 
 the parade, which was the Court House, Jail, Episcopal 
 Church, &c. I, of course, could not pass that way, 
 and, indeed, the smoke was so dense there being 
 but little wind no object whatever could be discov 
 ered. I retraced my steps, passed again into Main 
 Street, turned the corner to the right into State Street. 
 No object at this point was discernable on the parade, 
 owing to the density of the smoke. I rode on till 
 opposite the printing office of Timothy Green, Esq., 1 
 where in the street flat on his back lay a drunken 
 British soldier, with his gun bayoneted lying beside 
 him. This, I thought, was a good prize, so I slipped 
 softly off of the horse and seized the gun. His car 
 tridge-box and bayonet-sheath were slung to him, and 
 I did not attempt to meddle with them for fear of wak 
 ing him. I made several attempts in various ways to 
 mount with the gun, but could not succeed, and so I 
 threw it over the fence and left him, thinking I would 
 let well enough alone. 
 
 1 Upper corner of State and Green streets. 
 6 
 
82 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 I now passed out of town to Rockdale Place, where 
 my Grandfather Chapman lived, and still no news of 
 my brothers. 
 
 After leaving Rockdale I fell in with Colonel Lati- 
 mer and a flock of old tories, whose names I could 
 mention if so disposed. To Colonel Latimer I told 
 the place and situation of the British soldier, which he 
 said he would have attended to. The soldier was 
 found and detained a prisoner not, however, by the 
 colonel s means. I was disapointed in not finding my 
 father at the house as he had appointed, and concluded 
 that he was either killed, wounded, or a prisoner; but 
 he was neither. At the time I was in the house he, 
 with a few more inhabitants that were in town, were 
 engaged in the smoke on the parade trying to arrest 
 the progress of the fire, and stop it from passing into 
 Bradley Street, which they succeeded in doing, and 
 saved that part of the town. 
 
 Thus you may understand that I passed through the 
 principal streets of New London on the afternoon of 
 the 6th of September, 1781, and never saw a single 
 living creature, except one singed cat, that ran across 
 the street when the store blew up; the soldier was not 
 living, certainly, for he was dead drunk. I was the 
 first person that entered the town after the retreat of 
 the enemy, and from circumstances must have been 
 directly at their heels. My uncle, Richard Chapman, 
 lieutenant under Captain Adam Shaply, at Fort Trum- 
 bull, was killed in the massacre at Fort Griswold, on 
 the heights opposite New London, on that disastrous 
 day. 
 
 JONATHAN BROOKS. 
 POST HILL, 1840. 
 
A NARRATIVE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BATTLE ON GROTON HEIGHTS, 
 
 SEPTEMBER 6TH, 1781. 
 
 BY 
 
 AVERY DOWNER, M. D. 
 
 ASSISTANT SURGEON OF THE EIGHTH REGIMENT OF CONNECTICUT MILITIA. 1 
 
 ON the morning of the 6th of September, 1781, a 
 British fleet of twenty-four sail was discovered 
 entering the harbor of New London. Arnold, the 
 commander, being a native of Norwich, and well ac 
 quainted with the river and harbor, which was of much 
 service to him, and also many tories and traitors of 
 equal infamy with himself accompanied him, which is 
 evidence that traitors indulge more revenge than a 
 common enemy. 
 
 I performed militia military duty as rank and file, by 
 detachment from my company and regiment at Fort 
 Griswold, a number of times during the summer of 
 1779. In 1781 I served as an assistant surgeon of the 
 
 1 This narrative was first prepared for use as an address on September 
 6, 1849, but was not used, the attendance being so small on account of a 
 rain-storm. A. 
 
84 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 8th regiment of Connecticut militia, including Fort 
 Griswold in its limits. I well remember the morning 
 of the alarm two guns from the fort in a given time 
 was the alarm. This the enemy well understood, and 
 they fired a third, by which we in Preston were de 
 ceived, being fourteen miles distant. Doctor Joshua 
 Downer, my father, and surgeon of the said 8th regi 
 ment, said to me and others in the morning that the 
 firing must be an alarm ; but it was doubted, until the 
 smoke of New London appeared like a cloud, which I 
 well remember. My father immediately started for 
 the fort and ordered me to follow him. 
 
 On his arrival near the meeting-house he met Benja 
 min Bill and others who had escaped from the enemy 
 slightly wounded. He dressed their wounds, and pro 
 ceeded to the house of James Bailey, where he found 
 Charles Eldridge wounded in the knee. He dressed 
 him and proceeded, by orders from the field officers of 
 his regiment, to the house of Ebenezer Avery. The 
 surviving British commander, Bloomfield, had ordered 
 all the wounded to be collected on the bank of the 
 river near the house. All that were able to go to New 
 York were sent down to the shipping ; the remainder 
 were paroled and left. 
 
 Soon after the enemy were gone my father and 
 Doctor Prentiss went into the house and took charge 
 of forty wounded men. I got to their assistance at 
 about twelve o clock at night. Captain Youngs Led- 
 yard and one more died before morning. By daylight 
 all were taken care of, and we with others went into 
 the fort. When we came to Colonel Ledyard, the 
 friend and neighbor of Doctor Prentiss, he exclaimed, 
 " Oh my God, I cannot endure this ! " 
 
 Our dead were by the enemy mostly left on the 
 
Narrative of A very Downer. 85 
 
 parade in front of the barracks ; their dead they buried 
 in the ditch, of a triangular work, made to cover the 
 gate. Major Montgomery they buried on the right 
 of the gate as we pass out, which I well remember. 1 
 According to Arnold s dispatches to His Excellency 
 Sir Henry Clinton, dated Plum Island, September 8th, 
 1781, it appears that the forces which he sent on the 
 Groton side of the river consisted of the 4Oth and 54th 
 British regiments, and the 3d battalion of New Jersey 
 volunteers, with a detachment of Yaggers and artillery, 
 all under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre. 
 
 Arnold landed his division on the New London side 
 of the river, and was informed by friends that Fort 
 Griswold contained only about twenty or thirty men. 
 In this his good friends deceived him, for in his dis 
 patches he says that the defence was so obstinate that 
 he sent an officer to countermand his order for assault 
 just as the fort was carried. Fort Trumbull on the 
 New London side of the river was little more than a 
 
 1 The Hon. J. P. C. Mather relates that some years since, during his 
 official residence in Hartford Colonel Samuel Green, son and successor 
 of Timothy Green, publisher of Connecticut Gazette in 1781, related to 
 him that some years after the battle an Irish gentleman came to New 
 London selling a patent, or appliance connected with printing. After dis 
 posing of that business, at his request, Colonel Green took him to the 
 scene of the battle on Groton Heights, where he sought out a survivor of 
 the fight, from whom he learned of the exact place of Major Montgomery s 
 burial; and explained that he came from the same town as the Major, 
 whose sisters, still living, had charged him, if his travels in America 
 brought him near the place of their brother s death, to find his grave and 
 if possible procure his skull and bring it home to be buried within the 
 family circle in the old church-yard. 
 
 With the assistance of the Colonel and the survivor he obtained the 
 sought-for relic and departed well pleased with the result of his visit. After 
 the above was written, in an interview with a daughter of one of the sur 
 vivors, she volunteered the same information as occurring within her own 
 knowledge. Though not quite so full, as to the interested parties, her 
 facts agreed with the above. A. 
 
86 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 water battery open from behind, and the enemy com 
 ing in that direction the men spiked their guns and 
 crossed the river and went into Fort Griswold. 
 
 On the approach of the British the commander sent 
 a Captain Beckwith, a Jersey refugee, to demand a 
 surrender of the fort. Colonel Ledyard ordered a shot 
 fired in front, which stopped the flag. He then sent 
 Captain Amos Stanton and Captain Shapley with his 
 flag ; the demand of Beckwith was refused and the 
 flags returned. 
 
 Eyre and Montgomery then advanced their col 
 umns, and the attack commenced on three sides of the 
 fort at the same time. 
 
 In about forty minutes the assailants entered the 
 fort. According to Arnold s dispatches, before referred 
 to, as published in Green s paper of New London, 
 (Connecticut Gazette^} it appears that his loss was 
 
 KILLED. WOUNDED. 
 
 i Major, i Lieutenant-Colonel, 
 
 1 Captain 3 Captains, 
 
 2 Sergeants, 2 Lieutenants, 
 44 Rank and File. 2 Ensigns, 
 Since died of wounds, 3 Sergeants, 
 
 i Captain, 2. Drummers, 
 
 i Lieutenant, 127 Rank and File, 
 
 i Ensign. 
 
 Total killed and died of wounds, 51. Total wounded, 
 deducting three since died of wounds, 137. 
 
 The American loss was, killed, 84 ; wounded, 40. 
 
 Stephen Hempstead, one of the wounded survivors 
 of the action, went to the State of Missouri, near St. 
 Louis, in 1811. He published there a narrative of the 
 battle on Groton Heights correct in some things 
 
Narrative of Avery Downer. 87 
 
 and very incorrect in others and particularly so in 
 the case of Colonel Nathan Gallup. In his narrative 
 he says: " But a militia colonel was in the fort, and 
 promised Colonel Ledyard that if he would hold out 
 he would reinforce him in fifteen minutes with two or 
 three hundred men. Colonel Ledyard agreed to send 
 back a defiance upon the most solemn assurance of 
 immediate succour. For this purpose Colonel - 
 started, his men being then in sight ; but he was no 
 more seen, nor did he even attempt a diversion in 
 our favor." Almost every person knew that Colonel 
 Nathan Gallup was meant. He was at that time 
 lieutenant-colonel of the 8th regiment of Connecticut 
 Militia. 
 
 The true facts in the case are these : Colonel Ben- 
 adam Gallup was in the fort previous to the action. 
 Colonel Ledyard requested him to go back as far as 
 Captain Belton s and urge on the men, but before he 
 had time to return the enemy were so near that he 
 could not re-enter the fort. 1 
 
 In 1782 Colonel McClellen, of Woodstock, was com 
 mander of New London harbor. At that time a court- 
 martial was held for the trial of officers. Colonel Na 
 than Gallup came before said court as a prisoner, 
 under six specific charges, from the whole of which he 
 was acquitted with honor and his certificate of acquit 
 tal signed by all the officers of the court, viz. the fol 
 lowing : 
 
 1 Colonel Benadam Gallup, an older brother of Colonel Nathan Gallup, 
 was an old man, of prominence in the town, but had no military office at 
 the time, his title being acquired in the time of the French War. 
 
 Colonel Nathan was court-martialed and acquitted, but Benadam, not 
 being of the military, had no tribunal but that of popular opinion, which 
 unfortunately for him was in need of a victim, and by some mischance he 
 became the target for abuse, as responsible for the lack of a diversion in 
 favor of the garrison, as any old resident of Groton will remember. 
 
88 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Roger Newberry, of Hartford County, President. 
 
 Hezekiah Bissel, of Windham, Judge Advocate. 
 
 Joshua Downer, Surgeon. 
 
 Avery Downer, Assistant Surgeon. 
 Medical staff of said 8th regiment of Connecticut Mil 
 itia. 
 
 When I look over the names inscribed on the tab 
 lets of the monument erected as a memorial of their 
 heroism, language fails me to express my feelings. 
 With many of them I was well acquainted, particu 
 larly with Captain Amos Staunton and his lieutenant, 
 Henry Williams, both natives of Groton, and at that 
 time home on furloughs from the army. 
 
 They went into the conflict as volunteers, left their 
 wives and children and everything near and dear to 
 them, in defending the rights of their country. Can 
 we and shall we, their descendants, pass over the 
 memory of such patriotic men, and their invincible 
 courage and fortitude be forgotten ? No ; let their 
 heroism and valor be engraved on the tablets of our 
 hearts and all that may follow us, and endure as long 
 as the sun and the moon shall light the day and the 
 night. 
 
 This narrative is this day finished with my own 
 hand. I am 88 years and 5 months old. 
 
 AVERY DOWNER. 
 PRESTON, April I7th, 1851. 
 
A NARRATIVE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CAPTURE OF FORT GRISWOLD, 
 
 AND INCIDENTS CONNECTED THEREWITH, AS RELATED BY 
 
 MAYOR GEORGE MIDDLETON, OF NEWARK, N. Y., 
 
 AN EYE-WITNESS OF THE SCENE. 
 
 I AM perhaps the only person living who witnessed 
 the capture of Fort Griswold by the British on 
 the 6th day of September, 1781, and although now in 
 my eighty-sixth year, my recollection of the scene and 
 its incidents is as vivid as if the event transpired but 
 yesterday. 
 
 At that time I was only twelve years old, but the 
 reader, methinks, will not wonder if the scenes of my 
 boyhood days come thronging back upon the memory 
 of an aged man with much of the distinctness of a 
 present reality when those scenes were impressed upon 
 the mind amid the booming of cannon and the agoniz 
 ing shrieks of those who stood on an eminence from 
 the scene of conflict, and saw their husbands, sons, and 
 lovers falling, one by one, before the wasting fire of 
 the enemy. 
 
 I resided with my father in the town of Groton, 
 about two miles east of New London. 
 
 The reader is aware that New London was, at the 
 time of the Revolution, a place of considerable note, 
 and was situated on the west side of the river Thames ; 
 
go Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 on the east side of the river was what was then called 
 Groton Bank, and was then quite a village. Farther 
 east of this was Fort Griswold. This fort was situated 
 on a high hill, and was surrounded by a trench or ditch 
 about five feet deep and some six or eight feet in 
 width. On the morning of the 6th of September, 
 1781, I was awoke by the firing of cannon, and upon 
 ascending a height a short distance from my father s 
 residence, which overlooked New London, the harbor s 
 mouth, and from which I could gain a fair view of the 
 fort and the distance between that and the harbor. 
 From this point I descried the British fleet off the 
 mouth of New London harbor in the act of landing 
 their troops on the east and west side of the harbor. 
 Soon after ascending the hill, the women and children 
 began to congregate there, wringing their hands, and 
 crying, " Oh, my son ! " children crying, " Oh, my 
 father !" and " Oh, my brother ! " 
 
 These troops were commanded by General Arnold, 
 the traitor, who landed with a portion of the troops on 
 the west, or New London side of the river, near by 
 the light-house, about two miles below New London, 
 and marched up and took Fort Trumbull, which stood 
 on a peninsula of land about one quarter of a mile 
 south of New London, and from there marched his 
 troops into New London and set it on fire, by which 
 it was almost wholly reduced to ashes. The other di 
 vision of troops landed on the east side of the river at 
 a place called Groton Point, and under the command 
 of Col. Eyre and Major Montgomery. This division 
 on landing was again divided, one portion marching 
 directly towards Fort Griswold and the other portion 
 marching further east, and keeping under cover of 
 thick woods until they got to the terminus of the 
 
Narrative of George Middleton. 9 1 
 
 woods at a great gate opening through a thick stone 
 wall, and being a little south of east on a direct line 
 from the fort. Here the division halted, and Major 
 Montgomery sent Captain Beckwith with a flag to the 
 fort to demand its surrender. Colonel Ledyard, the 
 commander of the fort, sent a flag and met Beckwith, 
 who demanded a surrender of the fort. The bearer 
 of the American flag answered, " Colonel Ledyard 
 will maintain the fort to the last extremity." Captain 
 Beckwith then waved his flag, at which signal the 
 British troops immediately took up their march in 
 solid column through the gate. While they were 
 passing through the gate the cannon from the fort 
 was opened upon them, which caused them to wheel 
 to the right and march under cover of a hill by the 
 side of a cedar swamp, until they got abreast of the 
 fort ; then they broke their columns and ran with 
 trailed arms to the fort, during which time they fired 
 with small arms from the fort. 
 
 The enemy attacked the fort on three sides at once, 
 and getting into the ditch and climbing up on the 
 opposite side they cut away the pickets, and with their 
 scaling ladders entered the fort and tore away the gate 
 from the inside. But in the mean time, while the 
 enemy were in the ditch, those in the garrison fought 
 by throwing hot shot upon them ; but when they had 
 got into the embrazures, those defending the fort 
 changed their weapons and fought desperately with 
 spears or pikes fifteen or sixteen feet in length, with 
 which they did good execution. On passing through 
 one of these embrazures Major Montgomery was killed 
 by spears in the hands of Captain Shapley and a black 
 man named Jordan Freeman, 1 both stabbing him at 
 
 1 Freeman was himself afterwards killed by a bayonet thrust. ED. P. 
 
92 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 the same time. His last words were, " Put every man 
 to death." 
 
 After Major Montgomery was killed, Captain Bloom- 
 field took the command and inquired who commanded 
 the fort. Colonel Ledyard, finding resistance longer 
 useless, presented his sword to Captain Bloomfield, 
 and said, " I did, sir, but you do now," at the same 
 time handing the hilt of his sword to Captain Bloom- 
 field, who took it and plunged it into the bosom of 
 Colonel Ledyard, and he fell on his face and expired. 
 
 After butchering with their bayonets some time, 
 one of the British officers said, " My soul cannot bear 
 such destruction," and ordered the drums to beat- a 
 parley. 
 
 They then took the American dead and laid them 
 out upon the parade ground, and buried their own 
 dead just outside of the fort, in a heap promiscuously, 
 and covered them up slightly, with the exception of 
 Major Montgomery, and for him they dug a grave 
 within the parapets of the fort, in front of the gates, 
 and buried him decently. 
 
 They then took the wounded Americans, loaded 
 them into a wagon, and undertook to take them down 
 the hill, but not being able to hold the wagon, they 
 let it run, and with great violence it came in contact 
 with an apple-tree, and the stop was so sudden as to 
 throw many of the poor bleeding fellows out, and 
 some were killed by the shock. One poor fellow who 
 was thrown out, in attempting to crawl away, was 
 knocked in the head by the breech of a gun. 
 
 The British on leaving laid a train of powder to 
 communicate with the magazine, and set a slow-match 
 on fire to ignite the train for the purpose of blowing 
 up the fort. As soon as the enemy had left, an Amer- 
 
Narrative of George Middleton. 93 
 
 ican entered the fort and put out the match and saved 
 the powder and the fort. 
 
 Although then but a boy, I knew personally Colo 
 nel William Ledyard, Captain William Latham, Lieu 
 tenant Nathan Moore, David Avery, Solomon Avery, 
 Daniel Avery, Thomas Avery, Hubbard Burrows, Da 
 vid Palmer, Sylvester Walworth, Patrick Ward, Mr. 
 Scoville, 2 and Mr. Davis, all of whom were killed in 
 the taking of the fort ; and of the wounded with whom 
 I was personally acquainted were Park Avery, John 
 Morgan, Mr. Woodmensee, Samuel Edgecomb, and 
 Joshua Baker. 
 
 There was in the fort at the time the enemy made 
 the attack only about one hundred and twenty per 
 sons, and these hastily collected from the community 
 around, while the enemy were about eight hundred 
 strong. 
 
 The people of Groton have erected a monument in 
 commemoration of this event, in which is inscribed 
 the names of all persons killed during this engage 
 ment ; also the following words : " Zebulon and Naph- 
 tali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the 
 death in the high places of the field." Judges v. 18. 
 
 1 Major Peters, of Norwich. Caitlkins 
 
 2 This is probably Phillip Covil. 
 
FROM 
 
 RIVINGTON S ROYAL GAZETTE, 1 
 
 (NEW YORK.) 
 
 ON Thursday morning, the 6th inst, the fleet ar 
 rived off New London harbor, where a part of 
 the brave though little army were sent to Groton, op 
 posite New London, under command of Colonel Ayre, 
 of the 4oth regiment, to take possession of Fort Cres- 
 sel, which commanded not only the entrance of New 
 London harbor, but the mouth of the river Thames 
 leading to Norwich. On the appearance of the fleet 
 five or six privateers lying in New London harbor 
 availed themselves of their oars and went up said 
 river ; but before the rebels had an opportunity of 
 getting their valuable vessels out, General Arnold 
 made it necessary for them to look out for their per 
 sonal safety. In the mean time Colonel Ayre, with the 
 detachment under his command, landed within three 
 miles of Fort Cressel, and marched up with the spirit 
 peculiar to the British nation ; and though the coun 
 try was so very rocky as to render it impossible for 
 their artillery and howitzers to be brought to co-oper- 
 
 1 The above was copied in Connecticut Gazette, Friday, September 
 21, 1781, with this prelude : A. 
 
 "The following is inserted with a view of convincing our Readers 
 what infamous Falsehoods our Enemies are capable of publishing to the 
 world." 
 
From Rivingtoris Royal Gazette. 95 
 
 ate with them, their thirst for glory was such that as 
 soon as they came to the skirt of a wood within about 
 a mile of the fort, 1 they sent an officer with a flag de 
 manding an immediate surrender, with a threat that 
 if the demand was not complied with, it would be 
 stormed five minutes after the return of the flag. 
 
 The officer who carried it advanced to a little emi 
 nence before the fort, and was met by an officer from 
 it, who requested to know his errand, his rank, &c. ; 
 but being told that his business was with the com 
 manding officer of the fort, he returned. After a con 
 siderable time on that spot the GREAT COM 
 MANDER appeared, accompanied by another officer; 
 the former having asked the gentleman who demanded 
 
 O O 
 
 the surrender his rank, and being satisfied that he was 
 a captain in the British service, desired him to talk 
 with and make his demand known to the captain who 
 accompanied him, that he was of equal rank, and that 
 for his " own part he was Colonel Ledyard, command 
 ing officer of the fort." 
 
 The doughty rebel captain, being informed of the 
 demand, told the officer that Colonel Ledyard had de 
 termined, as the fort was well garrisoned, and in every 
 respect in a proper state of defence, he was under no 
 apprehension of bad consequences, and would defend 
 the fort to the last extremity. 
 
 The detention of the flag had tired the patience of 
 not only Colonel Ayre, but of every officer and pri- 
 
 1 The British headquarters that day were at the " Old Avery House" 
 now demolished situated about three quarters of a mile southeast of 
 the fort, on the road running through the woods from Groton to Poquo- 
 noc. Here the soldiers gratified their love of mischief by wantonly de 
 stroying the summer s dairy, breaking the furniture, throwing the old 
 clock out through the window, and badly frightening, by threats of abduc 
 tion, a young mother left with her infant alone in the house. H. 
 
g6 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 vate centinel under his command, and on its return 
 the order was given for an immediate storm, which 
 was immediately put. in execution. When the troops 
 entered, there was before the fort (which was regularly 
 built with stone, mounting on the upper battery three, 
 and on the lower eight pieces of cannon, with bas 
 tions at each corner, with guns to reach each curtain 
 line,) a chevaux-de-frize, and a ditch of seven feet in 
 depth on each square, with stockades on the sides 
 next the fort. When the troops got into the ditch 
 the rebels struck the flag and ceased firing, 1 until they 
 pulled out some of the stakes and mounted on the 
 range, when the rebels began to play their guns from 
 the bastions, and attempted to defend their ramparts, 
 but the valor of our troops prevailed, and the rebels 
 fled into the casemates of the fortress, and some of 
 them fired through the loop-holes ; but the doors being 
 burst open they were compelled to beg mercy, which 
 being the darling attribute of Britons even to a fault, 
 they spared the catiffs. It is said the number of men 
 in Fort Cressel was 250; forty of them being wounded 
 were admitted to their parole, about 70 were sent pris 
 oners on board the fleet, and the residue reaped the 
 BLESSED fruits of their obstinacy. 2 In the town of 
 Groton the wounded, with the women and children, 
 were put in two houses used as hospitals, and the 
 
 1 This incident is referred to in no other account, and is, without 
 doubt, untrue. Had such been the fact Arnold would not have allowed 
 to pass unnoticed a circumstance in which there would have been so 
 much palliation for the massacre which followed. H. 
 
 2 This malignant report was, without doubt, furnished by Captain 
 Beckwith, who was the officer sent to demand the surrender. He ac 
 companied Lord Dalrymple as bearer of dispatches from Arnold to Sir 
 Henry Clinton, and arrived in New York some time before the remainder 
 of the expedition, or any person who could have given so detailed an ac 
 count in time to publish so soon after the battle. H. 
 
From Rivingtoris Royal Gazette. 97 
 
 town, together with two magazines, intirely demolished. 
 At New London the magazines, the town, and all the 
 shipping in the harbour, were instantly reduced to 
 ashes, but the number of killed, wounded, and prison 
 ers taken, we have not yet been able to learn. 
 
 The breast of every honest loyalist can not help 
 emotions of joy on finding that the most detestable 
 nest of pirates on the continent have at last (the meas 
 ure of their iniquity being full) attracted the notice of 
 his Excellency the commander-in-chief. The quantity 
 of European and West India goods in New London 
 were immense. All their store-houses being full, sev 
 eral cargoes were deposited in barns. It was, in fact, 
 the magazine of America, and the blow now given will 
 affect the sensitive nerves of every staunch rebel on 
 the continent. Before the troops left the forts at New 
 London, and Fort Cressel at Groton, they beat off the 
 trunions of the cannon and spiked them up. 1 
 
 1 Comments in Connecticut Gazette on above article : A. 
 
 " But a very small part of the above relation is true. Arnold was sent 
 to destroy the Stores of Privateers and the Forts, but he did not accom 
 plish either of them. The Forts remain undemolished even the Barracks 
 and Magazines are safe. The Privateers took their Stores on board and 
 went up the River in safety ; and twelve sail of other vessels, loaded with 
 the most valuable goods out of the Stores and went up the River It is 
 true that the Enemy burnt about 56 Stores, nearly empty, 60 Dwelling 
 Houses and 20 Barns, as also the Court House, Jail, and Church, and to 
 the eternal infamy of the British Troops they murdered 70 of our worthy 
 Citizens in Fort Griswold after they had surrendered themselves Prison 
 ers and asked for Quarter." 
 7 
 
BRIGADIER-GENERAL ARNOLD S REPORT 
 
 TO 
 
 SIR HENRY CLINTON. 
 
 PLUM ISLAND, Sept. 8th, 1781. 
 
 SIR : I have the honor to inform your Excellency 
 that the transports with the detachment of troops 
 under my orders, anchored on the Long Island shore 
 on the 5th inst, at 2 P. M., about ten leagues from 
 New London, and having made some necessary ar 
 rangements, weighed anchor at 7 P. M., and stood for 
 New London with a fair wind. At one o clk the next 
 morning we arrived off the harbor, when the wind 
 suddenly shifted to the northward, and it was 9 o clk 
 before the transports could beat in. 
 
 At 10 o clk the troops, in two divisions and in four 
 debarkations, were landed, one on each side of the 
 harbor, about three miles from New London, that on 
 the Groton side consisting of the 4oth and 54th regi 
 ments, and the 3d battalion ot the New Jersey Vol 
 unteers, with a detachment of Yaggers and artillery, 
 were under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre. 
 
 The division on the New London side consisted of 
 the 38th regiment, 1 the Loyal Americans, 2 the Ameri- 
 can Legion Refugees, and a detachment of 60 Yag- 
 
 1 This was Sir Robert Pigot s regiment, but it is not known whether 
 he was with the expedition. The uniform was red faced with vellow. 
 Caulkins. 
 
 2 Colonel Beverly Robinson s regiment. 
 
Brigadier-General Arnold s Report. 99 
 
 gers, 1 who were immediately, on their landing, put in 
 motion, and at 1 1 o clock, being within half a mile of 
 Fort Trumbull, which commands New London har 
 bor, I detached Captain Millet with four companies of 
 the 38th regiment to attack the fort, who was joined 
 on his march by Captain Frink with one company of 
 the American Legion. At the same time I advanced 
 with the remainder of the division west of Fort Trum 
 bull, on the road to the town to attack a redoubt which 
 had kept up a brisk fire on us for some time, but which 
 the enemy evacuated on our approach. In this work 
 we found 6 pieces of cannon mounted, and 2 dis 
 mounted. Soon after I had the pleasure to see Cap 
 tain Millet march into Fort Trumbull under a shower 
 of grape-shot from a number of cannon which the 
 enemy had turned upon him ; and I have the pleasure 
 to inform your Excellency that by the sudden attack 
 and determined bravery of the troops the fort was car 
 ried with the loss of 4 or 5 men killed and wounded. 
 Captain Millet had orders to leave one company in 
 Fort Trumbull, to detach one to the redoubt we had 
 taken, and to join me with the other two companies. 
 
 No time on my part was lost in gaining the town 
 of New London. We were opposed by a small body 
 of the enemy with one field-piece, who were so hard 
 pressed that they were obliged to leave the piece, 
 which being iron was spiked and left. 2 
 
 As soon as the enemy was alarmed in the morning 
 
 1 Hessian Light Infantry. They wore a dark green uniform with 
 bright red trimmings. Caulkins. 
 
 2 This gun was a six-pounder, situated on Manwaring s Hill, and was 
 used for the purpose of firing salutes ; but on this occasion three or four 
 resolute persons discharged it upon the enemy as they came down Town 
 Hill, and then fled. Caulkins. 
 
ioo Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 we could perceive that they were very busily employed 
 in bending sails, and endeavouring to get their pri 
 vateers and other ships into Norwich River out of our 
 reach ; but the wind being small and the tide against 
 them they were obliged to anchor again. From infor 
 mation I received before and after landing I had rea 
 son to believe that Fort Griswold, on Groton side, 
 was very incomplete ; and I was assured, (by friends 
 to government, 1 ) after my landing, that there were only 
 20 or 30 men in the fort, the inhabitants in general 
 being on board their ships, and busy in saving their 
 property. On taking possession of Fort Trumbull I 
 found the enemy s ships would escape unless we could 
 possess ourselves of Fort Griswold ; I therefore dis 
 patched an officer to Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre with the 
 intelligence I had received, and requested him to make 
 an attack upon the fort as soon as possible, at which 
 time I expected the howitzer was up, and would have 
 been made use of. On my gaining a height of ground 
 in the rear of New London, from which I had a good 
 prospect of Fort Griswold, 2 I found it much more for 
 midable than I expected, or than I had formed an idea 
 of, from the information I had before received. I ob 
 served at the same time that the men who had escaped 
 from Fort Trumbull had crossed the river in boats 
 
 1 Arnold dined that day at the house of his friend, James Tilley, on 
 Bank Street ; but the hospitality of the latter did not prevent the destruc 
 tion of his buildings. Before they arose from the table the roof over 
 their heads was in flames, though, we must suppose, from accidental igni 
 tion or misapprehension of orders, as Tilley is said to have been well 
 known as a " friend to government." -H. Jeremiah Miller is said by 
 others to have been the host on this occasion. Both he and Tilley had 
 their houses on the Bank burned. A. 
 
 2 The old burial-ground. It is said by old citizens that Arnold s point 
 of observation was the Winthrop tomb, whence he directed the move 
 ments of his soldiers in the destruction of the town. H. 
 
Brigadier-General Arnold s Report. 101 
 
 and had thrown themselves into Fort Griswold ; and 
 a favorable wind springing up about this time, the 
 enemy s ships were escaping up the river, notwith 
 standing the fire from Fort Trumbull and a 6-pounder 
 which I had with me. I immediately dispatched a 
 boat with an officer to Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre to 
 countermand my first order to attack the fort, but the 
 officer arrived a few minutes too late. Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Eyre had sent Captain Beckwith to demand 
 the surrender of the fort, which was peremptorily re 
 fused, and the attack had commenced. After a most 
 obstinate defence of near forty minutes the fort was 
 carried by the superior bravery and perseverance of 
 the battalions. The attack was judicious and spirited, 
 and reflects the highest honor on the officers and 
 troops engaged, who seemed to vie with each other in 
 being first in danger. 
 
 o o 
 
 The troops approached on three sides of the work, 
 which was a square with flanks, made a lodgement in 
 the ditch, and under a heavy fire which they kept up 
 on the works effected a second lodgement upon the 
 fraizing, which was attended with great difficulty, as 
 only a few pickets could be forced out or broken in a 
 place, and was so high that the soldiers could not 
 ascend without assisting each other. Here the cool 
 ness and bravery of the troops was very conspicuous, 
 as the first who ascended the fraize were obliged to 
 silence a nine-pounder, which infiladed the place upon 
 which they stood until a sufficient body had collected 
 to enter the works, which was done with fixed bayonets 
 through the embrasures, where they were opposed with 
 great obstinacy by the garrison with long spears. 1 On 
 
 1 Probably boarding-pikes, used on board naval vessels in close combat. 
 
IO2 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 this occasion I have to regret the loss of Major Mont 
 gomery, who was killed by a spear on entering the 
 enemy s works ; 1 also of Ensign Willock, 2 of the 4Oth, 
 who was killed in the attack. Three other officers of 
 the same regiment were also wounded. 3 Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Eyre and three other officers of the 54th 4 
 regiment were also wounded, but I have the satisfac 
 tion to inform your Excellency that they are all in a 
 fair way to recover. Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre, who 
 behaved with great gallantry, having received his 
 wound near the works, and Major Montgomery being 
 killed immediately after, the command devolved on 
 Major Bromfield, 6 whose behaviour on this occasion 
 does him great honor. Lieutenant-Colonel Buskirk, 6 
 with the New Jersey Volunteers and artillery, being 
 the second debarkation, came up soon after the works 
 were carried, having been retarded by the roughness 
 of the country. I am much obliged to this gentleman 
 for his exertions, although the artillery did not arrive 
 in time. 
 
 I have annexed a Return of the killed and wounded, 
 by which your Excellency will observe that our loss, 
 though very considerable, is very short of the Enemy s, 
 who lost most of their officers, among whom was their 
 
 1 Major William Montgomery was killed by a powerful negro named 
 Jordan Freeman. And Lieut. Henry Williams by some traditions. 
 
 2 Archibald Willock. 
 
 8 From General Orders I learn the 4Oth lost Captain George Craigie, 
 Lieutenant H. William Smith, and Ensign Thomas Hyde, who died of 
 their wounds. Captain Samuel Wogan of American Legion was wounded. 
 
 4 Lieutenant Colonel Edmond Eyre, Captain Rich, Lieutenant Th 
 Daunt, Ensign William Rainforth, and volunteer James Boyd, were the 
 wounded. Col. Eyre was in the 64th Regiment in 1782. 
 
 6 Stephen Bromfield, in English Army Register for 1781, and Blonv 
 field in that of 1782. 
 
 Alexander Van Buskirk. A. 
 
Brigadier-General Arnold s Report. 103 
 
 commander, Colonel Ledyard. Eighty-five men were 
 found dead in Fort Griswold, and sixty wounded, most 
 of them mortally. Their loss on the opposite side 
 must have been considerable, but can not be ascer 
 tained. I believe we have about 70 prisoners besides 
 the wounded who were paroled. Ten or twelve of the 
 Enemy s ships were burned, among them three or four 
 armed vessels, and one loaded with Naval Stores. An 
 immense quantity of European and West India Goods 
 were found in the stores ; among the former the cargo 
 of the Hannah, Captain Watson, from London, lately 
 captured by the Enemy, the whole of which was burnt 
 with the stores, which proved to contain a large Quan 
 tity of Powder unknown to us. The explosion of the 
 Powder and change of wind soon after the stores were 
 fired communicated the flames to that part of the 
 Town, which was, notwithstanding every effort to pre 
 vent it, unfortunately destroyed. 1 Upwards of 50 
 pieces of Iron Cannon were destroyed in the different 
 Works, (exclusive of the Guns of the Ships,) a partic 
 ular return of which I can not do myself the Honor to 
 transmit to your Excellency at this time. 
 
 1 There is the greatest absurdity in this part of the narrative, for in 
 many instances where houses were situated at a great distance from any 
 stores, and contained nothing but household furniture, they were set on 
 fire, notwithstanding the earnest cries and entreaties of the women and 
 children in them, who were threatened with being burnt up in their 
 houses if they did not instantly leave them. Indeed two houses were 
 bought off for ten pounds each after an officer, who appeared to be a cap 
 tain, had ordered them fired, which was the sum proposed by the officer, 
 upon condition, however, that he should not be made known ; and where 
 the houses were not burnt they were chiefly plundered of all that could 
 be carried off. At the Harbor s Mouth the houses of poor fishermen 
 were stripped of their furniture of every kind, the poor people having 
 nothing left but the clothes they had on. Connecticut Gazette, October 
 $th, 1781. 
 
IO4 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 A very considerable Magazine of Powder, and Bar 
 racks to contain 300 men, were found in Fort Gris- 
 wold, which Captain Lemoine, of the Royal Artillery, 
 had my positive directions to destroy. An attempt was 
 made by him, but unfortunately failed. He had my 
 orders to make a second attempt. The reason why it 
 was not done Captain Lemoine will have the honor to 
 explain to your Excellency. 1 I should be wanting in 
 justice to the gentlemen of the Navy did I omit to ac 
 knowledge that on this expedition I have received 
 every possible aid from them. Captain Beazly has 
 made every exertion to assist our operations, and not 
 only gave up his cabin to the sick and wounded of 
 ficers, but furnished them with every assistance and 
 refreshment his ship afforded. Lord Dalrymple will 
 have the honor to deliver my dispatches. I beg leave 
 to refer your Excellency to his Lordship for the par 
 ticulars of our operations on the New London side. 
 I feel myself under great obligations to him for his 
 exertions upon the occasion. Captain Beckwith, 2 who 
 was extremely serviceable to me, returns with his Lord 
 ship. His spirited conduct in the attack of Fort Gris- 
 wold does him great honor, being one of the first of 
 ficers who entered the work. I beg leave to refer your 
 Excellency to him for the particulars of our operations 
 on that side, and to say I have the highest opinion of 
 
 1 Extract from General Orders of the 2$th of September, 1781. The 
 Commander-in-chief informs the army that Captain Lemoine, of the Royal 
 Artillery, has explained to his satisfaction the reasons that prevented his 
 carrying into execution the orders of Brigadier-General Arnold on the 
 6th of September, 1781. CLINTON. 
 
 2 This Captain George Beckwith was Lieutenant-General and com 
 mander of the expedition which reduced Martinique and Guadaloupe in 
 1809, and was made a K. C. B. June 2oth, 1809, afterward Governor of 
 Barbadoes for four years. A. 
 
Brigadier-General Arnold s Report. 105 
 
 his abilities as an officer. I am greatly indebted to 
 Captain Stapleton (who acted as Major of Brigade) for 
 his spirited conduct and assistance ; in particular on 
 the attack on Fort Trumbull, and his endeavor to 
 prevent plundering, 1 (when the public stores were 
 burnt,) and the destruction of private buildings. The 
 officers and troops in general behaved with the great 
 est intrepidity and firmness. I have the honor to be, 
 with the greatest respect, your Excellency s most obe 
 dient and most humble servt, 
 
 B. ARNOLD. 
 
 RETURN OF KILLED AND WOUNDED. 
 
 i Major, i Ensign, 2 Sergeants, and 44 Rank and 
 File, killed ; i Lieutenant-Colonel, 3 Captains, 2 Lieu 
 tenants, 2 Ensigns, 8 Sergeants, 2 Drummers, and 127 
 Rank and File, wounded. Of the wounded officers i 
 Captain, i Lieutenant, and i Ensign, are since dead. 
 
 JOHN STAPLETON, 
 Captain and Acting Major of Brigade. 
 
 1 It was afterwards well understood that most of the spoil and havoc 
 in private houses was the work of a few worthless vagrants of the town, 
 who prowled in the wake of the invader, hoping, in the general confusion, 
 not to be detected. Caulkins. 
 
io6 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 RETURN OF ORDNANCE, AMMUNITION, &C., 
 
 Taken this day in Fort Griswold and its dependencies, 
 by a detatchment of His Majesty s troops under the 
 command of Brigadier-General Arnold, on an expedi 
 tion to Connecticut, viz., in Fort Griswold : 
 
 ORDNANCE, IRON, MOUNTED ON CARRIAGES. 
 
 Garrison 18 pounders, i 12 pounders, 14 
 
 9 " 2 6 I 
 
 4 13" I 
 
 Travelling 12 " i 4 2 
 
 Total, 23 
 
 IN THE FLECHE. 
 
 Ordnance, Iron, on Travelling 
 
 Carriages, 4 pounders, 3 
 
 ON THE LOWER BATTERY. 
 
 Ordnance, Iron, Mounted ( 18 pounders, 7 
 
 on Garrison Carriages (12 " 2 
 
 Total of Iron Ordnance, 35 
 
 Pikes, 80 Musquets, French, 106 
 
 ROUND SHOT. 
 
 1 8 pounders, 1680 12 pounders, 2100 
 
 9 " 290 6 " 100 
 
 4 200 3 40 
 
 GRAPE, STANDS OF. 
 
 1 8 pounders, 230 12 pounders, 340 
 
 9- " 75 6 " 70 
 
 4 " 90 3 " 75 
 
tirigadier-General Arnold s Report. 107 
 
 CARTRIDGES, PAPER FILLED. 
 
 1 8 pounders, 12 12 pounders, 23 9 pounders, 8 
 
 6 44 14 3 6 
 
 Musket Cartridges, 10,000. 
 
 Powder, corned, 150 wt. 
 
 i Garrison Spare carriage. 12 pounder. 
 
 i Travelling " 
 
 i Gyn Triangle compleat; 2 ammunition waggons, 
 
 Stores for the Laboratory, &c., &c., &c. 
 
 J. LEMOINE, 
 
 Captain of Artillery. 
 
 BETSEY, SLOOP, NEW LONDON HARBOUR, 6TH SEPT., 1781. 
 
 Return of ordnance found and spiked by a detatch- 
 ment of the army under the command of Brigadier- 
 General Arnold, on the New London side, 6th Sept., 
 1781 : 
 
 Iron 1 8 pounders mounted in Fort Trumbull, 12 
 
 Iron 6 pounders mounted in Fort Trumbull, 3 
 
 Iron 1 2 or 9 pounders mounted at Fort Folly, 1 6 
 
 Iron 1 2 or 9 pounders dismounted, 2 
 
 Iron 12 pounders on the road to New London, i 
 
 24 
 
 A Quantity of ammunition and stores of different kinds 
 were destroyed in the Magazine at Fort Trumbull, and 
 the Meeting House at New London. 
 
 WILLIAM H. HORNDON, 
 First Lieutenant, Regiment Royal Artillery. 
 
 1 This was known to the Americans by the kindred name of Fort Non 
 sense. It occupied the extreme height of Town Hill, where now stands 
 the house erected for F. M. Hale, Esq. now occupied by Mrs. M. L. Al- 
 ger. When the excavation was being made for the cellar, several relics 
 of its Revolutionary history, in the shape of round and grape shot, deeply 
 eaten by rust, were exhumed. 
 
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL UPHAM 
 
 TO 
 
 GOVERNOR FRANKLIN, 1 OF NEW JERSEY, 
 
 DATED SEPTEMBER 13111, 1781. 
 
 IMMEDIATELY on receipt of yours by Capt. Camp 
 I made every preparation consistent with the nec 
 essary secresy to furnish as many Refugees for the 
 proposed expedition as could be spared from the gar 
 rison. 
 
 My first care was to put a supply of provisions on 
 board the vessels. I talked of an expedition, and pro 
 posed to go myself, nor could I do more until the 
 fleet appeared in sight. Major Hubbil was too unwell 
 
 1 This worthy had recently returned from his rural quarters in Litch- 
 field jail, where he, with Mayor Mathews , of New York, was confined, in 
 1776, by the committee "for inquiring into and detecting conspiracies." 
 Hollister. 
 
 William Franklin, last royal governor of New Jersey, in office from 
 1762 to 1782, two years of which time he spent in jail in Connecticut (al 
 luded to above), being released only in exchange for the provincial " Pres 
 ident of Delaware." In 1782 he sailed for England, where the Govern 
 ment paid him ,1,800 for losses and .800 per year pension. He was a 
 natural son of Benjamin Franklin, born in Philadelphia, 1729; died in 
 England, November 17, 1813. His mother is unknown. About a year 
 after his birth his father married, took the child to his home, and brought 
 him up as his son. 
 
 B. F. gave to William by will, his lands in Nova Scotia, also all debts 
 due from him, and added this clause : " The part he acted against me in 
 the late war, which is of public notoriety, will account for my leaving him 
 no more of an estate he endeavored to deprive me of." A. 
 
Lieut-Col. Upkam to Governor Franklin. 109 
 
 to go with me ; I therefore left him to take charge of 
 the fort, and with as much dispatch as possible em 
 barked one hundred Loyalists, exclusive of a sufficient 
 number of men to man the two armed sloops. With 
 these we joined the fleet in season to prevent the least 
 delay. 
 
 By the enclosed arrangement you see we had the 
 honor to be included in the first division, and I have 
 the pleasure to add we were the first on shore. 
 
 We advanced on the right of the whole to a height 
 at a small distance from the shore, where we were or 
 dered to cover the 38th regiment from a wood on our 
 right until the second division came up. 
 
 We were then ordered to change our position from 
 the right to the left at the distance of two hundred 
 yards from the main body. 
 
 This alteration derived its propriety from the cir 
 cumstance of the rebels having gone over to the left, 
 from an apprehension of being too much crowded be 
 tween our troops and the river on their left. Thus ar 
 ranged we proceeded to the town of New London, 
 constantly skirmishing with rebels, who fled from hill 
 to hill, and from stone fences which intersected the 
 country at small distances. Having reached the south 
 erly part of the town 1 the general requested me to take 
 possession of the hill north of the meeting-house, 2 where 
 the rebels had collected, and which they seemed re- 
 
 1 Colonel Upham s command defiled through Cape Ann Street and 
 Lewis Lane, and set fire to the house of Pickett Latimer, on the old Col 
 chester road, now Vauxhall Street. Caulkins. This was the first build 
 ing destroyed ; in it were the goods of the inhabitants, who removed 
 them to it from the central portion of the town, as being a place of greater 
 safety. 
 
 2 This was the hill just back of Pound, now Granite Street, extending 
 down to the First Burying Ground. A. 
 
1 10 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 solved to hold. We made a circle to the left, and soon 
 gained the ground in contest. 
 
 Here we had one man killed and one wounded. 1 
 This height being the outpost was left to us and the 
 Yagers. Here we remained, exposed to a constant fire 
 from the rebels on the neighboring hills, and from the 
 fort on the Groton side, until the last was carried by 
 the British troops. We took the same route in our 
 return as in going up, equally exposed, though not so 
 much annoyed. Every thing required was cheerfully 
 undertaken, and spiritedly effected by the party I had 
 the honor to command. 
 
 A small party from Vanalstine s Post joined us, 
 which increased my command to 120. They landed 
 and returned with us, and behaved exceedingly well. 
 The Armed Vessels Association, and Colonel Martin, 
 went close into the shore, and covered the landing on 
 the New London side. At the request of the General 
 I furnished boats to land forty of the troops on the 
 Groton side. Captains Gardener and Thomas 2 would 
 have gladly gone up to the town, but were not per 
 mitted. 
 
 1 Jonathan Brooks, an eye-witness of the destruction of the town, says : 
 " The man who was killed was shot by a party on the hill lot just north of 
 Vauxhall Street, and was buried where he fell near to an ash tree," prob 
 ably one of those now standing near corner of Vauxhall and Channing 
 streets. A. 
 
 2 This is no doubt the Captain Thomas on board whose sloop Rufus 
 Avery was put as prisoner. (See page 42, R. Avery s Narrative.) 
 
SIR HENRY CLINTON S 
 
 GENERAL ORDERS. 
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL ARNOLD having re 
 ported to the commander-in-chief the success of 
 the expedition, under his direction, against New Lon 
 don on the 6th inst, His Excellency has the pleasure 
 of signifying to the army the high sense he entertains 
 of the very distinguished merit of the corps employed 
 upon that service. 
 
 But whilst he draws the greatest satisfaction from 
 the ardor of the troops which enabled them to carry 
 by assault a work of such great strength as Fort Gris- 
 wold is represented to be, he can not but lament with 
 the deepest concern the heavy loss in officers and men 
 sustained by the 4Oth and 54th regiments, who had 
 the honor of the attack ; and as no words can do jus 
 tice to the discipline and spirit which they shewed on 
 that occasion, His Excellency can only request they 
 will not fail to represent their conduct to their sover 
 eign in the most honorable terms. The commander- 
 in-chief begs leave to express his obligation to Briga 
 dier-General Arnold for his very spirited conduct on 
 the occasion ; and he assures that general officer that 
 he took every precaution in his power to prevent the 
 destruction of the town, which is a misfortune that 
 gives him much concern. His Excellency also feels 
 himself greatly indebted to all the officers of the Reg 
 ular and Provincial Corps which accompanied him on 
 
1 1 2 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 that service, but more particularly to Lieutenant-Colo 
 nel Eyre, Major Bromfield, and Captain Millet, who 
 commanded the attack, and Lord Dalrymple, Captains 
 Beckwith and Stapleton, of whose very able assistance 
 and distinguished gallantry the brigadier makes the 
 most honorable mention. 
 
 The commander-in-chief has likewise the greatest 
 pleasure in taking this public occasion of signifying 
 to the army how much they are indebted to the hu 
 manity and benevolence of Captain Beazley, of His 
 Majesty s Ship Amphion, to whose very friendly and 
 generous assistance many of the wounded officers and 
 men are most probably indebted for their lives. 
 
 FRED. MACKENZIE, D. A. General. 
 
COURT-MARTIAL. 
 
 AN extract from the proceedings of a general Court- 
 Martial, beginning and held at New London and 
 Groton, in the state of Connecticut, on the 2oth day 
 of August, Anno Domini 1782, by warrant and order 
 of His Excellency the Captain-General of the said state, 
 of which Brigadier-General Roger Newberry was Pres 
 ident, 
 
 In which the following crimes and charges were ex 
 hibited at said Court, and by them with the proofs as 
 serting the same were duly heard and considered, after 
 which the sentences of said Court-martial were as fol 
 lows: 
 
 Jonathan Latimer, Colonel of the 3d 1 regiment, for 
 breach of military law in not leading his regiment for 
 ward, and preventing the enemy from sacking and 
 burning the town of New London, on the 6th day of 
 September, A. D. 1781. From this charge he was ac 
 quitted with honor. 
 
 Nathan Gallup, Esq., Lieutenant-Colonel of the 8th * 
 regiment, came prisoner before the court, when the fol 
 lowing charge was exhibited against him, viz : That 
 whereas, on the 6th day of September, A. D. 1781, (the 
 
 1 The 3d Regiment of Connecticut Militia included all men liable to 
 duty in tlie towns of New London and Lyme. The 8th those of Groton, 
 Stonington, and Preston. A. 
 
 8 
 
H4 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 day on which the garrison and fortress standing in said 
 Groton was attacked and stormed by a detatchment of 
 the British army ; the inhabitants of said Groton mas 
 sacred ; their houses burnt and their property plun 
 dered ;) that he then holding and sustaining the afore 
 said office and a commission thereto in said regiment, 
 was shamefully negligent in his military duty, and 
 guilty of acting a cowardly part when called to and in 
 actual service. 
 
 ist. In not supporting the garrison in said fort with 
 succour, which was in his power, and by him had been 
 specially engaged to the commandant for his encour 
 agement in defending it, and in making no diversion 
 upon the enemy before the storm in favor of the gar 
 rison. 
 
 2dly. In suffering the militia to remain strolling 
 and unembodied upon the hills, in fair view of the en 
 emy when they were marching up to attack the fort. 
 
 3dly. In not falling upon and attacking the enemy 
 at the favorable moment of their re-embarkation, which 
 movement of the enemy was said to be well known to 
 him. 
 
 4thly. In not attempting to prevent the burning of 
 houses and other buildings of the inhabitants in Gro 
 ton, done by scattering parties of the enemy. 
 
 5thly. In not preventing the wanton plundering of 
 property belonging to the inhabitants, done by the 
 militia and others in the houses which escaped the 
 conflagration, and elsewhere in said town after the 
 storm of said garrison and the burning done by the 
 enemy. 
 
 And 6thly. In not preserving the public stores in 
 the fort after the evacuation by the enemy, but suffer 
 ing them to be embezzled and plundered; all contrary 
 
Court- Martial. 1 1 5 
 
 to the rules and regulations for preserving order and 
 good government among the militia of said state, and 
 unbecoming an officer. 
 
 Sentence. --The court, upon due consideration of 
 the whole matter before them, are unanimously of 
 opinion that Lieutenant-Colonel Nathan Gallup is not 
 guilty of neglect of duty or of cowardly behaviour, as 
 charged against him. He, therefore, by the Court is 
 acquitted with honor. 
 
 Captain John Morgan of the 8th regiment, was ad 
 judged guilty of neglect of duty and unofficer like be 
 haviour, and sentenced to be suspended during the 
 present war with Great Britain. 
 
 Captain Ebenezer Witter, of the 8th regiment, was 
 charged with being concerned in plundering public 
 property at Fort Griswold. The court found him not 
 guilty of plundering, but that he acted a very impru 
 dent part in ordering the gun carried to his house, 
 and the court ordered him to return the said gun to 
 the commanding officer at Fort Griswold. 
 
 Captain Thomas Wheeler and Lieutenant John Wil 
 liams, of the 8th regiment, were charged with plunder 
 ing in a wanton and shameful manner the goods of the 
 inhabitants of Groton on the day of the battle. 
 
 The court found them guilty, and sentenced them 
 to be cashiered, and be disabled in future from holding 
 or sustaining any military commission in this state, 
 and that they pay the expenses of their trial in equal 
 parts. 
 
 Daniel Latimer, Ensign of a company of militia in 
 
1 1 6 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 the 3d regiment, was charged with being negligent of 
 his duty in not seasonably forwarding intelligence to 
 his colonel of the expected approach and attack of the 
 enemy. He was found not guilty, and was therefore 
 acquitted. 
 
 Zabdiel Rogers, Esq., Colonel of the 2oth regiment, 1 
 was called upon to answer to the charge of remaining 
 inactive upon the 6th day of September. The sentence 
 was not guilty, and acquitted with honor. 
 
 Joseph Harris, 2 Jun., Esq., Lieutenant-Colonel of the 
 3d regiment, came prisoner before the Court, when the 
 following charges were exhibited against him : That 
 on the day when the British burned the town he was 
 shamefully negligent in his military duty, and guilty 
 of acting a cowardly part. 
 
 ist. In not notifying his chief colonel of the enemy s 
 approach. 
 
 2d. In not opposing their entrance into the town. 
 
 3d. In not supporting a part of said regiment when 
 in battle at the north part of the town, which he was 
 requested to, but shamefully refused to do. 
 
 4th. In allowing the militia to remain strolling and 
 unembodied upon the hill in sight of the enemy. And 
 
 1 The 2oth regiment was from Norwich. A. 
 
 2 Lieutenant-Colonel Harris resided on the Town Hill road, nearly op 
 posite Fort Nonsense. He is alluded to by John Hempsted and Jona 
 than Brooks in their narratives in not very complimentary terms. He 
 appears to have been the only regimental officer of the 3d who resided in 
 the immediate vicinity of hostilities that day. In the Connecticut Gazette 
 of May 2d, 1783, he replied to the finding of the Court, and excused him 
 self from the charge, taking up each specification in its order, and com 
 menting at length upon it. Some of the arguments brought forward by 
 him in support of his innocence are more ingenious than logical ; and, as 
 viewed at this late day, his conclusions are strained and far drawn. H. 
 
Court- Martial. 117 
 
 5thly. In not falling upon and attacking the enemy 
 on their retreat. 
 
 The court unanimously gave it as their opinion that 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Harris has been and is a worthy 
 member of society, and a good citizen in private life, 
 but not suitably qualified for military service ; that he 
 was not guilty of any neglect of duty on said 6th of 
 September from enmity or disaffection to the independ 
 ence of the American states ; but the Court are unan 
 imously of opinion that he was and is guilty of the 
 matter charged against him in the four first articles of 
 charge, and also are of opinion that he is guilty in the 
 fifth, and that the whole are proved and supported 
 against him ; therefore the Court gives sentence 
 against the said Harris, that he be cashiered as being 
 a person unsuitable to sustain the aforesaid office. 
 
 Warham Williams was found guilty of taking and 
 holding three guns, and was remanded to the civil 
 authority to be dealt with. 
 
 Benajah Leffingwell, Major of the 2oth regiment, was 
 charged with neglect of duty on the day of battle, from 
 which charge he was acquitted. 
 
 The findings of the Court are approved by the Cap 
 tain-General, and by his command are made public. 
 
 Signed, HEZEKIAH BISSEL, 
 
 Judge Advocate of said Court-Martial. 
 
FROM 
 
 THE CONNECTICUT ARCHIVES. 
 
 A 
 
 Records of the Council of Safety. 
 
 T a meeting of the Governor and Council of Safety 
 at Lebanon, Wednesday, I4th November, 1781, 
 
 A motion by a letter from the selectmen, requesting 
 leave to deliver a number of articles lately sent to 
 Roswell Saltonstall from N. York, as a relief under his 
 sufferings &c., which have been detained by said select 
 men, agreeable to a resolve of the Council 18 Sept. 
 1781, taken into consideration, and passed the fol 
 lowing vote and resolve, viz : 
 
 Whereas sundry persons in N. York have charitably 
 given to Mr. Roswell Saltonstall of N. London several 
 articles of household goods and clothing for the use of 
 his family towards repairing in a small degree the very 
 heavy loss he sustained in the burning of his house, 
 all his goods &C. 1 by the enemy in their late incursion 
 and outrage at New London and Groton, and the said 
 Mr. Saltonstall being, as it is said, of dubious character 
 with respect to his political principles, and not having 
 taken the oath of fidelity to this State, the said arti 
 cles are taken and detained by the selectmen of New 
 London agreeable to a resolve of this board 18 Sept. 
 last, and by said selectmen reported and earnestly rec- 
 
 1 From report of Connecticut Gazette of buildings burned, we learn he 
 lost on Main Street a house and cooper shop on Beach Street, distill 
 house and store, and opposite thereto a store and a cooper shop improved 
 as a store. A. 
 
From the Connecticut Archives. 119 
 
 ommended in their own and the name of the late pris 
 oners taken at said towns, to be given and delivered to 
 said Saltonstall according to the intent of the donors : 
 This Board, taking the matters aforesaid into consider 
 ation and by the examination of a number of witnesses 
 cited by the state attorney for the county of N. Lon 
 don and lately prisoners taken at said towns &c., do 
 not find that the said Saltonstall has ever done or said 
 anything prejudicial to the cause and interest of these 
 States, and it appears that when he was lately at New 
 York he was exceedingly attentive to the interest of 
 the prisoners taken as aforesaid and confined in prison 
 there, and by solicitations obtained for and furnished 
 them with a variety of necessaries and comforts, with 
 out which they must have suffered greatly if not have 
 perished in their confinement; and as it would be hard 
 and almost inhuman to deprive him and his numerous 
 family of that small relief which benevolent charity 
 has drawn from his friends at New York, by the special 
 request of the prisoners and the selectmen of N. Lon 
 don 
 
 This Board are thereupon unanimously of opinion, 
 that the said goods and articles ought to be given and 
 delivered up to the said Saltonstall, to be for his own 
 use and benefit according to the true intent and mean 
 ing of the donors, and do hereby permit, authorize, and 
 direct the said selectmen of New London to deliver the 
 same accordingly. 
 
 Whereas a number of prisoners lately taken from 
 New London and Groton by the enemy in their in 
 cursion there, and carried to New York and confined 
 in the sugar house there, naked and in a suffering con 
 dition, who were humanely relieved by the generosity 
 of Mr. Francis Winthrop, a resident in New York, to 
 
I2O Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 the amount of near one hundred pounds, L. mon., and 
 having a mother and sisters at New London, 1 requested 
 Ebenezer Ledyard, Esq., of Groton, a prisoner there, 
 in his return to N. London in a flag, as the only reo 
 ompence for his generosity aforesaid, to take the 
 charge of a pair of silver cans, silk for gowns for his 
 five sisters, and a fe.w other small articles, as a present 
 to his mother and sisters, and the same deliver them 
 on his return, on which the said Mr. Ledyard and 
 other prisoners informed him they apprehended no 
 difficulty or objection, on which he, the said Mr. Win- 
 throp, presumed to send them forward in said flag 
 under the care of Mr. Ledyard for the purpose afore 
 said, all which appears to this board by full and suf 
 ficient testimony: And whereas it is represented that 
 Capt. Havens, commander of the privateer brig a Jay, 
 lying in the harbour of N. London, inspecting said flag 
 in her return has taken said articles into his custody 
 as articles illegally imported, for the purpose of libel 
 ling the same for tryal &c. : This Board, considering 
 the great humanity and generosity of the said Mr. 
 Winthrop to the prisoners aforesaid and the special 
 request of said prisoners, and as the said Winthrop 
 was encouraged by them that he might safely send 
 said articles to his friends as aforesaid, merely as a 
 present for their particular and personal use and not 
 for trade, do advise and recommend, under the partic 
 ular circumstances aforesaid and by no means to dis- 
 
 1 This family resided in the Winthrop house, near which stands the " Old 
 Mill " built in 1650, for Governor Winthrop. Francis was a tory residing 
 in New York, and as such, any of his property was liable to seizure wher 
 ever found. 
 
 Robert, another brother, who rose to the rank of admiral, being in the 
 English Navy, was proof enough that the occupants were " friends to 
 government " to cause their house to be spared though others quite near 
 were burned. 
 
From the Connecticut Arc/lives. 121 
 
 courage the humanity of our enemies, that said articles 
 be permitted to be delivered to the persons to whom 
 sent, and that the same be not proceeded with for tryal 
 or burdened with any further expence. 
 
 AT a meeting of the governor & council of safety 
 held at Lebanon the 28th day of March 1782 
 
 Upon memorial of Benjamin Woodworth of Norwich 
 shewing that he had two sons wounded in Groton fort 
 on the 6th of Sept. last and that he hath been at great 
 expense &c in nursing &c praying for some relief &c. 
 
 Resolved by this Board, That for present relief Capt 
 Jabez Perkins is hereby ordered to deliver to sd Benj 
 Woodworth out of Tax half a barrel of Pork half a 
 Barrcll of Beef & one bbl Rie Flour & also 2 gallons 
 of rum on account with the State which articles are to 
 be delivered in acct with sd Woodworth subject to a 
 future consideration & settlement. 
 
 TEST: W. WILLIAMS, Clerk. 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY WAR, VOL. xxn., Doc. 80. 
 
 To the Honorable the General Assembly of the State of 
 
 Connecticut to be convened at Hartford (by adjoiirn- 
 
 ment] on the io//z day of January Anno Dom 1782. 
 
 The Memorial of the Subscribers Inhabitants of the 
 
 Town of Groton & Towns adjacent humbly sheweth 
 
 That in the late attack made by the Enemy upon 
 
 the towns of New London & Groton & the public 
 
 Fortresses therein, they were induced upon the most 
 
 humane & disinterested motives, in the moment of an 
 
 Alarm to enter as Volunteers into Forts Trumbull & 
 
 Griswold under their late Amiable Comander - 
 
 That the Memorialists tho they have (thro the hand 
 of Heaven) hitherto survived the Conflict & Inhuman 
 
122 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Carnage which ensued, yet they have suffered more or 
 less from wounds & Contutions all that Rage & Cruelty 
 could inflict short of Death. 
 
 That they cant expect your Honors to fully com 
 pensate for all the pains & distresses they have under 
 gone, which cannot be measured, yet in as much as 
 they have made so great a Sacrafice out of regard to 
 their Country & in Defence of the State they humbly 
 beg leave to hope your Honors will stand fully justi 
 fied in directing an enquiry of the particular Case, 
 Circumstances & Sufferings of each of the Memorialists 
 & thereupon to grant them such Relief as your Honors 
 may think consistent with Justice & Humanity & they 
 as in Duty bound shall pray. 
 
 John Morgan third, Joseph Woodmansfee, 
 
 Charles Eldredge Jun r , John Daboll Jun r , 
 
 Daniel Stan ton Jun r , Christopher Latham, J r , 
 
 Edward Stanton, Isaac Morgan, 
 
 Park Avery Jun r , Sam 1 . Edgecomb J r , 
 
 Gary Leeds, Daniel Eldridge I st , 
 
 John Starr, Edward Latham, 
 
 Elisha Prior, Sam 1 . Abraham. 
 
 Decb. 1781. 
 
 In the Lower Houfe. 
 
 On this memorial Samuel Mott and Rufus Lathrop 
 Esqr sl are appointed a Committee to inquire into the 
 Matters set forth therein and similar Cases and what 
 they shall find to report to the General Assembly to be 
 holden in Hartford in May next. 
 
 TEST: JEDEDIAH STRONG, Clerk, 
 Concurred in the Upper Houfe. 
 
 TEST: GEORGE WYLLYS, Sec y. 
 
 1 Robert Crary was afterward added to the Committee and signed theii 
 Report, which follows. Page 131. 
 
From the Connecticut Archives. 123 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY WAR, VOL. XXIL, Doc. 337. 
 
 71? Col. McClellen, Commandant at the Pojls of New 
 London & Groton. 
 
 We, Inhabitants of N. London, beg leave to rep 
 resent our fears & apprehenfions for the fafety of 
 faid Ports through the infuing fummer; from the 
 defencelefs ftate of the Garrifons, &c., and from the 
 growing object of this Town, by the indufterous in 
 habitants erecting a number of Houfes & Stores, in 
 order to aid and affift y c fpirited Gentlemen in the 
 country, in fitting & equiping their Privateers, which 
 are now numerous & formidable ; Several Prizes are 
 brought in, & great wealth may be foon expected, all 
 which is as likely to provoke the narrow pitiful revenge 
 of our daftardly enemies, to diftroy us this sumer, as 
 laft. 
 
 Every year fince the commincement of the war, this 
 Town has been alarmed with envafions, the confe- 
 quences has always been that great numbers of me- 
 litia are called from their labours & fent in upon us, 
 on fo fhort a notice y l it was impossible for them to be 
 complcatly equiped ; and have been detained here dur 
 ing a long fummer, greatly to their private lofs the 
 public, and the immediate expence of the State, which 
 has been much greater then if we had proper Garri 
 fons & Matrofs Companys ftationed here, without an- 
 fwering any real means of defennce ; and at the fame 
 time the inhabitants of the Town are equally fuffer- 
 ers from undifciplined melitia. And from the late at 
 tack at this Place it was fo evident that the melitia 
 were not, and could not be here in time to be of any 
 fervice, that it needs no obfervation to the contrary. 
 
124 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 To remedy which & to fecure thefe Ports we fub- 
 mit it to you as our opinion, that 
 
 Fort Grifwold fliould be garrifoned with at lead one 
 hundred & fifty good men that the Fort be provided 
 with 200 fmall arms & fufficient number of cartriges 
 & as many pikes for ufe of volunteers, who may be 
 called in as they are many tranfient perfons & fuch y 
 are unable to equip themfelves ; and that on the firing 
 of the alarm guns, or notice given, it fhall be the im 
 mediate duty of the neighbouring militia to march into 
 the defence of the s d Fort on pain of nothing fhort of 
 fuffering the penalty of the Law, & that to be made 
 corporeal, let the delinquent be officer or private ; and 
 as foon as the alarm is over to be difmiffed. 
 
 That their be a Matrofs Company raifed fufficient 
 to man what Field Peices we have on N. L. fide & 
 thofe at Norwich, & to be compleatly furnifhed with 
 horfes, &c., and ftationed in the Fort on Town Hill ; 
 & be provided with fome fmall arms, as many volun 
 teers will run to their affiftance in time of alarm. 
 That the melitia in the neighbourhood be ordered in 
 as on Groton fide. The Garrifon at Fort Trumbull 
 may be fmall, & to quit it on the actual approach of 
 the enemy & to retire to the defence of the field peices 
 or Fort Grifwold. 
 
 That no veffels on the firing of the alarm guns, that 
 are in the harbour be permitted to be removed, ex 
 cepting fmall craft, but by order & direction of the 
 Commandant. 
 
 That after y e alarm, or actual fervice is over their 
 fhall be an enquiry into the conduct of every officer 
 & private & all others ordered on duty, & on failure 
 of duty to be punifhed according to the nature of the 
 offence, which punifhment ought to be corporeal. For 
 
From the Connecticut Archives. 125 
 
 men will not regard fines when their property is at 
 flake. Common rank & file will delight in fuch a mil 
 itia law. We obferve further it is our opinion, if the 
 late worthy Col. Ledyard (whom we fincerely lament) 
 had only fifty good men in the Fort under his abfo- 
 lute command, he with them might have empreff d 
 & compelled into its defence two or three hundred 
 feamen & others, which had deferted from Privateers 
 & fhipping in order to plunder. But inftead of this 
 he was as a man without hands, and could get none 
 into the fort only by perfuation. He gave out his 
 pofitive orders for all feamen to repair over to the 
 Fort. He fired upon the fhiping to flop them from 
 runing away. But he was neglected with impunity. 
 He was difobey d becaufe the laws are not adequate 
 for the punifhment of difobedience of orders. They 
 ought to be exceedingly fevere when called out into 
 action. And if men of Spirit who run to the defence 
 of any port in time of danger are to be unfupported 
 & facrificed by their neighbours, (who are at liberty 
 to take care of their effects, keep out of danger & not 
 liable to corporeal punifhment), who will run the rifque 
 in future ? Wee make bold to fay, had fome Gentle 
 men neglected their duty y e 6th Spr. lafl, they would 
 have faved thoufands of their property. 
 
 If a fmall cruifing boat could be alowed to the Gar- 
 rifon, it might be an encouragement to inlifting their 
 men & alfo obtaining intelligence, the profits to be 
 theirs. 
 
 If all or any of the above facts & reprefentations 
 fhould agree with your obfervation & opinion, we would 
 requefl you to lay the fame before His Excellency &* 
 Council urging their immediate attention, as a great 
 faving to the State & equal or better fecurity then the 
 
126 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 ufial mode. Who we make no doubt will do all in 
 their power to fill up the Garrifon at Fort Grifwold 
 & to forward the beft plan of defence, and to ufe all 
 their influance in the next General Affembly to have 
 fuch Military Laws paffed as will be neceffary in alarm 
 & invafions. 
 
 We are with efteem & refpect, 
 Sir, 
 
 Your mod Hum e Serv s, 
 New London April 22 d 1782. 
 
 G. Saltonftall, Thos. Shaw, 
 
 Timo. Green, John Demon, 
 
 Marvin Wait, Amafa Larnard, 
 
 Pember Calkings, Edward Hallam, 
 
 Wint. Saltonftall, Michael Melally, 
 
 David Mumford, Guy Richards, Jun r , 
 
 Simon Wolcott, 
 James Angel, 
 Col. M Clellen, 
 
 Prefent. 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY WAR, VOL. XXIL, Doc. 339. 
 
 New London, I st June, 1782. 
 Sir: 
 
 Since writing the inclofed have feen Col M c Clan- 
 nan, he defires me to inform your Excellency that the 
 Troops at this Poft under his command will now not 
 make two Relieves, he is diftreff d to fupply the Forts 
 and Prifon Ship. 
 
 I think it my duty to inform your Excellency that 
 there is a large number of veffels here, & other inter- 
 eft, befide the Alliance Frigate, & fcarce any men to 
 defend the Forts at Groton & this Town, your Excel- 
 
From the Connecticut Archives. 127 
 
 lency will pleafe excufe the freedom I take in giving 
 fuch information as [it] refpects the publick 
 I am with fentiments of Rea[l] Efteem, 
 Your Excellencys very obecT Serv , 
 
 Tho s Mumford. 
 Superfcribed, 
 Publick Service, 
 
 His Excellency Governor Trumbull, 
 
 Hartford. 
 Indorf d . 
 
 In the Lower Houfe. 
 
 Col. Sage, Col. Ruffell & Maj r Hilhoufe appointed 
 to take into confideration this Letter & Addrefs of fun- 
 dry Gentlemen of New London to Col. M c Clallen of 
 the 22 d April ult & laid before the Houfe, both refpect- 
 ing the Defence of the Pofls of N. London & Gro- 
 ton and what ought to be done to report by bill or 
 otherwife. 
 
 TEST: JEDEDIAH STRONG, Clerk. 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY WAR, VOL. xxn., Doc. 338. 
 
 Report of Committee de Fort at New London, May, 1 782. 
 
 We Your Honours Com tee appointed to take into 
 confideration the reprefentation made by a number 
 of Gentlemen from New London, refpecting the De 
 fence of the Poft at N. London, &c., beg leave to re 
 port, 
 
 That the Governuour and Council of Safety be and 
 they are defired, to raife a fufficient fum out of y e pro- 
 vifions on hand (or loan as may be) to pay the 40^. 
 bounty ordered to the foldiers that may engage in the 
 forts at N. London & Groton provided by act of Af- 
 
128 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 fembly in Jan y laft (and that 48 matroffes be raifed in 
 addition to the number already ordered by act of Af- 
 fembly, and that the fame pay & bounty be given them 
 as the other before provided for) & that in the mean 
 time His Excellency order fuch numbers of militia to 
 man the Garrison untill a fuitable number may be en- 
 lifted, and that 200 Arms be provided & fent to the 
 care of the commander at that Poft for the ufe of the 
 fame. 
 
 All which is fubmitted by your Hum e Serv ts , 
 
 Comfort Sage, 
 Edw d Ruffel, 
 In the Lower Houfe. 
 
 The foregoing Report of Committee is accepted 
 and approved, fo far as to include the word laft in the 
 12 th line of the Report from the top, with addition 
 (viz.,) " provided faid foldiers do not live within fix 
 miles from s d Forts," next after the word laft aforefaid. 
 And that a Bill, &c. 
 
 TEST : INCREASE MOSELEY, Clerk, P. T. 
 Concurr d in the Upper Houfe. 
 
 TEST: GEORGE WYLLYS, Secret. 
 
 7 
 
 ge.l 
 
 1, J 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY WAR, VOL. XXVIL, Doc. 76. 
 
 To the Honorable General Affembly of the State 
 of Connecticut to be holden at Hartford by fpecial 
 order of the Governor the 2 d Wednefday of January 
 A. D. 1783. We, your Hon. Committee appointed at 
 your seffion in October laft to inquire into the difa- 
 bilitys of thofe perfons who were wounded in the at 
 tack of the Enemy at New London and Groton in 
 Sept. A. D. 1781 and remain in a crippled and debili- 
 
From the Connecticut Archives. 129 
 
 tated condition and to ftate their particular cafes to 
 the afsembly, beg leave to Report that we have at 
 tended on the faid bufmefs and the cafes of the faid 
 wounded & debilitated to be as follows : viz. - 
 
 Ens" CHARLES ELDRIDGE of the militia, who entered 
 the fort a volunteer, was wounded with a mufket ball 
 through the joint of the knee and although after long 
 confinement the wound is clofed up, yet the knee is in- 
 tirely ftiff, and as many pieces of the bone have dif- 
 charged from the subftance of the joint, the limb is 
 rendered very weak, and will doubtlefs ever remain so. 
 
 JOHN MORGAN 3 d , a volunteer, wounded in the fort 
 with a mufket ball near the joint of the knee, by 
 means of which his knee is rendered intirely ftiff and 
 he much difabled in walking and the like exercifes. 
 
 JOHN STARR a volunteer wounded in the fort by a 
 mufket ball through the joint of the elbow of his right 
 arm, whereby he has been from that to the prefent 
 time, exercifed with great pain and has loft the ufe of 
 his arm by its being rendered intirely ftiff. Ulcers 
 continue forming c to this time, and pieces of bone 
 iffueing out of the sores, he is a man in low circum- 
 ftances though of good character, has a wife & chil 
 dren which before he fupported by his induftry and 
 which he is now rendered wholly incapable of doing. 
 
 Ens JOSEPH WOODMANSEE a volunteer wounded in 
 the fort by a mufket ball, which intirely Extirpated 
 his right Eye and the upper part of the right cheek 
 and the ball paffed under the fhoulder blade which 
 has considerably weakened his fhoulder. 
 
 Capt SOLOMAN PERKINS a volunteer wounded in the 
 fort with a mufket ball through the neck and arm an 
 other through his fide, and fundry thrufts of the bay 
 onet through the Stomach &c which has caufed ner- 
 
130 Battle of Grot on Heights. 
 
 vous irritations spafams &c and rendered him unable 
 to perform hard labour. 
 
 ANDREW GALLUP a foldier belonging to the garrifon 
 wounded with a mufket ball through the hip & groin 
 wounding the main tendon of the thigh whereby he is 
 much difabled in walking & like exercifes. 
 
 Lieu 1 PARK AVERY a volunteer wounded in the fort 
 by a bayonet taking off part of the cranium and to 
 tally extirpating his right eye. 
 
 Serg* DANIEL ELDRIDGE a volunteer wounded in the 
 fort with a mufket ball in the arm which entered be 
 tween the wrift & elbow and paffmg nearly parallel 
 with the bone, came out between the elbow & the 
 fhoulder whereby his arm is weakened. 
 
 ZIBE WOODWORTH a foldier of the garrifon wounded 
 in the fort by a mufket ball with the whole charge & 
 wadds which went through his thigh & fraclured the 
 bone in such manner that a great part of the bone 
 has, in pieces iflued out, has much weakened & ihort- 
 ened the limb and it remains a running fore on both 
 fides until now, and he will doubtleff remain a cripple 
 during his life and in a great meafure unable to per 
 form any labour. 
 
 STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD a Searg of the garrifon of Fort 
 Trumbull was wounded at Fort Grifwold with a ball 
 through the joint of the left elbow and a bayonet in 
 his right hip. The wound in his hip is recovered with 
 no other difadvantage than a weaknefs and partial dif- 
 ability in that part which in a great degree prevents 
 the ability of traveling. The wound in the elbow was 
 more dangerous and has occafioned an entire ftiffnefs 
 in the joint whereby he is rendered incapable of bring 
 ing his hand near his head or performing any confider- 
 able labour to advantage. 
 
From the Connecticut Archives. 131 
 
 EDWARD STANTON of Stonington a volunteer wounded 
 in the fort by a mufket ball & whole charge which en 
 tered at the pap of the left bread and paffed in an 
 oblique direction fo that it broke three of his ribs the 
 fractured ends of which were fawed off and never 
 could be joined to the parts from which they were 
 feparated and although the wound is healed up Yet 
 there ftill remains a weaknefs and tendernefs which 
 renders him in a confiderable degree unable to per 
 form hard labour. 
 
 JEHIEL Juooof Colchefter a corporal in the company 
 of artillery in fort Grifwold was wounded by a mufket 
 ball which entered into the lower part of the knee 
 joint where it lay 30 days before it could be extracted 
 a great part of the flefh about the knee and half way 
 up the thigh became affected and the fore large & dif- 
 treffing. The limb is fhortened and the finews much 
 contracted and the joint intirely ftiff. Much of the 
 bone of the fubftance of the joint iffued out, but the 
 fore is at length healed up, though he ftill remains a 
 cripple and not likely to be otherwife. 
 
 SANFORD WILLIAMS a foldier of the garrifon wounded 
 in the fort by a mufket ball, which entered the upper 
 and about the middle of his breaft paffed through the 
 right lob of the lights and came out back of the arm 
 where it joins the body. The wounds are healed up 
 but a fore is broke out under the arm, near where the 
 ball came out, which yet remains and he is unable to 
 perform any confiderable hard labour. 
 
 Which is humbly fubmitted by Your 
 
 Hon Obd Humb 1 Servants 
 
 Sam 1 Mott, ) 
 
 Elifha Lathrop, > Committee. 
 
 Rob Crary, J 
 
132 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Alfo WILLIAM SEYMOUR of Hartford a volunteer in 
 the fort was wounded by a mufket ball which entered 
 into and paffed through the joint of the knee fraftur- 
 ing & breaking the bones in fuch manner as that the 
 greateft part of the fubftance of the knee joint fepe- 
 rated and iffued out. In this condition he, for about 
 three weeks, fuffered the mofl fevere pain & diftrefs, 
 when no other means could be thought of to fave his 
 life, amputation was performed & his limb taken off 
 about halfway between the knee & body and after a 
 long, languishing confinement he is reftored to a con- 
 fcderable degree of health, though wholly difabled from 
 performing any confiderable exercifes or following anj 
 confidcrable bufmefs. 
 
 Which is humbly submitted by, 
 
 Elifha Lathrop } 
 
 ~ , A/T , > Committee. 
 
 Sam 1 Mott, j 
 
 The men mentioned in the above report were 
 granted pensions varying from ,3 to ^"20 per annum. 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY WAR, VOL. xxvii., Doc. 78. 
 
 To the Honorable Gen 1 . Affembly now sitting at 
 Hartford. May seffion 1 783. 
 
 We the fubfcribers being by the Hon. Gen 1 . Affem 
 bly in October laft appointed a committee to enquire 
 into the Difability of thofe perfons who were wounded 
 by the enemy at New London & Groton in Sept. 1781 
 & to state their particular cafes to the Gen 1 . Affembly 
 did attend to that bufmefs and made our report of a 
 number of thofe wounded & difabled to the Gen 1 . Af- 
 sembly in January laft which report was accepted and 
 an order paffed thereon together with directions that 
 we fhould proceed further to examine and ftate the cafes 
 
Front the Connecticut Archives. 133 
 
 of any such wounded & crippled who might have been 
 omitted in the firft report, we therefore beg leave far 
 ther to report that 
 
 DANIEL STANTON Jun r . of Stonington hearing the 
 firing at New London and concluding it to be attacked 
 by the enemy mounted his horfe & rode full speed 
 eleven miles to fort Grifwold & entered & made him- 
 felf a volunteer in defence of the fort. In the action 
 he received twenty one wounds in the head, body, & 
 limbs with ball & bayonet of all which he is fully re 
 covered except one where a mufket ball entered be 
 tween the ancle bone & the heel of the foot came out 
 near the ball of the foot at the root of the great toe, 
 difabled & contracted the main cord of the heel and 
 other cords & tendons on the inficle of the foot which 
 has drop d the great toe and dravv d it under the foot 
 by which means he is difabled from travelling or any 
 active bufinefs of that kind. And we further bear leave 
 
 O 
 
 to report it as our opinion that according to the rules 
 adopted by the affembly in the cafe of the other crip 
 ples, he ought to receive from the public, during the 
 continuance of his difability the sum of fix pounds a 
 year as an annual ftipind the fame to commence from 
 the time of his receiving his wound. All which is 
 fubmitted to Your Honr". by 
 
 Your moft obedient & very humble fervants 
 
 Sam 1 . Mott, 
 
 .-. f Committee. 
 
 Rob . Crary, 
 
 In the Lower Houfe. 
 
 The foregoing report of committee is accepted & 
 approved & a bill in form ordered to be brought in ac 
 cordingly. 
 
 TEST: INCREASE MOSELEY, Clerk. 
 
 Concur*, in the Upper Houfe. 
 
 TEST : GEORGE WYLLYS, Secty. 
 
134 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY WAR, VOL. xxvi., Doc. 288, 294, 295. 
 
 MARY ALLEN, widow of Captain Samuel Allen, 1 was 
 left with six children under the age of twenty-one, and 
 a small real and personal estate. 
 
 LUCY WHITTLESEY, widow of John Whittlesey, New 
 London, tailor, was left with one child about three 
 years old, no estate, and no friends to help her. 
 
 * * BOLTON, widow of William, of New London, 
 was left with seven children under the age of sixteen 
 years, and no estate. 
 
 ESTHER CHAPMAN, widow of Lieutenant Richard 
 Chapman, of New London, was left with five children 
 under the age of twenty-one years ; had real and per 
 sonal estate to the amount of about ^300. 
 
 THEODA WILLIAMS, widow of Captain John Williams, 
 Jr., was left with eight children under y e age of seven 
 teen years, and about ^70 real and personal estate. 
 
 SARAH STEDMAN, widow of John Stedman, weaver, 
 was left with seven children under the age of thirteen 
 years ; no estate ; maintained his family by his hands. 
 
 PRUDENCE AVERY, widow of Captain Elijah Avery, 
 was left with three children under the age of sixteen 
 
 o 
 
 years ; had a good landed estate ; personal estate suf 
 fered by the enemy. 
 
 * * COMSTOCK, widow of James, of New London, a 
 woman about sixty years old, and no estate ; he always 
 repaired to the fort in every alarm. 
 
 MARGARET PERKINS, widow of Luke Perkins, was left 
 with one child and no estate. 2 
 
 1 Allyn. 
 
 2 This, I think, must be Luke Perkins, Jr., as I find on the Probate 
 Records Abigail Perkins, administratrix on estate of Luke Perkins j es 
 tate valued, ,302. 
 
From the Connecticut Arc/lives. 135 
 
 SARAH WALWORTH, widow of Sylvester Walworth, 
 weaver, was left with eight children under the age of 
 twenty-one years ; had a small real estate ; no personal 
 estate more than to pay the debts. 
 
 ANNA BABCOCK, widow of John Prentice Babcock, 
 clothier, was left with two small children and a small 
 real estate, not much more than to pay the debt. 
 
 ANNA LEDYARD, widow of Colonel William Led- 
 yard, was left with five children under the age of twen 
 ty-one ; has a considerable estate, chiefly in public se 
 curities. 
 
 BRIDGET LEDYARD, widow of Le Young" Ledyard, 
 was left with four children under the age of nine years; 
 no estate, but a small house lot ; the house burnt, and 
 what was in it. 
 
 ELIZABETH MUCKSLEY, widow of Joseph Mucksley; 
 was a house carpenter ; was killed 6th September, &c. 
 &c. ; was left with four children under the age of twen 
 ty-one ; had no real estate nor any personal estate ; 
 she has had much sickness, c. 
 
 DEBORAH LEWIS, widow of Joseph Lewis ; was killed 
 6th September ; was left with a small real estate ; was 
 a blacksmith, had eight children under the age of 
 nineteen, and chiefly depended on his trade for sup 
 port. 
 
 SARAH BURROWS, widow of Captain Hubbard Bur 
 rows, 2 was left with ten children under the age of sev 
 enteen ; he had a small estate represented insolvent, 
 and but little could be set out to the widow. 
 
 MARY BAKER, widow of Andrew Baker, a shoemaker, 
 was left with one young child and no estate. 
 
 1 Moxley. 
 
 a This name is Hobart Burrows on the Probate Records. 
 
136 Battle of Grolon Heights. 
 
 SARAH WOODBRIDGE, widow of Christopher Wood- 
 bridge, house-carpenter, was left with two small chil 
 dren and no estate. 
 
 ELIZABETH SEBERY, widow of David Sebery, ship- 
 carpenter, was left with five children under the age of 
 twenty-one; no estate; the house she lived in burnt, 
 and everything except what they had on. 
 
 DEBORAH AVERY, widow of Daniel Avery, was left 
 with eight children under the age of fourteen years ; 
 has about ^600 of real and personal estate, with an 
 incumbrance of about 50.5- a year for a widow s third. 
 
 MARY COVELL, widow of Philip Covell, about fifty 
 years of age, and about ^40 of estate. 
 
 MARCY WILLIAMS, of Stonington, widow of Thomas 
 Williams, is a woman in her sixty-third year ; the es 
 tate insolvent, so that she receives little or no benefit 
 from it. 
 
 ELIZABETH BALEY, widow of Ezekiel Baley, black 
 smith, was left with six children under the age of twen 
 ty-one years ; suppose there will be about ^"100 when 
 the debts are paid of real and personal estate. 
 
 THANKFUL STANTON, widow of Captain Amos Stan- 
 ton, was left with seven children under the age of 
 twelve years, and the estate left is about .200 in sol 
 diers notes and state securities. 
 
 ELIZABETH CLARK, of New London, widow of John 
 Clark, cooper, was left with four children under eight 
 years, and no estate. 
 
 MARTHA HOLT, widow of John Holt, Jr. of New 
 London, ship joiner, was left with three children under 
 the age of ten years ; not more estate than to pay 
 the debts. 
 
 MARY BILLINGS, widow of Samuel Billings, shoe 
 maker, was left about fifty years old ; left with fifteen 
 
From the Connecticut Archives. 137 
 
 or sixteen acres of poor land with a small house upon 
 it, and no other estate. 
 
 REBECCA MINER, widow of Thomas Miner, ship-car 
 penter, &c., was left with three small children and a 
 small personal estate and in debt. 
 
 ESTHER Hill, widow of Samuel Hill, was left with 
 five children under the age of twelve years ; had no 
 estate ; was supplied by his labor. 
 
 HANNAH MILLS, widow of Edward Mills, was left 
 with five children under the age of nine years and no 
 estate. 
 
 UNICE WILLIAMS, widow of Lieutenant Henry Wil 
 liams, Jr., left with three children under eight years; 
 a small matter of personal estate. 
 
 ELIZABETH PERKINS, widow of Asa Perkins, was left 
 with four children under the age of seven years ; her 
 husband left a house and fifty acres of land ; no mov 
 able estate left more than to pay the debts. 
 
 ELIZABETH ADAMS, widow of Nathaniel Adams, a 
 cloather, was left with five children under the age of 
 eleven years ; a small house and a small piece of rocky 
 land under no improvement nor worth improving ; 
 lived wholly by his trade. 
 
 HANNAH HALLABARD, widow of Rufus Hallebard, 1 
 was left with eight children under the age of fourteen 
 years. Left real estate; rents for 16 a year, half of 
 which to his mother-in-law during life, and the estate 
 in debt about ^70 more than the personal estate will 
 pay. 
 
 DORITHY LESTER, widow of Jon" 111 Lester, 2 left with 
 one child fourteen years old and considerable personal 
 estate. 
 
 1 Kufus Hurlbut. > Probably John Lester. 
 
138 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 NICHOLAS STARR was killed in Fort Grisvvold ; his 
 widow 1 died soon after with a fever, and left four chil 
 dren, the oldest about eight years, the youngest about 
 two, and about estate enough to pay his debts. 
 
 PHEBE AVERY, widow of Lieutenant Ebenezer Avery, 
 was left with six children under the age of twenty-one 
 years ; he left a large real estate and some personal es 
 tate under the incumbrance of an aged woman s sup 
 port with some other incumbrances to a considerable 
 amount, also a debt of about ,70. 
 
 SUSSANNAH SHOLES, widow of Nathan Sholes, was 
 left with two small children and no estate. 
 
 JURUSHA LEEDS, widow of Captain Gary Leeds, was 
 left with six children under eight years, and no estate. 
 Captain Leeds was wounded in the fort, of which he 
 never recovered of, took cold and flung him into a 
 fever of which he died. 
 
 ESTHER JONES, widow of Moses Jones, was left with 
 two small children, and no estate. 
 
 ABIGAIL PALMER, widow of David Palmer, was left 
 with two small children ; a large real estate under a life 
 lease to her father-in-law and no personal estate. 
 
 WAITY STANTON, widow of Lieutenant Enoch Stan- 
 ton, of Stonington, was left with seven children under 
 the age of fifteen years; one quarter of an acre of land 
 with a dwelling house, no personal estate more than 
 enough to pay the debts; a goldsmith and depended 
 upon his trade to support his family. 
 
 All the widows and families that are not described to 
 be of any town belong to the town of Groton. 
 
 1 Hannah Starr, from Probate RecorJs. 
 
Froty the Connecticut Archives. 139 
 
 All of which doings is submitted to your honors by 
 your most obedient 
 
 Humble servants 
 
 Ch. Phelps, ) 
 
 , > Committee. 
 
 James Gordon, j 
 
 GROTON, Aug. 25, 1783. 
 
 I have collected the following list of widows and 
 children not mentioned in the above report : * 
 
 CATHARINE (MUMFORD) RICHARDS, widow of Captain 
 Peter Richards, and one child Catharine. 
 
 ELIZABETH MOORE, widow of Captain Nathan Moore. 
 
 ESTHER ALLYN, widow of Captain Simeon Allyn. 
 
 MICHAEL WOODBRIDGE, widow of Henry Wood- 
 bridge, left with two small children, David and Han- 
 
 O * 
 
 nah. 
 
 LYDIA (LORD) AVERY, widow of David Avery. 
 
 MARY (HARRIS) SHAPLEY, widow of Adam Shapley, 
 left with four children : Mary, Joseph, Abigail, and 
 Benjamin. The eldest, Daniel, died on the prison 
 ship in New York in November. 
 
 ELIZABETH AVERY, widow of Jasper Avery. 
 
 EXPERIENCE WARD, widow of Patrick Ward. 
 
 ABIGAIL PERKINS, widow of Luke Perkins. 
 
 SARAH PERKINS, widow of Elisha Perkins. 
 
 1 The official report only includes minor or dependent children. Many 
 of these families had children over twenty-one, or married. A. 
 
140 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY WAR, VOL. xxiv., Doc. 389. 
 
 Upon ye memorial of Dan 1 Judd of Colchefter 
 mowing to this affembly that his fon Jehial Judd was 
 an inlifted foldier in the State Service in Fort Grif- 
 wold on y e 6 th Day of Sept 1781, when & where he 
 was grievoufly wounded & that by y e advice of Doc 
 Turner he removed his s d son to his own houfe where 
 he boarded & nurfed his s d son until & after y e firft 
 of April 1782: that y e Comittee of Pay-table liqui 
 dated & settled his ace 8 until s d firft of April 1782 & 
 no longer having no orders to fettle any accounts that 
 have arifen fince that time by reafon of wounds rec d in 
 s d action, that fince s d firft of April 1782 he has been 
 at expenfe in boarding nurfing, and tending s d fon & 
 for s d Do ct bill ye fum of ,8-15 s.-o, Lawful money 
 as s d acct produced for which he has recd no reward 
 Praying relief &c : As s d memorial on file 
 
 Refolved by this Affembly that ye com tee of Paytable 
 be (& they are hereby) ordered to receive liquidate & 
 fettle s d ace in y e same manner as y" ace , before s d 
 firft of April 1782 was fettled & draw order on* y* 
 Treaf r for y e same 
 
 Paffed in the Lower House 
 
 (May 1783.) 
 
 TEST : INCREASE MOSELEY, Clk. 
 
 Concur d in the Upper Houfe 
 
 TEST : GEORGE WYLLYS, Sect. 
 
From the Connecticut Archives. 141 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY WAR, VOL. xxiv., Doc. 143. 
 
 To the Hon. Gen 1 Affcmbly, State of Connecticut^ now 
 fitting at Hartford within said state. 
 
 October Seffion, 1782. 
 
 The Memorial of the officers & men of the two com 
 panies ftation d at Forts Trumbull and Grifwold, hum 
 bly fheweth 
 
 That agreeable to their engagements they ferved for 
 the year 1781. That many of them had before that 
 term had done duty at s 1 Forts : That their pay had 
 been made in Pay Table orders & State Connecticut 
 bills, which fell very fhort of real money. Though 
 they fpeak good money, yet they carry not equal credit 
 with the people of the country : for they neither will 
 make paynV of debts due from your memorialifts, or 
 procure the neceffaries of life unles put off at much 
 leff value than they expreff The above obfervations, 
 Hope may not be conftrued as any difhonorable re 
 flection upon Government, as we fincerely & feelingly 
 lament their falling fo far fhort of the firft intended 
 worth, and would only fuggeft that when a difease is 
 known, exertions ought to be made to apply a fuitable 
 remedy, and fpeedy Your Memorialifts beg that for 
 their fervices year 1781 your Hon s would be pleafed 
 to Devife and Direct a mode of pay that may be equal 
 to real money, that their expectations may be anfwered 
 and made equal to their engagements. Your Memo 
 rialifts would further fay that motives, from great loll 
 on their part, the diftreffed fituation of many who have 
 ferved with us now labouring under great debilitation 
 of body by fickneff wounds &c together with diftreffed 
 circumftances of the widows & children of thofe who 
 fell a facrifice to Britifh cruelty on the fatal 6 th day of 
 
142 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 September 1781 flimulates to beg the early attention 
 of your Honors to the matter of our prayer 
 
 Your refolves of May 1781 relative to the Horfe- 
 neck Guard conceive, applies to your Memorialifts, 
 which gave the fame pay & rations with the Continen 
 tal Army, which we wifh to have complied with. And 
 will only fay that were your Hon s fully acquainted with 
 the distreffes of many above refer d occafion d by the 
 horrid maffacre of the garrifon of Fort Grifvvold 
 Twould moft affuredly excite the higheft commifera- 
 tion & caufe to decree (if nothing more) that they 
 have their jufl due from the public, & that without 
 loff. Submitting the whole to the wife determination 
 of your Honors your Memorialifts as in duty bound 
 fhall ever pray 
 
 William Latham Captain 
 Jabez Stow, Lieu 
 Obad h Perkins, Lieu 
 in Behalf of faid Officers & Men 
 
 Col Samuel M Claning commander of the poft & 
 fortrefs at New London, in behalf of himfelf & other 
 officers & foldiers ferving at s d poft under his command 
 not immediately included in the foregoing memorial, 
 pray the Hon. General Affembly to take into confeder 
 ation their cafe, Requefting their wages for their fer- 
 vices at s d post of New London & Groton then the 
 same reward for their fervices as prayd for in the fore 
 going memorial or in fome other way grant them re 
 lief as your Hon s in your wifdom fhall judge juft & 
 reafonable Dated at Hartford the 1 5 th day of January 
 A. D. 1783 
 
 Sam 1 M c Clellan 
 for himfelf & the regiment concerned 
 
From the Connecticut Archives. 143 
 
 In the Lower Houfe 
 
 Col. Throop, Col. St. John, & M r Pettibone are ap 
 pointed a Committee to take the within Mem 1 into 
 Confideration make Enquiry what has been done in 
 favor of the Memorialifts & what is neceffary further 
 to be done & report make by bill or otherwife 
 
 TEST: S. M. MITCHELL, Clerk. 
 Concurr d in the Upper House 
 
 TEST: GEORGE WYLLYS, Secty. 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY WAR, VOL. xxu., Doc. 198. 
 
 We your Honors Committee, appointed to take into 
 Confideration the mem 1 of Adam Shapel(e)y and Wil 
 liam Latham in behalf of themfelves and the reft of 
 the Surviving officers and Soldiers belonging to the 
 Garrifons of Fort Trumbull & Fort Grifworld, having 
 enquired into the Matter therein Reprefented, beg leave 
 to report, that we find that Cap Adam Shaply was 
 dangeroufly wounded but not Captivated, that Cap 
 William Latham, Lieu Jabez Stow, Jonathan Minor, 
 Jeremiah Harding, Jofiah Smith, Isaac Rowley. Reu 
 ben Bufhnell, Levi Dart & Kilburn were 
 
 wounded & carryed Prifoners to New York and were 
 Plundered of their Cloaths, Buckels &c that Lieu 
 Stow was Robed of about Seven pounds in hard 
 Money, that he afterwards Borrowed of Some Friends 
 in New York about forty Dollars, with which he pro 
 vided Some Small Cloathing for himfelf & the other 
 prifoners, and to procure a Subfiftance for them, and 
 one Dollar he gave to Each private Soldier, to Sup 
 port them on their way home from New Jerfey where 
 they were Landed on their Exchange, & that during 
 
144 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 their Captivity, they Endured great Hardfhip, where 
 upon we beg leave to Submitted it to Your Honors 
 as our Opinion that Liu Stow ought to be paid the 
 Said Sum of forty Dollars and alfo ,6-0-0 for the 
 money that was plundered from him and that the Com 
 mittee of Pay Table Ought to be Impowered to Settle 
 and adjuft their Accounts for the Loff of Cloathing, 
 Side-arms &c as they have done in Similar Cafes ; and 
 as an acknowledgement of their Bravery and Suffer 
 ings, a Gratuity of an Honorary Medal of Silver plate 
 ought to be prefented to the faid Cap . Shaply, Cap . 
 Latham, and Liu Stow by this State, Each of the Big- 
 neff or fize of two Inch and a half Square or Equaled 
 in any other figure with Sutable Emblems Engraved 
 thereon, and that a like medal of half that bigneff with 
 the Emblem of a Fort Engraved thereon, be prefented 
 to Each of the private Soldiers aforefaid, the whole 
 Expence of faid Medals to be paid out of the avails of 
 Confifcatecl Eftates, as foon as the Treafurey (hall be 
 Supplyed with Money arifing out of faid Eftates, & 
 that the Same be procured by the Governor & his 
 Council of Safty. 
 
 all which is Submitted by your Honors Hum 1 Se , 
 
 Jn" Canfield ] 
 
 Joseph P. Cooke V Corn " 
 Hez h Hubbell J 
 
 In the Lower Houfe 
 
 the foregoing Report accepted & approved fo far as 
 it relates to the payment of forty Dollars borrowed by 
 & twenty Dollars plundered of Lieu Stow & y e ad- 
 juftment of the Acc s of Loffes of Cloathing &c by the 
 Com ee of pay Table & that a Bill in form be bro t in 
 
 thereon &c 
 
 TEST: S. M. MITCHELL, Clerk P. T. 
 
From the Connecticut Archives. 145 
 
 Concur d in the Upper House 
 
 TEST : GEORGE WYLLYS, Sect. 
 Report of Com tee on Mem 1 of Cap Shapley Jan. 1782. 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY WAR, VOL. xxv., Doc. 191. 
 
 HARTFORD. FeVy &*. 1782. 
 
 This may certify that Horatio Wales went into Fort 
 Grifworld as a volunteer on the 6 th day of Sept. 1781, 
 and was in the fort when it was taken by the Enemy. 
 
 W M . LATHAM Capt Artil*. 
 
 HARTFORD February 20 *. 1782. 
 
 Rec d . an order on Treafurer for fix pounds three 
 fhillings on the f. Tax in full of the above Acco . 1 
 
 HORATIO WALES. 
 The above acco . fworn to. 
 
 Certified. 
 
 FINN WADSWORTH Com/". 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY WAR, VOL. xxv., Doc. 214. 
 
 State of Connecticut to Simon Wolcott, Dr. 
 
 To Vifiting, Attend" & Dreffmg Adam Shap 
 ley Efq. from Sept. 8, 1781 to Nov. I st 53 
 Days 6 - pr Day . . . . . .15. 18. o 
 
 To Ditto for D from Nov. ist to Feb y - 15 th - 
 
 1782, One Hundred & Seven Days @ 4* 21. 8.0 
 
 To Sundry Medicines for D- . . . 10. o 
 
 NEW LONDON, 24 * Feby. 1782 ,""! 16. O 
 
 Errors Excepted, 
 SIMON WOLCOTT. 
 
 1 This was a claim for goods and wearing apparel stripped from him 
 by the enemy and was allowed by a committee. A. 
 10 
 
146 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 State of Connecticut to Simon Wolcott, Dr. 
 
 To Visiting, Attend !ng & Dreffing Elijah 
 Richards who was wounded at New Lon 
 don Sept. 6" 1781 Twelve Days from Sept. 
 8 th 5 s z- o. o 
 
 NEW LONDON, 24th Feb. 1782 37- l6. O 
 
 Errors Excepted, 
 SIMON WOLCOTT. ^"40. 1 6. O ] 
 
 Endorfed as follows : 
 
 I vifited & Dreffed Cap . Shapley Twice pr Day 
 about half the time included in the within Ace 1 . 
 
 SIMON WOLCOTT. 
 
 Rec v d Hartford March 4 th 1782 of Pay Table 
 Com tee . their order on Treaf. for Forty Pounds Six 
 teen Shillings Lawfull Money out of the Tax of f on 
 the Pound in full of the within Account. 
 
 SIMON WOLCOTT, 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY WAR, VOL. xxiv., Doc. 380. 
 
 To the Hona bl . General Affembly of tlie state of Con 
 necticut now setting at Hartford. 
 
 The memorial of John Demon of New London 
 fheweth that your memorialift had in his poffeffion a 
 quantity of gun powder on the 6 h of Sept 1781 & while 
 the Enemie were landed on New London fide Col. 
 Will ". Ledyard aplied to Mr. John Holt who was then 
 ftorekeeper to your honors memorialift, for the said 
 
 Equal to $136. A. 
 
From the Connecticut Archives. 147 
 
 powder for the defence of Fort Grifwold, whereupon 
 the faid Mr. Holt delivered the powder & went with 
 the fame to the faid Fort and was there flain - 
 
 Your Honors memorialift has aplyed to Col. Me- 
 Clanan for the faid powder or an equal quantity, which 
 he refufes to do unlefs an order from his Excelency 
 the Governor or this affembly is produced, your memo 
 rialift prays your Honors to give orders for the payment 
 for the f d powder or in fome other way to grant relief 
 as your Hon s . in your wifdom fhall Judge fit & your 
 Petitioner as in duty bound ihall ever pray 
 
 DATE HARTFORD, May 14, 1783. 
 JOHN DESHON. 1 
 
 APPROPRIATIONS 
 
 TO THE NEW LONDON AND GROTON SUFFERERS, ALSO IN 
 CLUDING VARIOUS OTHER TOWNS OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 GENERAL ASSEMBLY, May Session, A. D. 1792. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM VOL. iv., STATE RECORDS. 
 Resolved, by this Assembly, That there be and there 
 hereby is, released & quit claimed to the sufferers here 
 after named, or their legal representatives where they 
 are dead and to their heirs and assigns forever Five 
 hundred thousand acres of the lands belonging to this 
 State, lying west of the State of Pennsylvania and 
 bounded northerly on the shore of Lake Erie .... 
 to be divided to and among the said sufferers and 
 their legal representatives where they are dead in pro 
 portion to the several sums annexed to their names as 
 follows : 
 
 1 He was granted 900 Ihs. powder, out of State stores. A. 
 
[48 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 (Here follow the names of the sufferers at Greenwich, Norwalk, Fair- 
 field, Danbury, New Haven, and East Haven, New London, Groton, and 
 Ridgefield.) 
 
 LOSSES OF NEW LONDON SUFFERERS BY THE RAV 
 AGES OF THE BRITISH ARMY. 
 
 * d. 
 
 Phillip Allen ... 9 15 5 2 
 
 James Angell . . . . . 169 
 
 2 
 
 John Barr ...... 71 n 4 
 
 Stephen Babcock . . . . 34 9 i? 
 
 John Barna ..... 84 6 7^ 
 
 Nathan Bailey . . . 20 3 io 
 
 Lydia Beebe . . . . . 24 5 o 
 
 Abigail Bell ..... 6119 
 
 Joanna Beebe . . . . . 236 2 6 
 
 Hannah Beebe . . . . 6 18 9 
 
 Walter Beebe ..... 989 
 
 Elizabeth Beebe . . . . 16 6 o 
 
 Samuel Belden . . . . . 1,771 15 6 
 
 Percy Been . . . . . 6172 
 
 William Brooks ..... 65 1 1 6\ 
 
 Samuel Brown .... 493 7 
 
 Jeremiah Brown . . . 124 9 5-5 
 
 Hannah Bolton .... 32 i 10^ 
 
 Thomas Bowhay . . . . 49 1 7 i 
 
 Ann Bulkley ..... 493 14 113 
 
 David Byrne . . . . . 336 4 7 
 
 Richard Chapman .... 73 i 6i 
 
 Ludwick Champlin . . . . n 9 10 
 
 Joseph Champlin . . . . 72119 
 
 Isaac Champlin . . . . 142 3 2 
 
 John Champlin . . . . 104 8 5 
 
From the Connecticut Archives. 149 
 
 John Clark & Sons . . . 135 6 5 
 
 John Critchett . . . . 665! 
 
 Elizabeth Christophers . . . 49 4 6 
 
 Joseph Coit 1,298 18 5 
 
 William Coit . . . . . 44 17 10 
 
 Thomas Coit . . . . . 23 13 4 
 
 Nathaniel Coit, Jr . . . 15 15 10 
 
 Joshua Coit ..... 40 o o 
 
 Samuel Coit 19 8 6 
 
 Joseph Cocks .... i 5 3 
 
 William Comstock . . . . 3 16 o 
 
 Jonathan Colefax . . . . 15 n 3 
 
 John Crocker . . . . . 34 13 2 
 
 Joseph Collins . . . . 41 o 8| 
 
 John Coster . . . . . 14 9 o 
 
 Cornelius Cunningham . . . 62 14 j\ 
 
 Joanna Culver . . . . . 10 15 o 
 
 Esther Cutler .... 700 
 James Culver .....891 
 
 Stephen Culver . . . . 3 16 o 
 
 Rebecca Church . . . . 52 u 10 
 
 Joseph Chuls . . . . 75 n 6 
 
 Sarah Davis 800 
 
 Peter Darrow . . . . 10 o o 
 
 Nicholas Darrow . . . . 9122 
 
 James Darrow .... 2 3 7 
 
 John Deshon . . . . . 1,177 6 2 
 
 Deshon & Co 556 10 o 
 
 Henry Deshon 900 o 2 
 
 Joseph Deshon . . . . 100 i o 
 
 Richard Deshon .... 266 19 8 
 
 Jonathan Douglass . . . 1,446 14 7 
 
 Rich d Douglass 262 18 6 
 
150 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Robert Douglass .... 200 o o 
 
 Ebenezer Douglass . . . .1794 
 
 Nathan Douglass .... 941 n 9 
 
 Spe r Douglass . . . . . 8 15 7 
 
 Wedon Dorsett .... 200 
 
 Nathaniel Dickenson . . .1510 
 
 Timothy Durfey . . . . 20 14 o 
 Monsieur Dumont .... 263 10 8 
 
 Clark Elliott ..... 296 1 1 3 
 
 Abigail Elliot 496 13 10 
 
 Sarah Edmunds .... 20 2 6 
 
 Jacob Finch . . . . . 130 8 10 
 Ann Fosdick & Sons . . . 1,045 IO XI 
 
 Thomas Gardner . . . 22 2 o 
 
 Mary Gardner . . . . 123 1 6 o 
 David Gardner . . . . . 1 1 o o 
 Lydia Green . . . . . 12 16 o 
 
 Elizabeth Griffin ....500 
 Roger Gibson .... 884 18 6\ 
 
 George Gibbs .21 70 
 
 Mathew Griswold . . . . 10 o o 
 
 Ebenezer Goddard . ...700 
 John Gordon . . . . . i 16 3 
 
 Mary Goodfaith . . . . .1500 
 
 Ruth Harris 63 o o 
 
 Thomas Hancock . . . . 148 7 5 
 Ann Hancock .... 140 3 6 
 Joseph Harris, Jr . . . . 5150 
 Walter Harris . . . . 17 15 10 
 
 Daniel Harris .....560 
 
From the Connecticut Archives. 151 
 
 John Hall am and Benj n Harris . . 300 o o 
 
 Nathaniel Hawes .... 3 5 o 
 
 Sarah Hawes . . . . 177 7 5 
 John Hawes, 2 ond . . . . 33111 
 
 Lydia Hawes . . . . . 60 3 1 1 
 
 Bridget Hawes . . . . 24 19 o 
 
 John Hawes, I st . . . . o u i 
 
 Grace Hawes ..... 29 o o 
 
 Eliphalet Hawes . . . . 20 12 5 
 
 Benj" Hawes 19 9 5 
 
 Edward and John Hallam . . . 310 9 8 
 
 Edward and George Hallam . . 215 o o 
 Edward Hallam . . . .10160 
 
 John Hallam . . . . . 417 10 o 
 
 John Hartle . . . . . 44 19 4 
 
 James McEvers Haas . . . 600 o o 
 
 Joshua Hempstead . . . . 62 15 3 
 
 John Hempstead and others . . 30 18 o 
 
 Nath 1 Hempsted . . . . 7 i 10 
 
 Stephen Hempsted ... 70 6 i 
 William Higgins . . . . 4110 
 
 Russell Hubbard . . ... 1,012 o 3 
 
 Joseph Hurlburt .... 965 8 3 
 
 Mary Hurlburt . . . . 212 13 o 
 
 Daniel Hurlburt . . . . 126 14 7 
 
 Titus Hurlburt . . . . 1,961 30 
 
 Thomas Hopkins . . . . 198 17 9 
 
 Elizabeth Hollesvvorth ... 46 8 o 
 
 Stephen Holt . . . . . 229 5 2 
 
 Abigail Holt . . . . 18 n 2 
 
 Joseph Holt . . . . . 2 13 o 
 
 Thomas Holt 4187 
 
 James Holt . . . . . 25 18 6 
 Ebenezer Holt . . . . .1551 
 
152 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Daniel Holt 32 2 6 
 
 Jonathan Holt 35 13 o 
 
 John Irwin 800 o o 
 
 Moses Jeffery 36 3 6 
 
 Lydia Johnson . . . . 21 15 o 
 
 Thomas Jones 40 4 10 
 
 Robert Kenedy .... 350 o o 
 
 James Lampheir . . . . 233 9 o 
 
 James Lamphier, Jr 42 o 7 
 
 Lydia Latimer . . . . . 27 8 6 
 
 Pickett Latimer .... 565 7 8 
 
 Samuel Latimer . . . . 910 ig 5 
 
 Samuel Latimer .... 24 7 6 
 
 Rich d Latimer . . . . . 26 19 8 
 
 Peter Latimer . . . . 31716 
 
 Rossman Lawrence . . . 54 o o 
 
 John Lathrop . . . . 1119 
 
 Mary Lewis . . . . . 5120 
 
 Christopher Leffingwell . . 25 o o 
 
 Amos Lester . . . . . 12 n 9 
 
 Ebenezer Lester . . . . 8120 
 
 John Lester 35 19 7 
 
 Edgecomb Lee .... 48 4 7 
 
 Amasa Learned . . . . 18 r o 
 
 Mehitabel Leet . . . . 124 o o 
 
 Diodate Little 207 5 o 
 
 Michael Love . . . . 23 o o 
 
 James Mathews . . . . 29 19 2 
 
 Robert Man waring . . . 21 8 8 
 
from the Connecticut Archives. 153 
 
 David Man waring . . . . 5130 
 
 Lawrence Marting ... 55 18 6 
 
 Jeremiah Miller .... 2,535 18 10 
 
 James Miller .... 93 8 6 
 
 Jabez Miner 7 10 7 
 
 Ephraim Minor .... 348 17 4 
 
 Lewis Minor . . . . . 71 7 4 
 
 Anthony Mitchell . . . 23 n 6 
 
 John Morris 29 16 o 
 
 Isaac Moseley .... 500 o o 
 
 David Mumford . . . 318 5 9 
 
 Giles Mumford 44 o o 
 
 John McCurdy . . . . 1,128 o o 
 
 Michael Melally .... 94 4 7 
 
 Temperance Moore .... 24 3 o 
 
 Elizabeth Newcomb . . . 1200 
 
 George Newcomb . . . . 238 i 9 
 
 Mary Newberry . . . . 14 5 o 
 
 Owen Neill 91 14 6 
 
 Widow Nelson .... 63 10 o 
 
 Joseph Owen . . . . . 75 18 6 
 
 Nathaniel Overton . . . 27 9 o 
 
 Isaac Oliver ..... 40 7 3 
 
 William Packwood . . . 12 6 o 
 
 Andrew Palmer . . . . 105 10 o 
 
 James Parker . . . . 21 19 o 
 
 Zuriah Preston . . . . 21130 
 
 James Penniman . . . . 137 10 I 
 
 Simeon Peck 19 16 o 
 
 John Pennaert . . . . 223 8 6 
 
 John Prentice ..... 3 16 o 
 
1 54 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Christopher Prince . . . 51243 
 
 Med Finer 48 o o 
 
 James Pittman .... 145 18 4 
 
 Peter Perry 9 18 o 
 
 Richard Potter .... 382 2 3 
 
 Abigail Potter 573 4 n 
 
 John Potter 8 14 5 
 
 Ichabod Powers .... 620 8 o 
 
 Ichabod Powers, Jun . . . 188 16 8 
 
 Joshua Powers . . . . . 4 17 o 
 
 Sarah Pool 4190 
 
 Eliza Plumb 197 19 o 
 
 Green Plumb 43 19 3 
 
 Joseph Plumb 24 16 o 
 
 Ann Richards .... 224 15 10 
 Guy Richards & Sons . . .811 8 o 
 
 Mary Richards . . . 258 17 o 
 
 Jabez Richards 440 
 
 David Richards .... 149 
 
 Stephen Rougett . . . . 37 6 i 
 
 Samuel Roberts .... 94 6 10 
 
 David Roberts 17 16 9 
 
 Patrick Robinson .... 300 
 
 Peter Robinson 81 12 2 
 
 Mary Rogers 8130 
 
 James Rogers 455 16 5 
 
 Benj. Rogers . . . . . 9 19 i 
 
 Solomon Rogers .... 101 4 3 
 
 Amos Rogers . . . . 31 i 8 
 
 George Rogers 14 14 o 
 
 James Rogers . . . . i 16 o 
 
 Harris Rogers 128 13 10 
 
 Peter Rogers . . . . 16 2 4 
 
From the Connecticut Archives. 155 
 
 William Rogers 1830 
 
 Peter Rogers Jr . . . 1129 
 
 John Rogers 31 8 10 
 
 W m Rogers 4 19 o 
 
 Nath 1 Salstonstall . . . . 146 9 6 
 
 Gurdon Salstonstall Esq . . . 1,440 o o 
 
 Roswell Salstonstall . . . 1,800 o o 
 
 Winthrop Salstonstall . . . 1,181 16 8 
 
 Jon" and I. Starr . . . . 53 2 i 
 
 Joshua Starr 1,250 n 8 
 
 Lucy Starr .....590 
 
 Starr and Tallman . . . 150 o o 
 
 Eliza Shapley 382 5 o 
 
 Adam Shapley . . . . 20 17 10 
 
 Nath 1 and Thomas Shaw . . . 2,834 5 o 
 William Stark . . . . 1790 
 
 Seth Sears 13190 
 
 John Shepard . . . . 76. 14 o 
 
 James Stewart . . . . 13 18 o 
 
 Sarah Setchell . . . . 56 19 o 
 
 John Spencer 58 8 o 
 
 Chapman Simmons . . . 22 18 o 
 James Smith .....470 
 
 Thomas Smith . . . . 1 1 o o 
 
 Bathsheba Smith .... 465 14 o 
 
 Robert Smith . . . . 24 18 o 
 
 William Skinner . . . . 15 on 
 
 Bathsheba Skinner . . . . 180 o o 
 
 Lydia Spinck 9 13 o 
 
 John Springer . . . . 17 19 o 
 
 Ann Simmonds . . . . . . 13 1 8 o 
 
 Ann Squire 7 10 o 
 
 Joanna Short 276 14 o 
 
156 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Daniel Stole 27 14 o 
 
 Judas 13. Spooner . . . . 21 12 o 
 Richard Stroud . . . . 23 15 o 
 
 Bethiah Tallman . . . 63 5 o 
 
 Mary Taylor 26 15 10 
 
 Daniel Tinker 22 17 6 
 
 James Tilley 1,533 10 3 
 
 John Tilley 6 12 6 
 
 Edward Tinker . . . . 25 15 9 
 
 James Thompson . . . 35 7 
 
 John Thompson . . . . 59 16 9 
 
 Nath 1 Thorp 3 13 o 
 
 Daniel Truman .... 600 
 
 Mary Ward 28 o o 
 
 John Way 590 3 1 1 
 
 Ebenezer Way . . . . .15161 
 
 John Ward 1754 
 
 John Welch 46 10 o 
 
 Walter Welch . . . . 59 19 o 
 
 Eliza Westcott 87 6 o 
 
 Laurelia Wolfe 4160 
 
 Anthony Wolfe 4 14 o 
 
 Simeon Wolcott .... 1,083 9 i 
 
 James Young 1320 
 
 9 
 
From the Connecticut Archives. 157 
 
 APPROPRIATIONS TO GROTON SUFFERERS. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 Amos A very 1222 
 
 Prudence A very . . . . 270 14 8 
 
 Thankful Avery .... 263 18 8 
 
 Rufus Avery 132 18 4 
 
 Lydia Avery 157 12 i 
 
 Latham Avery . . . . . 103 5 6 
 
 Ebenezer Avery .... 30 o 4 
 
 Phebe Avery 220 
 
 Peter Avery 4130 
 
 George Avery 882 
 
 Elisha Avery . . . . 10145 
 Hannah Avery . . . . .1566 
 
 Elizabeth Avery .... 260 
 
 Benj" Avery 3190 
 
 Caleb Avery 706 
 
 Ezekiel Bailey . . . . . 2195 
 
 James Bailey ..... 2 10 o 
 
 Stephen Billings . . . . 74 6 7 
 
 John Brown ..... 29 5 8 
 
 Simeon Chester . . . . 8150 
 
 Samuel Chester 10 6 6 
 
 Eldridge Chester . . . . 6 1 1 o 
 
 Jedediah Chester . . . . 21 13 2 
 
 Benjamin Chester .... 442 3 o 
 
 Bcnj. Chester, as executor . . . 300 15 o 
 
 Charles Chester . . . . 0155 
 
 Daniel Chester 19156 
 
 Jason Chester . . . . 20 18 o 
 
 Esther Conklin . . . . . 39 i 6 
 
j 58 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Nathan Darrow ....911 
 
 Mary Dodge 14 6 o 
 
 Charles Eldridge, Jr . . . 755 6 7 
 
 Daniel Eldridge . . . . 4 14 o 
 
 Serg Daniel Eldridge ... 119 
 
 Andrew Gallop . . . . 14 8 o 
 
 Robert Gallop 1 1 6 6 
 
 Thomas Griffin .... 380 
 
 Jonathan Havens . . . . 1190 
 
 John Hicks 780 
 
 Ruth Holliday . . . . 43 1 1 3 
 
 Edward Jeffery . . . . 158 5 4 
 
 Alexander Kidd . . . . 9511 
 
 John Latham . . . . . 94 18 9 
 
 Capt. Edward Latham ... 4 8 7 
 
 Cap W m Latham .... 45 2 2 
 
 Lydia Latham . . . . 92 4 6 
 
 Mary Latham . , . 400 
 
 Jonathan Latham .... 3 4 8 
 
 Elizabeth Latham . : . . 15 12 6 
 
 W. A. Latham . . . . . 36 19 o 
 
 Ebenezer Ledyard, Esq . . . 1,151 3 4 
 
 Bridget Ledyard .... 397 14 5 
 
 Youngs Ledyard & Co. ... 75 o o 
 
 Benj. and Caleb Ledyard . . . 200 o o 
 
 Anne Ledyard .... 142 7 10 
 
 William Leeds ..... 360 7 8 
 
 Anne Leeds . . . . . 57 15 2 
 
From the Connecticut Archives 159 
 
 Benajah Lester 027 
 
 Thomas D. Lewis . . . . o 13 10 
 
 Rebecca Miner . . . . i 6 1 1 
 
 Henry Mason . . . . 27 18 o 
 
 Prudence Miner . . . . 17 19 10 
 
 Elizabeth Moore . . . . 62 10 9 
 
 Nancy Moore . . . . 30 10 2 
 
 Mary Moore 10 15 6 
 
 Frederick Moore . . . . 269 2 o 
 
 Elisha Morgan . . . . . 7 13 o 
 
 Joshua and Isaac Morgan . . 4 10 o 
 
 Thomas Mumford, Esq . . . 604 16 o 
 
 Abigail Palmer . . . . . 6 19 4 
 Amos Prentice, Esq . . . 566 i 6 
 Elisha Prior . . . . 34 12 n 
 
 Alexander Reed . . . 60 18 i 
 
 Thomas Starr ..... i i 6 
 John Starr . . . . . 0196 
 
 Nathaniel Seabury . . . . 3 18 o 
 Elizabeth Seabury . . . . 177 11 o 
 Thankful Stanton . . . .089 
 Sarah Stedman . . . . o 14 2 
 
 Jacob Sholes .....099 
 Nathan Sholes . . . . 0153 
 
 Lucretia Sholes ....490 
 
 James Smith .... 620 
 
 Shoram (negro) ....690 
 
 Benj" Vose 686 
 
160 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Experience Ward . . . . 2 19 5 
 
 Samuel Walworth . . . . 10 n 6 
 
 Eunice Williams . . . .1590 
 
 Peter Williams . . . . 2776 
 
 Daniel Williams . . . . 7130 
 
 Christopher Woodbridge . 130 
 
 Ezekiel Yerrington ... 276 
 
 ,7,712 14 10 
 
 The total losses as footed on the records are ,151,- 
 606 8s. Sal. A gift of nearly three and one third acres 
 for each pound of loss eleven years afterward. 
 
 J. d. 
 
 Total of New London . . . 53,696 9 8 
 Total of Groton . . . 7,712 14 10 
 
 Total property loss by Arnold s raid, } 
 
 as reported by the committee of (-61,409 4 6 
 the legislature J 
 
 The actual loss was, no doubt, much greater. At 
 six shillings on the dollar equal to $204,697.33. 
 
 Comparatively few of the New London or Groton 
 sufferers received any benefit from this land. Many 
 of the smaller rights were disposed of to speculators 
 for nominal sums, and all were so far from the then 
 civilized world that much of the land was left unoccu 
 pied, until the grantee being dead and the title lost 
 sight of, the land from neglect was finally sold for taxes. 
 
 The population of the town of New London in 1782 
 was 5,688, showing a loss of 200 since the census of 
 1774. By the census of 1880 the same territory has 
 
From the Connecticut Archives. 161 
 
 15,896: namely, New London, 10,529; Waterford, 
 2,701, and Montville, 2,666. 
 
 Population of Groton in 1782, 3,828, showing a loss 
 of 385 since the census of 1774. By the census of 
 1880 the same territory had 6,200: namely, Groton, 
 5,127; Ledyard, 1,073. 
 
GOVERNOR TRUMBULL S LETTER. 
 
 THE massacre of Fort Griswold and the burning 
 of the town of New London were events that 
 gave a new impetus to the patriotic ardor of the sons 
 of Connecticut. Immediately on hearing of the event 
 Governor Trumbull, then in Hartford, sent to New 
 London for a careful and duly authenticated statement 
 of all its material circumstances, in order that he might 
 adopt measures suited in every respect to the emer 
 gency. 
 
 While thus taking measures to procure full and ac 
 curate information of the attack, the Governor hast 
 ened to communicate what he had already received 
 to General Washington at headquarters, as shown by 
 the following letter, elated September 15, 1781 :- 
 
 "Your letter of the 2 I st ultimo," he proceeds, " ar 
 rived on the 5 th instant, whereupon my council being 
 convened, amidst various accounts of the movements 
 and designs of the enemy in New York, and some 
 apprehensions of their hostile attack upon, or invasion 
 of this State, every exertion was made and making for 
 its defence, by ordering the militia to be reviewed, and 
 detachments to be sent to the sea coasts, and valua 
 ble effects there deposited to be removed to interior 
 parts, &c. 
 
 " But unfortunately, before these preparations could 
 be completed, viz. on the 6 th instant, a party under the 
 
Governor Trumbulfs Letter. 163 
 
 command of the infamous Arnold made wanton de 
 struction both of lives and property in New London 
 and Groton near the harbor. Though many material 
 circumstances relative to the tragical scene are not yet 
 obtainable with such a degree of precision and cer 
 tainty as might be wished, yet, according to the best 
 intelligence I have been able to collect, it seems a num 
 ber exceeding one and perhaps two thousand, chiefly 
 of chosen British and foreign troops, landed in the 
 morning on both sides of the harbor s mouth, whereof 
 one division immediately marched up to and soon took 
 possession of the town and fortifications of New Lon 
 don which were evacuated on their approach, as being 
 indefencible, whilst on the opposite shore, the fort on 
 Groton Bank, being attacked by six or eight hundred 
 men, was nobly defended for a considerable time by 
 about one hundred and fifty men under the command 
 of Lieut. Colonel William Ledyard, who bravely re 
 pulsed the assailants until they suffered about one 
 fourth part in killed and wounded. But being over 
 powered by superior numbers, Col. Ledyard perceiving 
 the enemy had gained possession of some part of the 
 fort, and opened the gate, although he had only three 
 men killed, thought proper to surrender himself with 
 the garrison prisoners, and accordingly presented his 
 sword to a British officer on the parade, who received 
 the same and immediately thrust it through that brave 
 but unfortunate commander; whereupon the soldiery 
 also pierced his body in many places with bayonets, 
 and proceeded to massacre upwards of seventy of the 
 officers and garrison, until by the interposition of a 
 British officer, who entered the fort too late to rescue 
 the gallant officers, &c. about forty of the defenceless 
 survivors were made prisoners, and carried off, exclu- 
 
164 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 sive of about the like number who were wounded and 
 many of them dangerously. 
 
 " This heroic opposition on the part of the garrison, 
 however, together with the increasing appearance of 
 the militia, and small skirmishes between some scat 
 tering parties and advanced guards, prevented the 
 enemy from fully executing their savage plan, and oc 
 casioned them to retreat on board in the evening with 
 precipitation, after having knocked off the trunnions 
 of seven guns and consumed by fire about seventy-one 
 dwelling houses, sixty-five stores, twenty-two barns, a 
 church, court house and jail, together with a number 
 of vessels lying unrigged, by the wharves. The rest 
 of the shipping in the harbor was saved by running 
 up Norwich River, and several valuable buildings on 
 each shore preserved by quenching the flames. 
 
 " The loss of property by the conflagration was, how 
 ever, very great and ruinous to many individuals, as 
 also a sensible damage to the public. Yet, what is 
 more to be regretted is the unhappy fate of that worthy 
 officer, Colonel Ledyard, and those brave men (many 
 of whom sustained respectable characters, and were 
 esteemed the flower of that town) who so gallantly 
 fought and unfortunately fell with him, victims to Brit 
 ish cruelty. I have given directions for procuring au 
 thenticated information of those transactions, as soon 
 as the situation of the wounded and prisoners (some 
 of whom are paroled) will admit, which will be for 
 warded as soon as obtained. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, with every sentiment of 
 esteem and consideration, your Excellency s most obe 
 dient and very humble servant, 
 
 "JONATHAN TRUMBULL." 
 
Beatson, Adolphus, British Annual Register. 165 
 
 Having given the local and perhaps most partisan 
 American accounts, together with the British official 
 publications, I have thought it not out of place to give 
 a space to the accounts of unprejudiced historians of 
 the time, as well as some of the pro-British accounts. 
 
 Robert Beatson, LL. D., in his " Naval and Military 
 Memoirs of Great Britain," published in London in 
 1804, follows very nearly the text of Arnold s report, 
 but says : 
 
 " Notwithstanding the advantages the defenders had 
 in being so much under cover, Col. Ledyard and most 
 of the officers who were in Fort Griswold were killed, 
 and in that place eighty-five private men were found 
 killed and sixty wounded, most of the latter mortally." 
 
 Adolphus " History of England," in seven volumes, 
 dismisses this battle with 
 
 " Soon after the arrival of Lord Cornwallis in Vir 
 ginia, Genl Arnold returned to Sir Henry Clinton who 
 now employed him in an attack on New London in 
 Conn. Although deceived in his information respect 
 ing the fortifications, Arnold took the town and a fort 
 called Griswold by assault, destroyed 50 pieces of can 
 non and a large quantity of Military Stores, and burned 
 1 2 ships, the flames of which spreading to the town a 
 great part was consumed." 
 
 The following is the account of this battle as given 
 in the " British Annual Register." It is from the 
 English stand-point, and is quite as fair as anybody 
 could reasonably expect. It is evidently the account 
 which many of the historians have used. 
 
 The "British Annual Register for 1782," in describ 
 ing the events of 1781, gives the details of the contin 
 uance of the " War in America," and is the English his- 
 
1 66 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 torical record of Arnold s expedition to Connecticut, 
 the battle of Groton Heights, and the burning of New 
 London, as follows : 
 
 " As some consolation for the imminent danger 
 which threatened the British power in Virginia, and 
 some return for the deceptions so successfully prac- 
 ised by the enemy, their departure from the confines 
 of New York was speedily followed by a successful 
 expedition to Connecticut which was attended with no 
 small loss and ruin to the Americans. The trading 
 town of New London on the River Thames was the 
 object of this enterprise, and its conduct with a suffi 
 cient land and marine force was committed to Gen 1 
 Arnold, who was himself a native of that province. 
 
 " The embarkation having passed over from the Long 
 Island shore in the night, the troops were landed in 
 two detachments on each side of the harbor in the 
 morning, that on the Groton side being commanded 
 by Lieut Col. Eyre, and that on the New London side 
 by the General. Mr. Arnold met with no great trouble 
 on his side, Fort Trumbull, and a redoubt, which was 
 intended to cover the harbor and town, being taken 
 without much difficulty or loss, and the place itself 
 being entirely defenceless. 
 
 " But affairs on the other side were more serious. 
 Fort Griswold, which the eager and encouraging zeal 
 of the loyalists had represented as very incomplete in 
 its works, and destitute of any thing like a garrison, 
 was on the contrary found to be very strong and no 
 less well defended. The general, under the impres 
 sion of the information he had received, and from the 
 opportunity which the fort afforded to the enemy s 
 ships escaping up the river, had directed Col. Eyre to 
 attack the fort directly, and carry it by a coup-de-main; 
 
British Annual Register. 167 
 
 but upon his obtaining a good view of it in the neigh 
 borhood of New London, he immediately perceived 
 the deception, and that the fort was in a much more 
 formidable state than it had been represented, upon 
 which he dispatched an officer to countermand the 
 orders for an attack. 
 
 " The officer was too late, and the attack immedi 
 ately commenced. The fort was indeed formidable, 
 the defence answerable, and it required all the valor 
 and impetuosity of the two brave regiments which 
 were engaged, to surmount the dangers and difficul 
 ties of the encounter. The attack, notwithstanding 
 the little time for observation or counsel, was very 
 judiciously conducted. The work was a square, with 
 flanks ; and the troops, advancing on three sides at 
 once, succeeded in making a lodgment in the ditch ; 
 they then, under the cover of a very constant and 
 heavy fire upon the works, effected a second lodgment 
 upon the fraizing, which was a work of the greatest 
 difficulty, as besides the obstinacy of the defence, the 
 height was so considerable that the soldiers could only 
 ascend by mutual help from each other s shoulders, 
 and those . who first ascended had still to silence a 
 nine-pounder, which enfilidated the very spot on which 
 they stood. The troops at length made their way good 
 with fixed bayonets through the embrasures, notwith 
 standing the fierce defence made by the garrison, who 
 now, changing their weapons, fought desperately hand 
 to hand with long spears. 
 
 " The 40" and 54" regiments purchased the honor, 
 great as it was, which they gained in storming this 
 place. Col. Eyre was wounded in the attack, and the 
 command taken by Major Montgomery, who being 
 killed with a spear as he gallantly entered the works 
 
1 68 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 was succeeded by Major Bromfield, who had the for 
 tune of completing the reduction of the fort. Two 
 commissioned officers and 46 men were killed on the 
 spot, besides eight missing, whose fate may scarcely be 
 considered as doubtful ; eight commissioned officers, 
 some of whom died, with 135 non-commissioned offi 
 cers and privates were wounded. The loss of the gar 
 rison was proportionate to the obstinacy of their de 
 fence. Col. Ledyard, their commander, with most of 
 his officers and 85 private men lay dead in the fort ; of 
 60 who were disabled, much the greater part were mor 
 tally wounded, about 70 were made prisoners. 
 
 " The taking of Fort Griswold did not prevent 16 
 of the American ships from making their escape up 
 the river ; about a dozen others were burnt. The loss 
 which the Americans sustained in the destruction of 
 this place was prodigious. The quantities of naval 
 stores, of European manufactures, of East India and of 
 West India commodities arc represented to have been 
 so immense, as almost to exceed belief. Every thing 
 on the town side of the river was destroyed by fire. 
 Nothing was carried off, except such small articles of 
 spoil as afforded no trouble to the conveyance. The 
 burning of the town was said to be contrary to inten 
 tion and orders, and was attributed to the great quan 
 tity of gunpowder lodged in the store-houses. The 
 business was so badly conducted that the barracks and 
 a considerable magazine of gunpowder at Fort Gris 
 wold escaped that destruction which involved every 
 thing on the other side of the river. This is not ac 
 counted for, but must undoubtedly have proceeded 
 from a knowledge of some movements making by the 
 enemy in the adjoining country." 
 
Gordon, Ramsay, Botta. 169 
 
 " The History of the Rise, Progress, and Establish 
 ment of the Independence of the United States of 
 America," by William Gordon, D. D., and published 
 in London in 1788, gives substantially the same ac 
 count, differing somewhat in its details, a part of his 
 information being from other sources. Of the massa 
 cre he says : - 
 
 " The Americans had not more than half a dozen 
 killed before the enemy entered the fort, when a severe 
 execution took place though resistance ceased. The 
 British officer enquired on his entering who com 
 manded ? Col. Ledyard replied, I did, sir, but you 
 do now, and presented him his sword. The Colonel 
 was immediately run through and killed. The slain 
 were 73, the wounded between 30 and 40 and about 
 40 were carried off prisoners." 
 
 Daniel Ramsay, M. C., of South Carolina, prepared 
 a history of the American Revolution, which was pub 
 lished in London in 1793. In it the account of Ar 
 nold s expedition is essentially a copy from Gordon, 
 except that he places Colonel Eyre among the killed 
 and Major Montgomery among the wounded, evidently 
 an error in transcribing, as the reverse was the fact. 
 He closes his article as follows : " The Americans lost 
 many valuable men and much of their possessions by 
 this incursion, but the cause for which they contended 
 was uninjured." 
 
 In 1809, Charles I. W. Botta, a distinguished Italian, 
 physician and author, member of the administration of 
 the department of the Po, and holding other impor 
 tant offices under Napoleon in 1809, prepared "The 
 History of the War of the Independence of America," 
 
170 Battle of Grolon Heights. 
 
 in Italian, in four octavo volumes, in which he ac 
 knowledges as authorities consulted the " British An 
 nual Register," David Ramsay s " History of the Amer 
 ican Revolution," and William Gordon, from which the 
 previous quotations have been taken, with the addition 
 of some facts and incidents discreditable to the enemy, 
 omitted by the British historians, and doubtless wrote 
 without prejudice on either side, independently and 
 truthfully, as follows : " The principal object of this 
 (Arnold s) expedition was to seize New London, a rich 
 and flourishing town, situated upon the New Thames. 
 The access of the port of New London was rendered 
 difficult by two forts erected on the opposite banks 
 one called fort Trumbull, the other fort Griswold 
 The royalists having disembarked, unexpectedly, at 
 daybreak, carried the first without much effort ; but 
 the second made a vigorous resistance. Col. Ledyard 
 had promptly thrown himself into it with a body of 
 the militia, and the work itself was very strong, con 
 sisting of a walled square with flanks. The assailants, 
 when finally masters of the place, massacred as well 
 those who surrendered as those who resisted. The 
 town of New London itself was laid in ashes, it is not 
 known whether by design or chance. A great num 
 ber of vessels, richly laden, fell into the power of Ar 
 nold. This first success obtained, the English seeing 
 no movement made in their favor, and observing, on 
 the contrary, the most menacing dispositions among 
 the inhabitants, decided for retreat. It was signalized 
 by the most horrible devastations. This expedition 
 was on their part but a piratical inroad, absolutely 
 without utility. In vain did they endeavor to make a 
 great noise with their march and their bloody execu 
 tions in Connecticut. Washington scarcely noticed it, 
 
Charles Allyn. 171 
 
 The naval battle and the diversion against New Lon 
 don, neither had attained its object." 
 
 It will be noticed that the " British Annual Reg 
 ister," following Arnold s official returns, omits say 
 ing anything in regard to nearly eighty of the heroic 
 defenders who were massacred within the fort after 
 resistance ceased, or that the fact that its gallant com 
 mander was murdered with his own sword, but sim 
 ply says, "Col. Ledyard, the commander, with most of 
 his officers and 85 private men, lay dead in the fort," 
 plainly intimating that they all fell before the entry of 
 the British troops and surrender of the garrison. It 
 is more emphatic in speaking of the strength of the 
 work, the ignorance of Arnold s informers, and the 
 valor and impetuosity of the assaulting party. It has 
 been reserved for later generations to doubt the judg 
 ment of Ledyard in refusing to surrender without a 
 fight, forgetting the fact that Arnold sent a messenger 
 to countermand the order for attack, plainly showing 
 what he then thought of the strength of the work and 
 the wisdom of an assault. The other historians, Gor 
 don, Ramsay, and Botta, all agreed that only about six 
 or seven persons were killed previous to the storming 
 of the works. Gordon alone describes the cruelty of 
 the enemy in placing the wounded, bleeding prisoners 
 in the wagon to be run down the steep hillside. Gor 
 don also declares unequivocally that " the burning of 
 the town was intentional and not accidental." Botta 
 very naturally denounces the expedition as " a piratical 
 inroad, absolutely without utility, and signalized by the 
 most horrible devastations," and this may be regarded 
 as the verdict of subsequent history. 
 
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FORT GRISWOLD. 
 
 IN my researches I found the petition of Col. W m 
 Ledyard which is printed below. In what light the 
 Legislature viewed it is seen by their allowance of the 
 full amount of the claim. After reading this petition 
 and statement of Col. Ledyard, we may cease to wonder 
 that he did not give up to the invader this fort which 
 he had seen grow, stone by stone, under his eye and 
 direction, till he had come to feel an affection for it as 
 if it were a child of his own. He undoubtedly knew 
 its great strength, and believed it capable of being suc 
 cessfully defended against any force, and certainly 
 against all the British at any time in sight. And such 
 a belief acquits him of rashness or stupidity. And the 
 further facts that he had at least a fifth as many men, 
 all fairly under cover, as the English commander had, 
 and that he did once, at least, if not more than once, 
 repulse the invaders, give added force to his evidently 
 good judgment. Besides, accounts agree in stating 
 that he confidently expected formidable reinforcements. 
 This refusal to surrender unconditionally without a 
 fight transformed the fort into an Altar of Liberty 
 where was made the last sacrifice on the soil of New 
 England. Each stone laid by Ledyard becomes a 
 part of a monument, enduring as history itself, to the 
 bravery of the garrison and the self-forgetting stub 
 bornness of the defence. Notwithstanding the train 
 ing and numbers of the assailants, they were conquer- 
 
1 74 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 ors at the expense of their honor and with a loss of 
 more than a fifth of their companions. Each picket 
 of the " fraise " impaled the reputation of the once hon 
 ored Benedict Arnold, and held up for the scorn of all 
 time the revengeful brutality of his subalterns. 
 
 To the Honorable General Assembly now Convened 
 at Hartford. 
 
 The Memorial of ... William Ledyard of Groton 
 in the County of New London humbly sheweth 
 
 That foon after the Commencment of the present 
 War the Superintendency and Construction of the 
 Fortifications that guard the Entrance of the Harbor 
 of New London and thofe that fecure the Town were 
 committed to his Charge that with great Fatigue and 
 attention he was employed from the 2o lh of March 1777 
 to the 2O th of No v following in planning and directing 
 the Building of the Fort on Groton fide called Fort 
 Grifwold. That from the I st Day of April 1778 to 
 the I st of November following he was engaged with 
 great Labour and Induftry in planning and directing 
 the Building of the Fort on New London fide called 
 Fort Trumbull and that from the 15" Day of April 
 1779 to the 2o th Day of October following he had the 
 fole direction of the Building of the Works on Town 
 Hill in New London, for which feveral and extraordi 
 nary fervices your Memorialist has not rec d the least 
 recompenfe and having made out his Account therefor 
 he inclofef it for your Honors inflection and humbly 
 prayes your Honors to make fuch allowances thereon 
 as fhall be thought juft and equitable and your memo 
 rial ift as in Duty bound fhall ever pray. 
 
 Dated at Hartford the 15" Day of December 
 ANNO DOM 1780 
 
 W m LEDYARD. 
 
Fort Griswold. 175 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY WAR, VOL. xx., Doc. 226. 
 
 Governor & Company of the State of Connecticut to 
 William Ledyard Dr. 
 
 To my directing the building of the Fortifi 
 cations at Gro ton -from 2o th March 1777 to 
 20 th Nov r following at ,8 p M. . ,64. o. o 
 
 To my directing ditto and at Fort Trumbull 
 from I st April 1778 to I st Nov r following 7 
 M g ...... 63. o. o. 
 
 To my directing the Works on Town Hill 
 from 15 th Apl 177910 20" Oct r following, 
 is 6 m @ 9 ..... 54-0- o. 
 
 /iSi.o. o. 
 GROTON, 23^ Oct r , 1780. 
 
 Save Errors, 
 
 W M LEDYARD. 1 
 
 Probably no feature in the theatre of the battle has 
 changed so little as the old fort. It is substantially 
 the same in size and outline as then. The barracks, 
 magazine, and platform of that day have decayed and 
 fallen, but their sites are still plainly recognizable by 
 the ruins. Along the east side of the parade three 
 soil-covered mounds mark the location of the old bar 
 rack chimneys. In the southwest bastion is the ruined 
 masonry of the magazine, near which stood the flag 
 staff. As nearly on the same spot as possible was 
 placed the new flagstaff raised in iSSi. Along the 
 west side are still seen the stone foundations upon 
 
 1 This Memorial with account inclosed was referred to a Committee of 
 the General Assembly to consider and report. On receipt of their report 
 an act was passed by both branches ordering payment of the bill as 
 presented and given above. A. 
 
176 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 which rested the wood platform, and the well near the 
 gate is the same to which, on that bloody day, the dy 
 ing soldier in his fevered anguish wistfully turned, 
 and vainly craved of the implacable Briton its cooling 
 draught. 
 
 Near the centre of the parade are the ruins of a 
 magazine constructed in 1 798, when a war with France 
 was considered imminent ; and the coast fortifications, 
 which had received but little attention since the peace 
 of 1783, were put in a state of defence. In 1812-14 
 the old barracks were repaired, the ditch somewhat 
 deepened, the parapets strengthened with fresh earth, 
 and heavier ordnance mounted ; but these guns and 
 their carriages were a short time afterwards removed. 
 In 1842 or 1843 a commission from the War Depart 
 ment reported in favor of making this fort a permanent 
 work ; but the Mexican question, which was then loom 
 ing into view in the southwestern horizon, caused the 
 abandonment of the project at that time, and it has 
 never since been revived. Aside from its command 
 ing position this old fort would present to the military 
 eye of fifty years ago but small claims for offensive 
 powers ; but the lessons of modern war have taught 
 the engineer of to-day that, mounted with improved 
 artillery, the old sodded ruin would be more capable 
 of injury to an enemy, and far more susceptible of 
 defence, than the elaborate granite fortress opposite. 
 But, however strong and defiant it might be made, let 
 us hope the occasion for its proof will never arise ; that 
 its grass-covered ramparts, once sanctified by the blood 
 of patriots, may never be torn by hostile shot never 
 again be the scene of human conflict. 
 
THE BATTLE MONUMENT. 
 
 IN the year 1826 a number of gentlemen in Groton, 
 feeling that the tragic events occurring in the 
 neighborhood in 1781 should be more properly com 
 memorated, organized as an association for the pur 
 pose of erecting a monument. An application to the 
 legislature for a charter was granted, and a lottery in 
 aid of the work was legalized by special act. The 
 corner-stone was laid September 6th of that year, and 
 on the 6th of September, 1830, it was dedicated with 
 imposing ceremonies. During the centennial year im 
 portant repairs and changes were made. 
 
 In form it is now an obelisk twenty-two feet square 
 at the base, and eight and one half feet at base of py- 
 ramidon, resting on a die twenty-four feet square, which 
 in turn rests upon a base twenty-six feet square. Its 
 material is granite, quarried in the neighborhood. 
 
 Its whole height is one hundred and thirty-five feet, 
 and its summit, which is reached by a spiral stair-way 
 of one hundred and sixty-six stone steps, is two hun 
 dred and sixty-five feet above the waters of the bay. 
 From this point a picture of sea and land of almost 
 unrivalled beauty is presented, well repaying the visitor 
 for the toil of ascent. 
 
 Upon a marble slab on the west face, over the en 
 trance, is the following inscription : - 
 
GROTON HEIGHTS MONUMENT 
 
 To commemorate the defence of Fort Griswold by Col. WILLIAM LEDYARD and 
 his brave companions, September 6, 1781. Corner-stone laid September 6, 1826 ; 
 dedicated September 6, 1830. Material, granite ; 26 feet square at the base, 24 
 feet square on the die, 22 feet square at base of the shaft, and II feet at the 
 top; whole height 127 feet. It stood thus till" the Centennial, in 1 88 1, when 
 the height was increased to 135 feet. 
 
The Battle Monument. 179 
 
 This Monument 
 
 was erected under the patronage of the State of Connecticut, A. D. 1830, 
 
 and in the 55th year of the Independence of the U. S. A. 
 
 In Memory of the Brave Patriots 
 who fell in the massacre at Fort Griswold near this spot 
 
 on the 6th of September, A. D. 1781, 
 when the British under the command of 
 
 the traitor Benedict Arnold, 
 
 burnt the towns of New London & Groton, and spread 
 desolation and woe throughout this region. 
 
 Within the monument, upon the right of the en 
 trance, is a marble tablet bearing the names of the 
 heroes who fell on that bloody day. This was formerly 
 on the south side of the monument, facing the fort ; 
 some years since, repairs becoming necessary, it was 
 removed to the present location, and its place supplied 
 with solid masonry. There was also above and con 
 nected with it a slab bearing the following inscription, 
 which was also removed at that time and never re 
 placed : 
 
 " Zebulon and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto 
 the death in the high places of the field." 
 
 Judges, 5 Chap. 1 8 verse. 
 
MONUMENTAL RECORDS. 
 
 THIS chapter is an outgrowth of the interest ex 
 cited in this direction by the compilation of the 
 narratives. The subject naturally follows, and will, it is 
 thought, give additional interest if not value to the pre 
 ceding narratives and reports, in which we see, amid 
 the smoke of battle and "in the frenzy of the death- 
 struggle, the heroes whom we here follow to their quiet 
 resting-places, and, reading their homely epitaphs, seem 
 in a measure to become personally acquainted with 
 them. 
 
 A visit to the graves near the scene of the battle 
 led to wider explorations in the many public and private 
 cemeteries of Groton and adjacent townships. Nearly 
 one hundred were visited, and the result, considering 
 the general ignorance, and, it may also regretfully be 
 said, the indifference of even their descendants regard 
 ing the sepulture of these brave men, was much more 
 successful than was or could have been anticipated. 
 Quite a large number of graves are known to have 
 ever remained unprovided with engraved tablets, and 
 of those which were properly so marked, many of the 
 stones have fallen, and are now concealed by the heavy 
 vegetable accumulations of years. Hence some, doubt 
 less, were passed over undiscovered, even after extended 
 inquiry and careful research. These neglected and 
 forgotten memorials of the fathers devotion to the 
 
FIRST BURYING GROUND, NEW LONDON. 1 
 
 1 It is said that it was from this ground that Arnold viewed Fort Griswold, and 
 sent the messenger countermanding the order for its assault. 
 
1 82 Battle of Grot on Heights. 
 
 cause of country and liberty are widely scattered 
 through Groton and the neighboring towns, most fre 
 quently in obscure and lonely localities, sometimes 
 hidden in the shade of heavy forest trees, and covered 
 by dense undergrowth of noxious weeds and shrubs, 
 the undisturbed home of the burrowing wild animal 
 and noisome reptile. 
 
 On visiting these solitary places of interment, and 
 reading from the monuments the rudely cut epitaphs 
 which sometimes breathe a spirit of resignation and 
 Christian hope, but far oftener that of defiant and fiery 
 indignation, the visitor realizes more than ever before 
 the extent of the desolation and woe spread through 
 out this region by the invasion of the traitor. 
 
 The lamented Frances Manwaring Caulkins, in ad 
 dition to her many other historical and antiquarian la 
 bors, made quite extensive researches in this direction, 
 the results of which she designed publishing at a fu 
 ture day, under the title of " The Stone Records of 
 Groton." 
 
 On learning that the present work was in prepara 
 tion, her brother, the Hon. Henry P. Haven, verygen- 
 erously proffered the editor the privilege of consulting 
 her manuscripts, which have been of much assistance 
 in preparing this difficult subject. 
 
 At some considerable pains and expense I have pre 
 pared engravings from head-stones in the various rural 
 cemeteries of the vicinity, where the dead from the 
 battlefield were buried. These engravings are from 
 photographs, taken after each line and dot had been 
 carefully retraced, and of course are exact ; and give 
 a good idea of the graveyard art of that time. The 
 inscriptions are quaint, homely, and characteristic of 
 a simple, honest, and open-minded people. It requires 
 
Monumental Records. 183 
 
 only a limited imagination to recall in part at least 
 the scenes after the massacre. Of the one hun 
 dred and sixty odd men who were in the fort on that 
 6th of September, almost all were natives of New 
 London and Groton, and most fought in the sight 
 and all within the hearing of their own firesides. 
 Their wives and children or fathers and mothers heard 
 the guns they fired and those of the enemy by which 
 they died. They could only imagine the bayonet stabs 
 by which the greater portion of them were murdered 
 after the surrender. When the roar of cannon and 
 the rattle of musketry ceased, and they knew by the 
 curling smoke of the burning town that the invaders 
 were victors, they still hoped for humanity to the van 
 quished. Not till the hostile flag at the mast-head of 
 the British fleet disappeared in the darkness did those 
 friends and neighbors gather to find their loved ones 
 dead among heaps of slain, literally butchered by the 
 barbarism of a civilized people worse than that of the 
 savages. How easy to picture men and women, wives, 
 mothers, sweethearts, fathers, and brothers, examining 
 the faces of the sleepers to find the dearest idols of 
 the heart cold in death, bathed in gore, murdered by 
 brutal enemies ; led by a traitor who in other years 
 had known every foot of the ground so bravely con 
 secrated to a noble memory. Does not the reader see 
 the crowd of anxious ones all that long night after the 
 slaughter, some with lanterns, others by their hands 
 alone, searching for their household treasures, and, hav 
 ing found them, tenderly and carefully as a mother 
 lays her infant to sleep, carrying the still bleeding 
 body on the rude country-made bier, raised on the 
 shoulders of old men and boys, to the near or distant 
 home for burial ? So they went, with the Allyns north- 
 
184 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 ward to their century old, family graveyard by the 
 river bank, with the Perkinses and Starrs northeast 
 ward, with the Averys and Ledyards south, all to 
 their final resting-place, burying them with simple 
 rites and uncovered heads among their ancestors in 
 the almost neglected " God s acre," where it will be 
 an honor for the generations of all time to lie in 
 ground which their valor defended, which their free 
 ly-given lives sanctified, and which their holy dust has 
 forever consecrated to liberty and patriotism. 
 
 " How sleep the brave who sink to rest 
 By all their country s wishes blest ! 
 When spring, with dewy ringers cold, 
 Returns to deck their hallowed mould, 
 She there shall dress a sweeter sod 
 Than Fancy s feet have ever trod. 
 
 " By fairy hands their knell is rung ; 
 By forms unseen their dirge is sung ; 
 There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray, 
 To bless the turf that wraps their clay ; 
 And Freedom shall awhile repair 
 To dwell a weeping hermit there." 
 
 About four hundred and fifty yards southeast from 
 the fort is the grave of Colonel Ledyard, whose name 
 has been given to the cemetery, which was formerly 
 known as that of Packer s Rock, from the high ledge 
 upon its eastern border. In 1854 the State appropri 
 ated fifteen hundred dollars for the erection of a suit 
 able memorial to the martyr. His remains, with those 
 of his wife and children, were removed a few yards to 
 the west, near the centre of the ground, and a beautiful 
 monument, cut from native granite, was erected over 
 his grave. 
 
 It is inclosed by an iron railing supported by posts 
 appropriately cast in the form of cannon. Within the 
 
Monumental Records. 185 
 
 inclosure are the remains of the slab of blue slate 
 which originally marked the grave ; it is now nearly 
 destroyed, and the inscription rendered illegible by the 
 vandalism of the relic hunter. On the west face of 
 the monument, upon the shaft, an unsheathed sabre is 
 carved in relief; below, upon the sub-base, in raised 
 letters, is the name LEDYARD, and on the die is the 
 following inscription : 
 
 Sons of Connecticut 
 
 Behold this Monument and learn to emulate 
 the virtue valor and Patriotism of your ancestors. 
 
 The south face bears the following: - 
 ERECTED IN 1854 
 
 By the State of Connecticut in remembrance of the 
 painful events that took place in this neighborhood 
 
 during the war of the Revolution ; 
 
 It commemorates the Burning of New London, 
 
 the Storming of Groton Fort the Massacre of 
 
 the Garrison and the slaughter of Ledyard the 
 
 brave Commander of these posts who was slain 
 
 by the Conquerors with his own Sword. 
 
 He fell in the service of his country 
 Fearless of death and prepared to die. 
 
THE LEDYARO MONUMENT 
 
 ERECTED BY THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT TO COMMEMORATE THE BURNING 
 
 OF NEW LONDON, THE STORMING OF GROTON FORT, THE MASSACRE 
 
 OK THE GARRISON, AND THE SLAUGHTER OF LEDYARD. 
 
Monumental Records. 
 
 i8 7 
 
 On the north : - 
 
 Copy of the Inscription on the Head-Stone originally 
 erected over the Grave of Colonel Ledyard. 
 
 Sacred to the Memory of WILLIAM LEDYARD Efq r 
 Col Commandantof the Garrifoned ports of New London 
 & Groton ; Who after a gallant defence,was with a part of 
 the brave Garrifon,inhumanly Maffacred; by britifh troops 
 
 in Fort Griswold, Sep 6 1781 ^tatis suae 43 
 By a judicious & Faithful difcharge of the various duties 
 of his Station, He rendered moft efential Service to his 
 Country; and flood confeffed, the unfhaken Patriot; 
 and intrepid Hero. He lived, the Pattern of Magna 
 nimity ; Courtefy, and Humanity. He fell the Victim 
 of ungenerous Rage and Cruelty. 
 
 A few yards from the monument of Colonel Ledyard 
 are the following inscriptions : 
 
1 88 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Here Lies y e Body of 
 M r Eldredge Chefter fon of M r Thomas 
 Chefter who was wound 
 ed in fort Griswold fep 1 
 6 lh 1781 and died of his wounds dec 31" in 
 y e 24" year of his Age. 
 
 Relentlefs was my foe, Deaths weapons through 
 me went, Fell by y e Fatal blow, Lingered 
 till life was Spent. 
 
Monumental Records. 189 
 
 In Memory of Lieu 
 
 Ebenezer Avery who 
 
 fell Glorioufly in Defence 
 
 of fort Grifwould and 
 
 American Freedom 
 
 fep 6 lh 1781 in y e 49 th 
 
 year of his Age 
 
 Exhibiting a noble Specimen 
 
 of Military Valour 
 and Patriotic Virtue. 
 
 Sacred 
 
 to the memory of 
 
 Cap John Williams 
 
 who fell glorioufly 
 
 fighting for the 
 
 liberty of his country 
 
 in Fort Grifwold 
 
 Sep 6 1781 in the 
 
 43 rd year of his age. 
 
 * # * 
 
 Ye patriot friends that weep my fate 
 As if untimely Jlain, 
 Faith binds my foul to Jefuf s breajl 
 And turns my lofs to gain. 
 
Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 In Memory of 
 
 Cap YOUNGS LEDYARD 
 
 who was mortally wounded 
 
 making heroic exertions 
 
 for the defence of 
 
 Fort Grifwold Sep r 6 th 
 
 of which he died 
 
 the 7 th AD : 1781 
 
 in the 31" year of his Age. 
 
 ORIGINAL HEADSTONE AT COLONEL LEDYARD S GRAVE, 
 AS AT PRESENT LEFT BY RELIC HUNTERS. 
 
Monumental Records. 
 
 191 
 
 In the Starr Burial Ground, on the North Road, in 
 Groton : 
 
192 
 
 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 In Memory of 
 
 M R HENERY WOODBRIDGE 
 
 who was flain in Fort 
 
 Grifwould Sep 1 6 th 1 78 1 
 
 in the 33 d year 
 
 of his Age. 
 
 Will not a day of reckoning come 
 does not my blood for vengeance cry 
 how will thofe wretches bear their doo n 
 who hafl me flain mojl Murderoufly. 
 
Monumental Records. 
 
 193 
 
194 
 
 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 
 In Memory of 
 THOMAS STARR Ju" 
 
 who was Jlain in 
 
 Fort Grifwold Sep 6 th 1781 
 
 in the ig" 1 year 
 
 of his age. 
 
Monumental Records. 
 
 195 
 
 About one mile north of the Starr Cemetery, on the 
 same road, in a small inclosure, known as the Wood 
 Burial Ground, is a stone bearing the following inscrip 
 tion : 
 
 The following is in the " Old Cemetery " near Gale s 
 Ferry : 
 
 In Memory of 
 
 M" RUFUS HURLBUT 
 
 Who fell in the bloody 
 
 Committed by Benedict Arnolds troops 
 
 Massacre* at Fort Grifwould 
 
 Sept ber the 6 th 1781 in the 4O th 
 
 year of his Age. 
 
 Reader confider how I fell 
 For Liberty I blead 
 Oh then repent ye Sons of hell 
 For the innocent blood you fhead 
 
196 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 In the old Ground at Allyn s Point in Ledyard 
 
 : f I 
 
Monumental Records. 
 
 197 
 
 :^P^i" L -i i. 
 
 Sf : T-*. 
 
 KV / xi " 
 
 Jv^ .i>f-..ould witc fc s 
 fff\Enf; 1 .,j-Iaietji 
 ki.slloralvliords m.irifrirjSCcrpsi^a/ 
 Ri"i..y 37 -year if lu, 
 KsiByGadiifTiroi my I: 
 ITi iNVnre fixt ^h time y A 
 3plarc llmyfh much ConfuH*^ 
 
 In the Turner Ground in Ledyard : 
 
 In Memory of M r 
 Mofes Jones who was 
 flain in fo A r t Grifwould 
 fep 6 th 1781 in y e 25"" 
 
 year of his Age 
 
 Will not a day of Rec 
 oning come, Does not 
 my blood for vengeance 
 Cry ? How will thofe 
 Wretches bear their 
 Doom who hath me 
 Slain Moft Murderoufly 
 
198 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 In Memory of M r Jofeph 
 
 Moxley who Died fep tr 
 
 6 th 1781, in fort Griswould 
 
 by traitor arnolds 
 
 murdering Corps in y e 
 
 46 th year of his Age. 
 
 By Gods decree my 
 bounds ware fixt, the 
 time the place, the means 
 though vile, & whilft I blead, 
 the views of blifs, Faith 
 triumphed over Monfter Death. 
 
 Near Morgan s Pond (or Sandy Hollow), Led- 
 yard : 
 
 In Memory of M r Simeon 
 
 Morgan who died fep r 6 th 
 1781 in fort Grifwould by trai 
 tor arnolds murdering Corps 
 
 in y e 27 h year of his Age. 
 
 This Blooming youth in 
 fweets of life, his God 
 doth Call while Cannon 
 roar, a winged dart 
 doth feafe his breath, 
 & takes him from 
 this Golden fhore. 
 
Momimental Records. 199 
 
 In Memory of Enf " 
 
 John Lefter who died 
 
 fep r 6 th 1 78 1 in fort 
 
 Grifwould by traitor 
 
 Arnolds murdering Corps 
 
 in y e 42 d year of his Age. 
 
 By Gods decree my bounds 
 ware fixt, the time y e 
 place though much Confuf d , 
 the Caufe was good y e 
 means was vile, Snatch d 
 me from Charms of 
 Golden Life 
 
 In Memory of M r 
 
 Andrew Baker who Died 
 
 fep r 6 th 1781 in fourt Grif 
 
 would by Traitor Arnolds 
 
 Murdering Corps in the 
 
 26 th year of his Age. 
 
 This gallant youth while 
 Cannons roar, Decree d by 
 God to live no more 
 a fudden dart by mur 
 dering hands, Death Ceafed 
 his life at Gods Command. 
 
2OO Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 In Memory of 
 
 Lieut Jofeph Lewis who 
 
 died fept r 6 th 1781 In fourt 
 
 Grifwould by traitor Arnolds 
 
 murdering Corps in y e 41" 
 
 year of his Age. 
 
 This gallant man when God 
 Doth call doth give his life 
 in freedoms caufe ; a fudden 
 dart doth wing away that 
 precious life that dwells 
 in Clay. 
 
 In the " Old Palmer Ground," near the head of Pal 
 mer s Cove, at Noank, is the following : 
 
 In Memory of M r 
 
 David Palmer who 
 
 was flain in Fort 
 
 Grifwould fep 6 th 
 
 1781 in y c 38 
 year of his Age. 
 
Monumental Records. 201 
 
 In the " Old Ground " at Poquonoc : 
 
 Sacred to the 
 
 Memory of M r 
 
 Thomas Avery 
 
 fon to Park Avery 
 
 Jn r who made 
 
 his exit in fort 
 
 Grifwould fep 
 
 6 th 1781 Aged 
 
 1 7 years. 
 
 Life how fhort Eternity 
 how long. 
 
 In Memory of Enfign 
 
 Daniel Avery who 
 
 nobly nobly Sa 
 
 crificed his Life 
 
 in Defence of fort 
 
 Grifwould & the 
 
 Liberties of America 
 
 fep 6 1781 in y 
 41* year of his Age. 
 
202 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 In Memory of M r 
 
 Solomon Avery 
 
 who was flam in 
 
 fort Grifwould by 
 
 the britifh troops 
 
 fep 6 th 1781 in 
 
 y e 33 d year of 
 
 his Age. 
 
 In Memory of M r 
 Patric Ward who 
 
 fell a victim to 
 
 Britifh cruelty in fort 
 
 Grifwould fep 1 6 th 
 
 i;8ijn y e 25 th 
 
 year of his Age 
 
 In Memory of 
 
 M r Elifha Avery 
 
 who was flain in fort Grifwould 
 
 fep 6 1781 in 
 
 y e 26 th year of 
 
 his Age. 
 
 It is appointed 
 
 for man once 
 
 to die. 
 
Monumental Records. 
 
 In Memory of 
 
 M r Jafper A very 
 
 who was flain in fort 
 
 Grifwould in defence 
 
 of his Countrys 
 
 freedom fep 6 lh 
 
 1781 in y e 38* year 
 
 of his Age. 
 
 This life uncer 
 
 tain but Death 
 
 comes to all 
 
 203 
 
204 
 
 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 In the Old Ground at Burnett s Corners, in Gro 
 ton: 
 
 In memory of Cap* 
 
 Hubbard Burrows 
 
 who was killed 
 
 in Fort Grifwold 
 
 Sept 6 th 1781 
 
 in the 42"* year 
 
 of his age. 
 
Monumental Records. 205 
 
 In 
 
 Memory of 
 
 JOHN P BABCOCK 
 
 who together with a small 
 
 party of Americans in 
 
 Fort Griswold withstood 
 
 an Assault made by a 
 
 Detachment of 
 
 British Troops 
 
 until being overcome 
 
 by superior numbers 
 
 he was Massacred 
 
 Sep 1 6 th 1781 
 
 M 30 years. 
 
 In the White Hall Ground, on Mystic River, in the 
 town of Stonington : - 
 
 In Memory of M r 
 
 Thomas Williams 
 
 who was kill d in 
 
 fourt Grifwould 
 
 fep r 6 th 
 
 AD 1781 
 
 in y e 6o th year 
 
 of his age. 
 
206 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 The following inscription is in the private ground 
 of Seth Williams, Esq., on the " Norwich and Mystic 
 road," in the town of Ledyard : - 
 
 In Memory of 
 
 Lieut Henry Williams 
 
 fon of Cap Henry Williams 
 
 & Mary his Wife 
 
 who fell at Fort 
 
 Grifwold Sep 6 th 1781 
 
 in the 32 d year of 
 
 his age. 
 
 In the First Ground in New London are those given 
 below : 
 
 In Memory of 
 
 M r John Holt Jun r 
 
 who was flain in Fort 
 
 Grifwold fep 6 th 1781 
 
 in the 35 year of his age. 
 
 In Memory 
 
 of M r John Clark who departed 
 
 this life Sept 6 th 1781 
 
 aged 34. 
 
Monumental Records. 
 
 20: 
 
 /h memory. of Cjp* 
 
 ^cfdiu *Shdc)1ey o/" /orl 
 
 ThimbuU *ho bravely 
 
 dvc his .Zife f&r his 
 
 Coirhtry d fdlal Wound 
 Fun Gnswold &p 6* 
 S:) c.m-cd his DfJ 
 1782 
 
 ihy deed reverse 
 Common doom 
 tndke *hy name ! > 
 orial, TIV <: *cn;i;. , 
 
 ADAM SHATLEY, Captain of Artillery, had been for a mimlxjr of years commander 
 of Fort Trumbull. On the approach of the invaders he rallied his men, and 
 made as good a defence as possible with his garrison of twenty-three, discharg 
 ing grape at the advancing columns until they had gained the unprotected rear 
 of the fort, which he then abandoned. Embarking with his men in three boats, 
 he crossed under fire to Groton, losing in the passage one boat with six men, 
 half its crew being wounded. With those from the other boats he reinforced 
 Fort Griswold, where most of the men were killed and he received a fatal 
 wound. He was of an old family in New London, where the name is now ex 
 tinct. They lived on Shaplcy Street, which was laid out in 1747 through their 
 property. A number of the Shapley houses are still standing. In one of them, 
 which is almost unchanged at the present time, Adam lived. Here he lan 
 guished for five weary months of his wound, receiving during that time the 
 news of the death of his oldest son on one of the British prison ships. 
 
208 
 
 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 JONATHAN FOX. 
 
 Of this man little seems to be known, as his name is not in the list of Rufus Avery 
 or of the Connecticut Gazette. He was probably one of those killed on the 
 New London side. A man of the same name was one of the volunteers who 
 marched from New London in response to the Lexington alarm, April, 1775. 
 
Monumental Records. 
 
 209 
 
 LIEUT. RICHARD CHAPMAN. 
 4 
 
2io Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 In Cedar Grove Cemetery, New London. This 
 stone was removed from the Old Ground a few years 
 
 since : 
 
 In Memory of 
 
 Cap PETER RICHARDS 
 who was willing to Hazzard 
 
 every danger in defence 
 of American Independence 
 
 was a Volunteer in 
 Fort Grifwold at Groton 
 
 the 6 th of fept 1781 
 
 and there Slain in the 
 
 28 year of his Age. 
 
 In the Old Stanton Burial Ground, in Stonington, 
 are buried in one grave two brothers ; their monu 
 ment bears the following inscription : 
 
 Lieut Enoch Stanton died 
 
 in y e 36 th year of 
 
 his Age 
 
 Serg Daniel Stanton died 
 
 in y e 26 th year of 
 
 his Age. 
 
 Here intered are the bodies of two brothers 
 
 Sons of Cap Phineas Stanton and 
 
 Elizabeth his wife, who fell with many 
 
 of their friends Sep 6 th 1 78 1 , while man 
 
 fully fighting for the liberty of their country 
 
 and in defence of Fort Grifwould. 
 
 The affailants were troops commanded 
 
 by that moft defpicable parricide, 
 
 Benedict Arnold. 
 
Monumental Records i \ i 
 
 In the Burial Ground near Comstock s Wharf, in the 
 town of Montville, is a fine granite monument, bearing 
 the following : 
 
 Erected By 
 
 Eobert Comstock Esq 
 
 to the Memory of 
 
 his Grandfather 
 
 JAMES COMSTOCK 
 
 who bravely fell 
 
 in Fort Griswold 
 
 in the Service of his Country 
 
 Sept 6 1783 [1] 
 
 Aged 75. 
 
 A signal example of valor 
 Patriotism and heroic virtue. 
 
 In the Old Ground on Saybrook Point : 
 
 Daniel Son of 
 
 Cap Charles & 
 
 M rs Temparence 
 
 Williams 
 who fell in the Action 
 
 in Fort Grifvvould 
 
 on Groton hill on the 
 
 6 th of Sep tr 1781 
 
 in the is" 1 year 
 
 of his Age. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 OF many of the brave men who risked their lives 
 in defence of Fort Griswold, little is now known 
 beyond their bare names and the fact of the sacrifice 
 of their lives for the cause of their country on that 
 fatal 6th of September, 1781. Of others I have been 
 able to learn comparatively little. The deaths of so 
 many heads of families, and the almost universal pov 
 erty of the people after a long and exhausting war, 
 hopelessly scattered* many families. Such records and 
 family traditions as seem to me important and relia 
 ble I have embodied in the following memoirs, with 
 the aid of friends who have supplied similar informa 
 tion, as indicated by their initials in the text. 
 
 COLONEL WILLIAM LEDYARD. 
 
 William Ledyard, the son of Isaac and Elizabeth 
 (Saltonstall) Ledyard, was born in Groton, Conn., in 
 the old Ledyard homestead, near the site of the mon 
 ument that calls the traveller to mark the spot where 
 was performed one of the most inhuman and disgrace 
 ful acts ever known in civilized or barbarous warfare. 
 Much of tradition has been circulated concerning this 
 man, who by his tragic death became the property of 
 the nation and one of the most distinguished heroes 
 of the Revolution. He was a man of fine form, good 
 education for the times, unassuming in his manners, 
 
Biographical Sketches. 2 1 3 
 
 possessed of great executive ability, and could be de 
 pended on in cases of emergency. These traits of 
 character naturally brought him to the surface, and 
 the people by intuition sought him out for prominent 
 usefulness in religious, civil, and military life, and he 
 never failed in the church, the state, and the field. 
 He married Miss Anna Williams, daughter of Na 
 thaniel and Amey (Hewitt) Williams, of Stonington, 
 by whom he had nine children, seven surviving him, 
 one of whom was only ten days old on the day of the 
 slaughter. 1 He was named Charles, and died in 1789, 
 a few hours before his mother, and by her special re 
 quest was buried in her arms. 
 
 The edict of Parliament to close the port of Boston 
 roused general indignation, protest, and sympathy. 
 Grofon was not behind, and, in a public meeting to 
 consider the issue, June 20, 1774, William Ledyard 
 was chosen the first member of a committee of corre 
 spondence, with a view to some united effort. No 
 vember 22, 1775, orders were issued to erect Fort 
 Griswold, and July 3, 1776, he was appointed captain 
 of a company of artillery and commander of the fort. 
 In March, 1778, his command was extended to cover 
 New London, Groton, and Stonington, with the rank 
 of major ; and under his direction the works were re 
 paired and additional batteries erected. July 5, 1779, 
 the whole coast in this section was stirred with the ex 
 pectation of an attack, but so well were they prepared 
 under his direction that the enemy turned away and 
 made New Haven the objective point. 
 
 September 6, 1781, early in the morning, it was 
 
 1 Mrs. Ledyard, with her babe, was taken early in the morning, on her 
 bed, aboard a barge, and sent up the Thames River, to be out of reach 
 of harm. A. 
 
2 1 4 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 noticed that the enemy were bearing down on New 
 London harbor with thirty-two sail. Signal guns were 
 fired to give the alarm, but the traitor was on board 
 one ship, and the report of another gun misled the 
 people in the surrounding country. But Colonel Led- 
 yard lost no time in dispatching messengers to Gov 
 ernor Trumbull, at Lebanon, and to the various mili 
 tary companies near at hand, and improved every mo 
 ment for the disposition of his few defenders, plan 
 ning every move, and as far as possible preparing for 
 every emergency, and did all he could to protect New 
 London. He stood by the shore, passed some words 
 of cheer to the anxious crowd, and, stepping into the 
 boat to cross the ferry, he bade them good-morning, 
 with this remark, " If I must lose honor or life to-day 
 you who know me best can tell which it will be." 
 With a majestic and elastic step he hurried to his 
 command. His presence and his buoyant spirit in 
 spired the little untrained garrison with hope and cour 
 age, and the gallant defence they made rendered them 
 immortal in a struggle with overpowering numbers 
 of thoroughly disciplined and experienced soldiers. 
 He seemed ubiquitous, and cheered and directed the 
 defenders at every point. History has assured to them 
 and to him the just praise of an unparalleled struggle 
 and an unexcelled exhibition of valor and courage. 
 When the assailants had effected an entrance in spite 
 of the efforts of his unsupported force, he could only 
 take the last resort of military necessity, and when 
 asked who commanded the fort, reply, " I did, but you 
 do now," and, turning his sword, give it to the officer, 
 who, with the fury of a demon, plunged it into his 
 heart, causing instant death ; l which was followed by 
 
 1 The gradual disappearance of landmarks by the lapse of time has led 
 
Biographical Sketches. 2 1 5 
 
 a carnage that history blushes to record. The vest 
 and shirt he wore on that fatal day are preserved 
 among other sacred relics in the Athenaeum at Hart 
 ford, and the cruel rents made by his own sword in 
 the hands of the victor still speak in eternal condem 
 nation of the wretch who thus murdered one of the 
 noblest specimens of the human race. Many were the 
 distinguished dead that were left in that fort, but none 
 wore a calmer or more serene face than that of our 
 hero. 
 
 Upon him had fallen the duty of maintaining lib 
 erty, and he did it nobly to the end. He suffered the 
 loss of all things, even his life, for his country, and the 
 man who for personal ambition or selfish ends preys 
 on the national interest is guilty of a crime equal in 
 character to the act of that infamous English officer. 
 
 j. L. D. 
 
 The fac-simile of Colonel Ledyard s autograph, 
 given below, was engraved from a letter addressed by 
 him to the selectmen of Lebanon, directing them to 
 send to Norwich Landing the stores they had col 
 lected for public service. The letter is dated at New 
 London, April 4, 1781. 
 
 to the rise of a theory that it was all a mistake about Ledyard being 
 killed with his own sword. Certainly no one raised such a question dur 
 ing the lifetime of the defenders, at least four of whom (A. Gallup, H. 
 Sanford, C. Avery, and J. Mason) spoke as witnessing the killing in all 
 its bloody brutality. A. 
 
216 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 PHILIP TURNER, M. D., 
 
 SURGEON-GENERAL EASTERN DEPARTMENT 1 
 
 On the 6th of September, 1781, when the startling 
 news had reached the towns contiguous to New Lon 
 don and Groton, that an attack had been made on 
 Fort Griswold by the British troops, under the com 
 mand of the traitor Arnold ; that many of the gallant 
 men who had garrisoned the fort had been slain, and 
 that many more were suffering from wounds received 
 in the bloody conflict, the leading physicians of the 
 county at once hastened to the fort to render the 
 wounded all the aid that medical and surgical skill 
 could afford. Among them stood prominent Doctor 
 Philip Turner, of Norwich. At the request of Colo 
 nel Ledyard he had made professional visits to Forts 
 Trumbull and Griswold prior to the battle ; and, as he 
 was not only a conspicuous figure on the scene imme 
 diately after the same, but also stood at the head of 
 his profession in the State, a brief sketch of him may 
 with propriety be inserted in a history of the stirring 
 events and leading actors of that day. 
 
 Dr. Turner was a lineal descendant of Humphrey 
 Turner, who came from Essex, England, in 1630, and 
 settled at Scituate, Mass. His father, Philip Turner, 
 removed from Scituate to Norwich in the early part 
 of the last century, where the subject of this sketch 
 was born on the 25th of February, 1740. His par 
 ents dying while he was yet young, and being left 
 without means, he was taken into the family and un 
 der the patronage of Dr. Elisha Tracy, of that town, 
 who deservedly stood high in the public estimation 
 
 1 The portrait accompanying this sketch is from an ivory miniature in 
 possession of Hon. John Turner Wait, of Norwich. 
 
Biographical Sketches. 2 1 7 
 
 for his scholarly and professional attainments. Here 
 young Turner was treated with parental kindness, and, 
 at a suitable age, commenced his medical studies un 
 der the direction of his patron. In the year 1759 he 
 was appointed assistant surgeon to a provincial regi 
 ment under General Amherst, at Ticonderoga. His 
 fine personal appearance, pleasing address, and su 
 perior talents attracted the attention of the English 
 surgeons, who treated him with great courtesy, and 
 invited him to witness many of their capital opera 
 tions. It was from the information and practice he 
 obtained in this school that he laid the foundation of 
 his future eminence. He continued with the army till 
 after the peace of 1 763, when he returned to the house 
 of his benefactor, whose eldest daughter he soon after 
 married. He at once established himself in Norwich, 
 in the practice of his profession, devoting his attention 
 especially to surgery. 
 
 Possessed of a vigorous constitution, and stimulated 
 by an honorable ambition, Dr. Turner was indefatiga 
 ble in his exertions to excel in his profession. His 
 unwavering pursuit to attain this end, in connection 
 with the peculiar abilities which he possessed, soon 
 won success. At the breaking out of the war of the 
 Revolution he stood unrivalled as a surgeon in the 
 eastern section of the country. His fame was not con 
 fined to the limits of his native State, for he was re 
 peatedly called beyond the borders of the same to per 
 form operations that demanded more than ordinary 
 professional skill. He was the first surgeon of the 
 Connecticut troops in the campaign before Boston. 
 He accompanied the army to New York in 1776, and 
 the commission then issued to him by Governor Trum- 
 bull is now in the possession of one of his descend- 
 
:i 8 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 ants. The battles of Long Island and White Plains 
 afforded him a favorable opportunity to display his 
 rare ability as an operator, and his unvarying success 
 won him the highest reputation with the troops. In 
 1777 Congress appointed Dr. Turner director-general, 
 to superintend the General Hospital, but subsequently 
 transferred him from that position to that of surgeon- 
 general of the Eastern Department, which station he 
 filled with great ability till near the close of the war. 
 On retiring from the army he resumed his private 
 practice, and continued in the same with undiminished 
 reputation until 1800, when he removed from Norwich 
 to the city of New York. Advanced in years he felt 
 that a metropolitan practice would be easier for him 
 to pursue. He at once took a high rank among the 
 physicians and surgeons of that city. Shortly after 
 his removal he was appointed a surgeon to the staff 
 of the United States army, and given the medical and 
 surgical care of the troops at the fortifications in the 
 harbor of New York. This very honorable and re 
 sponsible position he held until his death, which oc 
 curred on the 20th of April, 1815, in the seventy-fifth 
 year of his age. He was buried, with military hon 
 ors, in the yard connected with St. Paul s Church, in 
 the city of New York. The record shows that he 
 served his country with marked distinction in the war 
 with France, the Revolutionary War, and the War of 
 1812. 
 
 Although Dr. Turner did not receive a liberal edu 
 cation, he had naturally a keen and inquiring mind 
 and scholarly tastes, so that by his own efforts he early 
 in life possessed himself of acquirements that were 
 valuable to him in his profession. He had an intuitive 
 capacity that adapted him for the profession of sur- 
 
Biographical Sketches. 319 
 
 gery, and won him his great reputation as an operator. 
 The accuracy of his judgment, and the remarkable 
 dexterity of his hand, enabled him to perform the most 
 difficult operations with almost unequalled success. 
 Dr. Shippen, who stood in the front rank of his pro 
 fession in Philadelphia, and who was associated with 
 Dr. Turner in the army, did him the honor to say that 
 neither in Europe nor in America had he ever seen 
 an operator that excelled him. j. T. w. 
 
 The following account is from the manuscript of 
 Azel or (Asahel) Woodworth. Though without date, 
 it is evident this was written about 1809. It is treas 
 ured by his grand-daughter as a precious relic. At 
 the time of the battle, he was fifteen years and eleven 
 months old : - 
 
 HONORED SIR. I would herein state that I was born 
 in Norwich in the County of New London, & state of 
 Connecticut in October 1765. In July -80 inlisted in 
 the recruiting service. Served a tour of six months 
 under the auspices of the illustrious Washington, re 
 tired from the grand army in the winter & inlisted in 
 the Matross company commanded by Capt. W m . La 
 tham stationed at Fort Griswold in Groton in the said 
 Connecticut. On the 6 th of Sept 1781, said fort being 
 taken by storm by a detachment of British troops under 
 command of General Arnold, in defending said fort I 
 received a wound by a musket ball passing into my 
 neck under the right ear & out along by the spine 
 which cut away the tendon & caused my head to re 
 cline on my left shoulder. For a short interval I be 
 came insensible but being partially recovered & con 
 tinuing in some degree of mental action until about 
 
22O Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 noon the next day when my faculties retired & as I 
 was told returned not for 24 hours. When my wound 
 had healed & the term of my inlistment expired I ap^ 
 plied myself to manual labor to obtain support. My 
 head being deranged by my wound so as to render me 
 incapable of progressing by study in the knowledge of 
 useful arts which my father was very desirous to further 
 in me, he deeming it not likely I should be able to en 
 dure the toils of common labor. Youthful ambition and 
 the considerations of the expenses of the war suffered 
 me not to burden my country with claims for support 
 for a number of years, but being eventually exhausted 
 with pains and frequent suspensions of mental faculties 
 even in the field of labor, about the year 1 795 or 96 I 
 applied for & obtained a pension of forty-five dollars 
 per annum and having a family, was enabled thereby to 
 keep them together until 1 806, when embarrassed with 
 debt and unable to labor, constantly irritated with nerv 
 ous pain to the privation of sleep and necessary repose, 
 and unable either to answer the demands of my cred 
 itors or the necessities of my family, retired in confu 
 sion & despair from all I held dear on earth. After a 
 year s interval returned home to find from the Honor 
 able Pierpont Edwards a commission for Dr. John 
 Turner & John Scott to examine my condition as af 
 fected by my wound, which I think took place two 
 years ago last July, the result of which to the best of my 
 remembrance was that they had examined my case & 
 found that I had received a formidable wound in my 
 neck which cut away some ligaments, from whence 
 proceeded a train of nervous spasmodic affections 
 which rendered me almost unable to perform manual 
 labor, and at times partially deranged in my mentals, 
 that at present I was a wandering person dependent in 
 
Biographical Sketches. 221 
 
 part upon the bounty of my country for support & in 
 part upon the charity of fortuitous friends." 
 
 He died June 8th, 1817. Mr. Woodworth had two 
 children, Phoebe, and Joseph Ellery Woodworth, who 
 was one of the best known citizens of New London. 
 Zibe Woodworth, born April 24, 1763, a brother of 
 Azel, was wounded in the knee, became a preacher, 
 and settled at Montpelier, Vermont, where he died. 
 Thomas Woodworth, who was also wounded, seems 
 (from allusions in family letters which I have been al 
 lowed to read) to have been an uncle of Azel and Zibe. 
 
 CAPTAIN YOUNGS LEDYARD, a nephew of Colonel 
 Ledyard, born June 24th, 1751, was son of Youngs 
 Ledyard and his wife Mary (Avery), who after the 
 death of her first husband married Stephen Billings 
 (December 1 2, 1 765), whose son Andrew was also slain. 
 In the " Morgan Genealogy," we learn " Captain Youngs 
 Ledyard and his brave companions, on witnessing this 
 cold-blooded butchery (the killing of Colonel Ledyard), 
 believing no quarter or mercy was to be expected, and 
 determined to avenge the barbarous act and to sell their 
 lives as dearly as possible, again rushed into combat 
 and were cut down and fell, almost to a man, around 
 the corpse of their beloved commander." 
 
 ANDREW BILLINGS lived at the time with his father 
 near the Elder Tuttle Church in Ledyard. He started 
 for the fort in response to the alarm, reaching there 
 after the gates were shut, and being recognized, a rope 
 was thrown to him, by which he climbed through the 
 embrasure, being the last man to enter for defence. 
 His brother Stephen was in the army with General 
 Washington at the time. 
 
222 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 JAPHET MASON, a house carpenter, living on what is 
 now called Old Fort Road, New London, hearing the 
 alarm, took his gun from its hooks, and entered Fort 
 Trumbull as a volunteer. From there he crossed the 
 river to Fort Griswold, with his brother-in-law, Stephen 
 Hempstead, near whom he was standing at the time 
 of the killing of Ledyard, and saw it as described. 
 
 Seeing there was no quarter to be expected, he fled 
 and escaped. He afterward moved to Stephentown, 
 New York State, where he died March 4, 1787, after 
 which his family returned to New London. 
 
 MRS. LOUISA SANFORD RUDE, daughter of MR. HOL- 
 SEY 1 SANFORD, furnishes the following regarding her 
 father : 
 
 " He was a son of Daniel Sanford of Saybrook, and 
 was serving as substitute for his older brother John, an 
 enlisted member of the garrison at Fort Trumbull, who 
 being tired out and his clothes badly worn wished to 
 go home for rest and have his clothing repaired. The 
 officer in command accepted the younger brother as 
 substitute for a few weeks, commencing the latter part 
 of July, he having trained with the minute-men of his 
 town, though not yet sixteen years old. 
 
 " On the morning of September 6th, the enemy were 
 seen lying off the harbor. The garrison made all pos 
 sible preparation to resist, but many faces were ashy 
 pale, they were so few in number, and not armed and 
 disciplined to resist so strong a foe, but every man was 
 at his post. 
 
 " They soon took to their boats and joined those at 
 Fort Griswold. He had a slight wound on the knee 
 
 1 This name is now spelled Halsey. 
 
Biographical Sketches. 223 
 
 from a ball, and though not otherwise injured he was 
 stained with human blood from head to foot. He de 
 scribed the killing of Colonel Ledyard as an eye-wit 
 ness, seeing him present his sword by the point and 
 fall by the thrust of it. 
 
 " He with others then fled to the barracks, where many 
 were killed ; his life was saved by an officer who or 
 dered off a man who had made a thrust at him with a 
 bayonet. Being carried to New York as a prisoner, he 
 was confined in the prison-ship until after the surren 
 der of Cornwallis, and then exchanged. Mr. Sanford 
 was born October 10, 1765, and died in 1845, when the 
 local paper gave a short sketch of him as one of the de 
 fenders of Fort Griswold. He was twice married, and 
 had five sons and six daughters, two of whom, Miriam 
 Sanford Searle of Easthampton, Mass., and Louisa San- 
 ford Rude of Huntington, Mass., are still living." 
 
 WILLIAM BOLTON. Of him little can be learned, 
 except he was buried in the Old Ground at New Lon 
 don, though his descendants live here still. 
 
 JOHN LESTER, born October i3th, 1740, one of the 
 killed, an ensign in Simeon Allyn s Company, was a far 
 mer, living about two miles from Gale s Ferry. 
 
 BENJAMIN BILL, JR., had a pension granted, as 
 "wounded on Sept. 6th 1781, in his ankle, while acting 
 as private in the State Militia opposing the British 
 troops under Arnold." He is mentioned by Dr. 
 Downer as the first man whose wound he dressed. 
 
 SAMUEL BOOTH HEMPSTEAF, born 1755, was shot 
 through the thigh in the defence of Fort Nonsense. Six 
 
224 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 months previous his brother Daniel, four years younger, 
 had died on the prison-ship Jersey. Samuel belonged 
 to one of the privateers then in port, and had been in 
 the United States Navy. He recovered of his wound, 
 though it cost him his life, when as captain coming out 
 of Martinique in 1 795 he was chased by a British man- 
 of-war and the exertions he made to escape caused the 
 old wound to reopen, ending his life on June 5. 
 
 ANDREW GALLUP, an artilleryman of the regular gar 
 rison, was, while working his gun before the capture, 
 struck by a musket ball coming through the embra 
 sure and passing through his hip. He says, " he 
 would have had another shot at the British if the boy 
 who was bringing the cartridge from the magazine 
 had not been killed and himself hit before another 
 could pick up and bring along the charge." Then he 
 was taken away from his post at the gun, laid help 
 less on the ground out of the way facing the north 
 gate, and saw while lying thus the enemy march in 
 through the gateway, and Colonel Ledyard advance 
 to meet the officer at the head of the column, to 
 whose inquiry, " Who commands this post?" Ledyard 
 replied, " I have, but you do now," at the same time 
 presenting his sword by the point. The officer seized 
 and instantly drove it through him. Gallup quite 
 naturally remarked whenever he told it, " I d have 
 given anything in the world to have been on my feet 
 for a minute then." He was afterwards stabbed with 
 a bayonet as he lay helpless on the ground ; the point 
 striking a rib, glanced to one side around his body, 
 making a long, but not deep wound, leaving a large 
 scar ; also stabbed in the arm. He was one of those 
 who were put in the wagon and chanced to be near 
 
Biographical Sketches. 225 
 
 the bottom, but recovered, though pieces of bone 
 came out of the wound in the hip for years. He died 
 March i6th, 1853, nearly ninety-two years old, having 
 been born in June, 1761. He was descended from 
 John Gallop, one of the commanders with John Ma 
 son, Jr., both of whom were killed in the King Phillip 
 war ; and on his mother s side from John Mason, a 
 sword of whom he received from his mother s brother, 
 Andrew Mason, a son of Nehemiah Mason, who was 
 third in the line of direct descent from the famous 
 John, the exterminator of the Pequots. 
 
 Three of his children are living, with two of whom 
 I have conversed. They quite agreed in their ac 
 counts, though it so happened I saw them separately. 
 
 ROBERT GALLUP, son of Thomas and nephew of 
 Colonels Benadam and Nathan Gallup, was twice 
 wounded in the massacre with a bayonet and felled 
 to the ground with a blow by a musket. On attempt 
 ing to rise he received another blow which broke his 
 hip, and rendered him insensible. He was found in 
 this condition the next morning by his mother, who 
 went to the fort searching for him. He eventually 
 recovered, and was, according to newspaper authority, 
 living at Greene, in Chenango Co., New York, in 1853. 
 
 THOMAS LAMB is said by family tradition to have 
 been quite a young man, unmarried, and a son of 
 Thomas Lamb, of Groton. His resting-place is un 
 known, probably in the ancient ground on " Whitman 
 Meeting House Hill," Groton. 
 
 THOMAS MINER, a descendant of Clement Miner, 
 one of the earliest New London settlers, was born 
 
226 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 September 17, 1751, in Bozrah. He was a ship-car 
 penter at Gale s Ferry. A large number of his de 
 scendants still live in Groton. 
 
 JOHN PRENTIS, who lived on what is now known as 
 Truman Street, left his children on the morning of 
 September 6, 1781, giving his eldest daughter orders 
 to take the children to his brother s, in Chesterfield. 
 He joined Captain Shapley at Fort Trumbull, went 
 with him to Fort Griswold, was slightly wounded, and, 
 finding no quarter was being given, he feigned dead. 
 His hat was cut through in several places, and his sil 
 ver shoe and knee buckles were taken. After the 
 British left he crawled from the place where he had 
 lain among the dead, and gave water to the dying 
 ones. When he returned to New London next day 
 he found his house as he left it, except a bullet hole 
 through the front door. He died in Richmond, Va., 
 1801. 
 
 LIEUTENANT WILLIAM STARR, son of Thomas Starr, 
 was born April 20, 1745. He was the leading black 
 smith of the town, and manufactured axes, hoes, plough 
 shares, spades, forks, and other agricultural implements 
 of iron for the farmers of the place. He was a vol 
 unteer in the defence of Fort Griswold. At the time 
 of the massacre, he ran into the magazine, where he 
 was severely wounded by an ounce musket ball strik 
 ing the breast bone at an acute angle, passing across 
 his body under the skin, along his extended left arm to 
 the elbow, where it was taken out and was treasured in 
 an old desk, till a young grandson, ignorant of its his* 
 tory, lost it as a sinker on his fish-line. He died De 
 cember 31, 1816. 
 
Biographical Sketches. 227 
 
 The Pension Report says : " William Starr, Q. M. 
 8 th Regt Ct Militia placed on Pension Rolls Sept 
 6 th 1788. Disabled Sept 6 Ih 1781." 
 
 JOHN STARR, born January 16, 1743, was a brother 
 of Lieutenant William. Had just returned from Nova 
 Scotia, which he had been compelled to leave on ac 
 count of his loyalty to the United Colonies ; . and in 
 support of his love for them he entered the fort as a 
 volunteer, where he received a wound which disabled 
 his right arm for life. He afterward moved to Ohio, 
 near Columbus, where he died in 1824. 
 
 THOMAS STARR, JR., one of the slain, was born Jan 
 uary 1 6, 1743, the eldest child of Thomas, another 
 brother. 
 
 NICHOLAS STARR, who was killed, was born in Nor 
 wich, January 10, 1741, but, living in Groton, was a 
 volunteer. He was a cousin of William and John. 
 
 WILLIAM LATHAM, JR., a boy of twelve or fourteen, 
 was taken to the fort by his father, Captain William 
 Latham, who said " he might be serviceable in bring 
 ing ammunition from the magazine," hence he is 
 spoken of in the traditions of the country as " Pow 
 der monkey." Being mustered with the rest of the 
 prisoners, he asked the officer, " What are you going 
 to do with me ? " " Let you run home to your mother, 
 sonny, if you 11 promise not to grow up a d d rebel," 
 was the reply, which permit he accepted at once. 
 
 Mrs. Nathan Moore was sent by her husband, Capt 
 NATHAN MOORE, to Norwich on a barge on the ap- 
 
228 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 proach of the enemy in the morning. She learned of 
 his death in the afternoon, and as soon as possible 
 obtained a horse and rode to Groton, where she ar 
 rived at twelve, midnight. He commanded a priva 
 teer, which was at that time lying in the harbor, he 
 having a day or two before arrived with a prize. 
 There is little doubt but his remains were interred in 
 the Ledyard Cemetery. 
 
 JOSHUA BAKER, who was born 1752, lived near with 
 his family ; was one of the scouts sent out to reconnoitre 
 the movements of the enemy; was shot at, but escaped 
 into the fort. He was wounded in the massacre by 
 the blow of a musket butt aimed at his head, but, 
 throwing himself backward, received it by the side of 
 his breast-bone, breaking all the ribs on that side loose 
 from it, and felling him as if dead. From lack of at 
 tention the bones joined out of place, leaving his chest 
 badly out of shape. A prisoner in the Sugar House 
 in New York, he was set on shore in New Jersey and 
 tramped home. Mr. Baker was under the command 
 of Colonel Ledyard upwards of two years, and was the 
 first man who stood sentry at Fort Griswold. He fur 
 nished most of the facts regarding this battle, as noted 
 in " Barber s Historical Collections." He died Feb 
 ruary 1 8, 1836, aged eighty-four. His children were 
 Joshua, Elisha, John, Daniel, Peter, and Annie. His 
 brother, Andrew Baker, three years younger, was a 
 member of the garrison, and was killed outright by 
 his side during the fight. He lived in what is now 
 Ledyard, and left a widow and one child. 
 
 August 15, 1781, LEVI DART, of Bolton, enlisted in 
 the artillery company of Capt. Adam Shapley. On 
 
Biographical Sketches. 229 
 
 the appearance of the enemy, Corporal Josiah Smith 
 was ordered to select seven men to remain and spike 
 the guns. Dart was one of these. When they at 
 tempted to follow their companions across the river 
 they were captured, and sent on board the frigate Am- 
 phion ; afterward taken to New York and confined in 
 the Sugar House, where they remained until some 
 time in October, when they were exchanged and landed 
 at Elizabethtown. From here they marched, under 
 command of Lieutenant Jabez Stow, to New London, 
 by the way of Morristown, King s Ferry, and Bolton, 
 returning to duty under a Lieutenant Durkee. 
 
 On expiration of his term of service he went to 
 Coventry, Conn., and in 1800 to Springfield, Mass., 
 where he was living in 1832, aged sixty-eight, as ap 
 pears by his pension papers ; among which is the state 
 ment of a friend, seventy-two years old, who, " living in 
 Bolton in 1781, well knew Levi Dart, who, with Elias 
 Dart, enlisted that year and went to New London in 
 the latter part of the summer. It was reported and 
 believed in Bolton that said Levi and Elias were both 
 captured by the enemy in the attack on New Lon 
 don and Groton, and carried prisoners to New York 
 city." 
 
 LIEUTENANT RICHARD CHAPMAN was of a fearless 
 and resolute family : a younger brother, Edward, being 
 killed in the French War; his older brother, Major 
 James, Jr., being killed at Harlem Plains, September, 
 1776; while his younger brothers, John and Joseph, 
 were captains in the sea and land service respectively. 
 He enlisted at the commencement of the Revolution 
 ary War, and, like his brothers, rose to a command. 
 He lived in a house then standing on Hempstead 
 
230 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Street, nearly opposite Franklin Street, and was at 
 home the night of September 5th. When he heard 
 the alarm in the morning he went to an upper window 
 looking down the harbor, and, seeing the enemy s ves 
 sels, ordered his sons, Richard and Daniel and David, 
 to load the valuables in an ox-cart and take them, 
 with their mother and two sisters, out to Cohanzie. 
 He repaired to Fort Trumbull, where he was second 
 in command. From there he crossed to Groton. When 
 the next morning came, and with it no tidings of the 
 lieutenant, Mrs. Chapman sent her sons to Groton to 
 learn their father s fate, with instructions if he was 
 dead and they were in doubt about his identity, to pull 
 off his stockings and they would find a certain toe 
 missing. This was what they were compelled to do, 
 so disfigured with wounds and the stains of battle was 
 the body. 
 
 Jonathan Brooks, whose narrative is given else 
 where, was a nephew of his, and received from his 
 father, who was the coffin-maker of the town, a cap 
 and sword of his uncle Richard, which Mrs. Danforth, 
 his widow, still holds. 
 
 JOSHUA BILL, one of the brave and gallant defend 
 ers of Fort Griswold in the battle occurring Septem 
 ber 6, 1781, was born May 14, 1762, and was a direct 
 descendant of Philip Bill, who came to New London 
 about 1668. We are not in possession of the partic 
 ulars relating to the part he took in the sanguinary 
 fight. He was at the date of that terrible day residing 
 near Allyn s Point, and was probably one of the " min 
 ute men," and in response to the understood signal 
 immediately proceeded to the fort, entering as one of 
 the garrison, of which so many were destined to be 
 
Biographical Sketches. 231 
 
 murdered in cold blood and so few to escape uninjured 
 During the British attack and struggle which followed 
 he received a wound in the leg, and at the close of the 
 conflict made his escape. He was the recipient of a 
 government pension during the latter part of his life 
 in consequence of the wound, which finally became 
 painful and troublesome. After marriage with Abigail 
 Miner he resided about a mile in a southerly direction 
 from Meeting-House Hill, in Ledyard (formerly Gro- 
 ton). He was, we believe, a member of Elder Wight- 
 man s Church, and died December 20, 1841, in the 
 eightieth year of his age, at the residence of his son 
 Gnrdon, with whom he was then living. Of his chil 
 dren one is still living, namely, Betsey Bill Darrow, 
 residing in New London. 
 
 JOHN DABOLL, a private of the 8th Regiment of Mili 
 tia, came with others of his company at the first alarm. 
 He was living at the time on the Providence turnpike, 
 a mile and a half from the ferry, near what is now a 
 family burial ground, in which he is buried. 
 
 Born February 13, 1751, a grandson of Samuel, 
 who came from Easthampton, L. I., to Groton in 1718, 
 he was a cousin of "Master Nathan Daboll," the au 
 thor of the arithmetic and almanac, which bear the 
 family name. 
 
 He was married in 1774, and had three children at 
 the time of the battle ; afterward, five others. His wife 
 died April 2, 1803. In 1804 he married widow Sarah 
 Halsey, by whom he had two sons, David Luther and 
 William Vincent, both of whom are now living in 
 Providence, R. I. The following incident was related 
 to the writer by his father, who had it from the lips of 
 the hero of this narrative. 
 
232 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 His story is that after he was wounded in the hand, 
 he was knocked down by a blow from the butt of a 
 musket, and while lying faint and half senseless, a sol 
 dier covered him with his bayonet, threatening to run 
 him through. At this moment a British officer, hear 
 ing him beg for his life, knocked the gun one side, 
 and said, " There, you d d rebel, I have saved your 
 life." In a moment of gratitude he on his knees thanked 
 his preserver, saying, " I thank you, sir ; I thank you, 
 sir." He was paroled, and met his anxious wife on the 
 road waiting for news from the battle-field. 
 
 A leading Baptist, a member of Elder Wightman s 
 church, he took an active part in the struggle that 
 divided every town in the State previous to the adop 
 tion of the present Constitution, on the question of tax 
 ation for church uses, being elected a member of the 
 constitutional convention in opposition to the then 
 established order. 
 
 A justice of the peace, he was otherwise a promi 
 nent man in the councils of the town, until his death, 
 which occurred May 7, 1825. E. v. D. 
 
 PETER RICHARDS, a son of Guy Richards, was a lieu 
 tenant under Captain Hinman in Paul Jones s old ship 
 Alfred, when March 9, 1778, she was surrendered to 
 the Ariadne and Ceres. He with two other lieuten 
 ants escaped from Fortune Prison, near Portsmouth, 
 and by the aid of friends reached the coast of France 
 in safety, and returned home in the spring of 1 779. He 
 was captain of the privateer brig Hancock, which ar 
 rived in port the last day of August. He entered the 
 fort as a volunteer, at Colonel Ledyard s solicitation. 
 On the morning of the battle he went aboard his vessel, 
 called such of his crew as remained aboard, made a 
 
Biographical Sketches. 233 
 
 short speech, telling what was needed at the fort, and 
 asked for volunteers to accompany him. Every man 
 stepped out. 
 
 He left a widow, Catharine (Mumford), and an only 
 daughter, who married Levi Huntington of Norwich. 
 
 ELIJAH RICHARDS, born 1 734, was wounded in the 
 defence of New London, and died of his wounds Sep 
 tember 2Oth. His house on Beach Street was burned. 
 He was a cousin of Guy, the father of Peter. 
 
 Among the crew of the Hancock was CHRISTOPHER 
 LATHAM, who, among other remembrances of the day, 
 carried a musket-ball between the bones of his fore 
 arm the rest of his life. In the massacre he clinched 
 and threw a man who came at him with a bayonet; but 
 the bullet disabling one arm the Englishman got away, 
 and knocked him senseless with the butt of his gun. 
 Latham was paroled and left at home. 
 
 
 
 WILLIAM LATHAM, aged sixteen, from near Fort Hill, 
 was wounded by a bayonet through the hand, in ward 
 ing off the blow from his body, and carried to New 
 York as prisoner. He died January 29, 1849, aged 
 eighty-four. Of his thirteen children, all of whom lived 
 to be married, six are now living in Groton, namely, 
 Henry, Silas, James A., Abby Jane (Spicer), John D., 
 and Hannah (Adams). The eldest of these was born 
 in 1797 and the youngest in 1816. 
 
 RUFUS HURLBUT, son of John Hurlbut, from near 
 " Hurlbut s," now Gale s, Ferry, lived at that time close 
 to the present Gale s Ferry Church, and was a large 
 landholder. He was killed after the surrender by a 
 
234 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 bayonet wound in the breast. His widow died in 1826, 
 aged eighty-nine. A large number of his descendants 
 now live in the vicinity of Gale s Ferry. 
 
 SIMEON MORGAN, son of Captain Joseph Morgan 
 and Dorothy Avery, was born in Groton in 1754. His 
 eldest sister Dorothy was wife of John Lester, also one 
 of the slain. 
 
 JOSEPH MORGAN 30, born November, 1762, nephew 
 of the Simeon above, was a soldier of the garrison, and 
 was ordered to ride " express " to rouse the militia, since 
 the alarm had been broken. On his return the fight 
 was in progress, as I learn from his daughter, Mrs. 
 Minerva Miner, of New London. 
 
 GARY LEEDS was one of the garrison, who, when 
 the enemy obtained possession, leaped from the wall, 
 cleared the ditch, outran his pursuers, and escaped, 
 though severely wounded. He died December 28, 
 1781. See page 138. 
 
 ELIJAH BAILEY was ordered, with a man named 
 Williams, to fire the field-piece in the redoubt at the 
 east of the fort as long as possible, and then abandon 
 it and come into the fort. Bailey stopped to spike the 
 gun, and arrived after Williams had entered and the 
 gate had been shut ; so he ran down the hill, and se 
 creted himself in a corn-field, thus saving his life. He 
 was afterward postmaster of Groton for forty years. 
 
 EBENEZER FISH, living on Fort Hill, on being sure of 
 an alarm, took his flint-lock gun and joined those in 
 the fort. He was one of those carried away prisoners, 
 
Biographical Sketches. 235 
 
 but was exchanged in about three months, still wearing 
 the clothes he wore in the fight. His grandson recalls 
 now the horror with which he used to speak of his 
 loathsome condition. He moved to Ohio in 1823, 
 where he died in 1827, aged seventy. There are still 
 living in Brooklyn, Ohio, his children : Ebenezer, now 
 ninety-six, who was a soldier in the War of 1812, and 
 was with Perry on Lake Erie ; Daniel, aged ninety- 
 four; and Mrs. Eunice Fish Boyden, aged ninety-one. 
 
 DANIEL WILLIAMS. This boy was in Fort Griswold 
 as a substitute for a man by the name of Kirtland, 
 who had been drafted from the Saybrook Militia, but 
 whose wife being sick, he was excused, and Williams 
 accepted in his stead. The price of substitution was 
 a hogshead of cider, paid to his father by Kirtland. 
 
 He arrived at the fort only the day preceding the 
 battle, and was killed by a rifle-shot while passing pow 
 der from the magazine to the artillerists before the as 
 sault. 1 He was the youngest of the garrison of whom 
 there remains a record. His name does not appear 
 upon the memorial tablet in the monument ; why, is 
 not understood. The only reason probable is either 
 his late arrival, followed so soon by the battle, or being 
 a substitute, his true name was not enrolled. 
 
 CAPTAIN JOHN WILLIAMS, one of the killed, was born 
 April 5, 1 739. Living near, he entered the fort as a vol 
 unteer, leaving his wife, who was a daughter of Elnathan 
 Perkins, and children to look out for the property. 
 
 As soon as possible after the fight, his daughter 
 Amcy went to the fort, and sought out her father s 
 body. 
 
 1 See Narrative of Andrew Gallup. 
 
236 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 CAPTA!N HUBBARD BURROWS was ploughing when 
 Edward Stanton and Thomas Williams rode up ; as 
 suring him the guns were an alarm, he left his oxen 
 on the plough, ran to the house for his arms, mounted 
 with his son John S., to bring back the horse. To. his 
 wife s inquiry, " When will you get back ? " he replied, 
 " Good-by. God knows ! " 
 
 He was killed on the east parapet, by a shot through 
 the head. He was found by his son the next day, after 
 turning over twenty-seven bodies. 
 
 SAMUEL W. JAQUES is said by his daughter, Mercy 
 Jaques Burdick, of Rockville, R. I., to have been the 
 only member of the garrison who escaped uninjured, 
 he having killed his antagonist in a hand-to-hand con 
 flict, and then fled, jumped from the wall, and got away 
 undiscovered. 
 
 Mr. Burdick, referring to that event, says, " It was a 
 source of grief to him in his last hours that he won his 
 freedom by the death of one so young and beautiful." 
 
 He was born in Exeter, R. I., enlisted in the army 
 when fourteen years old, and returned home after the 
 war, a man grown. He married, and lived in Exeter 
 until his death, at the age of sixty. 
 
 JOHN HOLT, we learn, was a ship-joiner, at that time 
 store-keeper for John Deshon, from whose store he 
 went with a lot of powder for the garrison, among 
 whom he was slain. 
 
 HENRY MASON, of New London, like others, seeing 
 the uselessness of fighting after the enemy were in the 
 fort, jumped off the parapet and ran for his life, escap 
 ing with a slight bullet wound in the leg. He lived 
 
Biographical Sketches. 237 
 
 for many years afterward, and followed his trade in 
 New London, where he died April 24, 1836, aged 
 seventy-seven. 
 
 BENAJAH HOLDRIDGE, it is said, seeing the fate of his 
 friends, dropped among the dead and wounded, others 
 falling on him. He lay there till he was taken up with 
 the wounded and sent down the hill in the wagon, and 
 lived many years near the Mystic and Stonington line. 
 
 Miss Caulkins says that some attempted to leap 
 over the parapets, but were mostly arrested and slain. 
 One man, by the name of Malleson, 1 escaped in this 
 way ; being tall, stout, and active, he leaped from the 
 platform over the parapet, and with another bound 
 cleared the pickets and came down in the ditch, and 
 though half a dozen muskets were discharged at him he 
 escaped unhurt. 
 
 DANIEL CHESTER, AND HIS BROTHERS CHARLES 
 AND ELDREDGE. 
 
 DANIEL CHESTER, who was killed in the Massacre of 
 Fort Griswold, September 6, 1781, was the son of 
 Thomas Chester and Sarah (Elclredge) his wife. He 
 was born December 15, 1754, at Groton, Conn. 
 Thomas Chester, the father, was the son of John, who 
 was the son of Samuel Chester, commander, owner, and 
 factor in the West India trade, who came to New 
 London from Boston in 1663; was made a freeman 
 in New London, in 1669. He soon after moved to 
 
 1 This was Thomas Malleson, about twenty years old, a member of 
 Captain Allyn s company. Samuel G. Allyn, of Leclyard, well remembers 
 him. 
 
238 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Groton, where he was much employed in public sur 
 veys. 
 
 SAMUEL CHESTER was a man of much importance in 
 the early history of New London, and from him were 
 descended all the Chesters of this region, including his 
 great grandsons Daniel, Charles, and Eldredge, heroes 
 in the Groton Massacre. 
 
 DANIEL CHESTER, the subject of this sketch, was 
 brought up on the Chester Farm, situated on the high 
 est part of the hill, about one mile south of Fort Gris- 
 wold. The old house, from which the brothers Daniel, 
 Charles, and Eldredge went to the battle, still stands 
 on its ancient site, one of the most ancient structures 
 in the town. It had been the home of the Chester 
 family since 1732, at which time John Chester, the 
 grandfather of the heroes, purchased it of Jonathan 
 A very, Jr., who had received it from Jonathan Avery, 
 Sen., by whom it was built. Daniel was one of the 
 crew of the privateer Minerva, Captain Dudley Sal- 
 tonstall, which captured the prize ship Hannah, bound 
 to New York, richly ladea with cotton, woollen, and 
 silk goods, whose capture is thought to have incensed 
 the British, and provoked the reprisal which resulted 
 in the scenes of September 6. 
 
 " A Corte was held at New London Tho s Shaw 
 Judge August 14 1790" inventories the estate of Mr. 
 Daniel Chester, late of Groton, deceased, that was 
 drawn from the ship Hannah, with the sterling price, 
 to the amount of .59 15 5^. 
 
 A list of the articles assigned to Daniel as his share 
 is in the possession of E. Starr Chester, of Water- 
 ford. 
 
 Daniel Chester hastened to the fort on the morning 
 of September 6th, and was killed by a bayonet stab in 
 
Biographical Sketches. 239 
 
 the massacre, after the surrender, being nearly twenty- 
 seven years of age. He was unmarried. 
 
 CHARLES CHESTER was born November 27, 1756. 
 His name does not appear in the list of killed and 
 wounded, but it appears from the family records that 
 he was in the fort, and was taken a prisoner to New 
 York. Ebenezer Ledyard, Esq., brought him home 
 soon after, with others of the prisoners whom the Brit 
 ish gave up. 
 
 Augustin Chester, Esq., of Washington, D. C., his 
 nephew, gives me the following account of Charles 
 Chester s conduct in the battle : 
 
 " Charles Chester, seeing his two brothers killed, 
 retained his gun, and seeing that the massacre was 
 mostly with bayonets, had his gun loaded and re 
 mained on the breastworks, where his brothers lately 
 stood, and as one of the soldiers approached him with 
 his gun for a bayonet thrust, he retreated to keep out 
 of his reach, then jumped on to the barracks, when 
 the soldier snapped his gun at him, but it missed fire, 
 when, in the language of the old man, as he" told me 
 himself, I did shoot him down. Then an officer 
 called to him from below and asked him if he was not 
 going to surrender. He replied, Yes, if I can be 
 protected, but not without. The officer told him to 
 come down then and he should be protected. Seeing 
 that this officer with some others were protecting all 
 that came to them, he went down and gave up his 
 gun." 
 
 He married and lived in Preston, where he died in 
 1829, at the age of seventy-three. 
 
 Ensign ELDREDGE CHESTER, the third brother, was 
 born June 7, 1758. He was employed on his father s 
 farm. At the sound of the alarm guns on the morning 
 
240 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 of the 6th, he took his gun from the big beam in the 
 old farm-house kitchen, and hastened, with his broth 
 ers, to the fort. He fell, wounded. Is supposed to be 
 one of those who were gathered in the house of Eben- 
 ezer Avery, at the foot of the hill. He was shortly 
 after taken to his father s house, where he lingered a 
 sufferer through the autumn and a portion of the suc 
 ceeding winter, and died of his injuries December 31, 
 1781, in his twenty-fourth year. He was unmarried. 
 
 On the list of Connecticut Gazette we find Jeremiah 
 Chester; on that of Rufus Avery, Jedidiah Chester; 
 while on the slab in the monument, Frederic Chester. 
 Undoubtedly the Jeremiah and Jedidiah are identical. 
 and refer to Jedidiah, a middle-aged son of Abraham. 
 In answer to a question on this point the genealogist 
 of the Chester family says : " I can find nothing in 
 any records or in any memory of such a man as Fred 
 eric Chester, and can hardly believe there was such 
 a man. I think it should have been Jedidiah instead 
 of Frederic, on Groton Monument slab. The name 
 seems to be found nowhere else with any authority." 
 
 We do not know from what authorities the list for 
 the monument slab was made up, but at this date no 
 trace of Frederic Chester, except his name on the 
 monument, can be found. j. j. c. 
 
 JOSEPH MOXLEY, born in Glasgow, Scotland, of a 
 good Scotch family, arrived in Groton (now Ledyard) 
 when he was eight months old. 
 
 At the time of the massacre he was a house-carpen 
 ter, at work on a new house for Jonathan Latham, not 
 far from the Shore Line Ferry. He went into the fort 
 as a volunteer, being the last man to go in by the 
 north gate, those from Fort Trumbull coming in the 
 
Biographical Sketches. 241 
 
 south one. His station was in the southwest bastion, 
 next to Samuel Edgecomb. Wounded in the abdo 
 men by a bayonet, he was one of those put in the 
 wagon, and died that night. His wife was Elizabeth 
 Horsford. Their children were Joseph, Jonathan, 
 Samuel, Deborah, Elizabeth, and Esther, who married 
 Moses Jones, a house-carpenter, who was also one of 
 the killed, leaving two children, Esther and Deborah. 
 
 JOSEPH MOXLEY, JR., about nineteen years old, at 
 work with his father as a carpenter, went also as a 
 volunteer to the fort. He was one of those who at 
 tempted to save themselves in the magazine. He had 
 a musket ball pass through his clothing across his 
 stomach, cutting his vest in pieces, hurting him only 
 by the shock. He afterward jumped off the wall and 
 escaped. 
 
 JORDAN FREEMAN. He was the colored body ser 
 vant of Colonel Ledyard, and was buried in the Led- 
 yard Cemetery. He is credited with killing Major 
 Montgomery with a spear, though in some accounts he 
 divides that honor with Lieutenant Henry Williams. 
 
 LAMBO LATHAM. This name was given in several 
 places in the first edition as Sambo. He was a negro 
 living with Jonathan Latham, father of Captain Will 
 iam Latham, at their residence near the present Shore 
 Line Ferry, in the house now owned and occupied 
 by Colonel William Mitchell, a grandson of Captain 
 William Latham. When the enemy landed at East 
 ern Point on the morning of the battle, and Captain 
 Latham was hurrying away to Fort Griswold, he told 
 
 his wife to take the children and servants away 
 1 6 
 
242 Battle of Grot on Heights. 
 
 through the Dark Hollow woods to the house of her 
 uncle, Elder Park A very, on the margin of Poquonoc 
 Plains. The farm wagon was loaded up with them, 
 and Lambo drove it over to Elder Avery s. A pas 
 senger in that wagon says that amongst the articles 
 composing the load was a musket which Lambo took 
 and hurried back with, following young William into 
 the fort. 
 
 According to tradition in the Latham family, Lambo 
 fought manfully by his master s side up to the time 
 that he was slain. In the hottest of the conflict he 
 stood near his master, loading and discharging his mus 
 ket with great rapidity, even after he had been se 
 verely wounded in one of his hands. When Captain 
 Latham exclaimed, "Stick to em, Lambo!" "Yes, 
 massa, kill em every time ! " was the brave man s reply. 
 On the tablet in the monument he is put down under 
 the now common negro name of Sambo. 
 
 ENSIGN CHARLES ELDREDGE,* JR., was born in Groton 
 in 1 743, where he was living in his house on the east 
 side of Main Street, at the foot of Coon Hill, and keep 
 ing a store diagonally across the street south of his 
 house. These were both burned. 
 
 The well at present in the street nearly in front of 
 the location of his house, between that and his store, 
 was dug by him; it is about forty feet deep, and for 
 more than a century has slaked the thirst of man and 
 beast. 
 
 An ensign in the local militia company, he entered 
 the fort in response to the alarm. Here he was badly 
 wounded in the knee by a bullet, and it is said after 
 ward bought his life with a gold watch. 
 
 1 This name is also spelled Eldridge. 
 
Biographical Sketches. 243 
 
 He was married first in 1 764 to Rachel Avery. It 
 seems probable it was about this time the miniature 
 was painted from which our portrait is copied, as it is 
 accompanied by one of his Avery wife. In 1778 he 
 married, for his second wife, Glorianna Havens. He 
 was buried in the Eldredge burying ground, near the 
 head of Mystic River, where his tombstone says : 
 
 " CHARLES ELDRIDGE ESQ., after great suffering from 
 a wound received in Fort Griswold Sept 6 1781 died 
 Nov 20 1/98 aged 55 years." 
 
 His son William Eldridgc was the last surviving one 
 of the fire land commissione rs, who surveyed and laid 
 out in " New Connecticut," the land alloted to the suf 
 ferers by Arnold s wanton destruction of their prop 
 erty. 
 
 DANIEL ELDREDGE, who was born December 24, 
 1758, was a brother of Ensign Charles; being also 
 wounded, was carried away a prisoner, and returned 
 home December 3d, sick, starved, and near dead. His 
 family tried by careful feeding to restore him to health; 
 but in a moment when they were off guard, he reached 
 a bowl of "cider and suppawn," which he drank at a 
 draught, though the physician s orders were a spoonful 
 only at a time. This meal was too much for his ex 
 hausted system, and he died almost at once, December 
 u, 1781, leaving a widow Lucy (Stanton). 
 
 It seems highly probable there were two of this name 
 in the battle, since the above account is from the lips of 
 a granddaughter of Charles Eldridge, a most interest 
 ing lady over ninety years old, who remembers the in 
 cident as a part of her earliest recollections of the 
 family history of their sufferings from the battle. 
 
 In the list of paroled wounded left at home we find, 
 
244 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 "Daniel Eldridge shot through neck and face;" and 
 the signature of Daniel Eldredge ist appears in a peti 
 tion of the wounded, addressed to the Legislature of 
 January, 1782, whose committee s report on his case is 
 given elsewhere. 
 
 In the list of recipients of fire lands we find " Serg m 
 Daniel Eldridge," and " Daniel Eldridge," with losses 
 of about the amount of others who we know were in 
 the battle, whose loss consisted of the property they 
 had with them. No list of prisoners carried away has 
 ever been made. I think Daniel Eldridge, the brother 
 of Charles, was one of these ; and the Daniel Eldredge 
 who is on the list of paroled and in the report of the 
 committee is one with the man who I learn by another 
 family history was wounded in the fort, but recovered, 
 and afterwards died in the United States Naval service 
 at Washington, D. C., and whose wife was Phoebe 
 Franklin 
 
 SKETCH OF THE PERKINSES WHO WERE IN THE 
 ACTION AT FORT GRISWOLD, SEPTEMBER 6xn, 1781. 
 
 LUKE PERKINS was, I think, the son of Luke Per 
 kins, Esq., a local notable in his day in the town of 
 Groton and vicinity. He, Luke Sen., was a prominent 
 man in the Congregational Church, and held many 
 public trusts. He died January 8, 1777, in the eighty- 
 first year of his age. Luke Perkins, Jun., appears on 
 a rate-bill of the town of Groton, in 1768, with an 
 estate of ^. He was a soldier in the second com 
 pany or train band under Captain Robert Allyn, April 
 22, 1749; but otherwise I find no trace of him. The 
 place of his burial is unknown. 
 
 ELNATHAN PERKINS was a well to do farmer in his 
 
Biographical Sketches. 245 
 
 day, living upon what is now known as Brier Hill, in 
 the Second School District of Groton. His house was 
 situated near what was the residence of the late Cap 
 tain Levi Perkins. Elnathan had two wives : the first, 
 Mary, died December 18, 1776, aged fifty-five years; 
 the second, Freelove, formerly the widow of Benjamin 
 Bailey, died 1 794, aged seventy-five. 
 
 Elnathan and wife, " owned the covenant," in the 
 Congregational Church of Groton, of which Rev. John 
 Owen was pastor, on April i, 1739. 
 
 His children were regularly brought in infancy to 
 the altar of the church to receive the rite of baptism. 
 We find such entries as these in the ancient records of 
 the church, in the handwriting of John Owen : 
 
 " Elisha son of Elnathan Perkins was baptized in in 
 fancy April 5 th 1747 
 
 " Asa son of Elnathan Perkins was baptized in in 
 fancy May 28 1749-" 
 
 Elnathan s name is found on the rate-bill of the 
 town in 1768, taxed on ^"69 4 shillings. 
 
 Elnathan, on the morning of the battle, went into the 
 fort with four sons : Obadiah, Elisha, Asa, and Luke 
 Jr. The three latter were killed, and Luke Jr. and Asa 
 are buried beside him in the Starr Burying Ground. 
 Elisha, who was a married man, is buried in the same 
 ground beside his two infant children, Elisha and 
 Mary; near him lies "Sarah Wood, relict of William 
 Wood, formerly the widow of Elisha Perkins, who 
 died June 26, 1824, aged seventy years." Elisha ap 
 pears in the rate-bill of 1768, rated at ,18. 
 
 SIMEON PERKINS, who was killed in the fort at the 
 age of twenty-two years, was the son of the Solomon, 
 who was wounded. He was baptized in infancy on 
 
246 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 June 15, 1760, Rev. Jonathan Barber being pastor of 
 the church ; he is buried beside Elisha. 
 
 SOLOMON PERKINS, who was wounded, was the son of 
 Luke; he was baptized in infancy August 24, 1729. 
 He lived at Long Cove, on the Point, where his grand 
 son, John E. Perkins, now resides ; his son Simeon was 
 killed in the massacre. He was a lieutenant in the 
 militia in 1768, and captain at the time of the battle. 
 In the rate-bill of 1768 he is put down for tax on ^65. 
 He died November 4, 1809, in the eighty-first year of 
 his age. He is buried in the Starr Cemetery, and was 
 a brother of Luke, Elnathan, and Ebenezer, and they 
 were all the sons of Esq. Luke. 
 
 EBENEZER PERKINS is put in the rate-bill, in 1768, at 
 72 10 shillings. He owned his baptismal covenant 
 in the Congregational Church in Groton, April 14, 
 1751 ; he died December i, 1806, in the eighty-seventh 
 year of his age. His widow, Sarah Perkins, died No 
 vember 14, 1820, aged ninety-five years, and is buried 
 beside him in the Starr Cemetery. 
 
 OBADIAH PERKINS, son of Elnathan, was baptized in 
 infancy May 10, 1741. In 1768 he is entered in the 
 rate-bill for ^"45 16 shillings. He lived on Brier Hill, 
 in Groton, on land now owned by Russel Perkins, and 
 occupied by his son Simeon, and near the dwelling- 
 house of Silas Bailey, a grandson of Obadiah. Oba- 
 diah was twice married. He was wounded in the side 
 with three bayonet stabs; was one of those placed in 
 the cart and run down the hill. He died December 4, 
 1812, aged seventy-two years, and is buried in the Starr 
 Cemetery. 
 
Biographical Sketches. 247 
 
 From all I can gather the Perkinses who were at 
 Fort Griswold all resided in the Second School Dis 
 trict, Groton; they were landholders, and regular at 
 tendants of the church under the ministries of Revs. 
 John Owen, Jonathan Barber, and Aaron Kinne, and 
 were upright, useful, and respected members of so 
 ciety, j. j. c. 
 
 JOHN CLARK, a volunteer from New London, is said 
 to have crossed in an open boat with a bag of musket 
 cartridges, which he carried up the hill on his shoulder 
 to the fort ; but as he got on the north side of it the 
 enemy came around the northeast corner and shot him 
 just outside the gate. 
 
 WAIT LESTER, one of the slain, was the second son 
 of Thomas and Mary (Allyn) Lester ; he was born De 
 cember, 1759. They had a son Daniel who was born 
 March 27, 1763. I am unable to learn if this is the 
 Daniel who was killed. 
 
 THOMAS WELLES, born in Groton, September 12, 
 1753, we learn from the family history, had been a very 
 successful privateersman, on part of his voyages at 
 least; but in September, 1781, was a gunner in the 
 garrison at Fort Griswold. He was taken prisoner, 
 carried to New York, from whence he returned to duty 
 in November. He was granted a pension in 1831, and 
 died in Groton in 1848. 
 
 Dr. ELISHA MORGAN, born in Groton, March 7, 1762, 
 was one of the defenders of the fort who, after the 
 enemy gained possession, feigned dead among the dead 
 and wounded so well that he was kicked and plundered 
 
248 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 without the deceit being detected. He heard the plans 
 for blowing up the fort, and after the enemy had left 
 aided in frustrating their plans. He died at sea, in a 
 voyage from Demerara, in April i, 1796, leaving four 
 children. 
 
 JOHN MORGAN, a brother-in-law of Elisha above, used 
 to relate how he came by his own wound. He and a 
 comrade got on to the parapet for better range and op 
 portunity to fire, when his companion said, " There, 
 now, John, we ve a good chance at them." But they 
 soon found the good chances were pretty evenly di 
 vided, as " John " received a ball in his knee, which 
 gave him a stiff leg, and afterward a pension, while his 
 comrade, whose name could not be recalled, was killed 
 outright. John, on the death of his sister and her 
 husband, took charge of the family, and reared them 
 as his own. He died in 1840, a bachelor. 
 
 SYLVESTER WALWORTH, who was a volunteer living 
 on the north side of Fort Hill, was buried in the Led- 
 yard Cemetery. His grave is known to have been let 
 unprovided with memorial stones. 
 
 BENONI KENSON, credited to New London. No rep 
 resentative of the family has resided in the neighbor 
 hood for many years. He is said to have been a sailor 
 attached to one of the privateer vessels lying in the 
 harbor at the time, and volunteered for the defence of 
 the fort. If so he was doubtless interred in the Old 
 Ground at New London. 
 
 JONATHAN BUTLER, known to have been buried in 
 the last-named ground. 
 
Biographical Sketches. 249 
 
 ELIAS COIT and BARNEY KINNEY, buried in the First 
 Ground at New London. 
 
 SERGEANT JOHN STEDMAN. Nothing is known of 
 him save that he died in the fort. His friends suppose 
 him to have been buried in the Old Ground, east of 
 and near Gale s Ferry. 
 
 SERGEANT EZEKIEL BAILEY. Probably buried in the 
 Starr Ground. 
 
 SERGEANT CHRISTOPHER AVERY. His descendants 
 suppose him to have been interred at Poquonoc with 
 his family. 
 
 CORPORAL EDWARD MILLS. In the Old Ground on 
 "Whitman Meeting-House Hill." 
 
 CORPORAL NATHAN SHOLES. Nothing definite can 
 be learned of him. He is supposed, however, by old 
 inhabitants to have been buried in the Sandy Hollow 
 Ground, in Ledyard, near which his family resided. 
 
 PHILLIP COVIL. Of this man nothing can be learned. 
 
 DAVID SEABURY, a relative of Bishop Seabury. The 
 family lived in Ledyard, near Poquetanock, where his 
 unmarked grave is supposed to be. 
 
 JOHN BROWN. Nothing known. 
 
 SAMUEL HILL. Nothing known of him ; probably 
 a transient inhabitant of Groton. 1 
 
 1 See Appendix. 
 
250 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 JONAS LESTER. Probably buried near his cousin, 
 Ensign John Lester, in the " Sandy Hollow " Ground. 
 Nothing definite known. 
 
 JOHN BILLINGS is thought to have belonged to 
 North Stonington. Nothing can be ascertained re 
 garding the place of his sepulture. 
 
 JOSEPH WEDGER, SAMUEL BILLINGS, and ELIDAY 
 JONES, unknown. 
 
 DANIEL DAVIS and DANIEL B. LESTER, unknown. 
 So far as can be ascertained, Lester was not connected 
 with the families to which John, Jonas, and Wait be 
 longed. 
 
 WILLIAM COMSTOCK, a member of Captain Shap- 
 ley s company, was probably buried in the Comstock 
 Ground in Montville. 
 
 SOLOMON TIFT appears in the list of killed in the 
 Connecticut Gazette of September 21, 1781. If this 
 is correct, there certainly were two of that name. His 
 name is not on the tablet in the monument, which may 
 be accounted for by the known fact of there being a 
 Solomon Tift who had been a privateersman, and was 
 in the harbor and entered the fort as a volunteer. He 
 was carried a prisoner to New York. His wife, a sis 
 ter of Capt. Hubbard Burrows, went to the fort to 
 search for him among the dead and wounded, the 
 scenes of which search she often described to her 
 grandson, Hon. Nelson Tift, of Albany, Georgia. He 
 received a pension for almost half a century, being the 
 last Revolutionary pensioner in Groton. His descend- 
 
Biographical Sketches. 251 
 
 ants recollect well his description of his sufferings on 
 the prison-ship. Two of his daughters are living, Mrs. 
 Capewell, of Voluntown, and Mrs. Nicholas Starr, of 
 McGrawville, Cortland County, N. Y. 
 
 I have been unable to find any trace of any family 
 tradition regarding the one said to have been killed. 
 
 JOSHUA WHEELER, of Stonington, also of the garri 
 son, had his left arm broken above the elbow, Septem 
 ber 5, while wrestling with a fellow-soldier. He was 
 sent home at once on sick leave, thus escaping the 
 chances of the massacre. His arm, either from im 
 proper setting or lack of proper care, became some 
 what crooked. If attention was called to it in any 
 way, his remark was in substance, " It does not look 
 so well as the other one, but getting that twist in it 
 saved my life." 
 
 One of the wounded, supposed to be dead, had on 
 a new pair of shoes with silver buckles. These were 
 coveted by the soldiers, so they were pulled off at 
 once. The first man tried them on, but threw them 
 down in disgust. A second, with larger feet, tried 
 them, and passed them to a third as not suited to his 
 needs. This man, after trial, threw the shoes on the 
 ground, exclaiming, with an oath, " They are too big 
 for any decent man ! " 
 
 LIEUTENANT PARKE AVERY, born March 22, 1741, 
 eldest son of Elder Parke Avery, lived at Dunbar s 
 Mill at that time, and after his father s death in the 
 old Avery House, on Poquonoc Plains. He received 
 a number of wounds, the most serious being in the 
 forehead. His last recollection of the fight is of de- 
 
252 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 fending himself with his sword against two men with 
 bayonets, when a blow came on his head. He was evi 
 dently bayoneted by a man on the parapet above him, 
 as the blow split the forehead, took out the eye and 
 the bone over the eye, leaving the brain exposed, and 
 a deep furrow up and down the forehead after the 
 wound was healed. He was left for dead, and came 
 to his senses as he was being carried out on the 
 shoulders of those who were collecting the bodies. 
 His abrupt and military order, " Keep step, d n it, 
 keep step, boys ! You shake me," was rather startling 
 from a corpse. The sword he is said to have used on 
 that occasion is in possession of one of his descend 
 ants, Jefferson A very, of New London. His son 
 Thomas, born in 1764, was killed bravely fighting by 
 his side during the assault. See note, p. 50. 
 
 ENSIGN EBENEZER AVERY, brother of Lieutenant 
 Parke Avery, lived with his family in the house now 
 at the foot of Latham Street, where he carried on his 
 trade as tailor. 
 
 He went into the fort early in the morning, and took 
 an active part in the preparations for defence. He 
 was severely wounded by a shot through the lower 
 part of the neck, cutting the cords, and leaving him 
 senseless as one of the dead. He recovered, with the 
 loss of his hearing, and lived many years after. 
 
 It was to his house at the foot of the Heights that 
 the wounded from the wagon were taken, he among 
 the number. The blood stains are still visible on its 
 oaken floor, as he would not allow them washed out in 
 his day, which ended January n, 1828, at the age of 
 eighty-one. 
 
 JASPER AVERY, another brother, born 1743, lived on 
 
Biographical Sketches. 253 
 
 the Poquonoc Plains, near the old Avery homestead. 
 On hearing the alarm guns he responded, partici 
 pated in the defence, and was carried back a corpse 
 upon the shoulders of his neighbors the next morning. 
 
 ELISHA, the youngest of these brothers, was born in 
 X 755 but had already attained the rank of captain. 
 He was unmarried. 
 
 PARKE AVERY, SEN., universally called Elder Parke, 
 the father of these soldiers, was one of if not the most 
 prominent citizen of Groton for many years, from be 
 ing a man of wealth, and having taken the initiative 
 in a very bitter fight against the " established order " 
 in ecclesiastical matters. He was a man of wonderful 
 energy and activity, in which qualities his sons were 
 not deficient. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER AVERY, the son of George and Eunice 
 Avery, was born September 6, 1 760. He went to the 
 fort in response to the signal, in spite of the protest of 
 his family, and was slain on his twenty-first birthday. 
 
 CAPTAIN ELIJAH AVERY, buried in the Poquonoc 
 Ground, by the side of David, was the second son of 
 John, and was born in 1733. He was a man of wealth 
 for that time, and his descendants are numerous in 
 Groton. 
 
 AMOS AVERY, the youngest brother of the above, 
 born March 6, i 743, was wounded and paroled. 
 
 DAVID AVERY, the son of the fourth James Avery, 
 was the oldest of the name who participated in the 
 
254 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 battle, and was born in 1727. He is buried in the Old 
 Ground at Poquonoc, where his tombstone, elaborate 
 for those times, gives evidence of his wealth and the 
 estimation in which he was held. His brother John 
 had a son Peter taken prisoner, and James had two 
 sons carried away, but all returned. 
 
 LIEUTENANT EBENEZER AVERY, the eldest son of 
 Ebenezer, who was a brother of the fourth James 
 above, was born March 7, 1732, and married Phebe 
 Denison, the daughter of his step-mother, 1761. His 
 tombstone is in the " Packer s Rocks " or Ledyard 
 Cemetery. 
 
 ENSIGN DANIEL AVERY, the second son of Benjamin 
 and Thankful A very, was born in Groton, November 
 14, 1740. On hearing the alarm he mounted, with his 
 son Daniel, Jr., behind, to bring back the horse, and 
 rode to the fort. His son returned home, and the 
 next day returned with a team to bear away the body 
 of his father. 
 
 SOLOMON AVERY, the next younger brother of Dan 
 iel, was born in 1 748. He is buried beside his brother 
 Daniel in the Old Ground at Poquonoc. Sarah, their 
 sister, was the wife of Captain Hubbard Burrows, one 
 of the slain. 
 
 PETER AVERY, the eldest son of John, whose brother 
 David was killed, was born May 10, 1764, and lived 
 with his father near Centre Groton. He was taken 
 prisoner to New York, and, as an example of their suf 
 ferings from hunger, often spoke of the most delicious 
 morsel he ever eat during his life being two raw pota- 
 
Biographical Sketches. 255 
 
 toes he stole from the basket of an old cook while in 
 captivity. In 1787 he married Hannah, the daughter 
 of Lieutenant Parke A very. 
 
 RUFUS AVERY S ACCOUNT OF HIS TIME OF SERVICE IN 
 THE ARMY DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 
 
 I enlisted under Capt Abel Spicer (May) 1776 for 
 to join the Continental Army at New York, 6 mos. 
 
 In the year 1777 I was drafted Jany i to serve to 
 due a tour of duty under Capt Peleg Noyes at Fort 
 Griswold, 3 mos. 
 
 The same year the last of July, I was drafted to go 
 to the Northard with Capt Prentice to join General 
 Gates Army, 3 mos 
 
 In the year 1778 (in January) I was drafted to serve 
 a tour of duty under Capt Joseph Gallup at Fort Gris 
 wold, 2 mos. 
 
 In the year 1779 (in January) I was drafted to do a 
 tour of duty under Lieut Thompson at Fort Griswold, 
 3 mos. 
 
 In 1 780 the 1 6 th day of November I was 22 Years 
 old and about that time I enlisted and joined Capt 
 W m Lathams Company of Artillery to do orderly ser- 
 gents duty in said Company in Fort Griswold, made a 
 prisoner 6 h of September by the british fleet and was 
 exchanged in about 13 days and returned home to my 
 duty at Fort Griswold and served out my Year, & then 
 had an honorable discharge from the Company. 
 
 Rufus Avery died at Groton July 30, 1842, aged 83 
 years, 8 mos, and 14 days. 
 
 In his written account of this New York Campaign, 
 he speaks of his companions Lieut Parke Avery, Serg 
 John Stedman, and Elisha Avery, all of whom were 
 also in Fort Griswold, the last two being killed. 
 
256 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 CALEB AVERY, the son of James and Elizabeth 
 (Allyn) A very, was born February 25, 1760, the next 
 younger brother of Rufus Avery, whose narrative is 
 given elsewhere. He was living near the present loca 
 tion of the navy yard, and entered the fort as a volun 
 teer, and was stationed near the southeast corner of the 
 works. Seeing the treatment accorded to the garrison 
 
 O O 
 
 he fled to the magazine; as he was turning to enter 
 he saw the killing of Ledyard, as heretofore described. 
 He was not wounded, and was taken a prisoner to New 
 York, and confined in the old Sugar House, but re 
 turned home late in the fall, as I learn from his daugh 
 ter, Mrs. Eliza Avery Williams, now living on Groton 
 Bank. His wife was Mary Avery, a sister of Peter, 
 also one of the prisoners. 
 
 These Averys are all descended from James Avery, 
 born in England 1620, died in Poquonoc 1694, in a 
 house still standing. This ancient dwelling stands at 
 the head of Poquonoc Plains, and is owned and occu 
 pied by James D. Avery, the town clerk of Groton. 
 It is now in good repair, and the timbers are as sound 
 apparently as when cut in the primeval forest, in 1656 
 or 7, by James Avery. In 1684 he bought for 6 the 
 first church in New London, which had stood about 
 thirty years, took it down and transported it across the 
 river, and added it to his house, where nearly a century 
 later it was again used as a house of worship by Elder 
 Parke Avery, the great grandson of James, and leader 
 of " The Separates." It has been aptly called the 
 "hive of the Averys," having been the home of the 
 Avery family for eight successive generations in regu 
 lar order of descent from father to son : i. James ; 2. 
 James; 3. Ebenezer ; 4. Elder Parke; 5. Lieutenant 
 Parke ; 6. Youngs ; 7. Parke ; and 8. James D., the 
 present occupant. 
 
o 
 
 K 
 
 Cu 
 
 O 
 O 
 
 u_: 
 rn 
 
 
Biographical Sketches. 257 
 
 EBENEZER LEDYARD, the eldest of the Ledyard broth 
 ers, Ebenezer, John, Youngs, and William, was a 
 ship-owner and West India merchant of wealth and 
 influence. His position was such that in the common 
 accounts of the time his given name is hardly ever 
 used, being always called " Squire Ledyard." A very 
 public spirited man, he was among those foremost in 
 all actions tending to help the Colonies to success; per 
 haps nothing can be quoted more characteristic of the 
 man than the action described by Rufus A very in his 
 account: "Captain Bloomficld paroled the wounded 
 men who were left and took Ebenezer Ledyard Esq r as 
 a hostage for them left on parol to see them forthcom 
 ing if called for." Here he is seen daring to brave the 
 dangers of the British Prison Ship that his wounded 
 friends and neighbors might have the care of their 
 friends in their sufferings. Nothing would have been 
 easier than to have fled and left the wounded to look 
 out for themselves, as many if not all did. Stephen 
 Hempstead speaks of the same circumstance, and also 
 of the fact of his procuring a sentinel to guard the 
 wounded from molestation until the last of the enemy 
 embarked. 
 
 His house and all other property burnable was de 
 stroyed by fire: such a prominent and efficient enemy 
 must be made to suffer as much as possible. In the 
 fire land awards his loss is much the largest of anyone 
 in Groton, the entire allowance not amounting to seven 
 times his. 
 
 His children by two marriages were thirteen sons. 
 
 CAPTAIN WILLIAM LATHAM, of Groton, was with 
 Washington on Dorchester Heights, as a lieutenant 
 of artillery in 1775, and was the captain of artillery com- 
 
 17 
 
258 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 manding Fort Griswold, as Captain Shapley com 
 manded Fort Trumbull, at the time of the battle on 
 Groton Heights. 
 
 Colonel Ledyard, commanding the military district, 
 did not take special command at Fort Griswold until 
 the morning of the 6th. It was customary in those days 
 for the commander of a battery to prime each gun from 
 his own powder-horn, and that of Lieutenant Latham, 
 used by him at Dorchester, is still in existence as an 
 heir-loom in the family. It has a good sketch of Bos 
 ton harbor, with the British fleet riding at anchor, as 
 seen from Dorchester Heights at that time, evi 
 dently cut with a pocket knife, but remarkable for its 
 accuracy, with a statement that it was done by Lieu 
 tenant William Latham at Dorchester Heights in 
 
 O 
 
 1775. He was a son of Deacon Jonathan Latham. 
 
 CAPTAIN SAMUEL ALLYN, born at Allyn s Point, No 
 vember 21, 1734, married Mary Wood, December, 
 1757. He had seen service in the field, and was then 
 captain of militia and one of the selectmen of the town. 
 He lived at the time in the house in Ledyard now 
 occupied by his grandson of the same name. He was 
 sowing rye in his field, and, on hearing the alarm, im 
 mediately saddled his horse and rode to the house of 
 his ensign, Amos Lester, and with him rode to the old 
 Wood House on the North Lane, where they left their 
 horses. After death he was robbed of his coat, sword, 
 belt, knee and shoe buckles. Mrs. Eunice Wood 
 (from whose house he was buried), a sister of Captain 
 Allyn, then living near the North Lane school-house, 
 went into the fort the next morning after the battle to 
 assist in caring for the dead and wounded soldiers, 
 some of whose mouths were full of dirt, they having 
 literally " bit the dust." 
 
Biographical Sketches. 259 
 
 AMOS LESTER, ensign under Captain Samuel Allyn, 
 who was born in the house opposite the Starr Burial 
 Ground, was wounded in the hip, recovered, and lived 
 for forty years after, though he was one of those loaded 
 so carelessly in the wagon. 
 
 JOSEPH LEWIS, a blacksmith of Groton, lieutenant 
 with Captain Samuel Allyn, was also killed. 
 
 CAPTAIN SIMEON ALLYN, born at Allyn s Point, May 
 27, 1745, was a cousin of Captain Samuel Allyn, and 
 married Esther Gallup, September i, 1771. He had 
 belonged to the army, but was at home and in com 
 mand of a local company. His tombstone stands as 
 proof of how well he rallied his men and with what de 
 termined valor they fought under their trusted leader. 
 
 Hearing the alarm he responded at once, as did the 
 son of his brother Robert, BENADAM, born December 
 1 6, 1 76 1, who, inspired by the same feelings, shared 
 the dangers of the defence, and was also killed, to 
 gether with BELTON ALLYN, son of Deacon Joseph, 
 brother of Robert and Simeon. 
 
 On the morning of the battle this young man, in 
 company with his cousin, Benadam, started for the fort 
 in answer to the signal guns, as he had often before 
 done. On their way they called upon a sister of Ben 
 adam, who was teaching school near Gale s Ferry. To 
 her anxious inquiry of where they were going so early 
 with their guns, Benadam replied, " Down to the train 
 ing to see the fun." " You will never come back 
 alive," said she, and burst into tears. Beltonwas killed 
 on the ramparts soon after entering the works, and be 
 fore the storm. 
 
 On learning of his departure, his father armed him- 
 
260 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 self, and, mounting his horse, followed as rapidly as 
 possible to share his danger ; but on his arrival found 
 the fort invested, and he was compelled, through the 
 long hours of dreadful suspense, to await within hear 
 ing the result of the conflict to find at last his only 
 son a corpse, when he took the body home on his own 
 saddle ; thus the first tidings his mother had of his 
 death was seeing his dead body. 
 
 NATHANIEL ADAMS lived in the section of Groton 
 known as " Gungawamp," where in a thickly-wooded 
 valley is a rough, uncut slab of granite upon which are 
 rudely engraved the initials N A. Tradition says this 
 stone was prepared by Adams previous to his death, 
 and after that event, in accordance with his desire, it 
 was placed by his friends at his grave. He is said by 
 his descendants to have been at one time wealthy, but 
 reduced to straitened circumstances by his patriotism, 
 and to have been well known at that time as a brother 
 of John Adams, who afterward became second Presi 
 dent of the United States. 
 
 CAPTAIN ELIAS H. HALSEY was captain of a priva 
 teer brig lying in the harbor. He was probably from 
 Bridgehampton, Long Island, where many of the name 
 still reside. 
 
 JOHN WHITTLESEY, aged twenty-three, and his half 
 brother, STEPHEN WHITTLESEY, sixteen, although origi 
 nally credited to New London, are known to have be 
 longed to that part of Saybrook now constituting the 
 town of Westbrook. They were drafted from the mi 
 litia of that town for the defence of New London har 
 bor, and were members of Captain Shapley s compan) 
 
Biographical Sketches. 261 
 
 of artillery, stationed in Fort Trumbull, and crossed 
 with him to Fort Griswold, where they were stationed 
 in the southwest bastion. 
 
 John was shot through the forehead at his post. 
 Stephen was killed by a bayonet thrust during the 
 massacre about the door of the magazine. Their fam 
 ily traditions are that they were barbarously bayoneted 
 after death. John had one child at the time of his 
 death; another, also a son, was born October, 1781. 
 Their burial place is not definitely known, but it is 
 highly probable that it is near that of an elder brother 
 (Joseph), whose monument is found in the cemetery at 
 Westbrook Village. 
 
 THE STANTONS. 
 
 In the heroic struggles of our country for independ 
 ence and her just civil privileges, the citizens of Groton 
 and Stonington always stood ready to render their 
 quota of means and men. In the latter town the names 
 of families are not few that deserve honorable mention 
 for their prompt patriotism and earnest devotion to 
 liberty. Among these the name of Stanton, a fam 
 ily that Stonington has much occasion to honor, fre 
 quently occurs on the civil and military rolls of the 
 town. THOMAS STANTON, the Indian interpreter for 
 Winthrop in 1636, was among the first white men who 
 settled on the banks of the Pawcatuck. He is a his 
 toric character, and his posterity were largely repre 
 sented in this sanguinary battle. DANIEL STANTON 
 one of his descendants, was an officer in the French 
 and Indian wars, and his sword is still shown by his 
 great-grandson, who bears his name. 
 
 WILLIAM STANTON commanded the fifth company of 
 
262 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Stonington militia from 1774 to 1784, and was a wor 
 thy officer. 
 
 No one among the heroes that fell at Groton 
 Heights, in military experience and ability, surpassed 
 Captain AMOS STANTON. He had been in actual service 
 n the cause of the Colonies almost from the commence 
 ment of hostilities with the mother country, and was 
 an accomplished soldier. He had become distinguished 
 not only as a military man but as a patriot, devoted to 
 the interests of his country. At the time of the battle 
 and massacre at Fort Griswold he held the rank of 
 captain in the Continental Army, and was home on a 
 furlough. Hearing the alarm guns on the morning of 
 the battle, he hastened to the fort, and was warmly wel 
 comed by Ledyard and his brave compatriots. Dur 
 ing the councils of war held by the officers of the fort 
 on the morning of the 6th, he favored a different line 
 of defence than the one adopted by his brother officers. 
 His plan was to meet and skirmish with the British 
 troops as soon after their landing as would bring them 
 into the woodland near the shore. By skilfully ma 
 noeuvring his men, he could make his force appear far 
 more formidable than it really was, and by skirmishing 
 with the enemy and holding them in check he would 
 be joined by all the volunteers who were constantly 
 arriving, some of whom refused to enter the fort, where, 
 in case of defeat, there was no escape. But his opin 
 ions were overruled, and the result is known. 
 
 The possession of great physical power and activity, 
 with a firmness and courage that nothing could daunt, 
 fitted him for a military leader. But what could per 
 sonal prowess and superhuman strength do against an 
 overwhelming disciplined force. Finding that the gar 
 
Biographical Sketches. 263 
 
 rison were to be put to the sword, he rushed among the 
 enemy and sold his life at a fearful cost, and finally 
 sank to the earth riddled with bayonets and bullets. 
 Captain Stanton descended from a noble line of an 
 cestors. Paternally he descended from the famous 
 Indian warrior, Captain George Denison, and from 
 Thomas Stanton, the interpreter-general of New Eng 
 land. Maternally he descended from John Alden, of 
 the Mayflower, through his son David Alden, who 
 married Mary Southworth, daughter of Constant South- 
 worth, who descended from Sir Gilbert Southworth, 
 Knight, of Southworth Hall, England. R. A. W. 
 
 Captain PHINEAS STANTON had two sons slain in the 
 fort, Lieutenant ENOCH and Sergeant DANIEL. 
 
 ENOCH was second in command in Fort Griswold. 
 He had served with the same rank in the Continental 
 Army till his pay was insufficient to meet the demands 
 of his family, when he resigned and came home. After 
 a while he was by improvements in his fortune able 
 to offer himself and be accepted for the post he was 
 filling at the time of his death. He left a widow and 
 seven children, in the language of the official report, 
 " with no personal estate more than enough to pay the 
 debts ; a goldsmith, and depended upon his trade to 
 support his family." DANIEL was unmarried, but affi 
 anced to a young lady, to whom a few days before he 
 had presented a pattern of splendid brocade silk for 
 her wedding dress, which he had taken from the prize 
 ship Hannah, as a part of his share of her cargo. The 
 bodies of these men were taken the next day to the 
 house of their father, and laid in the room where they 
 were born. They were buried in the old Stanton 
 Burial Place in one grave, among their ancestors, who 
 
264 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 distinguished themselves as among the noblest of ante- 
 Revolutionary patriots. 
 
 Daniel Stanton had also two sons in the battle, 
 DANIEL and EDWARD, who were severely wounded. 
 Of these it is related that on the morning of the 6th, 
 as soon as they heard the alarm, they hastened over 
 eleven miles to their perilous posts, and were in time 
 to play heroically their part in the tragedy. Daniel 
 received a painful bullet wound in the leg and twenty 
 gashes from English cutlasses or bayonets, 1 and was 
 one of those sent down the hill in the wagon. He 
 survived his wounds, and lived till January 4, 1826, 
 when he died, aged seventy-seven. Edward was shot 
 in the left breast by a musket-ball, 2 which tore his side 
 so that the heart was visible to the physician who had 
 charge of him during his convalescence. 
 
 After the massacre, while he lay bleeding, an Eng 
 lish officer passed, of whom he begged for something 
 to stanch the flow of blood. The compassionate offi 
 cer, whose name he never knew, took from his pocket 
 a knitted linen night-cap, and, folding it together, 
 stopped the flow of blood, and gave him a drink of 
 water. By this humane act his life was saved. 
 
 The vest worn by Mr. Stanton, showing two bullet- 
 tracks, the lower of which did not go through his 
 under-clothing, the upper bullet being the one which 
 laid bare his heart, and also the linen night-cap, are 
 now in possession of his son David, who cherishes 
 them, together with the sword of his great-grandfather, 
 as mementos of the patriotism of his ancestors. 
 
 Subsequently, when nearly thirty-three years later 
 the British ships made an attack on Stonington, in 
 
 1 See page 133. " See page 131. 
 
Biographical Sketches. 265 
 
 August, 1814, Edward again hurried to the front as a 
 volunteer, where all were volunteers, and worked to 
 gether with such zeal and skill, that with two eighteen- 
 pounders they drove off the attacking fleet. 
 
 When President Monroe made his tour through 
 New England he visited Stonington, and at the old 
 arsenal was introduced to this Revolutionary hero. 
 The President remarked to him, " Our independence 
 cost us many a hard blow." Mr. Stanton replied, lay 
 ing bare his aged bosom, purpled and drawn with the 
 scar, " Here was one of them." The circumstance is 
 mentioned by the President in the description of his 
 tour. Mr. Stanton received a pension for his services, 
 and survived till 1832, when he died at the age of 
 seventy-one, leaving three children who still survive 
 him. 
 
NAMES OF THE HEROES WHO FELL AT FORT 
 GRISWOLD, SEPTEMBER 6, 1781. 
 
 COLLECTED AND ARRANGED BY CHARLES ALLYN. 
 Lieutenant-Colonel WILLIAM LEDYARD, Commanding. 
 
 Captain Elijah Avery Groton. 
 
 Captain Elisha Avery .... Groton. 
 
 Lieutenant Ebenezer Avery .... Groton. 
 
 Ensign Daniel Avery ..... Groton. 
 
 Sergeant Christopher Avery .... Groton. 
 
 Sergeant Jasper Avery .... Groton. 
 
 Sergeant Solomon Avery .... Groton. 
 
 David Avery Groton. 
 
 Thomas Avery Groton. 
 
 Captain Samuel Allyn . Ledyard . Groton. 
 
 Captain Simeon Allyn . Ledyard . . Groton. 
 
 Belton Allyn . . . Ledyard . Groton. 
 
 Benadam Allyn . . Ledyard . . Groton. 
 
 Nathaniel Adams J Groton. 
 
 Captain Hubbard Burrows .... Groton. 
 
 Sergeant Ezekiel Bailey .... Groton. 
 
 Corporal Andrew Billings . Ledyard . Groton. 
 
 Andrew Baker . . . Ledyard . Groton. 
 
 John P. Babcock Groton. 
 
 John Billings Preston. 
 
 Samuel Billings .... . Groton. 
 
 William Bolton New London. 
 
 John Brown Groton. 
 
 Jonathan Butler Saybrook. 
 
 Lieutenant Richard Chapman . . New London. 
 
 1 This name is Nathan in some accounts. 
 
Names of Heroes who fell at Fort Griswold. 267 
 
 Sergeant Eldredge Chester 
 
 Daniel Chester 
 
 Jedidiah Chester * 
 
 Frederic Chester 2 . 
 
 John Clark .... 
 
 Elias Coit 3 .... 
 
 Lieutenant James Comstock 
 
 William Comstock 
 
 Philip Covill 
 
 Daniel Davis .... 
 
 Daniel Eldredge* 
 
 Jordan Freeman (colored) 
 
 Captain Elias Henry Halsey 6 
 
 Samuel Hill .... 
 
 John Holt, Jr. . 
 
 Sergeant Rufus Hurlburt 
 
 Eliday Jones 
 
 Moses Jones .... 
 
 Benoni Kenson . 
 
 Barney Kinney 8 
 
 Captain Youngs Ledyard . 
 
 Captain Cary Leeds 7 
 
 Lieutenant Joseph Lewis . 
 
 Ensign John Lester 
 
 Daniel D. Lester 8 
 
 Jonas Lester .... 
 
 Wait Lester 
 
 Thomas Lamb 
 
 Ledyard 
 Ledyard 
 Ledyard 
 
 Ledyard 
 Ledyard 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 New London. 
 
 New London. 
 
 New London. 
 
 Saybrook. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Long Island. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 New London. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 New London. 
 
 New London. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 1 I find this name in the list prepared by Rafus Avery, and also that 
 by Benadam Gallup ; also, see page 22, Jeremiah, but not on the monu 
 ment. 
 
 2 This name is on the monument ; no trace elsewhere. 
 8 On the monument slab as Ellis. 
 
 4 Wounded; carried away prisoner ; returned sick, and died Decem 
 ber n. Not on the monument. 
 
 6 On the monument Henry Halsey. 
 
 * On the monument Kenny. 
 
 7 This man was wounded, and died December 28. See page 138. Not 
 on the monument. 
 
 * On monument Daniel C. 
 
268 
 
 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Lambo Latham (colored) 
 Captain Nathan Moore 
 Corporal Edward Mills 
 Corporal Simeon Morgan 
 Thomas Miner 1 . 
 Joseph Moxley 
 Corporal Luke P( 
 David Palmer 
 Elisha Perkins . 
 Luke Perkins 
 Asa Perkins 
 Elnathan Perkins 
 Simeon Perkins . 
 Captain Peter Richards . 
 Captain Adam Shapley 
 Captain Amos Stanton 
 Lieutenant Enoch Stanton 
 Sergeant Daniel Stanton 
 Sergeant John Stedman 
 Sergeant Nicholas Starr 
 Corporal Nathan Sholes 
 Thomas Starr, Jr. 
 David Seabury . 
 Captain John Williams 
 Lieutenant Henry Will 
 Lieutenant Patric Ward 
 Sylvester Walworth 
 Joseph Wedger 
 Thomas Williams 
 Daniel W r illiams 2 
 John Whittlesey 
 Stephen Whittlesey 
 Christopher Woodbridge 
 Henry Woodbridge 
 
 Total, 
 
 lored) .... 
 
 Groton. 
 
 )ore . . . 
 
 Groton. 
 
 lills .... 
 
 Groton. 
 
 [organ . I.edyard 
 
 Groton 
 
 Ledyard . 
 
 Groton. 
 
 . Ledyard 
 
 Groton. 
 
 iins, Jr. Ledyard . 
 
 Groton. 
 
 ...... 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Ledyard . 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Ledyard 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Ledyard . 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Ledyard 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Ledyard . 
 
 Groton. 
 
 ards ..... 
 
 New London. 
 
 pley 
 
 New London. 
 
 iton . . Ledyard 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Stonington. 
 
 tanton 
 
 Stonington. 
 
 dman . Ledyard . 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Starr .... 
 
 Groton. 
 
 .holes . Ledyard . 
 
 Groton. 
 
 ..... 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Ledyard . 
 
 Groton. 
 
 ;ams ..... 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Williams Ledyard . 
 
 Groton. 
 
 Ward .... 
 
 Groton. 
 
 b. 
 
 Groton. 
 
 . Ledyard 
 
 Groton. 
 
 . . 
 
 Stonington. 
 
 ...... 
 
 Saybrook. 
 
 . . . 
 
 Saybrook. 
 
 y 
 
 Saybrook. 
 
 bridge .... 
 
 Groton. 
 
 
 Groton. 
 
 1 On the tombstone Minard, which seems to be an error, as his descent 
 is from Clement Miner. 
 
 2 Not on the monument. 
 
Names of the Wounded. 
 
 209 
 
 NAMES OF THE WOUNDED, 
 
 PAROLED AND LEFT AT HOME. 
 
 * A Particular Account of the Men that were Wounded at Fori 
 Griswold, in the Battle with the British, on the 6" of Sept 1781, 
 who were Paroled by Captain Bloomfield ; and Ebenezer Ledyard, 
 Esq., was taken as Hostage to see them forthcoming, if called for." 
 In the presence of R ifus Avery. 
 
 Lieutenant Parke Avery, Jr., lost one eye . Groton. 
 
 Ensign Ebenezer Avery, in the head . . Groton. 
 
 Amos Avery, in the hand .... Groton. 
 
 John Daboll, Jr., in the hand . . . Groton. 
 
 Ensign Charles Eldridge, knee . . . Groton 
 
 Daniel Eldridge, shot through neck and face Groton. 
 
 Christopher Eldridge, in the face . . . Groton. 
 
 Samuel Edgecomb, Jr., in the hand . Groton. 
 
 Andrew Gallup,* in the hip . . . Groton. 
 
 Robert Gallup,* in -the body . . . Groton. 
 
 Sergeant Stephen Hempstead, in the body . New London. 
 
 Corporal (Jehial) Judd, in the knee . . Hebron. 
 
 Captain William Latham, in the thigh . . Groton. 
 
 Captain Edward Latham, in the body . Groton. 
 
 Jonathan Latham, Jr.,* body .... Groton. 
 
 Christopher Latham, Jr., body . . . Groton. 
 
 Frederick Moore, 1 body Groton. 
 
 John Morgan, in the knee .... Groton. 
 
 * This name is in the original manuscript, but has never been given 
 in any printed list. A. 
 
 1 Frederick Wave first appeared in Rathbun s Narrative, before alluded 
 to, and was copied by Mr. Harris. The original manuscript list of pa 
 roled wounded is that of Kufus Avery, in which this name is Frederick 
 More. Though carelessly written, any one can see the same reading 
 which gave us Wave should have given us Wavgan for Morgan. Fred 
 erick Moore drew a pension. I have put him in place of Wave, who has 
 for a century taken the honors due to Moore, who lost a house on Gro 
 ton Bank by the fire. No trace of Wave can be found. He seems to 
 have disappeared as completely as his namesakes after a gale. 
 
270 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Jabish Pendleton, in the hand . . Groton. 
 
 Captain Solomon Perkins, in the face . Groton. 
 
 Lieutenant Obadiah Perkins, in the breast . Groton. 
 
 Ebenezer Perkins, in the face . . . Groton. 
 
 Elisha Prior, in the arm .... Groton. 
 
 Lieutenant William Starr, in the breast . Groton. 
 
 John Starr,* in the arm Groton. 
 
 Daniel Stanton, Jr., in the body . . Stonington. 
 
 William Seymour, lost his leg . ... Hartford. 
 
 Ensign Jos. Woodmansee, lost one eye . Groton. 
 
 Sanford Williams, in the body . . . Groton. 
 
 Asel Woodworth, in the neck . . . Groton. 
 
 Thomas Woodworth, in the leg . . . Groton. 
 
 Zibe Woodworth, in the knee . . . Groton. 
 
 ADDITIONAL NAMES NOT ON AVERY s LIST, BUT IN THAT 
 PRINTED BY MR. HARRIS. 
 
 Samuel Stillman, arm and thigh . .. . Saybrook. 
 
 Tom Wansuc (Pequot Indian), bayonet stab in 
 
 neck . Groton. 
 
 If to these we add, 
 
 Edward Stanton, in the body . . . Stonington, 
 
 who is in the list of wounded reported by the committee of 
 the Legislature, we have exactly the number (35) reported 
 by Stephen Hempstead as being paroled. 
 
 The large proportion of officers among the killed and 
 wounded is accounted for by the fact that after six years of 
 war, many men had been in the army or militia and earned 
 their titles. When the alarm was sounded, the same spirit 
 which had raised them to command, at once brought them to 
 the fort as volunteers. They were there prompt for duty. 
 Others were officers of privateers or merchantmen lying in 
 the harbor, whose fearless hearts prompted them to lend a 
 hand in defence of the fort. 
 
Prisoners carried Off. 
 
 271 
 
 OTHERS, BOTH UNHURT AND WOUNDED, NOT TAKEN PRIS 
 ONERS. 
 
 Benjamin Bill, wounded in the ankle . . Groton. 
 
 Joshua Bill, in the leg .... Groton. 
 
 Benajah Holdridge Groton. 
 
 Samuel W. Jaques Exeter, R. I. 
 
 Amos Lester, in the hip . . Groton. 
 
 Gary Leeds, 1 died December 28 . . . Groton. 
 William Latham, Jr. (a boy of twelve, who 
 
 was allowed to go free) . . . Groton. 
 
 Henry Mason, in the leg . Groton. 
 
 Japheth Mason . . . New London. 
 
 James Morgan, fifteen bayonet pricks in back 
 
 and legs . .... Groton. 
 
 Thomas Mallison .... . Groton. 
 
 Joseph Moxley, Jr., in the body . . Groton. 
 
 Elisha Morgan Groton. 
 
 John Prentis, slightly wounded . . . New London. 
 
 WOUNDED ON NEW LONDON SIDE. 
 
 Samuel Booth Hempstead, shot in thigh. 
 Elijah Richards, died September 20. 
 Jonathan Whaley. 
 
 PRISONERS CARRIED OFF. 
 
 Sergeant Rufus Avery, 
 Caleb Avery, 
 Peter Avery, 
 Samuel Abraham, 
 Joshua Baker, 
 Reuben Bushnell, 
 
 Captain William Coit 2 (taken 
 
 on New London side), 
 Charles Chester, 
 Nathan Darrow, 
 Elias Dart, 
 Levi Dart, 
 
 1 See report to Legislature, page 138. 
 
 2 Captain of the first company in New London to respond to the Lex 
 ington alarm. Afterward in the naval service, in which he boasted "he 
 was the first man to turn King George III. s bunting upside down." 
 
272 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Gilbert Edgcomb, Isaac Morgan, 
 
 Daniel Eklridge, Isaac Rowley, 
 
 Ebenezer Fish, Lieutenant Jabez Stow (of 
 
 Walter Harris, 1 Fort Trumbull), Saybrook, 
 
 Jeremiah Harding, Corporal Josiah Smith, 
 
 Kilburn, Holsey Sanford, 
 
 Ebenezer Ledyard (hostage), Solomon Tift, 
 
 William Latham, Horatio Wales, 
 
 Jonathan Minor, Thomas Welles. 
 
 I hear from a very reliable source there were three broth 
 ers by the name of Egglestone, who were prisoners, but have 
 not time to get particulars. 
 
 A few of the difficulties attending the chapter on Biograph 
 ical Sketches, and the lists of killed and wounded, will be ap 
 preciated when one considers the fact that there were three 
 of the name of William Latham, two each of Daniel Stanton 
 and Daniel Eldredge, seventeen Avery, nine Perkins, five 
 Stanton, four Starr, and so on through the list of heroes. 
 
 No list of the wounded and prisoners has ever been made 
 until this list of mine, which is made up from pension lists, 
 official reports, petitions, newspaper obituaries, family letters, 
 and traditions handed down from father to son or daughter, 
 as it chanced to be one or the other, of a nature to be inter 
 ested in the family history. 
 
 Many times the traditions of a family have been found in 
 the memory of some one of another name, and often people 
 acknowledge hearing all the history of the fort and its de 
 fenders talked over years ago, but passed it by as merely the 
 old folks chatter. Thus many items of interest have been 
 lost, and others, through imperfect understanding at first, have 
 been distorted by the lapse of time and careless repetition till 
 
 1 Mr. Walter Harris, living on Town Hill, near Fort Nonsense, in the 
 house now occupied by his grandson, Douglas W. Gardner, was staying 
 by the house, and when Arnold came by he recognized him, hailed him 
 as a traitor, and further relieved his mind regarding his conduct, for 
 which he was taken prisoner and sent off with the rest. 
 
A Historians Difficulties. 273 
 
 the accounts are very widely at variance. In such cases I 
 have taken the one with either the preponderance of testi 
 mony or the least in conflict with other known facts. 
 
 Of many men I have been able to learn nothing, simply 
 because I have not been able to find the historian of the 
 family. 
 
 CHARLES ALLYN. 
 18 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 I HAVE been compelled to make an Appendix, by the finding of 
 material belonging to the history of the time of the battle after the 
 proper place for its insertion in the body of the work had been 
 passed ; also by the fact that some of the matter included seems to 
 me interesting as a side light on the tragedy. 
 
 The plan of Fort Griswold, and the sketch of New London, used 
 in this work are fac-similes from original drawings from the collec 
 tion of William Faden, of London, engraver and King s Geographer, 
 and are now for the first time given to the public. This collection 
 of maps and plans had come into possession of Mr. Faden, in his 
 duty of engraving for the English government, and are from draw 
 ings made at the time by officers in the English Army in various 
 parts of the world. The portfolio from which these are taken came 
 at auction to Mr. Converse, of New Haven; then to Hon. Nathan 
 Hale, both collectors of Americana ; and finally by sale to the 
 Library of Congress, where they now are. 
 
 Copy of a Letter from Colonel William Ledyard to Governor Trum- 
 biill. Written only three days before he was slain. 
 
 NEW LONDON 3d Sept 1781 
 MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY 
 
 Having received information lately that a number of horses were buy 
 ing up & several already collected for the purpose of being sent over to 
 Long Island, upon which information we kept two boats cruizing near the 
 place they were to embark from for three nights, but the wind proving 
 unfavorable & the nights very light prevented their embarking & for 
 fear the persons concerned in sending over the horses would take another 
 route with them I thought it advisable to seize the horses at the different 
 places where they were collected & have already seized & secured 
 4 of the horses, also a person by the name of Collins Gorton, who 
 appears to be concerned in the affair. A large number of sheep are pur 
 chased & are collecting to send to the enemy. 
 
276 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Would wish Your Excellency would please to order unto this garrison 
 a proper number of men for the security of this post to enable us more 
 effectually to prevent supplies being sent to the enemy. It appears that 
 there are a large number of persons concerned in this trade, who pay lit 
 tle or no regard to authority or the laws of the State & I conceive they 
 are dangerous persons respecting this post. 
 
 I am this day preparing a flag to go to New York, with a number of 
 British naval prisoners in order to exchange those now there belonging to 
 this State. The last flag brought out all those persons Your Excellency 
 wrote about from Danbury. I have not yet received "any money from the 
 Collector of Groton as directed & fear from what he said that he wont 
 be able to supply me with any worthy of note for some time to come. I 
 now owe for the price of 5 Flags & shall not have it in my power to 
 continue the exchange of American prisoners unless 1 am properly fur 
 nished with monies. M r . Mumford will be able to inform Your Excel 
 lency with the difficulties I meet with on this head. 
 
 I am with the utmost respect Your Excellency s 
 
 Most obedient Servant 
 
 W". LEDYARD. 
 
 [The original of the above letter is deposited with the Mass. Historical 
 Society.] 
 
 Part of a Letter from Ebmezer Ledyard to the Hon. William Williams, 
 Member of the Connecticut Council of Safety, or War Committee. 
 Dated at Groton February 12, 1778. 
 
 My brother has received orders to enlist another matross company 
 his first orders from his Excellency were to take charge of the forts on 
 both sides and to overlook the works. He has been obliged to order all 
 the work last summer & take as much care of his company as other Cap 
 tains. I dont believe they can enlist any but boys without a bounty & 
 boys are not fit for cannon they can t do their duty it requires able- 
 bodied men. My brother is on duty every day. He is willing to serve 
 to order the work on both sides & command both forts, but to take charge 
 of a Company & direct the works both as last year he can t. Last year 
 he served as Engineer which made a great saving to the public, but 
 thinks he ought to be allowed something extra. While others have been 
 trading and making money he has served the public in many depart 
 ments. But others that do very little are as much noticed as him & 
 when any field officer of the militia comes in here they are over him. 
 Yet they are obliged to go to him to set their men to work & he directs 
 the whole. So he does the work & they have the credit but if he is 
 not put over both forts without taking a company I believe he wont 
 serve. We have neither of us touched trade since these times began 
 
Appendix. 277 
 
 but constantly served the public & have had other people by us improving 
 and making fortunes & we have lived on money due us many years. 
 
 This, if Your honor please you may show Judge Law, if at Assembly 
 or Esquire Payne or any honest man. EBENEZER LEDYARD. 
 
 "MOTHER BAILEY." 
 
 IN connection with the events that characterized the attack and heroic 
 defence and final overpowering and massacre of the brave patriots that gave 
 their lives for the protection of their homes and the cause of liberty, the 
 name of " Mother Bailey " will ever stand prominent as a warm-hearted 
 patriot and intense hater of British oppression. At the time of the attack 
 on the fort and the barbarous treatment of its noble defenders after their 
 surrender, Anna Warner, then a maiden of 23 summers, early an orphan, 
 adopted by her uncle, Edward Mills, resided with his family in a little 
 farm-house surrounded by woods about three miles east of the village of 
 Groton Bank, near what is now called Candlewood Hill. Early feeling 
 the spirit of 76 she grew up under influences calculated to stimulate her 
 ardor in the cause of liberty, and learned to hate most cordially the enemies 
 and invaders of her country, and often wished " she were a man that she 
 might have an opportunity of taking an active part in its defence. Her uncle, 
 Edward Mills, was one of the little band of volunteers that on the morn 
 ing of Sept. 6th early hurried to the aid of the garrison. During the day 
 and at its close no particulars of the result of the battle had reached the 
 remote home of the Mills family. The night passed and no tidings had 
 been received by his almost distracted wife as to his fate. Anna, after 
 early performing the out-door services of the farm, clad in the simple cos 
 tume of the time, hurried to the fort, three miles distant, to obtain intelli 
 gence of her relative. She found him wounded, bleeding, and nearly in 
 sensible, lying on the bare floorof a neighboring house where the wounded 
 had been conveyed. As soon as he recognized her he commenced moan 
 ing for his wife and children. Anna hurried back to the family with the 
 sad intelligence, and immediately saddled the family horse, on which she 
 placed the mother with one of the older children, and taking the youngest, 
 the babe, in her arms, on foot herself, returned to the dying father, never 
 resting on her errand of mercy until she laid the child upon his bosom. 
 This was the noble part which this devoted maiden took in the history of 
 that eventful day. 
 
 After peace was established she married Elijah Bailey, who afterwards 
 was appointed postmaster at Groton Bank, which office he continued to 
 hold under every administration forty years, occupying the fine old man 
 sion now owned and occupied by Paymaster Harris, pleasantly situated 
 on the corner of the old road to Stonington. 
 
 It was while residing here with her husband, thirty-one years afterwards, 
 in June, 1813, that the famous petticoat incident occurred that made our 
 
278 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 heroine renowned throughout the country. Decatur and his little fleet of 
 three vessels were closely blockaded by Commodore Hardy and his squad 
 ron, then in full view in Fisher s Island Sound. Maurauding parties from 
 the blockading fleet were making landings from time to time along the 
 coast, and an attack of a more formidable nature was feared, and from the 
 former event in 1781. such an attempt at landing was expected. Alarms 
 were frequent, and on one occasion when the forts and town were threat 
 ened, Major Simeon Smith, of New London, with a company of volunteers, 
 -urried to reinforce the garrison, but found it deficient in a very impor 
 tant article of ammunition, namely flannel for cartridges. Search was in 
 stantly made throughout the village for a supply. From the apprehension 
 of another enactment of the scenes of 1781, the inhabitants had removed 
 nearly all their beds, bedding, etc., and flannel or blankets could not be 
 obtained. An appeal was made to Mrs. Bailey, as she was crossing the 
 street to the house of a neighbor. She had already disposed of her 
 blankets, but quick as thought she passed her hand under her skirt, and, 
 unloosing the band of her flannel petticoat, dropped it gracefully at her 
 feet and handed it to the officer. It is perhaps unnecessary to repeat the 
 exact vigorous expression she used as she presented the garment, but the 
 cordial wish and hope of the giver was that the aim might be sure and the 
 execution thorough on the first Englishman that could be reached. The 
 garment was conveyed to the fort and its story repeated to the garrison, 
 and with loud huzzas for " Mother Bailey " it was raised on a pike-staff, 
 with the remark that no better banner was needed to stimulate to deeds 
 of heroism. 
 
 "The Martial Petticoat" was lauded throughout the land, and was the 
 theme of sober prose and patriotic poesy, of story and of song, and is still 
 remembered and will be by the patriots of future time. Its heroine was 
 honored with the personal visits of one or more of our presidents, by states 
 men and historians, and many noted personages of the past generation. 
 Always buoyant and animated in her nature and disposition, even in her 
 old age, she was a kind neighbor, a warm friend, and always ready to assist 
 the needy, or in person to relieve the wants of the poor and distressed. 
 She died January 10, 1851, at the age of ninety-two, from her clothes tak 
 ing fire from a stove near which she was sitting. Cherished be her mem 
 ory. W. H. S. 1 
 
 1 The above sketch of " Mother Bailey " is from the writer s actual knowledge, 
 who resided some years almost adjacent to her dwelling, and, as a frequent inmate 
 of her household, heard the rehearsal and repetition of the facts above stated from 
 her own lips from time to time for more than a quarter of a century. He can 
 vouch for their correctness, although somewhat differing from occasional state 
 ments that have been made in many of the newspaper articles that have from time 
 to time appeared. W. II. S 
 
Appendix. 279 
 
 The Honorable General Assembly for State of Connecticut to be con 
 vened at Hartford (by adjournment) the i oth day of October A D 
 i/Sa. 1 
 
 The memorial of Waity Stanton Widow & relict of Lieut Enoch Stan- 
 ton late of Stonington Dece " humbly sheweth that on the 6 th day of Sep 
 tember 1781 (s d day by your memorialist never to be forgotten) She suf 
 fered the irreparable loss of a kind tender and Provident Husband in the 
 Garrison of Fort Griswold in Groton That she was then left with the 
 charge & care of seven children, chief were and are incapable of support 
 by their own hands That the said Leu Enoch Stanton early engaged 
 in the service of his country & continued therein more than 3 years and 
 Behaved in such manner as to gain general Applause & esteem But 
 through the great distresses of the times and the heavy burden which lay 
 upon your memorialist in providing for so large a family of children He 
 was induced together with the earnest solicitation of his friends at home 
 to apply for resignation not from any dislike to service but through the 
 apparant necessity of his being personally with his family, for he often 
 expressed his wishes to remain in the service of his country and most 
 earnestly desired to hold an active part in humbling the pride of our cruel 
 enemies & beholding that happy & wished for period when tranquility 
 should pervade this continent (alas a period by him not to be enjoyed) 
 soon after his return to his family from Continental service the Congress 
 of the United States were pleased to decree that the pay of the army should 
 as far as circumstances would admit be made equal to their first expecta 
 tions & engagements but notwithstanding the faithful services of the s d 
 Leut Stanton (being excused from service but few days before said de 
 cree) he was entirely secluded from any benefit therefrom though honora 
 bly discharged The mention of which hope will not be construed by 
 your honors as any designed reflection upon Government but only to ex 
 press or manifest Loss sustained 
 
 Furthur your memorialist Desirous of guarding against to great a Di 
 gression from the matter of her prayer Begs leave to Observe one other 
 Circumstance which Conceve Affected her (viz) Your Hona bl * Board were 
 pleased to Grant a Brief for the Benefit of Sufferers of New London & 
 Groton on s 1 6" 1 of September 1781 (the Seat of Suffering most Assuredly 
 for that Day) 
 
 That your memorialist Imagined as her Sufferings were Equal to any 
 and Similar to many that She was included therefore applied for her Ex 
 pected part of s d Donation but was Rejected barely on the Principle of not 
 belonging either to New London or Groton an Observation which Trust 
 
 1 The above petition, which was not granted, will give a slight idea of the trials 
 and sufferings of the women of the Revolutionary period. 
 
280 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 will not be Considered as Reflecting Dishonor (tho a matter of Specula 
 tion to your memorialist as well as many others). 
 
 But to Return, About one year and half before Destruction of the 
 Garrison of Fort Griswold A vacancy happened, of Leut for s d Fort which 
 was Offered to the s d Leut Stanton and by him Cheerfully Accepted (af 
 ter having put his Family Affairs in such Circumstances that he could 
 leave them) where he Steadly remained and attended Service until! that 
 fatal clay which deprived him of Life Fighting Bleeding & Dying in the 
 Cause of his Injured Country 
 
 And Whereas there are monies Due from this State for Services done 
 by the s a Leut Stanton as well as money due for the Losses Sustained, as 
 understood is Estimated by a Commute appointed by your Hon* M House 
 for that Purpose (tho the amount allowed have not yet been acquainted 
 with) These are therefore to Request your Honor that you would be 
 Pleased to Decree & Order that whatever may be Due might be paid 
 from Real Money which may be Collected from the Sale of Forfeited Es 
 tates or some other way whereby your memorialist may receive Benefit 
 
 STONINGTON, December i, 1781. 
 HON""- COMMUTE 
 
 GENTLEMEN, The following is a List of Articles Cloathing &c (Taken 
 and destroyed by the Enemy 6 lh of September last) Belonging to Lieut 
 Enoch Stanton late of Stonington Dec" 1 which is hereby transmitted by 
 the Widow of said Dec a to the Hon bl Committe Appointed by Gen 1 As 
 sembly of State of Connecticut for their Inspection Observance &c 
 
 Viz One P r new Shoes 8.r. I P old d fj. 2 P new worsted 
 
 Stockings los. jC 1 - 1 ^- 
 
 One P Cotton Stockings 6j. I P Broadcloth Breeches new 
 
 36j. 2. 2. 
 
 One new holl a Shirt 24^. 3 do part wore $6s. I new Broadcloth 
 
 jack 1 48s. 5. 8. 
 
 One new fustian Jacket 24?. I Camblet d* wore 6s. 5 Stocks 
 
 15.!-. 2. 5. 
 
 One Silk Hdkf i$s. I Stamp" do 8.f. i Silver Stock Buckle 
 
 lov. 1.13. 
 
 One P r Silver knee Buckles 9^. i P Shoe Buckles 6s. I Pen 
 knife 2s. i Blanket 12s. i. 9. 
 
 One Swine abt 8 score fat 66s. 8d. i Sheet los. i Pillow & 
 
 case 8s. Cash 48^. 6.12.8 
 
 One Jacket returned which in action was Cut & Damaged say 
 
 Ss- *_ 
 
 Total 21. 7.8 
 
Appendix. 281 
 
 Brought over ,21. 7.8 
 
 List of Articles which by Information from s d Deceased when 
 
 he left home, which he had in Fort Griswold. Supposed 
 
 to lost 
 
 Viz Four new Silk Hdkf 6os. i dz Barlow penknives 24.?. 4. 4. 
 
 Galloon, Buttons, and Trimmings, for suit of Cloathes -$os. i.io. 
 
 Two Packs of Pins $6s. 1.16. 
 
 Total 28.17.8 
 
 i Sword 12. 
 
 29- 9-3 
 WAITY STANTON. 
 
 Stonington N London County ss Decbr 3 1781 
 
 Personally Appeared the above named Waity Stanton Wid" and Relict 
 of Lieut Enoch Stanton and made oath the foregoing according to her 
 best knowledge &c 
 
 Before me JOHN WILLIAMS 
 
 Justice of peace. 
 
 A Friend and Acquaintance of the above mentioned Lieut Enoch Stan- 
 ton Dec d Begs leave to Observe some Circumstances of which he is Ac 
 quainted th perhaps not under the immediate Control and Allowance of 
 the Ho b Committe. 
 
 Yet however would wish it may remain annexed to the foregoing &c. 
 
 Lieut Enoch Stanton Dec" 1 entered early the Service of the United 
 States as an officer, he remained for the Term of about 3 years in the 
 Continental Army in that Department as to obtain the character of the 
 soldier. But having a large Family at home viz Wife and Seven Young 
 Children, the Eldest then abo 12 Years of Age the hardness of the Times 
 Occasioned by the rapid Depreciation of money with the Inconsiderable 
 pay of the Army at that Time as well as delay of payment rendered it en 
 tirely necessary for him to retire from the Service as his pay was no way 
 Adequate to the Calls of his Family 
 
 Twas with great Difficulty he could Obtain a Discharge having gained 
 the Esteem of the Army as an Officer, Active, Skilful, and Spirited. But 
 upon representing the necessity thereof in regard to the Situation of 
 his Family, he Obtaine d and tho his Country loudly spoke his further 
 Continuance in the Service, yet the reasons Assigned were Allowed 
 Satisfactory and he very politely rec d the Thanks of the General Officers 
 for his signal Services while with them. Twas not from Disaffection to 
 Ihe Service which any way Stimulated him to retire, he alway appearing 
 as it were in his Element while in Service, being much attached to the 
 institutions of his Country and never more pleased than when he held an 
 Active part in her Defence &c 
 
282 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 After some time of Retirement (from the Determined appearance of 
 the Enemy to continue the war) he having in some manner adjusted and 
 settled the affairs of his Family he offered himself And was appointed to 
 the Lieutenancy of Fort Griswold where by the Fate of War (tho in a 
 weak & Debilitated State of Health) he fell a Sacrafice to British Rage 
 and honorably resigned his Life to the Cause of his Injured and Op 
 pressed Country 
 
 Would further observe that perhaps unfortunately for his Family he 
 Obtained his Resignation : but a few days before the Continental Con 
 gress were pleased to make Allowance to Officers &c for the great Losses 
 they had Sustained in Consequence of the great Depreciation of Conti 
 nental Currency, to which Grant of Congress he most Assuredly stood En 
 titled if by faithful Service it was Obtainable how far such matters 
 may be reviewd considered &c is uncertain 
 
 The reasons of the above are set forth with a View to revive and Es 
 tablish in the minds of those who may have the Conducting Regulating 
 and Adjusting of the Affairs of those who have fought Bled and Died in 
 the Service of their Country that their Families may not be deprived of 
 those Benefits to which tis conceived they are Entitled from tl^ir mere- 
 torious Services as well as from the great Suffering they Sustained from 
 short pay while in Service 
 
 The whole submitted &c &c &c 
 
 ELNATHAN ROSSETER. 
 
 BENEDICT ARNOLD. 
 
 THE name of Benedict Arnold has been a synonym of treason, ingrati 
 tude, and baseness for more than a century. No man in American his 
 tory has been so heartily execrated. In English history only Guy Fawkes 
 contests with him the palm of infamy. Lapse of time has not reversed 
 the judgment instantly pronounced on him by his contemporaries. And 
 even the most industrious and ingenious of advocates, Isaac N. Arnold, 
 Esq., who has recently published an interesting life of him, has been able 
 to do no more for his memory than to make a fair judicial plea for charity 
 in mitigation of the sentence which an impartial posterity should pro 
 nounce on him. However severely we may condemn Benedict Arnold, 
 we should at this day by no means forget his valuable services in the 
 early years of the Revolution, nor the high opinion which Washington 
 had of him up to the moment of his flight from West Point. No man 
 among the officers of the army had so clear a conception of the necessity 
 of a prompt movement to capture Ticonderoga and Quebec. And only 
 Ethan Allen started with equal celerity to accomplish that purpose. 
 
 Not a doubt can exist but that if the Congress had amply sustained 
 his plans, which Washington adopted and energetically seconded, and 
 
Appendix. 283 
 
 had hastened Montgomery more rapidly, with a body of well trained men 
 from the Indian wars, Quebec would have been captured and held for a 
 time at least in alliance with the Colonies. Neither can there be a doubt 
 but that if Arnold, or even General Schuyler, had commanded at Sara 
 toga instead of General Gates, Burgoyne and his army would have been 
 made prisoners before October, and that without any conditions. Up 
 to the date, the igth of September, 1777, Arnold was the idol of the 
 soldiers, and esteemed by Washington as the bravest and most far see 
 ing of the generals. Not a shadow had fallen on his patriotism. He 
 had been, indeed, aspersed before the Congress of selfish peculations, of 
 personal ambition, and even of envy toward his fellow-officers. But 
 not one of these charges had been proven, nor have they, to this day, 
 been presumptively established. He did spend money freely, but it ap 
 pears to have been clone that he might, on the slender and irregular 
 pay of a subaltern officer, entertain the friends of his country like 
 princes. 
 
 The truth of history appears to be revealing itself that Arnold was a 
 brave, high-spirited, ambitious man, loving his country with sincere de 
 votion, and serving it unselfishly and somewhat ostentatiously. He had 
 the exalted notions of personal and official dignity and rank, which were 
 common among chivalric gentlemen, and which, if they die out of men s 
 minds, will cost the nation more than any war debt we have ever con 
 tracted. He foresaw what the proper conduct of the war demanded, and 
 in carrying out his plans and the orders of superiors he incurred risks 
 and won successes or performed prodigies of bravery which few other 
 men did. His march through the woods of Maine to Quebec exceeds the 
 famous march of the ten thousand to the sea. His ship fight on Lake 
 Champlain is, if not the best, yet among the best, fights ever made by 
 Americans on the water. His relief of Fort Stanwix is nowhere excelled 
 for its strategy or the consequences it produced. And his battle of the 
 iQth of September, 1777, contrary to the orders of General Gates, who, 
 but for Arnold s foresight and disobedient, energetic bravery, would him 
 self have been captured or defeated by Burgoyne, was really the one 
 tiling which made the Revolution successful. General Philip Schuyler 
 might have won it had he been permitted to continue in command of the 
 army. Arnold, had he obtained the commission of first major-general, 
 which he had fairly won and which he ought to have had, would have 
 finished the war at that one brilliant battle. But the vain, intriguing, in 
 competent General Gates never could have organized a victory or won 
 one after others had planned for it. 
 
 The neglect which Arnold had encountered before this time, and the 
 contempt with which incompetence in the Congress and in that division 
 of the army was able to treat him, appear to have completely soured and 
 changed him from a self-sacrificing patriot into a conspiring traitor. No 
 plea of slighted talent or of degradation in rank ought to be allowed even 
 to him. For he had been early in the cause of Independence, and es- 
 
284 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 pecially zealous ; he had made a reputation for wisdom in council and 
 valor in the field wide as the continent ; he had done as much as any 
 man to make the breach between his country and England impassable ; 
 and when he threw himself into the gulf it only became the wider. And 
 the studied, crafty planning, the unwarrantable decoy of a British general 
 into the disgrace of a spy, and finally the hasty flight, the first and, as 
 far as we know, his only act of cowardice, all have made him justly exe 
 crated. Still let his name hang on the gibbet of infamy to warn patriots 
 of his fate ; but do not let us forget how brave he was, how sensitive to 
 personal aspersion, how reckless of his own life and resources, how in 
 spiriting to his men, and how much he was trusted by the noblest of our 
 Revolutionary men, Schuyler, Hamilton, Washington, and others. Let 
 us honor what he was, and despise what he made himself by an unwise 
 betrayal of his trust. 
 
 The school-boys of Norwich are familiar with the acrostic upon the 
 traitor s name said to have been composed impromptu by Oliver Arnold, 
 a cousin of Benedict, on being solicited by a dinner party of Englishmen 
 to make an exhibition of his talent for their amusement : 
 
 " Born for a curse to virtue and mankind, 
 Earth s broadest realm ne er knew so black a mind. 
 Night s sable veil your crimes can never hide, 
 Each one so great t would glut historic tide. 
 Defunct, your cursed memory will live 
 In all the glare that infamy can give. 
 Curses of ages will attend your name, 
 Traitors alone will glory in your shame. 
 
 " Almighty vengeance sternly waits to roll 
 Rivers of sulphur on your treacherous soul. 
 Nature looks shuddering back with conscious dread 
 On such a tarnished blot as she has made. 
 Let hell receive you riveted in chains, 
 Doomed to the hottest focus of its flames" 
 
 From "The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution" published in 
 
 1855. 
 
 The seventy-second anniversary of the memorable tragedy at Groton 
 Heights, in 1781, was celebrated by the people of New London and vicin 
 ity on Wednesday, September 7th, 1853. The Hon. Robert C. Winthrop 
 was the orator of the occasion. 
 
 The orator s omission to make a brief allusion, even, to the two colored 
 soldiers called out the following tribute from William Anderson, of New 
 London, Connecticut : 
 
Appendix. 285 
 
 " I stood," he says, "on the Heights of Groton, a few days since, lis 
 tening to the praises of the white heroes from the lips of Hon. R. C. Win- 
 throp, W. I.. Hammersley, Esq., Governor Seymour, and others. I saw 
 there on the battle-ground the descendants of the gallant Ledyard (or, 
 rather the connections), with those of the Averys, the Lathams, the Per 
 kinses, the Baileys, and others, in the full enjoyment of that liberty so 
 dearly bought by their ancestors. I was glad that they were free and 
 living out their God-given rights. My mind became excited with the 
 scene ; but on reflection my excitement was calmed down by the sober 
 thought of an unpleasant reality ; and, you will ask, why was I sad ? 
 Well, as Shakespeare says, I will to you a tale unfold ; and while you 
 bear with me in the recital I know your sympathies will attend me in the 
 sequel. 
 
 " September 6, 1781, New London was taken by the British, under the 
 command of that traitor Arnold. The small band composing the garri 
 son retreated to the fort opposite, in the town of Groton, and there re 
 solved either to gain a victory or die for their country. The latter pledge 
 was faithfully redeemed, and by none more gallantly than the two colored 
 men, and, if the survivors of that day s carnage tell truly, they fought like 
 tigers, and were butchered after the gates were burst open. One of these 
 men was the brother of my grandmother, by the name of Lambert, but 
 called Lambo, since chiselled on the marble monument by the Amer 
 ican classic appellation of Sambo. 1 The name of the other man was 
 Jordan Freeman. Lambert was living with a gentleman in Groton by the 
 name of Latham, so, of course, he was called Lambert Latham. Mr. 
 Latham and Lambert, on the day of the massacre, were at work in a field 
 at a distance from the house. On hearing the alarm upon the approach 
 of the enemy, Mr. Latham started for home, leaving Lambert to drive the 
 team up to the house. On arriving at the house, Lambert was told that 
 Mr. Latham had gone up to the fort. Lambert took the cattle from the 
 team, and, making all secure, started for the point of defence, where he 
 arrived before the British began the attack ; and here let me say, my 
 dear friend, that there was not any negro pew 1 in that fort, although 
 there was some praying as well as fighting. But there they stood side by 
 side and shoulder to shoulder, and after a few rounds of firing each man s 
 visage was so blackened by the smoke of powder that Lambert and Jor 
 dan had but little to boast of on the score of color. The assault on the 
 part of the British was a deadly one, and manfully resisted by the Amer 
 icans, even to the clubbing of their muskets after their ammunition was 
 expended ; but finally the little garrison was overcome, and, on the en 
 trance of the enemy, the British officer inquired, "Who commands this 
 fort ?" The gallant Ledyard replied, " I once did ; you do now," at the 
 
 1 I learn Mr. Anderson had had trouble with one of the churches of the tows 
 over the matter of church pews. 
 
286 
 
 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 same time handing his sword, which was immediately run through his 
 body to the hilt by the officer. This was the commencement of an un 
 paralleled slaughter. Lambert, being near Colonel Ledyard when he was 
 slain, retaliated upon the officer by thrusting his bayonet through his 
 body. Lambert, in return, received from the enemy thirty-three bayonet 
 wounds, and thus fell nobly avenging the death of his commander. 
 
 " These facts were given me on the spot at the time of the laying of the 
 corner-stone by two veterans who were present at the battle." 
 
 A List of all the Children now Living of the Defenders of Fort 
 
 Griswold. 
 
 Of the children of the defenders of Fort Griswold, the following is a 
 list of all those who are living this Centennial Year, as far as I have been 
 able to learn : 
 
 Of Caleb Avery : 
 Of Joshua Bill : 
 Of John Daboll : 
 
 Of Samuel Edgecomb, Jr. 
 Of Ebenezer Fish : 
 
 Of Samuel W. Jaques : 
 Of Andrew Gallup : 
 
 Of William Latham (of 
 Fort Hill) : 
 
 Of Holsey Sanford : 
 
 Of Edward Stanton : 
 
 Mrs. Eliza Avery Williams, Groton. 
 Mrs. Betsey Bill Darrow, New London. 
 David Luther Daboll, Providence, R. I. 
 William Vincent Daboll, Providence, R. I. 
 Daniel D. Edgecomb, Mystic River, Conn. 
 Ebenezer Fish, Brooklyn, .Ohio. 
 Daniel Fish, Brooklyn, Ohio. 
 Eunice, wife of John Boyden, Brooklyn, 
 
 Ohio. 
 Mercey, wife of Mumford Burdick, Rockville, 
 
 R. I. 
 
 Andrew Henry Gallup, South Omina, Iowa. 
 Asa Lyman Gallup, Ledyard, Conn. 
 Harriet Gallup, Ledyard, Conn. 
 
 John D. Latham, Noank. 
 
 James A. Latham, Noank. 
 
 Silas Latham, Noank. 
 
 Abby J., wife of J. D. Spicer, Noank. 
 
 Hannah, wife of William Adams, Ledyard. 
 
 Henry Latham, Mystic River. 
 
 Mrs. Miriam Sanford Searle, East Hamp 
 ton, Mass. 
 
 Mrs. Louisa Sanford Rude, Huntington, 
 Mass. 
 
 David Stanton, Stonington. 
 
 Edward Stanton, Stonington. 
 
 Mrs. Lucy Stanton Wheeler, Stonington. 
 
Appendix 287 
 
 The following letters written by Zabdiel Rogers and Thomas Mumford, 
 Esq., I am able to give through the kindness of Gordon L. Ford, Esq., 
 of Brooklyn, in whose possession are the originals. 
 
 They are especially interesting from having been written so soon after 
 the disaster. 
 
 N LONDON. ;th. Sept. 1781 
 DK. SIR: 
 
 I have the Unhappinefs to acquaint you Genl. Arnold with about 
 1500 Or 2000 Men Landed Here Yesterday Morning & have Burnt this 
 Town From the Court House to Nathl. Shaw : House which was Sav d 
 & from Giles Mamfords House to Capt. Richards Store On Both Sides 
 Except a few Houses on the West Side of the Way & All the Stores, 
 
 Houses &C from Elliots Tavern To the Fort They Have Burnt 
 
 your House & All Your Stores at Groton & Most of the Houses on 
 the Bank They Attack d the fort at Groton with Great Spirit but 
 were Repuls d with Lofs Several Times by Col? Ledyard who Com 
 manded, who was Oblidg d to Surrender to Superior Force, after the 
 fort Had Surrender d They Inhumanely Put him to Death as Also Capt. 
 Peter Richards and A Number of Others Giles, was Enga gd with the 
 Enemy the whole Day And is Much unwell to Day thro his fatigue 
 your Family Went Back. Suppose to Paquatonnack. where Capt. Mum- 
 fords Wife & Children have Gone The Goods that Were divided I 
 was Lucky Eno. to Get to Norwich The Ev g Before the Enemy Landed 
 
 Giles had a Very Slight Wound Cannot now Write you further 
 
 Particulars Must Referr you to What I have Wrote the Gov! & Shall 
 Write again Imeadiately The Enemy are Now Under Sail Going 
 Away Shou d think it Best for you to Come Down 
 I am With Great Affection Your friend 
 
 ZAB : ROGERS l 
 
 Thos. Mumford Esq? 
 
 (Addressed) 
 
 Thos. Mumford Esq. 
 Per Express Now at Hartford 
 
 GROTON Q * September 1781 
 SIR : 
 
 I have this Ins! Rec* yours of Yesterday p MT Sam. Raymond Ex- 
 prefs, Requesting a narrative of the Barbarous Scence of the Enemy 
 Commited on the Brave Garison that Nobly defended Fort Griswl Col! 
 Ledyard prevailed on a Number of the brave defenders of American Lib 
 erty to Joyn him in the defence of Said fortrefs added to the Small Gari- 
 
 1 This was Zabdiel Rogers, colonel of the 2oth regiment of militia, who is 
 spoken of by Jonathan Brooks in his account. His name appears in the court- 
 martial report. 
 
288 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 son amounting in the whole to about 150, who nobly defended Said for- 
 trefs against About 1000 picked Brittish & foreign Troops, who Attacked 
 that fort Sword in hand, & were Repulsed halfe an hour, during which 
 time the Enemy Sufferd About \ of their numbers in killed & wounded, 
 but being overpowered in numbers Col? Ledyard finding the Enemy had 
 gained pofsefsion of some part of the Fort & entering at the Gate, having 
 three men kill d, tho? proper to Surrender himself with the Garison pris 
 oners, & presented his Sword to an officer who Rec* the Same & imedi- 
 ately Lunged it thr? the Brave Commandant when the Ruffans (no doubt 
 by order) pierced him in many places with Bayonets, Lieu . Chapman & 
 Stanton of the Garison, with upwards of 70 others were inhumanly Mur- 
 derdered with the Colonel, Chiefly the most worthy inhabitants of this 
 Town, my Son Cap 1 Peter Richards makes one of this number About 
 forty are Dangerously wounded, & About forty made prisoners whose 
 Lives were Spared by the interposition of a Brittish officer who entered 
 the Fort too Late to Save the Brave Col? Ledyard &c, the names of the 
 whole killed & wounded I have not time Just now to Send your Excel 
 lency, never was a post more nobly defended, nor Brittish Cruelty more 
 wantonly displayed, we have Lost the flour of this Town both in officers 
 & Respectable inhabitants my House with the Chief of the others on 
 the Bank are Burnt & many families Left destitute of food & Raiment, 
 all the Stores in New London & more than halfe the Houfes are Like 
 wise Consumed, I Conclude your Excellency is informed the infamous 
 arnold Commanded, he dined with Jerremiah Miller & afterwards had his 
 House Burnt with the others, I Can give your Excellency no encourage 
 ment from Our privateers, the Two Brigs I am Concerned in are Sunk to 
 Save them, their Sails & Riggen all Consumed in Stores, one other has 
 no guns, so that only one Remains fit for Duty unequal to the plan pro 
 posed, I here there is Two French Ships of force at Newport Gen! 
 Tyler (now here) has tho proper to order Some publick Stores dealt out 
 for the present Relief of those that have Lost their all, & no Husband 
 &c to provide them Support, he wishes to know your Excellency s pleas- 
 are Respecting his Conduct herein, & has appointed DoctT Turner 1 Super 
 intendent of the Hospital department & direct him to Supply the need- 
 full for the wounded, I gave him my Advice in this matter 
 
 The foregoing is all that is preserved of what is evidently a copy of a 
 letter written by Thomas Mumford, of Groton, to Jonathan Trumbull, 
 Sen., then governor of Connecticut. 
 
 He seems to have been in Hartford at the time of the fire, and returned 
 on receipt of the first news of it or on receipt of Colonel Rogers letter. 
 Katharine Mumford, his daughter, was the wife of Captain Peter Rich 
 ards. 
 
 1 Philip Turner whose portrait is given on page 216. 
 
 - 
 
Appendix. 289 
 
 THE following biographical sketches I was unable to obtain in 
 time to insert in their proper place, and add them here rather than 
 omit them entirely. 
 
 ASAEL and ZIBA WoonwoRTH were only boys of nineteen and seven 
 teen years of age when both were in the action at Fort Griswold, and 
 both were wounded. Asael was wounded in the neck and taken to the 
 hospital. Ziba was shot in the leg, and fell among the dead and dying. 
 He was so weak from loss of blood he could not move so much as a finger, 
 nor so much as groan. When men came to take away the dead LO bury 
 them, he was thrown upon the cart among them. He was perfectly con 
 scious all the time, and he prayed for strength to make some sign. He 
 said he made a vow, a promise to God, if He would spare his life, he 
 would devote it to his service. And lie groaned aloud. The men who 
 were driving the cart heard the groan, stopped the cart, and rescuing him 
 from this trying position, took him to hospital, saving him from being 
 buried alive ! He said his heart was full of love for God, and he fully 
 intended to devote his life to God s service ; but when he recovered and 
 was again with his gay companions, he forgot his vow. He never fully 
 recovered from his wound, always being lame and stiff in one knee. Af 
 ter a while Ziba married a lovely girl, whom he quite worshipped. Her 
 name was Lucretia, and he called her "his beautiful Crete." He had to 
 leave his young wife to go up into Vermont to buy a farm. He purchased 
 wild land, where now lies the city of Montpelier. He was detained longer 
 than he anticipated away from his wife, to clear some of his land and roll 
 up a log-house. When he returned for his loved wife, she was not able 
 to go with him, and in a few days she died. So he had to return alone. 
 Then he thought of his vow. This great affliction, taking his idol, 
 brought him to his senses, he said, and he immediately began preparing 
 himself for the ministry. I do not know how long after this he began to 
 preach, but after Montpelier was settled he was called to preach there, 
 and remained with "his people." as he used to call them, preaching to 
 them as long as he lived. I well remember him ; he was a grand old 
 man. His last visit was in the year 1824. In his life an I conversation 
 ne seemed fully to redeem his vow of devotion to the service of his divine 
 Master. Of Asael Woodworth I do not know any incident in particular. 
 He, as well as uncle Ziba, always suffered from the wounds received at 
 Groton. neither ever fully recovering, though they lived to be men of 
 years. The brothers characterized the massacre as a most bloody and 
 heartless scene. 
 
 [The above is obtained from Amanda (Woodworth) Perkins, of Brook- 
 field, Madison County, New York. Mrs. Perkins is a daughter of Samuel 
 Woodworth, brother of Asael and Ziba, and as far as known the last living 
 grandchild of Benjamin Woodworth, whose children numbered nineteen.] 
 19 
 
290 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 SAMUEL HILL, as I learn, lived about two miles from the river, on 
 the road to Centre Groton. The names of his five children were Levi, 
 John, Elisha, Moses, and Esther, who was but eight days old at her 
 father s death. Quite a number of the grandchildren are now living in 
 Groton. 
 
 WALTER BuDDiNGTON, 1 as I learn from his great-grandson, George 
 W. Brown, arose at the sound of the alarm-guns on the morning of the 
 battle, and told his wife there would be bloody work that day, as in a 
 dream he had seen the body of a man lying across their garden wall. 
 After breakfast he took his gun from the deer-horns over the fire-place 
 and started for the fort, where he was, through the engagement. He was 
 taken prisoner and confined on board the Jersey prison-ship at New York. 
 In about a year he was released, and with a companion started for Groton 
 afoot. In their travels, on a Sunday morning, they asked food at a place 
 in Connecticut, and were given a most inviting breakfast, of which Bud- 
 dington ate sparingly, knowing his weakened condition from long confine 
 ment and deficient food. His companion, not so cautious, could not for 
 bear eating heartily, from the effects of which he died before reaching 
 home. Buddington arrived safely home, where he died April 8, 1800, 
 aged sixty-eight }ears. 
 
 SAMUEL BEAUMONT is reported by a family tradition, 1 which presents 
 every appearance of authenticity, as one of five brothers of Lebanon, all 
 of whom were soldiers in the Revolutionary army, and one of the defend 
 ers of Fort Griswold, taken a prisoner to New York, from whence he re 
 turned when exchanged. He was born in 1755 and died in 1814. 
 
 He was represented at the Centennial by his grand nephew, Dr. Leon 
 ard Bacon, of New Haven. 
 
 PERKINSES. Later information than that on pages 244 to 247 enables 
 me to add that Squire Luke was a member of the General Assembly 
 173610 1776, and was one of the first judges appointed under the new 
 government. 
 
 Obadiah was noted during the rest of his life for his generosity to the 
 widows and children of the men who were killed in the action, and his 
 hatred of the English, who had inflicted the wounds, from which he 
 always suffered and which finally ended his life. Many of his compan 
 ions, he asserted, were brutally bayoneted to death after being helplessly 
 wounded. Luke Jr. is mentioned by EInathan in his will as his son; 
 the other Luke, who is spoken of as brother to EInathan, as said by 
 the grandchildren of EInathan, " was in no way related to our family ; the 
 name is simply a coincidence." 
 
 1 The name oE this man should be added to the list of those carried away prisoners- 
 
Appendix. 291 
 
 PRISONERS CARRIED TO NEW YORK, NOT ON PREVIOUS LIST. 
 
 Walter Buddington, of Groton, and 
 Samuel Beaumont, of Lebanon, 
 whose son John is living in Lebanon. 
 
 On page 100 is this note from a former book, which I accepted, not tak 
 ing the trouble to verify it. " It is said by old citizens that Arnold s point 
 of observation was the Winthrop tomb, whence he directed the move 
 ments of his soldiers in the destruction of the town." H. 
 
 In looking up other matters I find that the Winthrop tomb was not 
 built till 1789, though there is no doubt Arnold stood either in the burial 
 ground, or in the steeple of the old First Church, which was a little to the 
 south of it, in both of which places he is put by tradition. 
 
 The disinterment of Major Montgomery occurred about 1805 or 1806, 
 as I learn from a grandson of Capt. John Williams (one of the killed), 
 then about nine years old. He described the position of the skeleton of 
 Montgomery and a fellow-officer (probably Willock), as sitting in the east 
 and west ends of the grave. In the removal a tooth of Montgomery s 
 dropped out which the boy picked up. While carrying it home he showed 
 it to his uncle, a blacksmith, son of Ezekiel Baily, who was killed in the 
 fort. The uncle took it and examined it with great interest, asking ques 
 tions and blowing his forge with energy the while, and when the fire was 
 bright cast the tooth into it with a remark very like an imprecation. 
 
 WILLIAM OR STILLMAN HOTMAN. The fabricated epitaph, said to 
 be copied from the tombstone in New London, of this man who never 
 existed, is truly pathetic, and has given a theme for many sympathetic 
 poets, whose sorrows over an artificial man, with the epitaph from which 
 they all grow, quite often go the rounds of the newspapers of the country. 
 No resident of New London has ever seen such a tombstone, though 
 several have offered rewards for its discovery. Miss Caulkins pro 
 nounced it a forgery, and my finding what is no doubt the original ena 
 bles me to say it carries its own refutation on its face in its evident 
 falsehoods. 
 
 This epitaph first made its appearance in a Providence literary journal 
 in 1835, and contained 211 words, while Colonel Ledyard s quite elaborate 
 original headstone had only 94. 
 
 
 
 It seems to me highly probable that the rolls of the companies of Cap 
 tains Adam Shapley and William Latham are destroyed, since a search 
 n the State Archives at Hartford fails to reveal aught of them, except 
 the fact that they are not there, and were almost certainly sent to Wash 
 ington as a part of the vouchers when the settlement was made between 
 the General Government and the State of Connecticut for the moneys 
 
292 Battle of Grot on Heights. 
 
 expended in the prosecution of the Revolution. A search at Washington 
 reveals the fact that they are not now there, most likely destroyed in one 
 of the fires which wasted the War and Pension Departments in Novem 
 ber, 1800, January, 1801, December 14, 1814, and in 1835. 
 
 A list of the killed from Groton was made out by one of its prominent 
 citizens soon after the battle, in which the married and single men are 
 designated. Of a list of 60 only 18 were single men, and there were two 
 married men who died afterward and are not in that list, making 44 wid 
 ows in Groton alone. 
 
 The following sermon I deemed not an inappropriate ending to my 
 compilation of the history of the battle, the heroism of the garrison, and 
 the sufferings of the survivors. It puts in the strongest light the cause of 
 the attack, and the connection between this raid and the crowning victory 
 of Yorktown. It calls attention to many points likely to be overlooked 
 by the casual reader, and which it seemed to me well to have the eyes of 
 the people directed to. These men manned the fort in answer to the call 
 of the alarm-guns, at whose signal it was the duty of all the men to as 
 semble for defence, under guidance of their officers. (Many men of the 
 town failed to respond to the alarm, why, at this day, we know not.) 
 These men who did their duty as they found it and left the result to God 
 we cannot too highly honor, though it seems a long waiting for just ap 
 preciation, that not till the end of a century is an annalist found whose 
 admiration for their deeds led to the attempt to gather the names of all 
 the men in the fort, both killed, wounded, and prisoners. 
 
HEROISM AND RELIGION. 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 IN THE 
 
 FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST IN NEW LONDON 
 
 BY EDWARD WOOLSEY BACON, PASTOR. 
 
 PREACHED 
 
 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1881. 
 AND SUGGESTED BY 
 
 THE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF 
 GROTON HEIGHTS. 
 
SERMON. 
 
 "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having 
 seen them and greeted them from afar, and having confessed that they 
 were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things 
 make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of their own." 
 HEII. xi. 13, 14. 
 
 IN this nth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews all the glorious 
 scenes of Hebrew history are made to pass in procession before us. It is 
 a very galaxy of heroes. All ages and all circumstances are made to con 
 tribute to it, as the writer gathers up into one impetuous torrent of ex 
 ample all the men and women who in any good and courageous way had 
 illuminated the name of the chosen people, that out of their various yet 
 common experiences, out of their heroism in failure rather than their tri 
 umphs, his brother Christian disciples may get courage in their later day 
 and under their different trials. Out of every age, from Abel to the times 
 of the Maccabees, and by conduct as various as the centuries and circum 
 stances in which they lived, these examples, each so different from the 
 others, yet all alike in spirit, are gathered up, and the appeal is made to 
 yet another phase of courage and another exemplification of faith : " Let 
 us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, 
 lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let 
 us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus." 
 The lovely Abel and the mocking Sarah, the saintly Enoch and the har 
 lot Kaliab, the meditative Isaac and the ferocious Jephthah, the scheming 
 Jacob and the honest Samuel, these are not much alike as we remember 
 their lives, yet they all contribute to the appeal, " Let us also run with 
 patience the race that is set before us." Courage is always one. Faith 
 is always the same. The circumstances only are diverse that precipitate 
 courage and faith into action, and make them visible, and crystallize them 
 in glory. 
 
 Do you remember how many of these were heroes in failure ? We 
 are too apt to think of them as conquerors all. But how many of them 
 are glorious because they consented to failure when duty called them to 
 it, or placed it upon them. Indeed, we may say none of them saw full 
 
296 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 success ; not even Abraham, nor Moses, nor David ; " these all died in 
 faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted 
 them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pil 
 grims on the earth. For they that say such things make it manifest that 
 they are seeking after a country of their own." In them all heroism and 
 religion were blended, and these heroes were helpful to the early Chris 
 tians, and are helpful to us, by the thought that they are men, by the very 
 recollection of their infirmities and sins, by the very fact of their failures, 
 as well as by their self-denial, their martyrdom, and the faith that led 
 them to it. 
 
 The examination of this assemblage of heroes shows how proper it 
 is to call up and profit by the examples of like heroism that are afforded 
 by any age, as this writer calls them from every age until his own, and 
 to use the good qualities of men, their courage, their faith, however ex 
 hibited, as a stimulant to the religious life in quiet or in boisterous times. 
 The burst of enthusiasm which even yet echoes from the walls of Jericho 
 into our ears is repeated again when we remember the field by the small 
 town of Liitzen, in Saxony, when the November morning broke foggy, 
 and as the mists rose, about ten o clock, the little army of Gustavus 
 Adolphus, about half the number of their enemy, were seen kneeling in 
 their ranks and heard singing, "A mighty fortress is our God," and the 
 hymn of Gustavus Adolphus, that we have sung this morning, " Fear not, 
 O little flock, the foe ! " and then charged, to lose their king but to win 
 the day. It echoes again, as, from the plain of Dunbar, we hear Cromwell 
 at the head of his little army, but half the size of that opposed, greeting 
 the rising sun with the prophetic words, Let God arise, and let his ene 
 mies be scattered ! " And the old tyranny fell. And it .echoes again, the 
 more loudly now, as in this presence we remember the men of these 
 streets and river banks one hundred years ago, who on a Sunday were in 
 church and at the Lord s table, and on a Thursday so soaked the soil 
 with their blood that the train of powder laid to explode the magazine 
 could not burn. In every such case the example comes out against odds, 
 and by faith that rose superior to the present. They died as they lived, 
 and fought for a cause the achievement of which they were not to realize. 
 They made it manifest, indeed, even in the British Parliament, that " they 
 were seeking a country of their own," who said and did such things ; yet 
 Miese all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen 
 them and greeted them from afar. God having provided some better 
 thing concerning us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. 
 
 There are many lessons of heroic, patriotic, and religious character to 
 be drawn from the instances of heroism in the galaxy of American glory 
 which you are about to celebrate, and not least in importance of them is 
 ihe bond of union to be found here between the two portions of one coun 
 try that for so long have been practically disunited. Here Connecticut 
 suffered that Virginia might rejoice. The heroes of Groton Heights 
 
Appendix. 297 
 
 were incidental and necessary to the glories of Yorktown. The best 
 blood of New England, " the very flower of this town, both in officers and 
 respectable inhabitants" (as a newly discovered letter of the time de 
 scribes the fact), was here made a vicarious sacrifice, that the happy 
 homes of Virginia and the South might at last be delivered from invasion 
 that had so long molested them. " It was determined by me nearly 
 twelve months beforehand (says Washington, in a letter not yet pub 
 lished), at all hazards, to give out and cause it to be believed by the high 
 est military as well as civil officers, that New York was the destined place 
 of attack, for the important purpose of inducing the Eastern and Mid 
 dle States to make greater exertions in furnishing specific supplies than 
 they otherwise would have done, as well as for the interesting purpose of 
 rendering the enemy less prepared elsewhere." Thus, when New Eng 
 land was depleted of its last obtainable supplies and troops, the British 
 commander at New York, discovering the real movement of Washington 
 upon Yorktown, and impelled to make a diversion, sent Benedict Arnold 
 upon his willing errand, to violate his native soil, and the victory in Vir 
 ginia involved the defeat in Connecticut. How truly and how willingly 
 these colonies then were one in suffering, each for the other. How im 
 possible that they should not thus suffer in turn, each in the other s place. 
 Already the land was one by nature ; the people upon it stood or fell to 
 gether. Let us rejoice, as the attempt at division becomes an acknowl 
 edged failure, at each reminiscence that shall serve to soften and 
 strengthen the bond which now unites these States forever. The hero 
 ism yonder was heroism in failure, and therefore shines brightly as hero 
 ism of faith ; but already we see what help to others that faithfulness unto 
 failure wrought. The most divine attainment of our human nature is 
 reached when men become willing to fail, although they are faithful, and 
 would rather be faithful in failure than excuse themselves from failure by 
 the least suspicion of unfaithfulness. The example they then leave be 
 comes both glorious and saving; such was the example of him who, as he 
 left this bank of the river for his station and his death, gave this testimony 
 as he said Good-by : "If I have this day to lose either life or honor, you 
 who know me best know which it will be." And such this testimony of 
 the little garrison so vastly outnumbered, " We will not give up the fort, 
 let the consequences be what they may ! " 
 
 One other thing is true as a result of this faithfulness unto failure 
 and death. The comparatively formidable expedition, doubtless, was 
 intended to effect a lodgment here, at what might become an excellent 
 base of operations toward the interior of Connecticut, the " war office " 
 at Lebanon, and the fertile and yet unmolested valleys of Massachu 
 setts. The General who led the force was perfectly familiar with the 
 country, it was his boyhood s home. Norwich was his birthplace, 
 Lebanon a familiar haunt; all the people were old neighbors of his. 
 Who so competent to lead an invasion, if only he had the meanness of 
 
298 Battle of Groton Heiglits. 
 
 soul to do it ; and this man had proved himself capable even of that ! 
 The 1 20 men who failed to hold Fort Griswold, and those who died at 
 their post, by the completeness of their failure put failure also upon what 
 ever plan of lodgment the 1, 600 British had who came against them. 
 Benedict Arnold knew Jonathan Trumbull, and dreaded his vengeance, 
 although his forces were weak and ill-trained. Ledyard had reminded 
 him what sort of men he had to deal with. Yet Ledyard and his garrison 
 only knew that they had failed ! 
 
 But the lesson most likely to move us, after all, lies in the pathos and 
 exquisiteness of their heroism. They were almost all young men. Of 
 fifty- two of their gravestones bearing dates, thirty-six of the dead were 
 under forty, and only sixteen over forty years old. There was indeed 
 one patriarch of seventy-five, who met his death, but not far off from him 
 there fell boys of fifteen and seventeen and nineteen and twenty years 
 only. Most of the fifty-two under forty years were less than thirty years 
 old. This youthfulness of the garrison was the consequence, indeed, 
 of six years of war ; but that does not make it any less pathetic. They 
 knew, as they went up the steep hill and shut their gate behind them, 
 that they were a forlorn hope ; that there should not be many left of 
 a fighting age after they had fallen. We forget that Ledyard was but 
 forty-three. We forget that a son was born to him on the 27th of 
 August, 1781, and that he left his sick wife, witli her child only ten 
 days old, as he went to lose not honor but life. We forget that as he 
 watched the column of assault coming over Packer s Rocks and forming 
 in the Burying Ground, and pausing there before the final rush, he knew 
 they were trampling, he saw them trampling down the new grave of his 
 sweet daughter, just seventeen years old, whose body he had buried there 
 on July 25111, just six weeks before that very 6th of September. Oh, 
 when we think of these things, and how these men were not strangers to 
 each other, as soldiers generally are, but fathers and sons, and brothers 
 and cousins, how the appreciation of their valor and their sacrifices rises ! 
 Nor was heroism confined within the fort. No sweeter, sadder story can 
 be found in literature than that of Buddington and his wife and child, 
 who, in their home above the fort, ate breakfast 1 in silence and in haste, 
 and after breakfast he took down the old musket from the deer-horn perch 
 above the mantel, and started for the fort. And all that dreadful day his 
 wife and daughter sat upon the rocks and watched the battle and the 
 conflagration, and never knew for a certainty whether husband and father 
 was dead or alive, until months afterwards the sickly and starved survivor 
 of a prison ship staggered across the familiar threshold, and was at home 
 again. Ah, it is not in ancient times alone, or altogether, that by faith 
 "women received their dead by a resurrection." We forget that these 
 men whom we are accustomed to speak of as Revolutionary soldiers were 
 not regulars, bred to war and heroism, who, scarcely more than 100 strong, 
 met and repelled, but at last succumbed to, six times their number of 
 
Appendix- 299 
 
 regular and veteran troops. But that recollection, too, heightens their 
 heroism. It is not often in war that the bayonet is used ; men do not 
 like cold steel. But in Fort Griswold there was scarcely a wounded man 
 without a bayonet stab; and not a few of them fell, like William Sey 
 mour, with his leg shot through and with his thirteen bayonet wounds. 
 
 Yet they were only ordinary men, accustomed to do their daily business 
 in these streets. Doubtless there were unworthy men among them; 
 men whose characters would be a blemish upon any cause ; men of pro 
 fanity and lewdness. There are always such in every garrison, in every 
 town. But the men who gave that garrison its character, and who toned 
 it up to the heroic pitch, were worthy men. They were men who feared 
 God and honored Him at their firesides, and in his church, and in their 
 daily lives. They were ordinary men, but good men. It was mere acci 
 dent, an uncontrollable circumstance, that brought them to the surface 
 and made manifest their devotion. Doubtless the same capacity for 
 heroism now exists in the fanners of Groton as they are to-day. I doubt 
 not that capacity for heroism exists among you. And the lesson of the 
 pathetic and exquisite heroism of Groton Heights is, that we so bear 
 ourselves in these " piping times of peace," that when the hour comes 
 for sacrifice, if it shall come, the men may be ready for the hour ! 
 Nay ! the hour does come daily. As the writer to the Hebrews draws, 
 from all history, examples of heroism as stimulant for Christian living 
 in quiet or in boisterous times, so I draw stimulant to your fidelity in 
 righteousness from these glory-crowned Americans. " Let us also, see 
 ing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside 
 every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run 
 with patience the race that is set before us." Thus, by our faithfulness 
 in that which is least and without fame, we shall become faithful in much 
 also, and enter into the joy of our Lord. 
 
 It is fit that I should speak thus at such a time, and at this table of 
 the Lord s Supper. I have offered you an illustration of vicarious sacri 
 fice, Connecticut suffering, dying, with exquisite heroism, for Virginia. 
 But of how much holier sacrifice for others do this bread and this cup 
 speak. 
 
 Do not forget that the gospel of Christ is a gospel for those who have 
 failed, who feel themselves making failure. He came not to call the 
 righteous but sinners to repentance. The whole need not a physician 
 but those that are sick. And as we are touched by the memory of the 
 faithful failure, and the vicarious sacrifice of men one hundred years ago, 
 let us not become dulled to the power of that greater failure and greater 
 sacrifice of the divine Victim, which by God s infinite and constant mercy 
 is so much more familiar to our minds. 
 
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GROTON HEIGHTS 
 
 Centennial. 
 
 A REPORT OF THE MEMORIAL SERVICES, 
 
 September 6 and 7, 
 
 IN NEW LONDON AND ON GROTON HEIGHTS, IN HONOR 
 OF THEIR BRAVE DEFENDERS. 
 
 ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 ATTACK ON AND DESTRUCTION OF NEW LONDON, THE 
 
 BATTLE OF GROTON HEIGHTS, AND THE MASSACRE 
 
 IN FORT GRISWOLD, SEPTEMBER 6, 1781. 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 CHARLES ALLYN. 
 
 NEW LONDON, CONN.: 
 
 CHARLES ALLYN. 
 1881. 
 
THE CENTENNIAL COMMITTEE. 
 
 ITS ORIGIN AND WORK. 
 
 " I "HE success of the services commemorative of the Cen- 
 J- tennial of the Burning of New London and Groton, the 
 Battle of Groton Heights, and the Massacre in Fort Gris- 
 wold, is due to the prolonged and united efforts of the gen 
 tlemen and ladies composing the " Groton Heights Centen 
 nial Committee " putting their hearts into the work ; laboring 
 with a zeal and patience worthy of emulation, they over 
 came all difficulties, and, despite the predictions of croakers, 
 reached a triumphant and impressive conclusion. 
 
 On the 6th of September, 1879, the Groton Monument 
 Association, at its annual meeting, appointed a committee, 
 Messrs. C. L. Avery, R. A. Gray, and Frederic Bill, to coop 
 erate with any other committees and make arrangements for 
 the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Battle of Groton 
 Heights. On the same day, at a grand mass, meeting held in 
 the old fort in honor of the occasion, which was opened with 
 prayer by the venerable Jared R. Avery, and furnished with 
 music by the local choirs, an oration was delivered by Rev. 
 L. W. Bacon, of Norwich ; an historical sketch read by John 
 J. Copp. of Groton ; and a short address made by Capt. J. K. 
 Bucklyn, of Mystic Bridge. Such enthusiasm was awakened 
 that there was appointed, without dissent, a Centennial Com 
 mittee of four, to ask the cooperation of the mayor and citi 
 zens of New London and the authorities of Ledyard in their 
 preparations for the observance of the One Hundredth Anni 
 versary of that day, September 6, 1881. 
 
 Messrs. John J. Copp, Daniel C. Rodman, John B. Getchell, 
 and Braddock M. Chester, were by vote made the committee, 
 
304 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 and given power to add to their number, which privilege of 
 enlisting others similarly interested they availed themselves 
 of on October 28th, when, at a joint meeting with the com 
 mittee of the Monument Association, Messrs. J. Geo. Harris, 
 E. D. Avery, E. A. Hewitt, and R. A. Morgan, were added. 
 
 Again, on November 6th, Messrs. W. H. Potter, Elihu Spi- 
 cer, Gurdon Gates, David A. Daboll, N. S. Fish, Albert L. 
 Avery, W. H. Miner, and N. T. Allen, were called to assist 
 in the work, at which time they invited New London and 
 Leclyard to cooperate ; T. M. Waller, Mayor of New London, 
 having appointed Messrs. Benjamin Stark, Charles D. Boss, 
 Jr., William H. Tubbs, S. A. Gardner, Jr., George F. Tinker, 
 Charles Allyn, and E. V. Daboll, to represent New London, 
 and the Selectmen of Ledyard naming Christopher A. Brown, 
 John Brewster, Edmund Spicer, Sanford B. Stoddard, Eras 
 mus Avery, and James A. Billings, as members from that 
 town. A joint meeting of all the local committees was held 
 in Groton, November 12, 1879, at which the name was chosen 
 and a permanent general organization effected by the unan 
 imous choice of J. George Harris for President ; John J. 
 Copp, Secretary ; Hon. Benjamin Stark, of New London ; 
 Judge William H. Potter, of Groton ; and Judge John Brews 
 ter, of Ledyard, Vice-Presidents ; and Christopher L. Avery, 
 Treasurer. At this meeting the aid of the State was asked, 
 which was granted in the appropriation of $3,000, and the 
 making arrangements for the presence of the entire force of 
 Connecticut militia. 
 
 Meetings of the committee were held from time to time, 
 at which new members were added. As the work grew and 
 the interest extended, sub-committees were appointed and 
 given charge of different parts of the work. 
 
 Under their auspices the services on the ninety-ninth 
 anniversary were conducted, at which were collected the 
 largest number of people present for many years. 
 
 Hon. Lafayette S. Foster, 1 the orator of the day, delivered 
 
 1 Mr. Foster was born in this county, he was the son of Daniel Foster. 
 a captain in the Revolutionary army ; he had been much in public life, 
 twice mayor of Norwich, ten years a member of the Connecticut As- 
 
Centennial. 305 
 
 a masterly oration, which was his last public effort. In a few 
 days he was prostrated by an illness, terminating fatally on 
 September igth. 
 
 Judge William H. Potter read an original poem, and short 
 speeches were made by Chief Justice M. R. Wait, Hon. John 
 T. Wait, Rev. L. W. Bacon, and others, all tending to arouse 
 enthusiasm for the approaching Centennial. 
 
 At the meeting held March 8, 1880, the aid of the ladies 
 of New London, Groton, Ledyard, and Stonington, was asked, 
 and with what heartiness it was granted and how much it 
 assisted in the perfection of the observances, the Loan Exhib 
 ition amply testifies. 
 
 The Congress of the United States was* memorialized, 
 which recognized the efforts of the Centennial Committee 
 and the occasion by the appropriation of $5,000, for the pur 
 pose of repairs on the Groton Heights Monument, and a like 
 amount for the celebrating the 6th of September in a manner 
 befitting the garrison s heroic devotion to duty, and the pres 
 ent peace, prosperity, and greatness of the Commonwealth. 
 
 None of these things were accomplished without effort, 
 and while no member of the committee failed to give aid in 
 any way possible, all have not been called on for equally hard 
 work, the most of the labor falling on the officers and chair 
 men of the various committees. Thus the monument was re 
 paired and improved, the comfort and safety of the expected 
 guests was provided for, the military and naval spectacle, the 
 fireworks, the oration and poem, the music, and last, but not 
 least of the instructive features, the Ladies Loan Exhibition, 
 were all arranged for, and all required an amount of care and 
 thought which could not be bong/it without a fortune. Yet 
 all was given gladly by these public-spirited members, who 
 still felt a thrill at the thought of the patriotism of family 
 ancestors. 
 
 y, twelve years a member of the United States Senate, and acting 
 Vice-President during Andrew Johnson s Presidency, afterward judge of 
 Connecticut Supreme Court for six years. He was President of the New 
 London County Historical Society from its incorporation till his death. 
 
306 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Spite of differences of opinion, harmony has prevailed, and 
 they have succeeded. The event has fully justified the hopes 
 of the most enthusiastic, and it is a memory fraught lesson 
 whose influence can only be one of good. It must lead to a 
 more thorough appreciation of our historic events, and stimu 
 late the feeling of patriotism that will prepare the youth who 
 have participated in it to emulate, should occasion require, 
 the sacrifice that has been so nobly commemorated. 
 
 The list of the committee with its divisions, as it stood at 
 the completion of its labors, follows, and is a worthy close 
 of this record, and proper introduction to the report of the 
 events of September 6, 1881, in New London and Groton. 
 
OFFICERS AND MEMBERS. 
 
 OF THE 
 
 GROTON HEIGHTS CENTENNIAL COMMITTEE. 
 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 J. GEORGE HARRIS, Groton. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENTS. 
 
 BENJAMIN STARK, New London. ELISHA H. PALMER, Montville. 
 WILLIAM H. BARNS, New London. WILLIAM H. HAYWARD, Colchester. 
 JEREMIAH HALSEY, Norwich. CHARLES P. WHITE, N. Stonington. 
 
 JEDEDIAH HUNTINGTON, Norwich. JAMES M. PECKHAM, Lebanon. 
 WILLIAM H. POTTER, Groton. CHESTER W. PRENTIS, Preston. 
 
 JOHN BREWSTER, Ledyard. NEHEMIAH C. COOK, Bozrah. 
 
 RICHARD A. WHEELER, Stonington. ROBERT A. GRAY, Groton. 
 THOMAS L. SHIPMAN, Griswold. WILLIAM WHALEY, East Lyme. 
 ENOCH F. BURR, Lyme. JEREMIAH K. ANDREWS, Lisbon. 
 
 DANIEL CHADWICK, Old Lyme. CHARLES T. WILLIAMS, Salem. 
 ASHBEL WOODWARD, Franklin. N. R. GARDNER, Sprague. 
 D. H. NEVINS, Waterford. 
 
 SECRETARY. 
 
 JOHN J. COPP, Groton. 
 
 TREASURER. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER L. A VERY, Groton. 
 
;o8 
 
 Battle of Grolon Heights. 
 
 MEMBERS. 
 
 NEW LONDON. 
 
 Charles Allyn, 
 Edward W. Bacon, 
 J. W. Barlow, 
 Charles Barns, 
 
 B. F. Beckwith, 
 Nathan Belcher, 
 William Belcher, 
 William P. Benjamin, 
 George W. Bentley, 
 Henry R. Bond, 
 Charles D. Boss, Jr., 
 Augustus Brandegee, 
 R. W. Browne, 
 
 A. T. Burgess, 
 D A. Caulkins, 
 Alfred H. Chappell, 
 
 F. H. Chappell, 
 Leverett D Clark, 
 Robert Coit, 
 Thomas S. Collier, 
 W. H. H. Comstock, 
 Joseph B. Congdon, 
 
 C. H. Cornell, 
 H. L. Crandall, 
 Elisha V. Daboll, 
 H. B. Downer, 
 Charles S. Elliott, 
 Walter Fitzmaurice, 
 Stephen A. Gardner, Jr., 
 
 G. W. Goddard, 
 F V H. Harris, 
 
 J. N. Harris, 
 
 D. B. Hempsted, 
 W. A. Holt, 
 William E. Hopkins, 
 C. B. Jennings, 
 Edwin Keeney, 
 John T. Lanman, 
 
 S. D. Lawrence, 
 
 Walter Learned, 
 Daniel Lee, 
 A. C. Lippitt, 
 F. B. Loomis, 
 
 D. R. Loosley, 
 J. P. C. Mather, 
 John McGinley, 
 M. R. Moran, 
 
 E. F. Morgan, 
 Fred. S. Newcomb, 
 James Newcomb, 
 Elisha L. Palmer, 
 
 F. H. Parmelee, 
 N. Shaw Perkins, 
 W. R. Perry, 
 Thomas W. Potter, 
 Edward Prentis, Jr., 
 George Prest, 
 Walter H. Richards, 
 George P. Rogers, 
 W. W. Sheffield, 
 
 J. T. Shepard, 
 Clark Smith, 
 N. D. Smith, 
 Ralph S. Smith, 
 C. F. Spaulding, 
 William H. Starr, 
 Benjamin R. Tate, 
 John A. Tibbits, 
 George F. Tinker, 
 William B. Thomas, 
 William H. Tubbs, 
 Elisha Turner, 
 Thomas M. Waller, 
 Charles B. Ware, 
 C. A. Weaver, 
 Ralph Wheeler, 
 George Williams, 
 Thomas W. Williams. 
 
Centennial. 
 
 309 
 
 GROTON. 
 
 George Adams, 
 
 N. T. Allen, 
 
 Charles Allen, 
 
 William H. Allen, 
 
 Albert L. Avery, 
 
 Erasmus D. Avery, 
 
 James D. Avery, Poquonnoc 
 
 Bridge, 
 
 Jared R. Avery, 
 Latham Avery, 
 Eugene L. Baker, 
 Lorenzo D. Baker, 
 William H. Beckwith, 
 Frederic Bill, 
 I. P. Bouse, 
 
 Enoch B. Brown, Mystic, 
 Nelson H. Burrows, 
 
 B. F. Chandler, 
 S. A. Chapman, 
 Bracldock M. Chester, 
 
 C. P. Chipman, 
 Willis Clark, 
 
 Horace A. Clift, Mystic River, 
 
 E. R. Coe, 
 
 Belton A. Copp, 
 
 David A. Daboll, 
 
 Walter Denison, 
 
 Charles Fenner, 
 
 Nathan S. Fish, 
 
 W. R. Fish, Mystic River, 
 
 James M. 
 
 Fred. Gallup, 
 
 Francis E. Gallup, 
 
 L. F. Gardner, 
 
 Gurdon Gates, 
 
 John B. Getchell, 
 
 L. M. Guernsey, Mystic River, 
 
 John S. Heath, Mystic River, 
 
 Elisha A. Hewitt, 
 
 Clarence Latham, 
 
 G. M. Long, 
 
 Charles Merritt, 
 
 Orrin E. Miner, Noank, 
 
 Wm. H. Miner, 
 
 W. F. Mitchell, 
 
 Daniel Morgan, Poquonnoc 
 
 Bridge, 
 
 Ebenezer Morgan, 
 John S. Morgan, 
 Robert A. Morgan, 
 Thomas W. Noyes, Mystic 
 
 River, 
 
 Asa Perkins, 2d. 
 Daniel C. Rodman, 
 J. B. Saunders, 
 John S. Schoonover, Mystic, 
 William A. Smith, 
 Elihu Spicer, Mystic River, 
 Frederick Stein, 
 Elisha S. Thomas, Poquonnoc 
 
 Bridge. 
 Turner. 
 
 NORWICH. 
 
 William A. Aiken, 
 Willis R. Austin, 
 Asa Backus, 
 Leonard W. Bacon, 
 John P. Bars tow, 
 E. G. Bidwell, 
 Henry Bill, 
 Lorenzo Blackstone, 
 Lucius Brown, 
 
 Robert Brown, 
 Increase W. Carpenter, 
 J. B. Carrier, 
 Edward Chappell, 
 Charles A. Converse, 
 Zadock C. Crowell, 
 John L. Denison, 
 Charles E. Dyer, 
 William G. Ely. 
 
3io 
 
 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Edward N. Gibbs, 
 Augustus Gould, 
 Lyman W. Gould, 
 James Lloyd Green, 
 Edward Harland, 
 Robert M. Haven, 
 William S. Hempstead, 
 A. P. Hitchcock, 
 S. T. Holbrook, 
 Charles H. Kenyon, 
 Bela P. Learned, 
 Ebenezer Learned, 
 Henry 13. Norton, 
 H. H. Osgood, 
 William C. Osgood, 
 
 W. 
 
 Charles T. Palmer, 
 Henry L. Parker, 
 George L. Perkins, 
 A. W. Prentice, 
 John A. Ralhbun, 
 Charles L. Richards, 
 George C. Ripley, 
 John F. Salter, 
 N. D. Sevin, 
 Joseph Selden, 
 E. P. Slocum, 
 A. P. Sturtevant, 
 John T. Wait, 
 David A. Wells, 
 S. A. Whitney, 
 M. Williams. 
 
 STONINGTON. 
 
 Alex. H. Allen, Mystic, 
 Jerome S. Anderson, 
 Nathan Babcock, Westerly, 
 Peleg S. Barber, Westerly, 
 J. K. Bucklyn, Mystic Bridge, 
 William Clift, 
 
 Calvert B. Cottrell, Westerly, 
 Edward C. Denison, Mystic 
 
 Bridge, 
 
 Isaac W. Denison, 
 George Henry Greenman, 
 Joseph N. Hancox, 
 A. S. Matthews, 
 Elisha A. Morgan, Mystic, 
 
 Ephraim 
 
 Alex. S. Palmer, 
 H. M. Palmer, 
 Noyes S. Palmer, 
 Thomas W. Palmer, 
 William L. Palmer, 
 Charles Perrin, Westerly, 
 E. H. Potter, 
 Benjamin F. Stanton, 
 George D. Stanton, 
 N. P. Stanton, 
 Stiles T. Stanton, 
 J. W. Thayer, 
 
 Stephen H. Wheeler, Mystic, 
 Benjamin F. Williams, 
 Williams. 
 
 BOZRAH. 
 
 William F. Bailey, 
 William H. Fitch, Yantic. 
 
 Charles A. Gager, 
 George O. Stead, 
 
 Albert Waterman. 
 
 LISBON. 
 Henry Lyon, Greeneville, J. B. Palmer, Jewett City. 
 
 FRANKLIN. 
 
 Solomon A. Frink, H. L. M. Ladd, 
 
 Henry W. Kingsley, Gilbert Lamb. 
 
Centennial. 3 1 1 
 
 LEBANON. 
 
 N. C. Barker, Walter G. Kingsley, 
 
 Joseph C. Crandall, Nathan B. Williams. 
 
 PRESTON. 
 
 Nathan H. Ayer, Norwich, C. W. Curtis, 
 
 Charles W. Carter, Norwich, Aaron Lucus, Poquetannock, 
 
 N. S. Wentworth. 
 
 LEDYARD. 
 
 David S. Adams, Norwich, William T. Cook, 
 
 Erasmus Avery, Preston City, S. Ashbell Crandall, Norwich, 
 
 James A. Billings, Nehemiah M. Gallup, Mystic, 
 
 Christopher A. Brown, Gales Ferry, Edmund Spicer, 
 Sanford B. Stoddard, Norwich. 
 
 SPRAGUE. 
 
 M. K. Brewer, Baltic, J. F. Starkweather, Baltic, 
 
 Isaac N. Brown, Charles D. Weaver. 
 
 LYME. 
 
 James A. Bill, Elihu Geer, 
 
 Henry Comstock, James L. Raymond, 
 
 J. Griffin Ely, Henry B. Sisson, Hamburgh. 
 
 OLD LYME. 
 
 George W. DeWolf, James Griswold, 
 
 W. N. Ely, Charles R. Noyes, 
 
 Thomas S. Swan. 
 
 WATERFORD. 
 
 John T. Allyn, New London, J. W. Manwaring, 
 
 N. A. Chapman, New London, J. A. Morgan, 
 
 E. Starr Chester, New London, D. H. Nevins. 
 
 EAST LYME. 
 
 Charles Babcock, W. T. Cutter, 
 
 Daniel Caulkins, Edward Luce, 
 
 Moses W. Comstock, Fred. B. Way. 
 
 SALEM. 
 
 F. E. Chadwick, Samuel N. Morgan, 
 John C. Daniels, Joseph Smith, 
 
 E. DeWolf, Thomas Strickland, 
 
 A. O. Gallup, Charles Tiffany, 
 
 Alva Morgan, N. N. Williams. 
 
3 1 2 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 COLCHESTER. 
 
 Joseph N. Adams, H. P. Buel, 
 
 H. P. Beers, W. B. Otis, 
 
 Charles H. Rogers. 
 
 NORTH STONINGTON. 
 
 Thomas Clark, Dudley R. Wheeler, 
 
 William H. Hillard, Thomas W. Wheeler. 
 
 VOLUNTOWN. 
 
 Ezra Briggs, Timothy Parker, 
 
 fames M. Cook, C. P. Potter, 
 
 George W. Rouse. 
 
 MONTVILLE. 
 
 James Allyn, William G. Johnson, 
 
 R. G. Hooper, R. N. Parish, 
 
 Charles S. Johnson, C. M. Robertson. 
 
 GRISWOLD. 
 
 Ira D. Briggs, J. E. Leonard, 
 
 B. H. Browning, H. L. Reade, Jewett City, 
 
 A. B. Burlinson, Jewett City, James O. Sweet, Jewett City. 
 
 CLINTON. 
 B. G. Northrop. 
 
 LITCHFIELD. 
 Origen S. Seymour.* 
 
 BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
 Latham A. Fish. 
 
 LADIES COMMITTEE. 
 
 GROTON. 
 
 Miss Elizabeth M. Avery, 1 Mrs. Wilson Allyn, 
 
 Mrs. Ida S. Campbell, I >*# Mrs. Albert L. Avery, 
 
 Mrs. Mary J. Ramsdell, | Commute,. Mrs. Christopher L. Avery, 
 
 Mrs. Clara B. Whitman, J Mrs. Luther D. Avery, Poquonnoc 
 Mrs. Henry Allen, Bridge. 
 
 Mrs. Charles Allen, Mrs. Lorenzo D. Baker, 
 
 * Died since organization. 
 
Centennial. 
 
 Mrs. Frederic Bill, 
 
 Mrs. Theophilus Brown, 
 
 Mrs. E. Frank Coates, Mystic River, 
 
 Mrs. John J. Copp, 
 
 Mrs. Georgia C. Cottrell, Mystic 
 
 Bridge, 
 
 Miss Catherine B. Copp, 
 Miss Sarah Denison, Mystic River, 
 Mrs. A. T. Douglass, 
 Mrs. Mary P. Eakin, 
 Mrs. Frederic Gallup, 
 Mrs. Leander F. Gardner, 
 Mrs. Robert A. Gray, 
 Mrs. Elisha A. Hewitt, 
 Mrs. Jane Hewitt, 
 Miss Evelyn Holmes, Mystic 
 
 Bridge, 
 
 Mrs. Francis Latham, 
 Mrs. Van S. Lindsley, 
 Mrs. Samuel Maples, 
 
 Mrs. Susan Meech, 
 
 Mrs. William H. Miner, 
 
 Mrs. Daniel Morgan, Poquonnoc 
 
 Bridge, 
 
 Mrs. Ebenezer Morgan, 
 Mrs. James Morgan, 
 Mrs. Robert A. Morgan, 
 Miss Sarah Morgan, Poquonnoc 
 
 Bridge, 
 
 Mrs. B. M. O Brien, 
 Mrs. Henry O. Perkins, 
 Mrs. Daniel C. Rodman, 
 Mrs. Abel H. Simmons, Mystic 
 
 River, 
 
 Mrs. John O. Spicer, 
 Mrs. William A. Smith, 
 Mrs. Elisha Thomas, Poquonnoc 
 
 Bridge, 
 
 Mrs. Wm. H. Wightman, Poquon 
 noc Bridge. 
 
 Miss Georgia F. Bentley, 
 Mrs. Henry R. Bond, 
 Mrs. Augustus Brandegee,* 
 Mrs. Hannah S. Chappell, 
 
 Mrs. Henry Bill, 
 Mrs. Gardner Greene, 
 Mrs. James L. Greene, 
 Miss Sarah A. Huntington, 
 Mrs. Theodore Raymond, 
 
 NEW LONDON. 
 
 Miss Harriet T. Deshon, 
 Mrs. Mary S. Dickinson, 
 Miss Adelaide Lockwood, 
 Miss Eloise H. Thatcher. 
 
 NORWICH. 
 
 Mrs. Charles L. Richards, 
 Miss Hannah L. Ripley, 
 Miss Mary E. Wait, 
 Mrs. E. Winslow Williams, 
 Mrs. David Young. 
 
 STONINGTON. 
 
 Mrs. George W. Noyes, Mystic Mrs. Charles H. Rhodes, Westerly, 
 Bridge, Miss Maria Stanton,* 
 
 Miss Emily A. Wheeler. 
 
 Mrs. Maria Cook, 
 
 LEDYARD. 
 
 Mrs. George Fanning, 
 Mrs. Anna Gallup. 
 
 Died since organization. 
 
3H 
 
 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Richard A. Wheeler, 
 13. G. Northrop, 
 John J. Copp. 
 L. W. Bacon, 
 
 Frederic Bill, 
 John Erewster, 
 
 William H. Tubbs, 
 R. A. Gray, 
 
 John T. Wait, 
 J. George Harris, 
 
 George W. Bentley, 
 Robert A. Gray, 
 A. S. Mathews, 
 
 J. George Harris, 
 H. H. Osgood, 
 
 Benjamin Stark, 
 Christopher A. Brown, 
 N. T. Allen, 
 Richard A. Wheeler, 
 
 Alfred H. Chappell, 
 Stephen H. Wheeler, 
 
 Albert. L. Avery, 
 R. A. Morgan, 
 Braddock M. Chester, 
 
 COMMITTEES. 
 
 Historical. 
 John Brewster, 
 Wm. H. Potter, 
 
 William Clift, 
 James Allyn, 
 
 Finance. 
 
 George F. Tinker, 
 E. V. Daboll, 
 
 Military. 
 
 Daniel C. Rodman, 
 E. V. Daboll, 
 
 Naval. 
 
 Latham A. Fish, 
 Alex. S. Palmer, 
 Wm. E. Hopkins. 
 
 Transportation. 
 Stephen A. Gardner, Jr., 
 John B. Getchell, 
 C. F. Spaulding, 
 
 Invitations. 
 James A. Billings, 
 Charles Perrin, 
 
 Reception. 
 
 Robert Coit, 
 Thomas M. Waller, 
 Augustus Branclegee, 
 Charles Barns, 
 
 Music and Schools. 
 
 N. T. Allen, 
 J. B. Saunders, 
 
 Entertainment. 
 Erasmus Avery, 
 Benjamin F. Williams, 
 Benjamin R. Tate, 
 Georjie M. Long. 
 
 Wm. T. Cook, 
 H. L. Reade, 
 Ashbel Woodward, 
 Charles Allyn. 
 
 E. D. Avery. 
 
 Wm. B. Thomas. 
 
 John J. Copp, 
 Gurdon Gates, 
 
 Eliliu Spicer, 
 M. R. Moran. 
 
 Benjamin Stark. 
 
 Benjamin R. Tate, 
 A. H. Chappell, 
 Frederic Bill, 
 H. H. Osgood. 
 
 Charles S. Elliott, 
 C. B. Jennings. 
 
 Sanford B. Stoddard 
 Ebenezer Morgan, 
 George Williams, 
 
Centennial. 315 
 
 Decorations, Tents, Seats, etc. 
 
 Elisha A. Hewitt, John B. Getchell, Charles E. Dyer. 
 
 William H. Miner, N. S. Fish, 
 
 Civic Bodies. 
 
 William H. Potter, Edmund Spicer, Charles B. Ware, 
 
 Charles Allyn, N. T. Allen, F. H. Parmalee. 
 
 Repairs on Fort and Monument. 
 
 }. W. Barlow, Nehemiah M. Gallup, E. S. Thomas. 
 
 David A. Daboll, Nathan S. Fish. 
 
 Programme. 
 
 Daniel C. Rodman, 1 Christopher A. Brown, Benjamin R. Tate. 
 
 Elisha V. Daboll, N. T. Allen, 
 
 Publication. 
 John J. Copp, Charles Allyn. 
 
 Illumination and Fireworks. 
 
 M. R. Moran, Fred. S. Newcomb, Fred. Gallup. 
 
 Walter Learned, John S. Morgan 
 
 Admission of Members. 
 
 George W. Bentley, A. W. Prentice, Richard A. Wheeler. 
 
 Hugh H. Osgood, Christopher L. Avery, 
 
 On Rules and Regulations. 
 
 J. George Harris, Christopher L. Avery, Nathan S. Fish, 
 
 Clara B. Whitman, and the Programme Committee. 
 
 On the Press. 
 
 John A. Tibbits, Walter Fitzmaurice, David S. Adams, 
 
 Stiles T. Stanton, Thomas S. Collier, John A. Rathbun, 
 
 John G. Crump, A. P. Hitchcock, Jerome S. Anderson, 
 
 John McGinley, James Hall, L. M. Guernsey. 
 
 Committee of New London County Historical Society. 
 David A. Wells, Richard A. Wheeler, Edward W. Bacon, 
 
 Henry Bill, William Belcher, Nathan Belcher, 
 
 J. P. C. Mather, William H. Starr. Daniel Lee. 
 
 1 Excused from duty at his own request, on account of ill health. Mr. Daboll acted as chairman 
 
3 1 6 Battle of Groton. Heigkts. 
 
 THE CELEBRATION, SEPTEMBER 6. 
 
 THE first day of the Centennial Celebration was a grand 
 success in every respect. There was not a suspicion of fail 
 ure in any feature of the programme. Everything went 
 as smoothly as though it had been carefully rehearsed for 
 months. 
 
 The crowds were simply immense. The lowest estimate 
 places the number in attendance, on both sides of the river, 
 at 30,000. Enthusiasts say there were 100,000. Regular 
 and special trains that came into the city from early morning 
 until afternoon were jammed. One train on the Shore Line 
 from the west brought thirty-five cars, all crowded almost 
 to suffocation. The Northern road was taxed to its ut 
 most capacity : eighty-four of the one hundred and twenty-five 
 crowded cars drawn to New London in the morning trains 
 were returned loaded before ten o clock at night. Not a 
 single accident is reported, a good record for the manage 
 ment of the road, one of whose trains of eighteen cars had 
 two hundred and forty-nine people in two cars. Other roads 
 were equally fortunate. All the towns in New London 
 County emptied their population into this city. Thousands 
 came by team and hundreds by foot from many miles away. 
 The weather was oppressive and peculiar. All through the 
 day the sky was of a dull, dead yellow, and old mariners with 
 tropical experience said that everything portended a cyclone 
 or a hurricane. For this atmospheric phenomenon the day 
 will pass into history as the " yellow day," and with it will be 
 associated the centennial of Arnold s raid on New London 
 and Groton. 
 
 From the parade Groton Heights were scarcely visible. 
 But neither cyclone nor hurricane came, and nothing occurred 
 to prevent the carrying out of all the details of the programme. 
 The decorations of public buildings and private residences 
 were quite general, and in many cases elaborate and elegant. 
 
 The large crowd was quite as orderly as could have been 
 
Centennial. 3 1 7 
 
 expected ; but the police found plenty of occupation, and be 
 fore noon the station-house was taxed to the utmost. 
 
 The first movement as an earnest of the military business 
 of the day was the muster of the Veterans at Armory Hall, 
 on Bank Street. These old soldiers, who had acted inde 
 pendently of the military authorities and perfected their own 
 organization, were promptly on hand at eight o clock, armed 
 and equipped as the law directs, and, headed by the Moodus 
 Drum Corps, dressed in the old Continental uniform, and 
 playing " Yankee Doodle," started for the field of operations 
 on Town Hill, accompanied by a large concourse of people on 
 either side of the street, inspired by the martial strains of the 
 drummers, and for the moment imbued with the spirit that 
 longs for great deeds, as their military tread and bearing gave 
 evidence. There were two companies of veterans, A and B, 
 commanded respectively by Captains T. F. Underwood and 
 C. H. Smitten, and numbering about thirty each, all of whom 
 had seen service with accompaniments of real fire and lead 
 in the late war. And to these old soldiers is due a full meas 
 ure of praise for aiding in the success of the day, and giv 
 ing dignity to part of the programme on which many were 
 inclined to look with ridicule. In fact, the question of the 
 sham battle had previously given rise to discussion, and the 
 opinions were many and various as to the practicability of 
 carrying through to success a movement which involved a 
 thorough knowledge of tactics, and covered a long line of ter 
 ritory, over rough fields and walls; to a complete realization 
 of the intention of those in command, and to the require 
 ments of public sentiment, the strictest fidelity to historical 
 precedent was an absolute necessity. To the credit of all 
 concerned be it said that, from first to last, from the appear 
 ance of the enemy at Fort Nonsense, on Ocean Avenue, to 
 the conclusion of the engagement at Post Hill, the most san 
 guine could have expected nothing more complete, spirited, 
 and realistic, nor the most captious been at greater loss to 
 find a spot to point the finger of criticism, than in this most 
 memorable sham battle, when the heroic defence of this old 
 town was reenacted in commemoration of its one hundredth 
 anniversary. 
 
318 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 It required no great stretch of the imagination, as the Vet 
 erans, ununiformed and armed with muskets, took up .their 
 march for the engagement on Town Hill, and the shrill fife 
 and resonant drum woke the echoes of the mind, to picture 
 the scene on the morning one hundred years ago, when the 
 sturdy sons of that generation flew to arms to repel invasion 
 and defend their homes and families ; the patient trust and 
 hope of the women turned to terror when the issue was de 
 clared for the enemy, the abandonment of home and property, 
 the fleeing to the outskirts of the town, and the return to find 
 but ashes. The fruits of years of thrift, economy, and toil, 
 swept away by the fell destroyer, fire, in a day, with nothing 
 before them but to commence over again at the bottom of 
 the ladder. 
 
 The Veterans arrived on the ground at the appointed hour 
 and, after a short rest and instructions from their officers, 
 were deployed as skirmishers in the field on the east side 
 of the road where was situated Fort Nonsense in the olden 
 time. It was apparent to the unmilitary even that the Vet 
 erans, in the parlance of the clay, had " been there " before, 
 the movements in the field being executed rapidly and with 
 out confusion or hesitation. Just previous to the engage 
 ment a long train of flat cars, loaded down with soldiers, had 
 been seen approaching drawn by two engines over the Shore 
 Line Railroad, and from these the Third Regiment, C. N. 
 G., representing the enemy, had unloaded, and, immediately 
 after, the boom of cannon and the rapid discharge of mus 
 ketry was heard from the direction of Fort Trumbull, which 
 was the signal for a rally for defence on the part of the 
 handful of Americans in response to the assembly beaten in 
 the road. The artillery of the Americans had come into po 
 sition and unlimbered in the field to the north of the infan 
 try position, and the indications pointed to warm work soon 
 to follow. The first appearance the enemy made was a skir 
 mish line from the road into the field, advancing and firing 
 rapidly, the Americans falling a little back and returning a 
 spirited fire, the big guns taking an active part and throw 
 ing imaginary shot in a manner suggestive of shrieks and 
 
Centennial. 3 1 9 
 
 wounds. In the mean time the main body of the enemy, re 
 inforced by the companies detached for the assault on Fort 
 Trumbull, came dashing up the hill, led by that fierce, un 
 tamed spirit, Benedict Arnold, and firing volleys in quick suc 
 cession, and the game is up for the patriots at this point, who 
 are forced to retreat, abandoning Fort Nonsense and two field- 
 pieces to the attacking party, who with wild hurrahs possess 
 themselves of the spoils and advance up the road in pursuit of 
 the retreating Americans. The patriot band had taken the 
 road down Town Hill, up Cape Ann Lane to Livingstone Av 
 enue, and up to Manwaring Hill, where they again came to 
 a stand, and, planting their two field-pieces in position to rake 
 the hill, deployed the infantry half way down the hill and to 
 the right of the battery. The enemy, meanwhile, had come 
 into position with the captured guns on the side hill on the 
 opposite side of the valley, and opened fire, which was hotly 
 returned from the position on Manwaring Hill. The British 
 infantry, at this juncture, are seen approaching across the 
 fields at double-quick, taking no account of ditches and stone 
 walls, and, under cover of their artillery fire, form at the foot 
 of the hill for a charge up the hill to carry the American po 
 sition. By this time both sides had warmed to their work in 
 more senses than one, and no more thrilling and blood-stirring 
 scene can be imagined than the attack, repulse, and final de 
 feat of the Americans at this point, as they were compelled 
 to beat a retreat over the wall and into the road in hot haste. 
 The enemy came rushing up the hill like a whirlwind, and 
 poured over the wall like a torrent, making the welkin ring 
 with their shouts of triumph, and fastening on to the two 
 guns which the patriots were unable to save. No time is 
 supposed to be lost, and the British are soon on the heels 
 of the flying Americans, the road followed being by the Sec 
 ond Burying-Ground and along Lewis Street, the artillery 
 in the van. The retreating Americans have made good use 
 of their time, and again rallied for a last final struggle. Tak 
 ing up a position on Post Hill they await the advance of the 
 enemy, who, flushed with victory, have followed their road in 
 eager pursuit, and planting the gun at the top of the hill 
 
320 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 await the arrival of the supporting infantry. Before they 
 have unlimbered, the head of the attacking column is vis 
 ible rounding the corner, in close order, at a double-quick, 
 and are soon in position at the foot of the hill on the left 
 of their artillery. The Americans take a position a little way 
 down the hill, deeming it safer than the bold relief on the 
 top, and the action opens with a brisk and rattling fire of 
 musketry from both sides, the artillery at the same time 
 belching flame, and it becomes apparent that the day is over 
 on this side for the patriot band. Seeing their advantage the 
 enemy close up and make a tumultuous charge up the hill, the 
 Americans standing their ground until nearly close quarters, 
 when they reluctantly retreat, turning and firing parting shots 
 as they run. This ends the battle on the New London side 
 of the river, and the line of march is taken up for the bank by 
 both forces, the British endeavoring to prevent the Ameri 
 cans from reinforcing Fort Grisvvold, in which they are un 
 successful. 
 
 Praise was showered on the heads of the happy and ex 
 cited Veterans who contributed so much to the unexpectedly 
 grand spectacular warfare, and the boys in blue, the gallant 
 Third, were the recipients of smiles and favors from New 
 London s fairest daughters. And so passed the morning of 
 the day that a hundred years ago brought wounds and death 
 to the "fathers of the hamlet" and fire and devastation to 
 their homes. Here a delay occurred which was rendered less 
 tedious by the mid-day national salute from Fort Trumbull 
 and the nine war and revenue ships in the harbor. 
 
 It was much after the appointed time when the regiments 
 got into position for the attack, occupying as nearly as possi 
 ble the position of the assaulting party of one hundred years 
 ago. Once there, the incidents of the fight were reproduced 
 as nearly as possible, though from the fog and smoke the op 
 posing forces were often invisible to each other, the parties, 
 with flags of truce going into and coming out of the fog 
 like ghosts. 
 
 At this point the air cleared for a moment, when the ad 
 vance to the assault began. Then the artillery in the fort 
 
Centennial. 321 
 
 opened in earnest, and the spectators who had lingered near 
 the guns made haste to stand aside. 
 
 The few men left to defend the redoubt soon came running 
 in with the swabs and rammers, which was the signal that the 
 British had captured that point, but the action was invisible. 
 
 Soon a line of fire and noise, in the midst of which shapes 
 like men were seen, swept up toward the fort. Here was a 
 scene to be remembered, the sheets of flame from unseen 
 cannon, with the roar of their rapidly repeated explosions ; 
 the almost steady flash of musketry all along the parapet 
 as the volunteer defenders fired with the rapidity and ear 
 nestness of real work, some actually aiming, while others 
 seemed only anxious to explode as many cartridges as pos 
 sible. 
 
 The advancing column came on steadily, firing by file, by 
 company, and at will in different regiments, halting at walls 
 and fences to straighten the lines and fire a volley, then scal 
 ing the obstruction and making a rush for the next cover with 
 a shout, till the last wall was cleared, when, with a rush and 
 yell they swept over the open space down into the ditch and 
 up the parapet, while the right wing companies on a run 
 swung around to the north of the work and went in through 
 the gate firing a last fusilade as the parade was reached, 
 recalling to the ears of the spectators the sounds of the mas 
 sacre when, one hundred years ago, " the enemy mounted the 
 parapet and discharged their guns," and were afterwards "dis 
 charging their guns through the barrack windows." 
 
 This firing soon ceased, and the hand-shaking of perspiring 
 assailants and defenders began. 
 
 The utmost good feeling prevailed, and all voted the sham- 
 fight a success as far as each one saw. Thus while no one 
 saw it all, every one saw some part of it, and all were equally 
 well pleased with a battle as a spectacle. 
 
 After the taking of Fort Griswold the troops, regular, mil 
 itia, and volunteers, were given a bountiful lunch in a tent 
 prepared for the occasion. 
 
 While the sham fight was in progress General Sherman, 
 General Hawley, and other distinguished guests witnessed 
 
 21 
 
322 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 it from an observation stand erected on the roof of the house 
 at the Monument. 
 
 After it was over they proceeded with other invited guests 
 to the guests tent, where the tables were bountifully supplied, 
 and enjoyed a refreshing collation. It was now nearly two 
 o clock, and thousands had assembled in the grand pavilion 
 to enjoy the exercises appointed to commence at that hour. 
 
 EXERCISES IN THE TENT. 
 
 After an admirably executed overture by the band of the 
 First United States Artillery, Mr. J. George Harris, President 
 of the Committee, rose, as chairman of the meeting, and ad 
 dressed the audience as follows : 
 
 " Ladies and Gentlemen : In behalf of the committee ap 
 pointed here two years ago by the people and the Groton 
 Monument Association to devise ways and means for repair 
 ing and improving the Monument, and to make suitable ar 
 rangements for celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of 
 the battle of Groton Heights, I extend to this great assembly 
 a most cordial welcome. 
 
 " Aided and encouraged in their work by the Government, 
 the State, and the People, they have done their duty, and their 
 report is before you in the reconstructed classic shaft that 
 stands here beside us, and in these ample preparations for 
 this Centennial Celebration. 
 
 " We are glad to be instrumental in adding another to the 
 several commemorative centennials that have occurred within 
 the last six years, awakening our entire country to a lively 
 sense of the valor and patriotism of the men of the Ameri 
 can Revolution, contributing to heal the wounds occasioned 
 by sectional strife, and renewing the ancient bonds of our 
 common nationality over our widely-extended area of human 
 freedom. 
 
 " It has been said, by the greatest of American historians, 
 when referring to the gallant defenders of Fort Griswold, that 
 " their courage and love of country should be celebrated not 
 only at the end of a century, but of a thousand years." And 
 if, in the onward roll of the centuries, their grateful posterity 
 
Centennial. 323 
 
 shall assemble here to celebrate the tenth centennial, we may 
 rest assured tha 1 : the Monument we have so handsomely en 
 larged and so firmly strengthened, according to the admirable 
 plans of a distinguished engineer of the army, will still stand 
 here on this granite hill in its silent but eloquent grandeur, 
 to tell them the same story of the times that tried men s 
 souls that it tells us here to-day. 
 
 " We come together, not as did the bereaved kindred of the 
 slain for the first half century after the conflict, to spend the 
 anniversary in mournfully lingering around the broken walls 
 of the old fortification ; but rather do we come with hearts 
 full of gratitude for national blessings, and with becoming 
 pride and patriotic exultation, as we reflect on their great and 
 good deeds, study the exemplary lessons they have left us, 
 and teach the rising generations to emulate their examples. 
 Sacred to their memory we bring with us our best offerings, 
 for that they nobly participated in laying the superstructure 
 of our Republican government so broad and deep in the ce 
 ment of perpetual union, that neither foreign invasion nor do 
 mestic convulsions can shake it from its solid foundations, 
 
 " They never die who fall in Freedom s cause : 
 The well-fought field may soak their gore, 
 Their heads may sodden in the sun, 
 But still their spirits live and serve 
 As guides along the pathway of mankind. 
 
 "This is the people s entertainment, to which everybody is 
 respectfully invited, and everybody is more than welcome." 
 
 The stillness of the immense audience during the delivery 
 of these words of welcome was interrupted only by the rust 
 lings of applause at the close of each period. 
 
 At its close the chairman introduced the Rev. Jared R. 
 A very, of Groton, who offered the following prayer : 
 
 " Great and eternal God, we bow before Thy throne as the 
 creatures of yesterday, but with adoring views of Thee as the 
 Creator and Upholder of the universe ; and we acknowledge 
 Thee as the God of worlds, of nations, and of armies ; as the 
 three in one by whom our fallen race has been redeemed ; by 
 
324 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 whom our once weak and oppressed country has been set 
 free and exalted to the first rank among the nations. Blessed 
 be Thy name for bringing our ancestors to these lands of the 
 West ; for giving them harmonious intercourse with the 
 aborigines, and prosperity in the cultivation of the soil. We 
 thank Thee, that, when foreign injustice .and cruelty bore 
 heavily upon these youthful colonies, Thou didst impart cour 
 age to resist, and to this resistance Thou didst give suc 
 cess. May the great expenditure of treasure and toil and 
 blood, through which this success was achieved, stimulate 
 and augment the love of country. May this one hundredth 
 anniversary of the bloody scenes upon these grounds to-day 
 observed lead us to realize the cost of our present blessings 
 and to prize them as we ought. 
 
 " May we be so thoroughly imbued with the spirit of our 
 Revolutionary fathers as successfully to resist all approaches 
 of our country s foe. 
 
 " May peace and prosperity continue in our land so that 
 every good cause shall advance and keep pace with the rapid 
 increase of our already vast population. 
 
 "O Lord God of Hosts, we praise Thee, that Revolution 
 ary patriots were stimulated by pure Christianity, and failed 
 not to commit their cause to Thee, whose favor insured their 
 success. To Thee do we commit our cause to-day, earnestly 
 imploring forgiveness for past ingratitude, unbelief, and un 
 faithfulness. May the divine blessing rest upon this convo 
 cation, and a double portion of the spirit of 76 pervade the 
 nation. Preserve Thou us from pestilence, from famine, and 
 the sword. Preserve Thou this Union s chief magistrate, 
 and restore him to vigorous health in answer to prayer. May 
 the interests of every department of civil government be 
 promoted, and the nations of the world be made wiser and 
 better through the hallowed influence of these United States. 
 O Father, grant these and all other blessings of Thy provi 
 dence and grace through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 " Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy 
 Ghost ; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, 
 world without end. Amen." 
 
Centennial. 325 
 
 Then the "Star-Spangled Banner" was sung by a chorus of 
 choirs and children from New London and Groton, led by the 
 band and aided by the audience ; this was followed by the 
 poem of Rose Terry Cooke, read by Rev. T. J. Lee, of Win- 
 sted. 
 
 GROTON MASSACRE CENTENNIAL POEM. 
 
 LIBERTY ! dream of man s short eager day. 
 
 Goddess ! who on the distant mountain tops 
 
 Out-shinest dawn, preluding all the light. 
 
 Vision of God, power inaccessible, 
 
 Calm is thy brow and silent are thy lips, 
 
 Spotless thy garment, and thy lifted eyes 
 
 See, over all the unequal heights of time, 
 
 A coming hour of glory and of triumph. 
 
 A light ineffable, a sacred peace, 
 
 When God s great freedom shall possess the earth, 
 
 And God s frail children stand erect and pure. 
 
 Here at thy feet, through all the flying years, 
 
 Dash the fierce surges of the world s impatience ; 
 
 The tidal wave of agony and blood, 
 
 The flight and following of slave and tyrant, 
 
 The parted sea, the shore of want and death, 
 
 The futile struggle, the delayed success, 
 
 Loss, terror, anguish, and a blank despair, 
 
 That the grave heals, the dreamless grave alone. 
 
 Yet, Unattainable ! thou smilest on 
 
 With Heaven s high peace upon thy gracious brow, 
 
 Unmoved, unfearing, eminent, secure, 
 
 The promise of a future yet too far : 
 
 Pledge that our dream is true, because we dream it. 
 
 Beholding thee aloft in stainless splendor, 
 
 We dare to tell what men have borne for thee, 
 
 What blood for thee was spilt, what heroes died, 
 
 Before the teller and the told were here. 
 
 Yet thou wert here : thy hand the strife impelled, 
 
 The deadly strife that saved their sacred honor, 
 
 Their children yet to come, their native land ; 
 
 And made their memory a proud, sad story. 
 
 For us to treasure, worship, and attain. 
 
326 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Hark! 
 
 The valley slept in peace. 
 
 Over it brooded the morning-star, 
 
 Shining soft in the heavens afar ; 
 
 And the cornfields rich increase 
 
 Waved in glittering rustling blades, 
 
 The dark woods murmured in their glades 
 
 AVith the murmur of the dawn ; 
 
 And the breath of night withdrawn, 
 
 Dropping dews from the dripping leaves, 
 
 The lapping tide on the beach that grieves, 
 
 The sudden cry of a waking bird, 
 
 The rustle and hush where a squirrel stirred, 
 
 The salt sea-breeze and the forest s balm, 
 
 Sighing softly across the calm. 
 
 Hark ! on the startled ear, 
 
 A sharp short note of fear : 
 
 The waker s heart stood still, 
 
 And the watcher, with a thrill, 
 
 Waited to hear ; 
 
 It was not the war-whoop s snarling yell, 
 
 Nor the sudden throb of the tocsin bell : 
 
 One stroke, but one : 
 
 The boom of a gun : 
 
 Then, quick as leaping flame, another 
 
 Answered the other. 
 " Help ! " they said, 
 
 In tones of dread : 
 "The fleet of the foe 
 
 Comes in below ! " 
 
 But ere the signal sound had rolled 
 
 Its woful warning to field and fold, 
 
 Its speech had a ready traitor told ; 
 
 And another roar 
 
 From the further shore 
 
 Echoed and fell ; 
 
 And still another, 
 
 Cain to his brother, 
 
 The challenging of hell ! 
 
 The inland forts that heard the sound, 
 
 Wandering upward and around, 
 
Centennial. 327 
 
 Answered not to the wild dismay 
 
 Of the startled dwellers by the bay : 
 
 No signal this that called for aid, 
 
 Their crops were ripe and their sheaves unmade, 
 
 And none to succor or fight went down. 
 
 But all about the harbor-town 
 
 Well they knew the note of war, 
 
 When cannon thundered near and far, 
 
 And ships rode thick by the light-house bar. 
 
 Women started from their sleep, 
 
 Men sprang out to the farm-house door, 
 
 Out from the village homes they pour, 
 
 Up to the hill-top, down to the shore. 
 
 Hurrying here, and hurrying there, 
 
 For death and slaughter are in the air, 
 
 And no man s failing heart may dare 
 
 To linger behind and tend the sheep, 
 
 Nor any woman a man to keep 
 
 Back from battle with clinging prayer. 
 
 One, across the din and scare, 
 
 Shouts to her husband, 
 
 " Stop, I say ! " 
 
 " Why do you call me from the way ? " 
 " Just one word, then follow their track : 
 
 Don t come home to me shot in the back 1 " 
 Onward the ragged regiment, 
 
 Like an angry wave of the harbor, went, 
 
 Bare feet bleeding, breath all spent, 
 
 But a fight for freedom was what they meant. 
 
 And now, by the blaze of the town on fire, 
 
 By the black smoke rising from the pyre 
 
 Of toil-won treasure and hearts desire, 
 
 By thundering cannon and savage yell, 
 
 The country side knew what befell 
 
 The town and fortresses loved so well : 
 
 And women and children fled like bees 
 
 Before the howl of a northern breeze, 
 
 Fled away from their burning hives, 
 
 Fled for their babies precious lives ; 
 
 While in the fortress on the hill, 
 
 Fathers and husbands with right good will 
 
328 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Fought in the fury of despair ; 
 Sons and brothers with panting breath 
 Side by side rushed on to death : 
 Boys cheered on by their father s shout, 
 Pouring their fresh young life-blood out ; 
 And up the trampled field without 
 With flying banners, and bayonet set, 
 With drum, and trumpet, and waving plume, 
 Steadily on like the day of doom, 
 Against rude bastion and parapet 
 The British devils their onset made, 
 Ranks of traitor and renegade, 
 Hireling Hessian and English serf, 
 Surging over the hill-side turf, 
 Soon with their hot blood to be wet ; 
 While safe and high on Winthrop s tomb 
 Arnold the traitor, cursed of man, 
 Watched how the cruel strife began, 
 And laughed when the scarlet river ran, 
 That rose in the hearts of friend and kin, 
 But drowned his soul in the flood of sin. 
 Over against him, the fort within, 
 LEDVARD the hero held his men 
 Up to their work with a grip of steel : 
 His land s true lover for woe or weal 
 Unto the death he served her then. 
 " Honor or life ? then honor first," 
 . The parting word from his lips that burst, 
 
 When the cannon s call with awful stress 
 Thundered across his peaceful waking ; 
 And like the day of judgment breaking 
 Fire, and terror, and distress 
 Leapt from the bosom of the night, 
 And filled the land with wild affright. 
 But hands were few if hearts were strong ; 
 Strength and numbers will win for wrong, 
 And might wreck right till the world gives out. 
 Storming up the rough redoubt, 
 Over the bastion with yell and shout, 
 Swept the line of the conquering foe, 
 And the starry flag lay trampled low, 
 
Centennial. 329 
 
 Never again its watch to keep. 
 Murder gleamed in the leader s face : 
 " Who is commander ? yield your sword ! " 
 With bending head, and courteous word, 
 No plea for quarter, or ruth, or grace, 
 The brave man offered his reddened blade : 
 But one quick stroke the murderer made 
 Sure and sharp through that noble breast, 
 And the hero s spirit was at rest : 
 Life for honor ! he loved it best. 
 Now with an angry tiger s leap, 
 The victors sprang on their helpless prey ; 
 Right in the smiling face of day 
 Slaughter, rapine, and fury stood 
 Deep in rivers of kindred blood. 
 Mercy, pity, honor fled 
 With hidden faces before their tread ; 
 Shrieks, and groans, and mortal cries 
 Shuddered up to the placid skies, 
 And the living held their breath 
 As the dying prayed for death : 
 And the dead men fell away, 
 Face downward to the clay. 
 
 Oh, day too sad and long, 
 Day of despair and wrong, 
 Drunk with death s purple wine 
 Poured out as a wasting flood, 
 Mad with the draught of blood 
 Were hell s insatiate brood. 
 The living and dead they hewed 
 With pitiless sword, 
 And taunting word, 
 With scoff and sneer 
 In the dying ear, 
 Till the weary day s decline; 
 Then with their captives and their spoil, 
 With drunken laughter and loud turmoil, 
 Down to the blue and silent bay 
 The conquering murderers took their way, 
 But on that ghastly hill 
 The dead lay cold and still. 
 
330 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Dead ! dead ! but yet they speak ; oh, cruel Mother ! 
 
 Calling to thee with lips of living wrath, 
 " Cursed be he who slays his brother, 
 
 Curse d the hand that points his path. 
 
 Were we not thine, nursed on thy knees, 
 
 Cast out to tempt the wintry seas ? 
 
 Here have we wrought in peace, 
 
 Here have we found release. 
 
 What had we done to these ? 
 
 Mother ! Medea ! murderess ! we are thine." 
 
 And England s haughty heart, 
 
 Hardened in strife and mart, 
 
 Scorned the sad cry. 
 
 But widowed lives and souls in pain, 
 
 Children weeping for the slain, 
 
 Gathered up the dread refrain : 
 " Oh, cruel Mother ! where is our brother? 
 
 Why is our father dead upon the plain ? " 
 
 Alas for the former days, 
 
 For the anger and the woe 
 
 That vanished long ago, 
 
 And left for us below 
 
 Only their good and praise. 
 
 Alas for the Mother s ways ! 
 
 She sowed her dragon s teeth 
 
 And quick up-sprung the spears, 
 
 The iron spears of death, 
 
 With iron hearts beneath, 
 
 And the war-storm s angry breath. 
 
 But these with blood and tears 
 
 Watered the sod for years, 
 
 And the beautiful bloom of peace, 
 
 The corn and wine s increase, 
 
 Were the harvest of their fears. 
 
 Look at these spires and towers ! 
 
 These goodly fields and farms 
 
 Where never a shot alarms : 
 
 At the merchant and the mariner 
 
 Whose busy toil no fear can stir, 
 
 The wide blue bay, the stately ships, 
 
 And the trailing pennon of steam that slips 
 
Centennial. 331 
 
 In and out by the winding river : 
 
 Look at the thousand smokes that quiver 
 
 Up from this lovely land of ours, 
 
 From quiet hearths beside whose blaze 
 
 Linger long, peaceful, happy days ; 
 
 They bought them with their lives, 
 
 The dead who lie around 
 
 This consecrated ground ; 
 
 In these their life survives. 
 
 Give them their meed of laud and tears, 
 
 The tribute of a hundred years. 
 
 And this is history. 
 An echo from the cry of man, 
 Since first his vibrant voice began 
 To stir the silent vaults of air: 
 Up-rising here, recurring there, 
 Through time and space forever ringing, 
 Across the gulf of centuries springing, 
 Humanity s sad tale to bear. 
 In every tone the old repeat : 
 " With one red blood all true hearts beat. 
 There is one honor and one faith, 
 To every knightly soul one breath, 
 To every hero one great death." 
 It tells to-day in ardent strain, 
 Of patriot sires who fought in vain 
 Here on this green and fortressed hill, 
 And re-repeats the story still. 
 Of other, later knights, who stood 
 Loyal in that rebellious flood 
 When Lincoln called for men : 
 When lonely Sumter lost her flag, 
 And not one true man dared to lag, 
 But like the lover to his bride 
 Sprang forward to their leader s side, 
 Bearded the panther in its den, 
 And true to old ancestral pride, 
 Even as their fathers, fought and died. 
 
 For sacred Liberty. 
 And up again from the silent dead 
 Comes Benedict Arnold, hand and head ; 
 
33 2 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Rebel chieftain to plan and plot, 
 Rude assassin with pistol shot ; 
 Traitor here, and murderer there ; 
 Or wily schemer, afraid to dare, 
 But quick to lay his poisonous snare, 
 And fire another, vile and weak, 
 To act the treason he dare not speak : 
 Deaf to the Voice which still and low 
 Whispers a word of dread and woe 
 That veils the eyes of the seraphim : 
 "Who hateth his brother murders him." 
 These shall a smitten country send 
 Down to their lives unblessed end, 
 Hand in hand with him who sold 
 Their country s freedom for British gold, 
 And ages on ages yet unborn 
 Point to their names with curse and scorn. 
 And when once more the sword of strife 
 Threatened and rent our country s life, 
 When once again for our rights we bled, 
 And strewed our meadows with precious dead, 
 Again the heart of the Mother-land 
 Hardened itself against our woe, 
 Held to greet us no friendly hand, 
 Aided and comforted our foe. 
 Unforgiving and haughty still, 
 To the child that thwarted her iron will. 
 When, oh when ! shall the echo cease, 
 And the severed nations be bound in peace ? 
 
 Rest on, heroes ! in your silent slumber : 
 Hail and farewell, ye mighty moveless dead 1 
 
 Long as her centuries earth shall know and number, 
 Green be the laurel boughs above ye spread. 
 
 Your course is sped ; your record man remembers, 
 And God s own hand your sacred dust shall keep ; 
 
 Though all the flame hath left those mortal embers, 
 Upward it sprang, with bright, immortal leap. 
 
 Sleep in your country s heart ; forever holy, 
 Your memory shines along the slopes we tread ; 
 
Centennial. 333 
 
 Another hundred years their incense lowly 
 
 Ere long shall o er your sculptured honors shed. 
 
 And we who bring you grace and salutation, 
 We too shall sleep ; and nobler tribes of men 
 
 Shall offer here the homage of a nation 
 Rich with a wisdom far beyond our ken. 
 
 But still, as years return, shall man returning 
 
 Fight, fall, despair, or chant the conqueror s psalm ; 
 
 Still the same light in patriot hearts be burning, 
 And Heaven, still just, bestow the martyr s palm. 
 
 After this, Keller s American Hymn was sung, when, in 
 response to the wishes of Governor Bigelow and others, the 
 Rev. Dr. Leonard Bacon, of New Haven, offered the follow 
 ing prayer for President Garfield : " Let us pray. 
 
 "O God, Thou art our dwelling-place in all generations. 
 Our fathers trusted in Thee, and Thou didst hear and deliver 
 them. By their sufferings and their sacrifices, and by all that 
 Thou hast wrought for us and the world, Thou hast taught us 
 to make Thee our God and to call upon Thy name. We lift 
 up our hearts to Thee in accord with the millions of people 
 who, to-day, are calling upon Thee in behalf of Thy servant, 
 the President of these United States, who in Thy wisdom has 
 been permitted to approach the gates of death. O God, we 
 thank Thee that his life has been spared through so much 
 suffering, infirmity, and pain, to this clay, and we beseech 
 Thee to spare this precious life and return Thy servant to 
 the use of that high office to which by Thy providence he 
 was called by the people. Give him life, strength, and wis 
 dom, and all honor in the administration of the government, 
 and grant that under his direction and guidance the people 
 may have even greater prosperity, and that their hearts may 
 be knit in the bonds of union and fraternity. O God, we be 
 seech Thee to hear the prayers of Thy people and grant their 
 request. Grant us our petition in behalf of Thy servant, and 
 we will rejoice in Thy goodness to Thy people. We ask 
 it, believing Thou art a God who hears prayer, and through 
 
334 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Christ, the world s Redeemer, to whom be glory to the world s 
 end. Amen." 
 
 General Joseph R. Havvley, United States Senator from 
 Connecticut, being introduced as the orator of the day, spoke 
 to the listening thousands as follows : 
 
 THE ORATION. 
 
 Mr. President and Fellow -Citizens : We have assembled 
 to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the largest and 
 most important military engagement that ever took place 
 within the borders of our industrious, peace-loving, and lib 
 erty-loving Commonwealth. Happily we come with emotions 
 of pride and gratitude, as to a festival in honor of Connecti 
 cut and its whole history. To those who were then our ene 
 mies, now, we hope, our friends forever, the capture of Fort 
 Griswold, on Groton Heights, September 6, 1781, was a vic 
 tory, they said, but they went away writing regrets and apol 
 ogies to civilization and to posterity, and found that they had 
 but hammered into finer gold the patriotism of New England ; 
 they had but furnished a new inspiration to the cause they 
 came to destroy. To the noble souls who laid down their 
 bodies in the bloody dust right here, or by divine favor sur 
 vived, and to their wives, children, and neighbors, it was a 
 defeat ; they acknowledged, a sore and sad defeat, a bloody 
 and barbarous massacre ; but their children s children and 
 their neighbors of the good State, and the worshippers of 
 high courage and self-sacrifice from distant places, have daily 
 come here on pilgrimages for a century, in honor of the dead, 
 and for their own spiritual refreshment and elevation. 
 
 From this goodly height that lofty monumental column 
 looks over the noble harbor out upon one of the busiest of the 
 great highways of commerce, which is only in the beginning 
 of its activities, and from generation to generation increasing 
 multitudes passing by shall recall that glorious sacrificial day 
 of freedom. 
 
 We have not come here as patrons to confer favors and 
 graciously bestow praises. We are here to vindicate and jus- 
 
Centennial. 335 
 
 tily ourselves. Poor indeed must a people be, if any such can 
 be imagined, who care for none of these things ; who observe 
 no sacred days of patriotism ; who build no monuments; who 
 ask what is all this worth ? who say, " The dead cannot hear 
 us nor repay us, why do we address them ? " - who inquire 
 " Why is all this precious ointment wasted ? " But it is not 
 that we may tally one more formal duty discharged that we 
 are gathered ; we are glad and proud that Connecticut has 
 ground so consecrated ; we thank God that men lived in 1781, 
 whoso justified the traditional beliefs and civilization of New 
 England ; we are willing to believe that they see this great 
 assemblage, and hear our felicitations and congratulations, 
 our songs of praise and the exultant thunder of our peaceful 
 artillery. We come to think with renewed wonder of the 
 marvellous growth of the nation they founded in feebleness, 
 to indulge solemnly, if not with dread anxiety, in visions of 
 the awful grandeur of the possible and probable future of this 
 land. We come to reflect that our country will steadily need 
 in us and our successors the manhood and high devotion of 
 our ancestors, and to renew our vows of supreme consecration 
 to its highest good in peace or war. 
 
 Before attempting to sketch the prominent features of the 
 battle and its attendant skirmishes and conflagrations, with 
 which the good people of this vicinity, if not all my hearers, 
 are very familiar, I have thought it not unprofitable to glance 
 at the history of the Colony of Connecticut and to seek for 
 some of the causes that made it a body of people compact in 
 civil and religious organization, well disciplined, steady in 
 their adherence to law in times of peace, promptly obedient 
 to all the demands of war, and indomitable, save by annihila 
 tion, in the defence of their rights. 
 
 As usual in New England, the first permanent settlers of 
 Connecticut came here bearing with them church organiza 
 tions and officers. They were specially fortunate in the char 
 acter of the early clergymen, who were in general men of ex 
 cellent education, strong in the highest elements of character, 
 products of the long agitation in England in behalf of civil 
 and religious freedom. Trumbull, the historian, affirms that 
 
336 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 they were all republicans, that they rejected with abhorrence 
 the doctrines of the divine rights of kings, passive obedience, 
 and non-resistance. With Sydney and Hampden, and all that 
 school of philosophers and statesmen, they believed that all 
 government of civil power was in the people. There was 
 Thomas Hooker, the spiritual, intellectual, and political leader 
 and master of his flock, who, in the early sermon of which, 
 fortunately, we still possess the notes, laid down the funda 
 mental doctrine of the distant Republic. 
 
 At the opening of the General Court, May 31, 1738, Mr. 
 Hooker, pastor of the first church of the colony, preached the 
 annual election sermon, having the text before him: "Take 
 you wise men and understanding, and I will make them rulers 
 over you." Upon which the chief points were these : 
 
 Doctrine I. That the choice of public magistrates belongs 
 unto the people by God s own allowance. 
 
 II. The privilege of election, which belongs to the people, 
 therefore must not be exercised according to their humors, 
 but according to the blessed will and law of God. 
 
 III. They who have power to appoint officers and magis 
 trates, it is in their power, also, to set the bounds and limita 
 tions of the power and place unto which they call them. 
 
 Reasons. I. Because the foundation of authority is laid, 
 firstly, in the free consent of the people. 
 
 II. Because, by a free choice, the hearts of the people will 
 be more inclined to the love of the persons chosen and more 
 ready to yield obedience. 
 
 This discourse before the rulers of the infant colony, and 
 his letter written about that time to Governor Winthrop of 
 Massachusetts, admirably defining the doctrine that true lib 
 erty can exist only in obedience to law made by men chosen 
 by all the people, leave no doubt that he was a prime mover 
 in the political action of the colonists. 
 
 One of their earliest concerns was to lay down the frame 
 of civil government. It is significant that it appears never to 
 have entered their minds to ask assistance, or even permis 
 sion, from the king and parliament of Great Britain. It was 
 the ideal construction imagined by the visionaries. It was 
 
Centennial. 337 
 
 the first example in history of a written constitution, organiz 
 ing a government, dividing the legislative, executive, and judi 
 cial departments, and defining their powers. Premising that 
 " where a people are gathered together, the law of God re 
 quires that, to maintain the peace and union of such a people, 
 there should be an orderly and decent government established 
 according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of the 
 people at all seasons as occasion shall require," they associ 
 ated and conjoined themselves together, "as one public State 
 or Commonwealth," to maintain and preserve the liberty and 
 purity of the gospel ... as also in civil affairs to be guided 
 and governed according to such laws, rules, orders, and de 
 crees as shall be made, ordered, and decreed." They pro. 
 vided for two general assemblies or courts each year; the first 
 assembly to choose public officers, among them a governor 
 for the year ensuing or until another be chosen, and with him 
 six assistants, with power to administer justice according to 
 the laws here established, and " in want thereof according to 
 the rule of the Word of God ; " said election to be made by 
 all who are admitted freemen, and have taken the oath of 
 fidelity and reside within the jurisdiction, " having been ad 
 mitted inhabitants by the major part of the town " where 
 they lived. All their elections were by ballot ; no person 
 could be governor more than once in two years. To said 
 court of elections the inhabitants of the several towns came 
 first themselves and afterwards sent their deputies, chosen by 
 ballot in each town by a meeting which all the inhabitants 
 thereof were warned to attend. Should the governor, or mag 
 istrates or assistants, fail to call the two general courts or as 
 semblies of the year, and still after petition to so call them, 
 the freemen of the towns had power to give order to their 
 constables to warn the said meeting, at which the freemen 
 might proceed to do any act of power which the General Court 
 might do. The deputies, or members of the legislature, had 
 power to appoint a time and place of meeting together in ad 
 vance of any general court, to advise and consult regarding 
 the good of the public, and "also to examine their own elec 
 tions," and, in case of finding an election illegal, to exclude 
 
338 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 the deputy, and return their reasons to the court, that it 
 might fine the parties so intruding and the town also, if they 
 saw cause, and issue a warrant for a new election. And the 
 deputies or legislators had power to fine the disorderly or the 
 absentees. A general court was to consist of the governor, 
 four at least of the six magistrates, and a majority of the dep 
 uties chosen, " in which said general courts shall consist the 
 supreme power of the Commonwealth, and they only shall 
 have power to make laws or repeal them, to grant levies, to 
 admit freemen," and also "power to call either a court or 
 magistrate, or any other person whatsoever, for any misde 
 meanor;" and also "deal in any other matter that concerns 
 the good of this Commonwealth, except the election of magis 
 trates, which shall be done by the whole body of freemen." 
 " None of these courts shall be adjourned or dissolved with 
 out the consent of the major part of the court." Further pro 
 visions of similar democratic character need not be recited. 
 This constitution was adopted in January, 1639, and its traces 
 can be found in all the constitutions of the Union. By the 
 oath of office administered to the governor, which contained 
 no reference to the king of Great Britain, he engaged to 
 " maintain all lawful privileges of this Commonwealth," "to 
 promote the public good and peace of the same," and also 
 that " all wholesome laws that are or shall be made by lawful 
 authority here established shall be duly executed," and bound 
 him to "further the execution of justice according to God s 
 word." The oaths of all officers were of the same general 
 character. 
 
 When Charles II. came to the throne, fearful lest their 
 freedom might attract hostile attention, the colony made a 
 formal declaration of their allegiance to the crown and ap 
 plied for a charter. The government of the colony of New 
 Haven, originally purely that of the church, had gradually 
 grown into close analogy to the system of Connecticut. 
 Seeking the aid of all the promoters and friends of the col 
 onies in Great Britain, the sagacious and diplomatic Win- 
 throp obtained a charter combining both colonies under the 
 name of "The Governor and Company of the English Colony 
 
Cen ten n ia I. 339 
 
 of Connecticut in New England," securing therein all the 
 principles of their colonial constitution, and valuable privi 
 leges in addition. So smoothly and happily did this govern 
 ment proceed, so entirely could every emergency be met by 
 statute under the loose and easy charter, that, as every one 
 knows, it was not until 1818 that a formal modern constitution 
 was adopted. Save the nomination of John Winthrop in the 
 charter as governor for one year, and the temporary reign of 
 Sir Edmund Andros for some eighteen months (submitted 
 to by the leaders but never acknowledged by the people, 
 while the charter was secretly cherished), for two hundred 
 and forty-three years Connecticut has annually chosen its leg 
 islators and governors, appointed its own judges, enacted all 
 its own laws, with no approval but that of its governor, levied 
 its own taxes, organized its own troops, and commissioned 
 its own military officers ; in short, has been without break or 
 change or civil disturbance of any kind, the steadiest, calm 
 est, most peaceful and freest commonwealth on earth. No 
 government whatever has known less of change during that 
 period. 
 
 An exceedingly important factor in its character was that 
 relation between church and state which is not adapted to 
 the present day. Substantially all believers in one form of 
 church government, if not precisely in one creed, the church 
 was a part of the state. No ecclesiastics, as such, took part 
 in the civil government, but every church organization was 
 maintained by a tax upon the general list. The town was the 
 unit of political organization ; an absolute ideal democracy, 
 in which all the male inhabitants of proper age assembled in 
 person with the right to the final regulation of a considerable 
 range of subjects, and, each town" for itself, the right which 
 no man has been able to shake from the first day to this, to 
 send its deputies to the legislature. In the earlier clays, 
 while the town was the unit, and the church was nearly equiva 
 lent thereto, the military company well represented them both. 
 The pastor was often first in his educational advantages, and 
 not infrequently the leader of the town in all things. Inevit 
 ably, the General Assembly perfectly echoed the will of the 
 
34 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 people, bringing it back to each town with the added sanction 
 of all the towns. The church was the creator and pillar of 
 the state, and, by the aid of the church, the will of the state 
 became irresistible. Divide a commonwealth into fifty or one 
 hundred towns thus organized and controlled, and what per 
 fection of system and discipline is obtained ! 
 
 Nor were these all the elements of strength. From the 
 first day the education of all the people was accepted as a 
 serious religious and political duty. Each town of fifty in 
 habitants or more was required to maintain a good school, 
 and each county a good grammar school, under severe penal 
 ties for disobedience. The selectmen were required to see to 
 it by personal inspection that no family neglected the secular 
 and religious teaching of its children and servants. 
 
 With such a people, while the circumstances made military 
 organization and discipline a necessity, they were also an 
 easy task, if not a positive pleasure. The inhabitants of the 
 colony and the state have never been a warlike people, for 
 all their interests ran in the direction of peace, and the sever 
 ities of nature compelled them to industry, but they have 
 always been a military people. I have not read anywhere in 
 history of a more prompt response to the call to arms, a more 
 cheerful submission to all the pains and burdens of pro 
 tracted war, than Connecticut has exhibited from the begin 
 ning to the end. I said her people were not warlike. Save 
 when the dangerous Pequots required suppression they never 
 have engaged in a war which their own conduct or desires had 
 anything to do with provoking. Yet they have never shown 
 an unwillingness to assume their share or more than their 
 share of any duty. 
 
 In 1637 the little republic of three hundred souls, in mor 
 tal terror of the Pequots, sent ninety men under Captain 
 John Mason to end their troubles, and the Pequot tribe was 
 mortally wounded. I pass by the troubles with the Dutch 
 whom the colonies of New Haven and Connecticut were at 
 one time exceedingly anxious to fight, and note the bloody 
 war of King Philip, where, from the first to last, the Connec 
 ticut troops, in their full share of numbers, were prompt, un- 
 
Centennial 341 
 
 tiring, and undaunted. Said the General Assembly, " in that 
 signal service, the fort fight in the Narragansetts, as we had 
 our full number, so all say they did their full proportion of 
 service. . . . Our mourners over all the colony witness for 
 our men that they were not unfaithful on that day." Of the 
 two hundred lost, Connecticut furnished one hundred, and 
 four of the five brave captains laid down their lives. 
 
 Who remembers that Connecticut and other New England 
 soldiers laid their bones in Carthagena and Cuba? In 1740, 
 New England sent a thousand brave men with the British 
 fleet to the Spanish West Indies. Of that one thousand not 
 one hundred returned. Connecticut voted .45,000 for that 
 war with Spain, while the colony contained scarce a hun 
 dred thousand inhabitants. France and England declared 
 war in 1744, and without waiting for the mother country, New 
 England devised the gloriously successful expedition against 
 Louisburg, and, first and last, Connecticut contributed 2,000 
 men, including the crew of her smart little sloop-of-war. And 
 like her New England sisters, she paid her own bills, while 
 the English appropriated the prizes, worth a million sterling. 
 For the next expedition to the St. Lawrence, out of 5,300 
 New Englanders, Connecticut furnished 1,000, paying a 
 bounty of 30 each. An uneasy peace came in 1748. 
 
 In 1755, the long war with France having broken out, Con 
 necticut raised 1,000 troops, and ended by. giving 3,000. In 
 1756 she raised 2,500, or double the number asked for by Gen 
 eral Abercrombie as her share, giving as a reason that some 
 of the southern colonies might not furnish their proportion. 
 
 These troops were annually raised for the campaign of the 
 season. In 1757 she sent out her quota of 1,400, and after 
 the loss of Fort William Henry, moved by the general alarm 
 and indignation, raised and sent into the field in a few days an 
 additional 5,000. In 1758 the annual letter from William Pitt 
 was answered by another 5,000, and in 1759, again the call for 
 5,000 came. Connecticut staggered for once. The Assembly 
 voted 3,600, then made it 4,000, then added 1,000 more. This 
 year came the reduction of Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Niag 
 ara, and Quebec. In 1760 came again the annual epistle from 
 
342 Battle of Grot on Heights. 
 
 Pitt, and indomitable Connecticut sent her 5,000 again. Then 
 all Canada surrendered to Lord Amherst. Connecticut 
 congratulated His Majesty, the King of Great Britain, and 
 "thanked him for his paternal care of his colonies." In 1761, 
 William Pitt, as usual, issued his epistle, but asked only for 
 3,300 men for important enterprises. Connecticut sent 2,300, 
 vho spent the season in building and repairing fortifications, 
 n 1762, when the English resolved to strike a blow at the 
 Spanish possessions in the West Indies, 500 men from New 
 Jersey, 800 from New York, and 1,000 from Connecticut, the 
 latter under Putnam, with General Lyman, of Connecticut, 
 commanding the whole, joined the great fleet of 37 ships of war 
 and 150 transports and landed near Havana. A few officers 
 and soldiers, wasted to skeletons, history says, were the sole 
 New England survivors of that campaign. Trumbull de 
 clares that but a mere handful returned to lay their bones on 
 their native soil. In eight years, from 1755 to 1762, inclu 
 sive, Connecticut marched out 30,200 men in actual enlist 
 ments. The population of the colony is reported in 1756 at 
 131, 805, in 1762 at 145,666. The careful and conscientious 
 historian, Trumbull, estimates the cost to Connecticut during 
 those eight years, after deducting the pittance received from 
 Parliament, at .400,000. This takes no account of the heavy 
 local and individual expenditures for substitutes and the sup 
 port of families. These are amazing facts of record : that the 
 colony taxed itself enormously during the whole war ; that it 
 discharged the whole debt in a few years ; that it grew in 
 population, and that an era of prosperity followed. The fire 
 of the people was unquenchable. Says the historian truly : 
 " The exploits of her gallant officers her Lymans, her Whit 
 ings, her Parsons, her Dyers, her Spencers, her Hinmans, 
 her Coits, her Fitches, her Durkees, her Woosters, her Put- 
 nams, and her Wolcotts were as glorious as their fame will 
 be immortal." 
 
 Forget not the brave, unrecorded dead who scattered their 
 bones over a hundred fields between Quebec and Louisburg 
 on the north, and Carthagena and Havana on the south, 
 Forget not the equally brave women, who prayed and labored 
 at home, but never said "stay " to the soldier. 
 
Centennial. 343 
 
 Evidently these one hundred and twenty-five years in the 
 wilderness had bred a people to be depended upon. To the 
 superficial glance of the worldly-minded man of modern days, 
 I presume there was little to appeal to the imagination in the 
 home, in the culture, or the character of the New Englander 
 of 1765. To him religion was a great, high, solemn, severe 
 duty ; the dread word " duty " dominated over all his activi 
 ties. He wasted no time, he had no vain trifling or expensive 
 amusements. He listened to long sermons with patience, if 
 not always with pleasure. He made the laws himself, and he 
 would permit no man to disobey them. He indulged in no 
 fantastic dreams of chivalry. He was never embarrassed by 
 a supposed necessity for fighting a duel. If you desired to 
 wake the man to combat you must conjure with the word 
 "duty," and the governor must issue his proclamation. But 
 there was a mental and moral fibre in these men of New 
 England that made them the founders of empire, and the 
 strain of their blood is apparent to-day along the parallels of 
 latitude from Maine to the Pacific. 
 
 They were being educated for a struggle of which few 
 could have dreamed in 1762. They indulged in a stately 
 and honorable loyalty, because God said " Honor the king," 
 and they feared the Spaniard and the Frenchman. But there 
 were many things that caused them to pause and think. The 
 farmers of Lebanon and Pomfret who accepted whatever the 
 General Assembly said, because they had made the General 
 Assembly, must have begun to wonder whether it would not 
 be well that a small people who mustered 30,000 in eight 
 years and worked ^400,000 out of their rocky lands, ought 
 not to have something to say about how these wars came to 
 pass. Yet they had never paid a tax that was not levied by 
 their own General Assembly, nor had a king or a king s col 
 onel ever issued a command directly to their regiments. 
 
 The time for their great trial rapidly approached. The 
 stubborn king and foolish ministry knew not what manner of 
 men had grown from the transplanted English stock. A new 
 sra dawned upon the world at Lexington, where 
 
 . . . the embattled farmers stood, 
 And fired the shot heard round the world. 
 
344 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 At the word, about seventy-five companies and squads 
 started for Boston, representing fifty towns from Greenwich 
 to Woodstock and Pomfret, and numbering near 3,000. In 
 the roll of officers I see were names that became illustrious 
 in the Revolution and at a later day. Israel Putnam reported 
 promptly to Brother Jonathan, and departed with his sanction 
 to immortalize himself at Bunker Hill; Putnam "who dared 
 to lead where any dared to follow," hero and patriot, " whose 
 generosity was singular, whose honesty was proverbial," and 
 who " raised himself to universal esteem." There was Cap 
 tain Return J. Meigs, great-uncle of the quartermaster general. 
 There was Lyon of Woodstock, Sedgwick of Hartford, Chester 
 of Wethersfield, Nathaniel Terry of Enfielcl, Thomas Knowl- 
 ton of Ashford, Jedediah Huntington of Norwich, Samuel H. 
 Parsons of Preston, Benedict Arnold, then among the bravest 
 apostles. There was Captain Samuel McLellan, great-grand 
 father of the first commander of the army of the Potomac, 
 and Captain Matthew Grant, of East Windsor, ancestor of 
 the hero of Appomattox. 
 
 Upon the instant Connecticut accepted her part in the 
 drama. She was prepared. Her people, accustomed to read 
 ing and study, and to hearing all the great problems of life 
 discussed from the weekly pulpit, had annually elected legis 
 latures capable of leading them to a right judgment. They 
 had sent to the British ministry their vigorous protest against 
 taxation without representation, which was accepted as a 
 courteous and logical document. They had kept equal step 
 with their sister colonies in defence of their inherited and 
 chartered rights. They proceeded with profound and serious 
 deliberation. It is related upon the authority of the late Dr. 
 Chauncey Goodrich, who obtained it long after the event from 
 Dr. Nathan Strong, chaplain of the General Assembly, that in 
 a private session, whose proceedings were never recorded nor 
 disclosed in their day, six men on a side were appointed to 
 argue the questions at issue between the mother country and 
 her colonies. When such people moved it was with an un 
 faltering step. 
 
 I pause to look upon a figure of the first prominence in the 
 
Centennial. 345 
 
 Revolutionary history of our State. Jonathan Trumbull was 
 a type of a class of the highest products of New England 
 civilization. The opening of the Revolution found him at 
 sixty-four years of age, for six years previously the governor 
 of the colony, a scholar, a gentleman, and a patriot. He 
 graduated at Harvard in 1727, studied theology, and took the 
 place of a brother lost at sea, in his father s mercantile busi 
 ness. From 1733 to 1739 he was a member of the Assembly, 
 and finally its speaker. He was chosen an assistant in 1740, 
 and was reflected twenty-two times. He became judge of 
 the county court, and assistant judge of the superior court, 
 of which he was chief judge from 1766 to 1769. In 1/67 and 
 1768 he was lieutenant-governor. In 1769 he became gov 
 ernor and held the office fourteen years, until 1783. He was 
 among the earliest of the Revolutionists ; in 1765 he refused 
 to take the oath to support the Stamp Act. For fifty years he 
 served the Commonwealth. He possessed in harmonious bal 
 ance all the qualities of a noble mind and soul, carrying the 
 unmistakable stamp of New England. He never faltered, he 
 never doubted, he never lacked the words of encouragement, 
 of argument, of irreversible determination. He was a char 
 acter created by a hundred and fifty years of New England 
 life. He was the people s governor the solitary governor 
 of the thirteen colonies who embodied revolutionary princi 
 ples, and led through the struggle the people he had prepared 
 for the emergency. To him General Washington turned in 
 every painful emergency. lie made every exertion within 
 human power to arm and forward troops, and supply food to 
 a sometimes starving army. He became the " Brother Jon 
 athan " of history, whom Connecticut will ever delight to 
 honor. 
 
 Connecticut had few changes to make. At a special ses 
 sion of the General Assembly called on the I4th day of June, 
 1775, it was resolved unanimously, 
 
 "That the delegates of this Colony in General Congress be, 
 and they are hereby, instructed to propose to that respectable 
 body, to declare the United American Colonies free and in 
 dependent States, absolved from all allegiance to the King of 
 
346 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Great Britain, and to give the assent of this Colony to such 
 declaration, when they shall judge it expedient and best ; . . . 
 and also that they move and promote, as fast as may be con 
 venient, a regular and permanent plan of union and con 
 federation of the Colonies for the security and preservation of 
 their just rights and liberties, and for mutual defence and 
 security." 
 
 The unanimous declaration, it is observed, and to the end 
 of the controversy, neither the Assembly nor the State turned 
 to right or left, or doubted or faltered. It imposed extraor 
 dinary taxes, its private contributions were lavish, and it sent 
 to the war 32.000 men, being a larger proportion than the 
 number sent by any other State. Such was the general ex 
 cellence of its civil and military organization that its power 
 responded with remarkable celerity at the word of command. 
 While always answering with all possible promptness to the 
 calls of the Continental Congress and General Washington, 
 it was under the necessity, during the whole war, of keeping 
 constant watch of its exposed coast. A petty and torment 
 ing border warfare was carried on between our coast towns 
 on the one hand, and the lories of Long Island and plunder 
 ing detachments from the British armies and fleets on the 
 other. Guard-boats patrolled the shore, beacon-fires and 
 signal-guns were always in readiness ; and in every town 
 within a day s march of the coast, military companies were 
 ready to march at the tap of the drum to the water-side. The 
 war vessels of the British, sometimes singly, sometimes in 
 great fleets, sailed up and down the Sound between Newport 
 and New York, or anchored idly in Gardner s Bay, by Fisher s 
 Island, or off our seaports, always keeping a wide region in 
 a torture of expectancy. It is worthy of note that no con 
 siderable engagement ever took place in New England dur 
 ing that war out of hearing and easy reach of the coast, 
 save in Vermont. Experience soon taught the British that 
 whatever was to be done in Connecticut, by anything less 
 than their full force, was to be done quickly and near the 
 shore. 
 
 Two thousand British troops under Tryon, colonial gov 
 
Centennial. 347 
 
 crnor of our sister State, New York, April 25, 1777, made 
 a famous plundering and burning raid through Bethel, Ridge- 
 field, and Danbury, their greatest achievement being the 
 slaughter of the noble patriot, General Wooster. In 1778, they 
 burned the town of Fair Haven. July 5, 1779, sailing with 
 a formidable land and naval force of 5,000 men, they landed 
 3,000 at East Haven and West Haven, and after burning and 
 plundering as usual in New Haven, they hurried in alarm to 
 their vessels with a loss of eighty men, inflicted by scattered 
 militiamen and citizens. On the 8th of the same month, they 
 landed at Fairfield, burning one hundred and sixty-two build 
 ings there, and thirty at Green s Farms. Three days after, 
 they burned the entire village of Norwalk, but hurried to their 
 vessels with a loss of one hundred and forty-eight men, pur 
 sued by Generals Parsons and Wolcott with an inferior force, 
 nearly all militiamen. In these and scores of minor affairs 
 they learned that the people of the State rallied like the in 
 habitants of a hornet s nest. 
 
 Among the places which the British regarded with spe 
 cial enmity was this fair town of New London. The people 
 of the region were intensely patriotic. Large masses of sup 
 plies, foreign and domestic, were frequently gathered here ; 
 and its noble harbor, able to supply anchorage and refuge 
 for the largest vessels, within an hour s sail of the great 
 ocean, was the favorite resting-place of privateers, who scoured 
 the ocean with matchless audacity and bravery, and often with 
 great success. 
 
 In Green s Gazette of June 3, 1779, were advertisements 
 for sale at auction of eight prizes, aggregating eighty guns. 
 In six weeks that spring, nine New York tory privateers 
 were captured and brought into New London. In the Court 
 of Admiralty held in New London, June loth, eighteen prizes 
 were libelled, all taken in the month of May. Among the 
 well-known vessels, privateers, or commissioned in the state 
 or continental navy, which were built in New London, or 
 made it recruiting ground, were the Spy, the Defence, 14 
 guns, the Old Defence, the Oliver Cromwell, 20 guns, the Re 
 sistance, 10 guns, the Governor Trumbull, 20 guns, built at 
 
348 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Norwich; the Middletown, Beaver, Eagle, the Confederacy, 32 
 guns, built on the Thames; the Putnam, 20 guns, built at 
 New London ; and the frigate Trumbull, 28 guns, built at 
 Chatham. It is passing strange that New London was not 
 struck earlier and often. It was within easy reach of New 
 York. It would have served as an excellent rendezvous for 
 an invasion of New England, and at nearly all times it was a 
 mine for rich plunder. In the autumn of 1781 it contained 
 a great accumulation of captured stores of all descriptions. 
 
 The history of the fortifications of New London harbor 
 would make an interesting chapter. William Ledyard was 
 made the captain of Fort Grisvvold, July 3, 1776, and Captain 
 Adam Shapley captain of the old fort at New London. Later 
 Colonel Ledyard was placed in command of the post or dis 
 trict embracing both sides of the river. His account for re 
 building Fort Griswold in 1777, and Fort Trumbull in the fol 
 lowing year, and directing the works on Town Hill in 1779, 
 was ordered paid by the General Assembly in December, 
 1780. Fort Trumbull, at the tim of the battle, was merely a 
 strong breastwork of three sides, open in the rear, mounting 
 twelve 1 8 pounders and three 6 pounders, but Captain Shap- 
 ley s garrison numbered only twenty-three. The fort on 
 the summit of Town Hill, known to the Americans as Fort 
 Nonsense, mounted six guns. Fort Griswold, where we stand, 
 occupying a most noble and commanding position, was a 
 much more formidable work. Though it has been repaired 
 and somewhat changed, its general character can well be 
 judged from what you see of it to-day. Stephen Hemp- 
 stead s narrative furnishes the only description on record of 
 the fort as it stood on the day of the battle. 
 
 "The fort was an oblong square, with bastions at opposite 
 angles, its longest side fronting the river in a northwest and 
 southeast direction. Its walls were of stone, and were ten or 
 twelve feet high on the lower side, and surrounded by a ditch. 
 On the wall were pickets, projecting over twelve feet ; above 
 this was a parapet with embrasures, and within a platform for 
 cannon, and a step to mount upon, to shoot over the parapet 
 with small arms. In the southwest bastion was a flag-staff, 
 
Centennial. 349 
 
 and in the side, near the opposite angle, was the gate, in front 
 of which was a triangular breastwork to protect the gate ; 
 and to the right of this was a redoubt, with a 3 pounder in 
 it, which was about one hundred and twenty yards from the 
 gate. Between the fort and the river was another battery, 
 with a covered way, but which could not be used in this at 
 tack, as the enemy appeared in a different quarter." 
 
 Its armament consisted of one 18 pounder, seventeen 12 
 pounders, two 9 pounders, seven 6 pounders, and six 4 pound 
 ers ; a total of 33 guns. One of the 6 pounders was mounted 
 in the redan covering the gateway. One of the 3 pounders 
 was in the little redoubt one hundred and twenty yards from 
 the gate. How many pieces were in the battery clown the 
 hill to the westward does not appear, nor indeed is it material, 
 for there were but 155 men, according to the report of Or 
 derly Sergeant Avery, in the works when the fight opened, 
 and the large majority of these were not of the regular gar 
 rison, but militiamen, continental soldiers and citizens of all 
 ranks and ages, and little training as artillerists. Colonel 
 Ledyard wrote to Governor Trumbull, December i, 1778: 
 " I find, the more I am acquainted with the duty belonging 
 to a fortification, the more I see the necessity of having 
 proper soldiers to garrison them." And again : " I beg your 
 excellency will forgive me when I give it as my opinion that 
 fortifications are of but very little consequence if they are to 
 be defended only by inexperienced troops." 
 
 Let me briefly sketch the general relations of the British 
 and American forces during the summer of 1781. In May, 
 Cornwallis came up from his disastrous campaign in North 
 Carolina and joined the forces under the traitor Arnold, who 
 had just succeeded to the command. The latter was soon re 
 called by Clinton. Lafayette had been sent down with 1,200 
 men to defeat Arnold, and, if possible, catch and hang him. 
 The Marquis was joined by Steuben and Wayne, and with 
 some militia had about 4,000 troops. About the ist of Au 
 gust Cornwallis went to Yorktown, intending to establish 
 there a permanent post. So confident was he that he could 
 hold his oosition against Lafayette that he wrote, August 
 
35O Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 22d, to Sir Henry Clinton at New York, offering to send him 
 1,000 or 1,200 men to assist in defending that city against the 
 expected attack by the combined American and French forces 
 under Washington and Rochambeau. Let us see what were 
 Washington s plans. 
 
 In May, ignorant that Cornwallis had come up to Virginia, 
 but having heard to his great joy that the Count De Grasse 
 had sailed from France for the West Indies, and would bring 
 twelve ships to Newport, Washington met Rochambeau for 
 conference at Wethersfield, May 22, hospitable entertain 
 ment during the journey being provided by the General As 
 sembly, and as the British controlled the sea and a march by 
 land to the Carolinas would be impracticable, they decided to 
 strike at New York. The French were ordered to march 
 from Newport to the Hudson as soon as possible, and the 
 Count De Grasse would cooperate upon their arrival. The 
 reconnoissances of Washington were so vigorous that Clin 
 ton wrote July 26th to Cornwallis ordering three regiments 
 to New York. But early in August Washington received 
 the delightful news that the Count De Grasse would leave St. 
 Domingo August y\, with twenty-five or thirty ships of the 
 line and a considerable body of land forces, and steer imme 
 diately for the Chesapeake. August 151)1, Washington wrote 
 Lafayette to take all possible pains to keep Cornwallis from 
 retreating to North Carolina. A fortnight before, Cornwallis 
 had assisted in this by changing post from Portsmouth to 
 Yorktown, so that the Count De Grasse could patrol the 
 York and James rivers, and Lafayette could watch him on 
 the landward side. " You shall hear further from me," said 
 Washington. His whole plan was changed. He would take 
 Rochambeau and all the American troops that could be 
 spared, keep Clinton alarmed for the safety of New York, 
 get a good start secretly for Virginia and crush Cornwallis. 
 He did it. He appeared to concentrate his forces up the 
 Hudson, but August 25th they moved rapidly into the Jer 
 seys. They reached the Delaware before Clinton guessed their 
 true destination. September 2d they entered Philadelphia. 
 It seems to be agreed that Clinton concluded, about Septem- 
 
Centennial. 351 
 
 bcr ist, that Washington was on his way to Virginia. Now 
 Clinton s narrative says : 
 
 " Early in September, to my great surprise (for I still con 
 sidered our fleet as superior), hearing that Mr. Washington 
 was marching southward, I called a council of all the general 
 officers, who unanimously concurred with me in opinion that 
 the only way to succor Earl Cornwallis was to go to him in 
 the Chesapeake." 
 
 See how the game closed upon the British. August 28th, 
 several days before this council, the Count de Grasse had en 
 tered the Chesapeake and begun to land 3,000 troops. 
 
 Did Clinton send to New London with a view to checking 
 Washington s march to Virginia? That is the common view, 
 but I seriously doubt it. I think he reports that on the 2d he 
 was not certain of the change in Washington s plans. On the 
 6th he wrote that it was no longer a secret, and that he was 
 embarking 4,000 troops for Cornwallis. It must have taken 
 two or three days to prepare the New London expedition. 
 The fleet was seen off Stamford on the 4th. I think that 
 Clinton had ordered the movement while he supposed Wash 
 ington and Rochambeau, who were rapidly moving southward 
 from the Hudson, were meditating some operation against 
 Staten Island and New York. He perhaps thought he would 
 at least check the despatch of the reinforcements from Con 
 necticut and New England generally. He could hardly have 
 expected to even delay Washington, if he had believed the 
 latter to be on his way to Virginia. 
 
 The tory Judge, Jones (vol. ii. p. 208), says : 
 
 "This plundering expedition (Arnold s) was a project of 
 Smith s, if the letters from New York are to be depended 
 upon. It was, says one of them, planned, and the execu 
 tion of it warmly solicited by Mr. Smith, the chief justice of 
 New York, who has gained great credit by its success, and is 
 a convincing proof of his loyalty and attachment to his sover 
 eign, though an American. " 1 
 
 1 For this view of the motive of the New London expedition, I am 
 largely indebted to I rof. Henry P. Johnston, of the College of the City of 
 New York. J. R. H. 
 
352 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 It is most probable that the motives were several. Arnold 
 had been sent to Virginia, where he burned a large part of 
 Richmond, and displayed his usual vigor. He was recalled 
 about June first, and it is known that he desired to command 
 a movement up the river to take West Point. The concen 
 tration of our armies on the Hudson prevented that. It had 
 been the intention of Tryon s expedition in 1779, against New 
 Haven, Fairfield, and Norvvalk, to embrace New London also, 
 but Wayne s splendid capture of Stony Point made the diver 
 sion change sides. Now in August, 1781, Arnold was idle 
 and impatient. The tories hated New London. Clinton 
 rightly regarded it as a dangerous place. It contained at that 
 moment a great store of supplies. The merchant ship Hannah 
 had just been brought in there, a prize worth $400,000, and 
 undoubtedly to the great damage of many New York city 
 tories. Doubtless all these considerations combined, and 
 Arnold was at hand, a fit instrument for a work of malignant 
 destruction never sought by true soldiers save under impera 
 tive necessity. 
 
 The reflection of a hundred years has confirmed all the 
 severity of the condemnation of his time. He was a brave 
 and brilliant soldier. On Lake Champlain, at Quebec (se 
 verely wounded), atBemis Heights (wounded), and elsewhere, 
 he displayed great skill and most impetuous daring. He 
 lacked the highest qualities of the true soldier, for the trials 
 of war are not always before the cannon s mouth. The rival 
 ries, the not infrequent injustice, the harsh changes that can 
 not regard one man s sensibilities, the unwisdom of the civil 
 power, sometimes the gross blunders or wicked malice of supe 
 riors, these prove the metal of the patriot. Vindictive, 
 supremely selfish, recklessly and dishonestly extravagant in 
 his expenses and speculations, reprimanded when he might 
 have been cashiered for the improper conversion of captured 
 property, he attempted the murder of the infant Republic, 
 and became the most shameless traitor since Judas. It was 
 a sort of poetic retribution that sent him to the infinitely hu 
 miliating work of harrying the coast of his State, among his 
 old friends and neighbors, Norwich, his birthplace, within 
 
Centennial. 353 
 
 hearing of his guns, within sight of the smoke of his unholy 
 fires. His boasted success must have added to his remorseful 
 memories. He professed to regret the unnecessary destruc 
 tion of property and the unexpected loss of life. He lied when 
 he said his troops found eighty dead bodies in Fort Grisvvold, 
 for he lacked courage to tell the truth. Lafayette in Vir 
 ginia refused to receive an official communication from him. 
 Washington sought opportunities to catch him for the gal 
 lows, and instructed Lafayette to let nothing stand in the way 
 of summary punishment if Arnold should be captured in Vir 
 ginia. Clinton and Cornwallis despised him. After Arnold s 
 crossing to Great Britain, Sherburne, secretary of state for 
 the colonies, refused to let him return to service here. And 
 hereabouts in many burial grounds memorial stones record, 
 " Slain by Traitor Arnold s murdering corps." 
 
 The hostile fleet of thirty-two transports and vessels of war 
 appeared in the Sound September 4th, Captain Beazley, in the 
 Amphion, commanding the naval forces, and Arnold the troops. 
 At two p. M. on the 5th, it came to anchor thirty miles from New 
 London, across the Sound and under the Long Island shore, 
 waiting for the darkness. At seven p. M. the fleet weighed 
 anchor, expecting to make New London in time to land at or 
 before daylight. But the winds. that in peaceful summer and 
 autumn days usually blow daily from the south and west from 
 noon to three o clock in the morning, when after a short rest 
 they come from the north or west, this night of September 
 5th graciously failed in the south, and began from the north 
 two hours earlier than their wont, so that the fleet by beating 
 was only able to land the forces about nine o clock, or, accord 
 ing to Arnold s report, about ten o clock. They were observed 
 at three o clock ; Sergeant Avery, at Fort Griswold, reports 
 he called William Latham, captain of the fort, who sent word 
 to Colonel Leclyard, commander of the district, who ordered 
 two guns fired, the signal of alarm. Tradition says that the 
 British immediately added a third, and the country around sup 
 posed only that some successful and proud privateer had come 
 in. Ledyard sent swift expresses to the neighboring towns, 
 and a horseman galloped away to tell Brother Jonathan. Some 
 23 
 
354 Battle of Grot on Heights. 
 
 towns went leisurely on with their work. They had heard the 
 story for six years and were altogether incredulous. Some 
 men came late and stayed out of a hopeless fight, entreating 
 Ledyard to make it a stone wall and hedge fight, after the 
 manner of Lexington, Concord, Danbury, Norwalk, and New 
 Haven. Many of the bravest and most experienced were 
 away with Washington or Lafayette, or up the Hudson with 
 Heath. Others were on the vessels in the river or the wild 
 privateers at sea. But a braver body of old men and boys 
 never assembled at random. As Ledyard, forty-three years 
 of age, steady and true patriot, gallant gentleman and true 
 soldier, as his seventy-five letters to Governor Trumbull, his 
 long service and his glorious work this day showed, stepped 
 into the boat to cross from New London, after giving all 
 possible instructions, he said to his friends : " If I must to 
 day lose honor or life, you who know me well can tell which 
 it will be." He was placed there to command and defend. 
 He could understand nothing else. He knew well how little 
 his straggling troops knew of artillery. He had reported 
 all his needs many a time. The present duty was compara 
 tively simple. He took his post, greeted his old friends and 
 neighbors, among them twenty of his own kinsmen, loaded his 
 guns and waited. 
 
 Now let us stand with him and look about us. It was a 
 warm, sunny September day. The gentle wind was dying to 
 a calm soon to change and let some of our vessels run up the 
 river. At such a moment, just as the satanic thundering and 
 screeching of great guns, and the positive relief of the wild 
 hurrah and charge are expected every moment, many of my 
 hearers know how strange it seems that the sun will shine so 
 charmingly, the soft winds kiss the cheek so gently, the birds 
 and insects twitter and hum so unconcernedly, that all nature 
 seems cruelly careless about this terrible business. 
 
 Behind us, over the walls, one sometimes catches a glimpse 
 of a peering face, or from a window in the straggling village 
 some dear woman takes the handkerchief from her eyes long 
 enough to wave it towards one whose answering salute she 
 hopes to catch. 
 
Centennial. 355 
 
 At the mouth of the river the fleet gathered in two divis 
 ions, the fighting ships in front. Arnold landed near the 
 light-house, about three miles below the city. He led the 
 4Oth regiment, Sir Robert Pigot s, the loyal Americans, com 
 manded by the tory, Colonel Beverly Robinson, the Amer 
 ican legion of refugees, a band of 120 Jersey tories under 
 Lieutenant Colonel Upham, and a detachment of sixty Ya 
 gers, or Hessian light infantry, the whole numbering some 
 eight or nine hundred men. He marched rapidly up the 
 Town Hill road. Arriving at the cross road leading down 
 to the shore, Arnold detached Captain Millet of the 38th, 
 with four companies, who were joined by Captain Frink and 
 a company of refugees coming up nearer the shore. Brave 
 Shapley with his twenty-three men fired one volley, spiked the 
 guns, and, obeying Ledyard s orders, took boats for the Gro- 
 ton side. The enemy reached them with muskets, wounded 
 seven men, and captured one boat. Shapley found a soldier s 
 death on the hill. 
 
 Arnold pushed on to Fort Folly, which he entered against 
 a scattering fire from citizen skirmishers. He detached Lieu 
 tenant Colonel Upham to hold "the hili north of the meeting 
 house," and here is the first record of a voice from Fort 
 Griswold. Ledyard gave the word, and an eighteen pound 
 shot struck up the dust on Town Hill. Upham says he was 
 exposed to a constant fire until the fort was taken. 
 
 All the long and dreadful morning the watchers at Fort 
 Griswold could see the terrified women and children stream 
 ing northward from the town, carrying their household goods 
 and gods as best they might to the fields and farm-houses of 
 the country. 
 
 Look to the east, or Groton side of the river s mouth. Com 
 manded by Lieutenant Colonel Eyre of the 54th, there landed 
 the 54th regiment, the 4Oth, Major Montgomery, the 3d bat 
 talion of New Jersey volunteers, Lieutenant Colonel Buskirk 
 commanding, with a detachment of Yagers and artillery. The 
 work was done by the two British regiments. Buskirk s com 
 mand of tories, Hessians, and artillery, with their howitzer, 
 being retarded by copses, ledges, and ravines, or cowardice, 
 
356 Battle of Grolon Heights. 
 
 until the fort was taken. This division numbered about 
 eight hundred. 
 
 As he passed Fort Trumbull, Arnold sent a staff officer 
 across to hurry Colonel Eyre. He saw, as he reports, that 
 the Americans were taking advantage of the southerly breeze 
 and taking all their vessels, that had sails bent, up the river 
 out of reach, though he turned the guns of Fort Trumbull 
 upon them. We have the day s work well begun. Fort 
 Trumbull was turning its battery up the river, and also essay 
 ing in vain to reach Fort Griswold. Ledyard was easily and 
 rapidly throwing shot into Fort Trumbull and upon Town 
 Hill. Arnold had reached the hill and turned a six pounder 
 upon the escaping vessels. Seeing that he was losing the 
 vessels, and observing by the aid of his glass and the shot 
 that came his way that Fort Griswold was " much more for 
 midable " than he expected, from the information he had re 
 ceived, he sent another officer to countermand the order to 
 assault, but it was too late. Colonel Eyre had summoned the 
 fort to surrender. 
 
 Arnold hastened to his work of destruction. His troops 
 entered the town from the north and south end. There was 
 a pretence of burning only stores and public property, but it 
 was a farce. Ten or twelve ships, lumber, wharves, rigging, 
 barns, warehouses, jail, court-house, and church were in 
 flames, and a drunken soldiery revelled in rum and plunder, 
 while Arnold sat upon his horse near the meeting-house on 
 the hill and watched the fierce fight on Groton Hill. One 
 hundred and forty-three buildings were consumed. Five of 
 the enemy were killed and twenty wounded by the militiamen 
 and volunteers fighting at random, and for their lack of organ 
 ization several officers were justly cashiered afterward. Four 
 Americans were killed and twelve wounded, none mortally. 
 Arnold s personal share of the work was done, and it re 
 mained for him but to marshal his troops to their boats and 
 take a last look at his native county. 
 
 The fire of the fort upon the advancing enemy far down the 
 hill had been unavailing, owing to the irregularities of the 
 ground. Colonel Eyre brought his men to a forest half a 
 
Centennial. 357 
 
 mile distant, whence they ran forward in broken ranks to the 
 shelter of the rocky height 130 yards from the fort, near 
 the present burial-ground. Major Montgomery took similar 
 shelter a short distance northeast of Eyre. About noon Eyre 
 sent a flag demanding an unconditional surrender. Led- 
 yard s officers all sustained him in answering no. Captains 
 Elijah Avery, Amos Stanton, and John Williams carried the 
 answer which was their own death-warrant. A second sum 
 mons added that if the British were obliged to storm the 
 works they should put martial law in full force. Captain 
 Shapley carried the reply, " We shall not give up the fort to 
 them be the consequences what they may." The magnificent 
 obstinacy of these men is amazing. True, they believed in 
 their countrymen and knew that a few hours might bring 
 overwhelming forces to their support. But the assault was 
 imminent in five minutes. The speculator in the game of 
 war, the theorist, might have told them that against 600 vet 
 eran soldiers, on such ground of advantageous approach, their 
 cause was hopeless. I am aware that veteran troops know 
 when to run and rally and when to surrender. But these 
 consecrated men were set apart for a noble purpose. They 
 might have run away at sight of the enemy s numbers or have 
 surrendered at the summons, and the world could scarcely 
 have blamed them. But had they done so there would have 
 been no monument here. To die, then and there, as they did, 
 was to sound a trumpet to all America, and write a lesson for 
 the centuries. 
 
 Colonel Eyre put both regiments in motion, advancing in 
 solid column, Sergeant Avery says. There was a moment of 
 suspense. When they reached open, level ground, Ledyard 
 gave the word and an eighteen pounder, double shotted with 
 grape, cleared a wide space. The British broke into a scat 
 tered skirmishing order, and advanced at the double quick, 
 bearing away to the southern and western sides of the fort. 
 Every man of the desperate little garrison worked at will and 
 with a will. The British were tried veterans. Colonel Eyre 
 fell seriously wounded. Major Montgomery took the 4Oth 
 around to the north until they came eastward of the redoubt 
 
358 Battle of Grot on Heights. 
 
 east of the fort, and entered it from the further side. Thence 
 they emerged, charging upon the fort, but scattering along 
 the east and north fronts. Fort Griswold was surrounded by 
 near 600 old soldiers, watching every head that rose above the 
 parapet to load a gun or fire a musket. Major Montgomery 
 valiantly led his men to the ditch, and was entering the work 
 when he fell dead, thrust through with a spear. The fight 
 aged furiously. Said Lieutenant Avery to his son of seven 
 teen years, " Tom, my son, do your duty." " Never fear, 
 father," said the hoy, and fell. " Tis a good cause," said the 
 father, as he proceeded with his duty. Montgomery s men 
 rushed to avenge him. A soldier broke open the gate and 
 was shot dead. On every side, four or five to one, the enemy 
 were breaking the pickets down, shooting the defenders, 
 clambering up the wall. There was no time to load, and our 
 men dashed, down solid shot upon their heads. The flag had 
 been shot down and the enemy cheered it as a surrender. It 
 was raised again. They swarmed into the northeast bastion 
 They broke down the gate. The day was lost. Colonel Led 
 yard ordered his men to throw down their arms and shouted 
 a surrender. The enemy continued to fire from the parapet 
 upon all, armed or unarmed, well or wounded, and advanced 
 toward the southwest bastion, where for a few moments 
 Shapley and his friends were ignorant of the surrender. 
 They were torn by a discharge from one of our cannon ; they 
 were beaten down ; they surrendered. Eyre s men came 
 swarming in over the southwest bastion. As Montgomery s 
 4Oth came in on the north, Colonel Ledyard advanced to 
 meet Major Bromfield who now led them. " Who commands 
 this fort ? " " I did, but you do now," said Ledyard, ex 
 tending his sword. In a moment Ledyard lay dead, thrust 
 through and through. See his vestments and the cruel rent 
 therein, here to witness to this day ! From that moment a 
 new horror came down on the field, a black cloud of awful 
 shame and crime. Honorable warfare fled and hell reigned. 
 Sergeant Avery was three times wounded with a bayonet. 
 Captain William Seymour, a volunteer from Hartford, nephew 
 of Ledyard, bearing a shattered knee, received thirteen bay- 
 
Centennial. 359 
 
 onet wounds. Insane men fired into the wounded sheltered 
 in the magazine. Bromfield cried, " Stop, or you 11 send us 
 all to hell." Ensign Woodmancy was gashed with a cutlass 
 as he lay wounded on the ground partly sheltered by a plat 
 form. Lieutenant Parke Avery lost an eye, had some of his 
 brains torn out, and was bayoneted as he lay bleeding. A 
 British officer ran from side to side crying, " Stop, stop, in 
 the name of Heaven, stop. My soul can t bear it." 
 
 The slaughter ceased. Not more than thirty of the garri 
 son were hurt before the enemy reached the crest of the par 
 apet. Eighty-five of the garrison were now dead. They and 
 the wounded were alike stripped until they were nearly naked. 
 Thirty-five, more or less dangerously wounded, were paroled. 
 The remaining thirty-five, mostly wounded, were carried away 
 as prisoners. The killed and wounded must have been 140 
 of the 155. But the loss was not upon one side. The 
 brave patriots inflicted heavy losses before the fort was en 
 tered, and when hope vanished many of them renewed the 
 fight with a wild and desperate valor. Arnold officially re 
 ported 196 killed and wounded. If twenty-five of these suf 
 fered in his division, the British loss in Groton must have 
 been 170, that is thirty more than the American loss and 
 fifteen more than the total of our garrison. The enemy 
 burned nineteen buildings at Groton in the afternoon. They 
 shamefully treated, grossly neglected, or most rudely handled 
 our wounded. I spare you the authentic recorded details of 
 the barbarities that followed the cessation of actual slaughter. 
 Your laborious and conscientious historians, Miss Caulkins 
 and William W. Harris, have left nothing to be gleaned locally 
 and but little from any source. 
 
 I leave open the question who killed Ledyard, though I 
 think the foul crime is chargeable to Bromfield. I care little 
 to discuss it. Some of the British officers knew the guilty 
 man. They did not punish him even by the shame of pub 
 licity. Let them then share the dishonor. 
 
 The two great nations are friends. Their common lan 
 guage, laws, history, religion, and civilization compel them to 
 march abreast in the world s work. The common fame and 
 
360 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 power of the English-speaking people grows and spreads a 
 wider sway from year to year. Ebenezer Ledyard, brother of 
 the immortal colonel, was taken prisoner, as a hostage, to New 
 York. He fell under the care, finally, of Sir Guy Carleton, 
 successor of Sir Henry Clinton. To a son, born six years 
 after, he gave the name Guy Carleton. If a Ledyard could 
 thus grasp hands, we all can meet with the "courtesy that 
 befits ancient foes turned friends." 
 
 No : we come here with no mouldy griefs nor revenges. 
 We are here to worship courage, honor freedom ; to salute 
 the names of the glorious dead of our State and blood and 
 faith, who set this example before the generations of fresh, 
 opened-eyed lads, who are to have the defence of a land of 
 immeasurable greatness. 
 
 See the illustrious roll. Fourteen of the dead and three of 
 the wounded bore the title of captain. Eleven bore the name 
 of Avery, six the name of Perkins. Daniel Williams, of Say- 
 brook, died there at the age of fifteen ; Thomas Avery at six 
 teen ; Belton Allyn at seventeen ; Thomas Starr, Jr., at eight 
 een ; E. Perkins at sixty-four ; Thomas Williams at sixty; and 
 James Comstock at seventy-five. It is averred that sixty of 
 the dead and wounded were members of the Congregational 
 churches of Groton and New London. 
 
 I congratulate you of these beautiful and now peaceful 
 towns upon your remembrance of this day. I congratulate 
 many of you upon the names you bear and the ancestry of 
 whom you are proud. We join in reverential salute to the 
 dead, in the New England spirit that placed upon yonder col 
 umn " Zebulon and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded 
 their lives unto the death in the high places of the field." 
 
 After the singing of " America," General W. T. Sherman 
 rose in response to a unanimous call, the whole audience ris 
 ing to cheer him as he stepped to the front. 
 
 He asked to be excused from attempting a speech, as he 
 came to enjoy the occasion ; but " as I do not see any re 
 porters about I will say a few words." 
 
 Alluding to the orator s claiming him as almost a Connect- 
 
Centennial. 36 1 
 
 icut man he acknowledged he might have been a citizen of 
 old Connecticut but for General Tryon and the British army, 
 who in their raid on Norwalk burned the property of General 
 Sherman s grandfather at Norwalk, for which, in the settle 
 ment succeeding the war, he was given with others a tract of 
 land, a part of that which Connecticut claimed in the Western 
 Reserve, which he visited in 1803, and led to his father s 
 emigration in 1809. Thus it was that the Shermans were 
 transplanted to Ohio. There they had to subdue nature and 
 the Indians, as they had in Connecticut when she had exter 
 minated the Pequots and appropriated their lands, and made 
 no bones of it, in which she was right. The Pequots did not 
 deserve it ; a few hundreds were occupying the land now filled 
 with thousands of prosperous farms, and hundreds of cities, 
 towns, and villages with their increased population of better 
 people. The Indian must make room for the white man, move 
 away ahead of him, or learn his ways and settle down beside 
 him, else a war of extermination must follow. Ohio was the 
 hunting-ground of similar savages, and he wished some rev 
 erend gentlemen would tell him whether it was better that it 
 should have been left to such purposes rather than be made 
 the home of 3,000,000 people as good as those in Connecticut. 
 This mock philanthropy that would let Indians destroy our 
 white settlers and spare them from the sword when they are 
 murdering our race, I do not believe in. 
 
 He recalled the treacherous murder of General Canby by 
 the Modocs, and said that Canby was the equal in patriotism 
 and soldierly qualities of Ledyard, whose massacre this day 
 commemorates. Then came the massacre of Custer and his 
 troops, not a soul left to tell the tale, yet his men were as 
 brave as the defenders of Fort Griswold ; and lastly, the recent 
 attack on General Carr and his men. They should not be 
 petted, but punished for their murders of our soldiers. Fi 
 nally, the people of Connecticut should remember above all 
 things when you criticise sharply and flippantly the Indian 
 policy of the nation, and condemn the army, that it was you 
 who first set the example for the Indian policy now pursued, 
 when you drove out the Pequots from these very lands almost 
 
362 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 250 years ago. General Hawley has justly praised Connect! 
 cut so highly to-day that I venture one word of caution. Let 
 us never forget that we are not only States but one Nation, 
 and let our chief pride be of our whole country rather than of 
 our native State ! ! ! 
 
 In response to the popular summons, Hon. John T. Wait, 
 M. C., spoke as follows : 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Fellow-Citizens : The ground on which 
 we stand is sacred. A hundred years ago it was reddened 
 with the blood of as brave a body of noble men as ever gave 
 their lives in defence of their firesides and their native land. 
 In the early years of the century that is now concluded, it has 
 again and again been hallowed by the tears of the widows and 
 orphans of the illustrious dead, whose patriotism and valor 
 we have this day assembled to honor. 
 
 The tens of thousands of the people of this land, who have 
 gathered here to-day, emphatically declare by their presence 
 that the memory of the men, who took part in the bloody 
 contest on these Heights a hundred years ago, will ever be 
 cherished. 
 
 It was not solely in this one fierce conflict on Groton 
 Heights that the people of Connecticut showed their patriot 
 ism, and their fixed determination to continue the struggle 
 until this and the other colonies were free and independent 
 of the British crown. As early as June, 1776 the General 
 Assembly of this Colony pronounced for independence, and 
 instructed the delegates in Congress from Connecticut to 
 urge that body to declare that the American Colonies were 
 absolved from all allegiance to the king of Great Britain. 
 
 As soon as the tidings of the engagement at Lexington 
 reached Governor Trumbull, he pushed on troops under the 
 command of the brave old Israel Putnam, to aid in the relief 
 of Boston, until more than three thousand Connecticut sol 
 diers, armed, officered, and drilled, stood shoulder to shoulder 
 with the men of Massachusetts on Bunker Hill. 
 
 When the city of New York was threatened by the British 
 troops and fleet, Governor Trumbull again called upon the pa- 
 
Centennial. 363 
 
 triotic sons of Connecticut to rally under the colonial banner, 
 and march to join the army that was stationed near that city. 
 The flower of our youth nobly responded to the call, and nine 
 regiments were at once organized and led to the defence of 
 the sister colony. Up to that time Connecticut could boast 
 that she had furnished and kept in the field full one half the 
 army commanded by Washington. 
 
 Well may the people of Connecticut be proud of the part 
 which our gallant little State took in the War of the Revolu 
 tion. Her history during that protracted and terrible struggle 
 is a history of patriotic and brilliant incidents and heroic 
 achievements. At no time during that war could this Colony 
 number over forty thousand fighting men ; but she mustered, 
 equipped, and put in the ranks of the continental army, in 
 the seven years struggle, nearly thirty-two thousand efficient 
 soldiers. Massachusetts alone, of all the colonies, sent more 
 troops into the field. 
 
 Then Connecticut, at the opening of the Revolutionary 
 struggle, occupied a conspicuous position in the line of sister 
 colonies, for only she enjoyed the advantage of having a chief 
 magistrate who did not hold his place by direct appointment 
 of the British king. Upon the admirable judgment, reliable 
 counsel, unswerving patriotism, and efficient assistance of 
 Brother Jonathan of Connecticut, did Washington and Con 
 gress rely in every embarrassing emergency. 
 
 But I will not trespass upon your time in further alluding 
 to those important and interesting events connected with the 
 Revolutionary struggle. They have already been admirably 
 described in eloquent language by the distinguished speaker 
 who has preceded me, and by the eminent statesman who 
 addressed you one year ago. 
 
 The valor, the patriotism, and the heroic deeds of the men, 
 who, under the lead of the martyr Ledyard, fell on this ground 
 a hundred years ago in defence of their families and their 
 liberties, are uppermost in every mind to-day. The circling 
 years of the past century bring with them, for these men, no 
 cessation of our gratitude and our love. On these Heights, 
 made sacred by the blood of those who suffered martyrdom. 
 
364 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 in order that their children s children, in one unending line, 
 might enjoy the blessings of liberty and the right of self-gov 
 ernment, the sons and daughters of these patriot dead have 
 gathered to commemorate the glorious self-sacrifice that here 
 was offered up ; to show their respect and affection for the 
 memory and valor of their fathers ; and to pledge themselves 
 anew to the preservation of those principles and institutions 
 for the sake of which these lives were freely given. On the 
 very ground where we now stand were shown that chivalrous 
 courage and heroic spirit which have made the ruins of old 
 Fort Griswold a sacred shrine, and the record of which has 
 been written in characters of living light upon the pages of 
 history. 
 
 As your representative, it became my duty as it was my 
 pleasure and a work of love to introduce in the last Con 
 gress a bill making an appropriation to aid you in the present 
 celebration, and for the repair of the Monument that marks 
 the spot whereon was shown the dauntless bravery and un 
 yielding heroism of that devoted band of Connecticut patri 
 ots, who perished here for liberty and human rights. My ap 
 peals to the committee and members of Congress, effectively 
 sustained, as they were, by the intelligent presentation of 
 their claims for aid made by citizens of Groton and New Lon 
 don, were favorably received. The committee to which the 
 bill was referred reported in favor of its passage ; it passed 
 the House and Senate by the unanimous action of those 
 bodies, and received at once the approval of the President. 
 
 I fully believe that celebrations like this are of infinite im 
 portance to the State. They bring vividly before the minds 
 of all the remembrance of those sacrifices and sufferings by 
 which alone the independence of this great nation was se 
 cured. They kindle anew in every heart the flames of patri 
 otic devotion, and strengthen those impulses and emotions 
 that, in times of danger to the Commonwealth, are its bul 
 warks and defences. The patriotism of the Revolutionary 
 days still lives upon this soil. The sons of the men who here 
 poured out their life-blood and made this spot immortal are 
 worthy of their ancestry. " The fathers need not blush to 
 
Centennial. 365 
 
 own their sons to-day," for the names that shine upon the list 
 of those who perished in the deadly struggle at Fort Griswold 
 were heard at the roll-calls of a thousand camps, in those glo 
 rious armies that gathered from the hill-sides and the valleys 
 to suppress rebellion, preserve the Union, and maintain the 
 h nor of the flag. The wives and mothers of the Revolu 
 tion were not lovelier nor more patriotic than the wives and 
 mothers whose blessings and whose prayers went forth with 
 the loyal and gallant boys, who, from these peaceful homes, 
 passed out into the Union army, many of whom " marched 
 to their death as gayly as to a bridal, and laid down smiling 
 amid the fiery storm." 
 
 While we point with pride to the brilliant record that Con 
 necticut made in the war to shake off the British yoke and win 
 our national independence, may we not point with equal pride 
 to the splendid services rendered by her sons in the deadly 
 strife to save this glorious Union from disruption ? The his 
 toric page glitters with the facts that a Connecticut general 
 with Connecticut regiments opened the battle of Bull Run, 
 and closed it ; and a Connecticut regiment was marshalled in 
 front of the farm-house at Appomattox, when Lee surren 
 dered to a soldier of Connecticut blood. A Connecticut flag 
 first displaced the palmetto upon the soil of South Carolina ; 
 a Connecticut flag was first planted in Mississippi ; a Con 
 necticut flag was first unfurled before New Orleans ; " and 
 the deeds of daring and devotion, exhibited by Connecticut 
 troops on many a bloody battle-field, won for them imperish 
 able renown. 
 
 And now that those days of trial and of bloodshed have 
 passed away, the same devotion to principle, the same love 
 of justice and of right, which filled the hearts of our fathers 
 yet fill our own, and on these hill-sides and these fertile fields 
 around us still lives a people who are ever ready to respond 
 to the calls of duty, and whose pride it will be to see that the 
 principles and institutions, for which they and their fathers 
 have made such costly sacrifices, are not imperilled, but trans 
 mitted unimpaired to posterity as the choicest and richest 
 legacy which they can bequeath. 
 
366 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 The authorities who had called the two last speakers now 
 demanded the Rev. Leonard W. Bacon, of Norwich, who read 
 the following poem : 
 
 THE LAY OF GROTON HEIGHT. 
 
 BY LEONARD WOOLSEY BACON. 
 
 The word went forth from the throne : 1 
 
 "Desolate! desolate ! 
 Smite, burn, destroy, till their woes shall atone 
 
 For the woe and shame of the State ! 
 They have shamed the arms of their king ; 
 They have flouted the terms we bring ; 
 High time that vengeance should have full swing 
 Over small and great. 
 
 " Reap down their crops with your swords 1 
 
 Harry ! ravage ! 
 Hound on the rage of your hireling hordes, 
 
 Hessian and savage ! 
 Of our grace -we have offered them oft 
 
 Fair terms of submission ; 
 They have scorned our words and scoffed 
 
 At reserve and condition. 
 They are reaching out hands to France ; 
 They welcome our foes advance ; 
 Go, Clinton, dance those rebels a dance 
 To perdition" 
 
 So the blaze of Fairfield flushed the sky ; 
 
 New Haven s smoke went rolling high ; 
 
 Far Norwalk cried with a bitter cry ; 
 And the sons of the Puritan pioneers 
 Saw the toil and thrift of a hundred years 
 
 Spoiled in an hour. 
 
 An answering flame 
 Blazed back from patriot hearts and true, 
 
 1 That the scenes of destruction and pillage which ended at New London and 
 Groton were in pursuance of a deliberate policy is seen in the proclamation to the 
 colonies in 1778, and the instructions of Lord George Germain to Sir Henry 
 Clinton in 1779. "Keep the coasts of the enemy constantly alarmed. Destroy 
 their ships and magazines," &.C. c. L. W. B. 
 
Centennial. 367 
 
 And scorched with a terrible wrath and shame 
 The tory and traitor crew. 
 
 The Governor s face grew sad, 
 In his store on Lebanon hill, 
 He reckoned the men he had ; 
 He counted the forts to fill ; 
 He traced on the map the ground 
 
 By river, and harbor, and coast, 
 " Ah, where shall the men and the guns be found 
 Lest the State be lost ? " 
 
 The brave State s sons were gone ; 
 
 On many a field they lay ; 
 They were following Washington, 
 
 Afar down Yorktown way ; 
 The men and the weapons failed, 
 
 They were gone with our free good-will ; 
 But Jonathan Trumbull never quailed, 
 
 In his store on Lebanon hill. 
 
 There was New London fort, 
 
 And the fort on Groton Height, 
 And the rich and crowded port ; 
 
 But where were the men to fight ? 
 Might it not be we had erred 
 
 To care for our homes so ill ? 
 Nay, never a word of such grudge was heard 
 On Lebanon hill. 
 
 Remember, citizens, and 
 
 If ever the ill thought comes 
 To reck less of the broad, great land, 
 And more of your own small homes, 
 Think of your fathers dust ; 
 
 Think of their brave good-will, 
 And the Puritan Governor s toil and trust 
 On Lebanon hill. 
 
 Well, at last drew on the day, 
 Dark with ill omen, 
 
368 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Off the mouth of the bay 
 Flapping their wings in the gray, 
 Like carrion birds they lay 
 
 The ships of the foeman. 
 " To talk of defence were wild ; 
 
 We are plundered, burned, beaten, defiled, 
 They spare not the old, nor the sick, nor the child, 
 Nor the woman ! " 
 
 Not so spake Ledyard, brave soul, 
 
 Our noble commander. 
 O History, point, on your roll, 
 
 To a nobler or grander ! 
 He stepped from his farm-house door, 
 A hero like those of yore. 
 Oh ! fair was the look of grace that he wore 
 And of candor ! 
 
 Now briskly he spoke to his troops : 
 
 Not a sigh, not a frown ; 
 No thought or of fears or of hopes, 
 
 But of honor and duty alone ; 
 No question of gain or loss. 
 Only Home and the Righteous Cause. 
 So he signalled the handful of gunners across 
 From the battery under the town. 
 
 Few, few, in the big redoubt, 
 
 The sons of the Puritans stood, 
 And over the parapet-wall looked out 
 
 Beyond the fringe of the wood ; 
 Saw the enemy s blood-red lines uncoil 
 And wind out snake-like over the soil ; 
 
 Heard the shrill fifes, piping scorn ; 
 
 Saw the steel flash back the morn, 
 And the cruel cross before them borne 
 The cross in a field of blood ; 
 
 Looked townward over the bay ; 
 
 Along the country-roads 
 Saw women and children running away 
 With bits of their household goods ; 
 
Centennial. 369 
 
 Saw the red-coats and Hessians 
 
 Dragging through dust and mire 
 The spoil of their poor possessions ; 
 
 And at last they saw the fire! 
 
 And the Colonel, with glass in hand, 
 
 Saw the hatefulest sight of all : 
 As the burying-ground he scanned, 
 
 High over its terrace-wall, 
 He saw that nameless traitor stand 
 On the VVinthrops tomb, 1 to give command 
 For the deeds that his own black heart had planned 
 Jn its bitterness and gall. 
 
 Did the stones stir under his tread? 
 Did a cry break forth from the dead ? 
 
 Did the Winthrops dust rise up, 
 To fling that sacrilege off the bed, 
 
 Where it slept in a Christian s hope ? 
 
 Was it a voice from the tomb ? 
 
 Was it these scenes of his youth 
 That clouded that shameless brow with gloom ? 
 
 That softened his heart to ruth ? 
 What moved the mind of the nameless wretch, 
 To send his orders across to fetch 
 The regiments back ? 
 
 In sooth 
 T was too late. The terrible fight 
 
 Had been fought and lost 
 The brave, brave fight for the Right, 
 Here upon Groton Height. 
 And O the cost ! 
 
 Men came from the smouldering town ; 
 From the woods and the hills came down, 
 
 When the enemy had crossed ; 
 And here, in the autumn weather, 
 Lay the dead all tumbled together, 
 
 1 The tradition of Arnold s standing during the fight on the tomb of the Win 
 throps is demonstrably unhistorical, but not therefore unpoetical. 
 
 24 
 
37 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Stripped and mangled and tossed. 
 The gray-haired men and the boys were seen 
 Where they poured their blood on the trampled green, 
 And quenched the train to the magazine. 
 
 And mid the dead hush, faint groans 
 Were heard from far down the road, 
 Groans of strong men in anguish, 
 Where the horrible wagon-load, 
 Heaped with wounds and with broken bones, 
 Had been plunged down over the pitiless stones, 
 And they brutally left our gallant ones 
 To languish. 
 
 Two-score widows of Groton town 
 Walked mid the corpses up and down ; 
 Turned the dead faces up to the light, 
 Calling, calling into the night ; 
 Listening for word or voice 
 From husband, or father, or boys ; 
 
 Waiting, speaking, 
 Questioning, seeking 
 Over the torn sod, reeking 
 
 With the blood of Groton Height. 
 
 And there by the sally-port, 
 Where the foe had entered the fort, 
 Lay Ledyard, gallant knight, 
 His bosom gored 
 By his own brave sword, 
 And his hero-blood on the ground outpoured 
 For the Right. 
 
 When the Doxology, " Praise God from whom all blessings 
 flow," was sung, with almost the fervor and enthusiasm of the 
 old war days, the vast throng began to scatter, many to their 
 homes, but others to New London, to witness the military 
 parade and the review by General Sherman, at the Court 
 House. 
 
 The line was formed on State Street, and marched through 
 some of the principal streets in the following order : 
 
Centennial. 371 
 
 Carriages containing General William T. Sherman ; Colonel Dodge, 
 Chief of Staff ; Admiral C. R. P. Rodgers, and the 
 
 Hon. Augustus Brandegee. 
 Carriage with His Excellency Governor Hobart B. Bigelow, Adjutant 
 
 General Harmon, and the 
 Hon. Benjamin Stark, Chairman of the 
 
 Reception Committee. 
 Carriage with ex-Lieutenant Governor Loomis and Ex-Governor 
 
 Rice, of Massachusetts. 
 
 Carriages with Quartermaster General Harbison, Paymaster Gen 
 eral Clapp, Colonels Stowbridge and 
 
 Russell, aids. 
 
 Carriage with Surgeon General Gregory, Colonels Rudd and Bar 
 rows, aids, and Mayor Buckley, of Hartford. 
 
 Platoon of Police. 
 
 Chief Marshal, Col. J. W. Barlow, U. S. A. ; Assistant Marshals, 
 
 Captain John Bishop, Jr., Major W. H. H. Comstock, 
 
 Major Edward W. Bacon, Thomas A. Miner, 
 
 Frederick Gallup. 
 
 Aids, Lieutenant Charles Chancy, Lieutenant Christoper C. Miner, 
 
 Lieutenant Hamilton Perkins. 
 
 Band U. S. Ship Tennessee. 
 
 Regulars from Fort Trumbull, Lieutenant Van Ness. 
 Battalion of Sailors and Marines under command of Lieutenant 
 
 Commander Horace E. Elmer, Colonel of Battalion. 
 Lieutenant Commander Derby, Major Lieutenant Commander 
 
 Washburn Maynard, Colonel. 
 
 First Company of Marine Corps, Captain Mills. 
 
 Second Company, Captain Robinson. 
 
 Third Company, Captain Gibson. 
 
 First Company of Sailors, Lieutenant Haddon. 
 
 Second Company, Lieutenant Turner. 
 
 Third Company, Lieutenant Green. 
 
 Fourth Company, Lieutenant Galloway. 
 
 Brigadier General Stephen R. Smith, commanding Connecticut 
 
 National Guard, and Staff. 
 
 Third Regiment Band of New London. 
 
 Third Regiment C. N. G., Colonel Wm. H. Tubbs. 
 
 Colt s Band of Hartford. 
 
 First Regiment C. N. G., Colonel Lucius A. Barbour. 
 American Band of New Haven, Buglers and Drum Corps of Second 
 
 Regiment. 
 
372 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Second Regiment C. N. G., Colonel Chas. P. Graham. 
 Wheeler and Wilson Band of Bridgeport, and Fourth Regiment 
 
 Drum Corps. 
 Fourth Regiment C. N. G., Colonel Geo. S. Crofut. 
 
 National Band of Providence. 
 
 Providence Veteran Association. 
 
 Moodus Drum Corps. 
 
 Perkins Post G. A. R. 
 
 The procession was a magnificent display of the pomp and 
 panoply of war, presenting as it did the varied and strongly 
 contrasting features of a military and naval shore review. 
 The marines of the fleet took their position in the van, the 
 guard of the flag-ship holding the right of the line, a fine, 
 handsome company, bravely set off with their dark blue sur- 
 touts, glittering epaulettes, and bright orange facings, their 
 countenances florid with the breath of the sea-god, and their 
 keen eyes glancing beneath the visors of their showy Von 
 Moltke helmets. The guards from the other ships wore a 
 similar uniform, except the helmet, having in its stead the old 
 dress chapeau with pompon, shield, and horizontal visor, not 
 less imposing, and, perhaps to the military critic, adding to 
 the tout-ensemble of the soldier. Nothing could be more 
 perfect than the discipline of these gallant soldiers of the sea, 
 whose every movement in the manual of arms was executed 
 with a precision that Upton never dreamed of; and the firm, 
 steady tread, erect bearing, and square alignment, had little 
 to suggest the proverbial roll of the man-o -war s-man. The 
 marines were greeted with acclamations throughout the whole 
 length of the line of march, and well they merited the plaud 
 its, for a finer body of men need not be desired to represent 
 the power and prestige of Columbia in foreign waters. Nor 
 were the jolly blue jackets behind in their role (no pun in 
 tended), for they showed the effects of thorough training, and 
 that machine-like precision which shed a lustre on the Amer 
 ican navy in the days that tried men s souls. 
 
 The Connecticut State troops, after the arduous duties of 
 the day, came to the review with unflagging zeal. Their 
 marching was excellent, and their evolutions, particularly the 
 
Centennial. 373 
 
 wheels, could not be made more mathematically precise. The 
 boys marched with a free, elastic step, and showed the amount 
 of latent fire that the enthusiastic recollections of their coun 
 try s glory could bring to the surface. The review was indeed 
 an appropriate and brilliant finale to a glorious day, and will 
 mark another era in the history of the city by the sea. 
 
 In the evening Groton Heights were ablaze with rockets, 
 mines, bombs, and other pyrotechnic displays, while from a 
 platform on the river opposite the city other fireworks seemed 
 to rise out of the ripples, and vie with the display from the 
 squadron at anchor in the lower harbor. 
 
 When the last rocket had sent down its stick, those of the 
 crowd who could left by the late trains, while the citizens 
 sought homes, in which the owners quite generally slept on 
 the floor, all semblances of beds being given up to the visit 
 ors from far and near, whose kinship or friendship made them 
 welcome guests, whose entertainment was a pleasure. 
 
 SEPTEMBER 7, 1881. 
 
 This day, in opposition to the last, was clear and hot, gen 
 erally dubbed " a scorcher." 
 
 The crowds of the day before were gone ; where there were 
 thousands now hardly hundreds, who in a leisurely manner 
 visited the historic points in New London, as marked by the 
 Historical Committee, and as noon approached began to col 
 lect on the Groton side of the river, where, at fifteen minutes 
 before twelve, a procession was formed, and moved in the fol 
 lowing order : 
 
 Chief Marshal Col. J. W. Barlow, U. S. A. 
 
 Assistants. 
 Mystic Band, twenty-two pieces. William Taylor, leader. 
 
 Moodus Drum Corps, thirteen pieces. 
 
 Palestine Commandery, New London, fifty men. Eminent Com 
 mander Philo B. Hovey, Generalissimo William H. Bentley, 
 Captain General William H. Tubbs, Prelate Fred 
 
 W. Smith. 
 
 Tubbs Band, Norwich. 
 
 Columbian Commandery No. 4, Norwich, fifty men, Eminent Com 
 mander N. D. Sevin, Generalissimo Costello Lippitt, 
 
374 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Captain General A. D. Smith, Prelate 
 
 John J. Keigwin. 
 
 Palmyra Encampment, Uniform Patriarchs, Norwich, forty men, 
 
 Captain John Steiner, Lieutenants Stephen D. Moore, 
 
 A. F. Moore. 
 
 The line was formed on Thames Street, and marched to the 
 flag-staff, up King s Road, up Prospect Street, thence up the 
 road back of the Monument, up Fort Street to the refresh 
 ment tent, where the Masons and Odd Fellows partook of a 
 collation. 
 
 Shortly after two o clock the Commanderies and Odd Fel 
 lows returned to New London, and marched up State to Main 
 Street, up Federal to Huntington, down State, and dismissed. 
 At the court house the procession passed in review before 
 Right Eminent Grand Commander N. J. Welton, of Water- 
 bury ; Acting Deputy Grand Commander Daniel Calkins, of 
 East Lyme ; Acting Grand Generalissimo C. E. Billings, of 
 Hartford ; Grand Captain General A. C. Golding, of Nor- 
 walk ; Acting Grand Prelate J. E. Wilson, of New Jersey ; 
 Grand Senior Warden E. C. Birdseye, of Meriden ; Grand 
 Junior Warden J. F. Vodwarka, of New London ; Acting 
 Grand Treasurer W. H. Bliss, of Hartford ; Grand Recorder 
 John W. Stedman, of Hartford ; Acting Grand Standard 
 Bearer H. F. Russell, of Hartford ; Acting Grand Sword 
 Bearer E. B. Hill, of Keene, New Hampshire ; Acting Grand 
 Warder F. H. Parmelee, of New London, and Past Eminent 
 Commander Wm. B. Thomas, of New London. 
 
 The exercises in the grand pavilion on Groton Heights be 
 gan in the afternoon by an overture in genuine Revolutionary 
 style, from the Moodus Drum Corps, which stirred the people 
 in a way more classical and intellectual music would have 
 failed to equal. The Artillery Band being absent, at the sug 
 gestion of one of the reporters, the audience sang "America," 
 General Hawley leading the song. By that time the band 
 had arrived, and played an elaborate selection. 
 
 Prayer was offered by the Rev. John P. Taylor : " O God of 
 our fathers, our High Tower, and our Deliverer, we bless Thy 
 name for this holy clay. Who arc -ve, strangers on the earth, 
 
Centennial. 375 
 
 that Thou the everlasting King shouldst be mindful of us? 
 We praise Thee for our homes and laws. We adore Thee for 
 our education and history as a commonwealth, for our heroes 
 and martyrs, our Ledyards and our Hales. We magnify Thee 
 that in Thy mercy Thou didst wed, at the dawn and eve of 
 this century, North and South in one common championship 
 of freedom. We glorify Thee for the tender pity of a queen 
 across the seas, and for the sympathy of our dear motherland 
 and all lands in the sufferings of our chief magistrate. What 
 hast Thou not wrought in Thy loving-kindness ? O Lord, our 
 God and our King, speak to us through Thine ambassador 
 this afternoon, we beseech Thee. Thou shield of our excel 
 lency and sword of our strength ! Write truth and courage 
 on the tablets of our hearts. Teach us the breadth and 
 length and depth of a patriotism written in blood ! Save us 
 from that evil spirit which stabs humanity in citizen or in 
 president ! Breathe into us that good spirit which is the 
 spirit of glory, honor, and immortality ! Let this generation 
 tell the generation to come of Thy marvellous acts through 
 men of whom the world was not worthy ! Baptize our fields, 
 our marts, our manufactures, our commerce, our art and sci 
 ence, our courts and press, our army and navy, our schools 
 and churches, with the baptism of brave fidelity to duty and to 
 Thee ! Make our country like Thyself, glorious in holi 
 ness, fearful in praises, doing wonders ! Raise up our ruler 
 from his sickness, our people from their sins, so that we may 
 live in Thy covenant and die with Thy benediction, and render 
 unto Thee, the blessed and only potentate, through riches of 
 grace in Jesus Christ, the greatness and the power and the 
 majesty and the victory forever and ever ! Amen." 
 
 ORATION OF REV. EDWARD EVERETT HALE. 
 
 I am to give you a short account of the short life of Nathan 
 Hale and of his death. I owe this privilege to the accident 
 of birth, of which I gladly avail myself, and will not exceed 
 my privilege. I shall leave it to others, who are around me 
 now, who are far more fit than I am, to study the lessons of 
 that short life of his, and to impress them upon you. 
 
376 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 I do not remember any other occasion, when an assembly 
 so large as this came together, expecting any man to give the 
 biography of a young man who had died more than a cent 
 ury before, when he had hardly attained manhood. It is cer 
 tainly exceptional, that any biographer or eulogist, after a 
 century has passed, should be speaking to thousands of per 
 sons who still take a fresh interest in a career so short, al 
 most all the events of which passed in those early years, when 
 the hero of them was, in the eyes of the law, at least, a boy. 
 But Connecticut would not have been true to her history, nor 
 to the honorable place which it holds in the history of the na 
 tion, had she permitted the series of centennials to pass by 
 without solemnly devoting one day to the memory of this 
 young man. His short life illustrates much which is most 
 striking in that honorable history of hers. Its incidents can 
 not be too carefully remembered, if men would know what 
 the Revolution was, and by what motives it was carried 
 through. And we should begin another century unfitly, if 
 we permitted the first century to close without distinct ref 
 erence to such patriotism and to such sacrifice. 
 
 Nathan Hale was born on the 6th of June, 1755, in Cov 
 entry, hard by us here, a town in which one would be glad, 
 then or now, to have been born. He was born from a mother 
 whom one would have been proud to have been born from, 
 the son of a father whom one would be glad to call father. 
 His early education, in the midst of a large family of brothers 
 and sisters, was the education of that distinctly domestic type, 
 under definite religious direction, which one is tempted to 
 call a New England education, when one speaks of the best 
 custom of those days. It seems to have been simple without 
 austerity, religious without terror ; it looked forward to the 
 best, and upward to the noblest ; and there was no service to 
 man or God to which the boy trained in such influences of 
 home, neighborhood, and Church, might not aspire. With 
 his brother Enoch, scarcely a year older than he, Nathan Hale 
 entered Yale College when he was fourteen years old, hav 
 ing in view, perhaps, even then, the profession of a minister, 
 which he certainly had in view afterward. He thus hoped to 
 enter the service both of God and of man. 
 
Centennial. 377 
 
 Before I go further, may I say one word on the visible 
 effect of such distinctly religious training, as given in these 
 old Puritan congregations of New England, in the political 
 struggle of all that time ? No man understands the political 
 history of the Revolution, who does not remember what for a 
 century and a half had been the religious and ecclesiastical 
 history of these New Englanders. 
 
 They went into the contest with such confidence in their 
 own local governments, and in their sufficiency to combine 
 with others like themselves, that, really, single towns declared 
 war, separately, against George III., the most powerful mon 
 arch of his time. Where did such towns learn that lesson of 
 self-reliance ? How did they learn with it the other lesson 
 equally important, that, when a great occasion should arise, 
 such separate communities would stand together, shoulder to 
 shoulder, as if they had been united in the most absolute po 
 litical order? Why, that was simply the lesson which the 
 Congregational Order had been teaching them from the be 
 ginning ! In that order, every church is absolutely separate 
 for its own affairs, while it finds no difficulty in uniting, in 
 absolute unity, with its sister churches against the common 
 enemy of mankind. A hundred and fifty years had been 
 teaching that double lesson to the serious citizens of the Con 
 necticut congregations. Well, that is the central lesson of 
 the civil liberty of to-day, the lesson of local independence 
 for local purposes, and of vital organic unity for all national 
 purposes. It is that double lesson which gives the life and 
 force to every constitution of government which the last 
 century has called into being. I do not care where you find 
 such a constitution. It may be the freshly torn parchment 
 of Bulgaria ; it may be the latest constitution of poor Spain : 
 in it, you would find this effort to harmonize local indepen 
 dence and national unity, which first took form successfully 
 when men united the independent congregations of NewEng 
 land in the unity of spirit in a Congregational order. When 
 these men had States to construct, they had their old ex 
 amples and successes in the Church to guide them. 
 
 It is well remembered, among our New London friends 
 
378 
 
 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 here, that when young Hale addressed the town-meeting just 
 after the battle of Lexington, with the audacity of boyhood, 
 - for he was not yet twenty years old, he cried, " Let us 
 never lay down our arms till we have achieved our indepen 
 dence." The late Mr. Marvin, then a child, sat upon his 
 father s knee, and turned and asked his father what the word 
 " independence " meant. What did Hale mean by it ? Where 
 had he learned the word ? He had learned it in the history 
 of the New England churches. It is those churches which gave 
 the very word to the English language. You will not find it in 
 
 UNION SCHOOL-HOUSE, 1774. 
 
 Shakspere. You will not find it in Spenser. You will find it 
 only as applied to the religious organizations of Englishmen, if 
 you find it in Lord Bacon. The " Independents," who crossed 
 to Holland under Robinson and under Bradford, landed at 
 Plymouth ; the men who had organized their infant congrega 
 tions under Brown and Robinson, the men who had crossed 
 to Holland, and under Winslow and Bradford and Brewster 
 had landed at Plymouth, were the men who gave to your lan 
 guage that word, now so august in your history. And it was 
 
Centennial. 379 
 
 to an audience who remembered that history that Hale, who 
 remembered it too, used the word in that bold prophecy of 
 the beginning. He spoke that word in April, 1775. This is 
 before the date of the controverted Mecklenburg resolutions. 
 I am surrounded on this platform by those who know better 
 than I do. Let me ask them if there is on record any pub 
 lic demand for " independency " earlier than this bold pro 
 posal of the boy Nathan Hale ? 
 
 The building in which the Union School was kept by Hale 
 is still standing. It had been recently built by the proprie 
 tors, who had obtained incorporation, after Hale became the 
 preceptor of the schools, in October, 1774. There are many 
 persons before me who have heard their fathers and mothers 
 tell of the spirit with which Hale taught. The regular school 
 was of thirty-two boys, "about half of whom were Latiners, 
 and all but one of the rest were writers." In addition to this, 
 he kept for young ladies, through the summer from five to 
 seven every morning, another school, which was attended by 
 about twenty scholars. The rising of the sun would seem to 
 have been on a different calendar from ours, or the habits 
 of the young people. His school-house was very convenient, 
 he writes. You have seen it, and can judge. He was a 
 favorite in society. Handsome, athletic, frank, wide-awake in 
 the great popular questions which excited society, and true 
 to the old creed of every Connecticut man, independence 
 in religion and independence in government, he endeared 
 himself to young and old. He had, in the farewell exercises 
 at New Haven, discussed the question whether the education 
 of daughters be not more neglected than that of sons. Here, 
 in New London, he was in a high way to reform that error, if 
 error there were. He began to contemplate seriously making 
 the teaching of the young his profession for life, and New 
 London his home. Had he done so, you and I might have 
 seen and talked with this delightful old man. We might have 
 heard him tell of this and that abortive effort for freedom 
 which failed, because the sons of Connecticut stayed at home 
 or left it to bounty-jumpers to fight their battles. But, thank 
 God ! his was another destiny, and this was not to be. 
 
380 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 At that time Hale was not two years out of college. In 
 college he had endeared himself to his instructors and to his 
 classmates. His taste for study, and for the best study, was 
 distinctly formed ; and, even in the scanty memorials we 
 have of his short life, it is clear that he was using books, and 
 the best books, thoroughly, carefully, and in every way well. 
 Of that class in Yale College many men gave themselves 
 fully and freely to the country s service. The flower of Yale 
 and of Harvard flung themselves into the army, as they did 
 in these later years of another war for liberty. It is to be 
 obser ved, indeed, by the student of the American Revolution, 
 that, like all great struggles for popular rights, it was a war 
 fought by young men. General Hawley alluded yesterday to 
 the youth of Lafayette, whose one hundred and twenty-fourth 
 birthday that day celebrated. And when he joined the staff 
 of Washington Lafayette found men near his own age. 
 Hamilton, indeed, was younger than he. Washington him 
 self, whom they so venerated as a father, was in his forty- 
 fourth year when the war began. Ward, who was superan 
 nuated as an old man unfit for command, was forty-eight 
 when he was superseded. Knox was but twenty-five when 
 the war began, and many of his companions were not thirty. 
 The young republic needed young blood, and she found it. 
 She was willing to avail herself of the tried wisdom of a 
 Trumbull and a Franklin. She was not afraid to trust the 
 young enthusiasm of a Hamilton and a Hale. 
 
 During all Hale s residence in New London as a teacher, 
 he was; in the eye of the law, an "infant." He was not, 
 therefore, technically a "freeman." But he was enrolled in 
 the militia, and he was profoundly interested in the military 
 discipline which the time required. 1 It is his prominence in 
 the community, as a favorite with the young, which permits 
 one not yet of age to speak at the meeting called after the 
 battle of Lexington. He enrolls himself as a volunteer, 
 writes to Coventry for his father s permission to serve in one 
 of the companies of the new establishment, and having, of 
 
 1 He was a sergeant in The Independent Artillery Co. of New London. 
 
Centennial. 381 
 
 course, received that permission from the sturdy patriot, en 
 lists in Webb s regiment, the Seventh Connecticut, and asks 
 the proprietors of the school to excuse him from future duty. 
 The regiment was one raised by order of the General As 
 sembly that year for home defence, and for the protection of 
 the country at large. In this regiment Hale was first lieu 
 tenant ; and, after the first of September, captain. The com 
 pany consisted of seventy-one men, and was organized before 
 the end of July. The first service was in the neighborhood 
 of New London ; but on the I4th of September it was 
 marched, by Washington s orders, to the camp at Cambridge. 
 
 We have his brief diary of the march of the detachment. 
 It passed by Rehoboth, through Attleborough, Wrentham, 
 Walpole, and Dedham, to Roxbury, where Hale s company 
 encamped on the evening of September 26. They were after 
 ward transferred to Cambridge and Charlestown, and en 
 camped at the foot of Winter Hill. You will remember that 
 when, on the ijth of June, your own General Putnam grimly 
 retired from Bunker Hill, which he had done so much to 
 hold, he said he would be willing to sell another hill to King 
 George at the same price. There was no lack of hills in 
 America. Winter Hill was the next hill ; and here, for most 
 of that winter, Webb s regiment was posted. On the 3Oth 
 of January it was removed to the right wing of the army at 
 Roxbury, under the immediate direction of Ward. In this 
 service it was able to participate in the great enterprise of 
 the occupation of Dorchester Heights, in the work of one 
 night there work which the English officers of the time 
 described as if it had been a work of enchantment which 
 drove the English fleet and army from the harbor of Boston, 
 and, as it proved, from the territory of the United Colonies. 
 For nearly five months afterward no foot of an enemy pressed 
 the soil of States which were determined to be free. 
 
 Hale s account of the way in which his men and he himself 
 spent that autumn and winter is itself an interesting contri 
 bution to one of the most interesting periods of our history. 
 From the city from which those men drove an alien enemy 
 you have asked me, kindly, to come to address you. 
 
382 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 This gives me a right to pause a moment to recognize the 
 solid work done in the siege of Boston by the Connecticut 
 contingent. General Hawley has alluded to the zeal and en 
 ergy of Putnam. In the story of Bunker Hill, the place which 
 Knowlton with his regiment held, the exposed left flank of 
 the American force, proved to be the post of honor as of 
 danger. When Prescott and his men were driven from the 
 redoubt they were received behind Knowlton s force, which 
 preserved its military order, and in military order covered the 
 retreat. Connecticut regiments have had that same thing to 
 do in later wars. What seemed the lethargy of Washington 
 and the American army, in the early summer, was, as we now 
 know, due to their deficiencies in ammunition and in artillery. 
 From the last need they were relieved by the result of the 
 Connecticut conquest of Ticonderoga, so soon as the snow on 
 the Green Mountains became practicable, that the mortars 
 and artillery might be carried across New England to direct 
 their fire upon Boston. 
 
 Of that whole winter, the greatest success was not a feat of 
 arms. It was the success, not to be paralleled, hard to under 
 stand or to believe, by which one army was disbanded and 
 another enlisted, in the face of an enemy of equal, if not su 
 perior, numbers. The besieging army was virtually an army 
 of minute men while the year 1775 lasted. After New Year s 
 Day, in the year 1776, it was an army of men enlisted by 
 the Continent, and enlisted, in most instances, for the war. 
 Every student of our history remembers the intense inter 
 est with which Washington watched over this change of his 
 forces. In Hale s Diary, the student has the chance to follow 
 it in its detail. Take such an entry as this : " Promised the 
 men, if they would tarry another month, they should have my 
 wages for that time." It was, I suppose, a face-to-face dis 
 cussion with almost every private, to induce him to enlist un 
 der the new establishment. This effort ends when, having 
 given his own pay to his men, he borrows from Captain Leav- 
 enworth the money to go home with, giving him an order for 
 his pay to January, and returns to his father s house. He 
 goes home that he may enlist a new company there. One 
 
Centennial. 383 
 
 month of that frank, friendly, loyal zeal of his is enough, and, 
 on the 27th of January, 1776, the boy, not yet of age, arrives, 
 with recruits who enlist for the war and will stand by to the 
 end, at General Ward s headquarters at Roxbury. 
 
 In the great achievement of the fortification of Dorchester 
 Heights, on the 5th of March, which we owe to the military 
 genius of Thomas and Ward and Washington, Male s regi 
 ment seems, as said, to have shared. When the English were 
 fairly on their way to Halifax, Washington foresaw their ef 
 forts to occupy New York, and detached Lee and Heath and 
 most of his army to that city. With this contingent was 
 Webb s regiment, and with that army the rest of young Hale s 
 life was spent. He marched with his regiment, which was 
 one of five who came from Cambridge to this place, and 
 sailed hence to New York. This was in the last week of 
 March. Through the exciting summer which followed he 
 was in active service. Of this service a few letters preserve 
 our chief memorial. The first important duty in which he 
 was engaged was the cutting out of an English sloop laden 
 with supplies, which, though under the guns of the Asia, 
 man-of-war, was not safe from the amphibious seamen -sol 
 diers of Webb s regiment. At the head of a boat-load of men, 
 Hale boarded her at midnight, and brought her in, in triumph, 
 to the pier. Her stores were distributed as clothing and as 
 food in the army. It was the double capacity of these men, 
 trained for either element, which kept this regiment from 
 Thames River in New York. At one time it was put on the 
 list for detachment to Canada. " But the question was asked 
 whether we had many seamen, and the answer being yes, we 
 were erased, and another put down in our place." 
 
 My little story is hastening to its end. But I will not come 
 to that end without saying a word of the work those men did 
 for American liberty, who served it by sea as well as by land. 
 Standing where I stand, in sight of the river from which 
 sailed so many of the American privateersmen, I should but 
 half tell my story if I did not say that word. The truth is 
 that the history of the naval enterprise of the Revolution has 
 never been adequately written out, perhaps cannot be ; and. 
 
384 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 in the general estimate of the Revolution, the effects of that 
 enterprise are not enough regarded. At the time when Hale 
 died, the war with America was universally popular in Eng 
 land. Five years after, the House of Commons voted that 
 they who advised a continuation of the war in America were 
 enemies of their country ; and undoubtedly the House of 
 Commons reflected English opinion. It is my belief, and I 
 think history will show, that the steady change in English 
 opinion in those five years was wrought more by the losses of 
 English merchants on the seas than by the losses of English 
 armies on the land. Even before the French alliance, the 
 annual naval appropriations of Parliament were of necessity 
 larger than those of the army. In the year 1777 alone, only 
 forty English vessels out of two hundred engaged in the Afri 
 can trade escaped the American cruisers. Of the fleet that 
 traded between Ireland and the West Indies, scarcely half 
 escaped. Two hundred and fifty vessels in the West Indian 
 trade, with cargoes amounting to ten million dollars, were 
 captured in a single year. We do not wonder to read that 
 for the insurance of a vessel for a single voyage more than 
 fifty per cent, was paid in England. This war upon the sea 
 was, in practice, carried on by the privateers of Essex County 
 in Massachusetts, and by your own Connecticut seamen here. 
 At the end of the war, the privateer fleet of the port of Salem 
 alone counted twenty-six ships and thirty-three smaller ves 
 sels, which carried four thousand men and twelve hundred 
 and eighty guns. The fleet of New London and of this river 
 was probably as strong until the events which yesterday cele 
 brated. The incursion which resulted in the burning of New 
 London was the vengeance of England against this harbor of 
 her enemies. 1 
 
 Captain Hale s web-footed soldiers were called on all that 
 summer in their double capacity. I have no doubt but they 
 were at work with Glover s Marblehead men all that critical 
 night of the 2gth of August, when the army retreated from 
 
 1 General Hawley, behind the speaker, said, at this moment, that it was 
 on record that eight hundred and three prizes were brought into New 
 London in the course of the war. 
 
Centennial. 385 
 
 Brooklyn to the city of New York ; for McDougal had the 
 charge of the transportation, and Webb s regiment was in 
 McDougal s brigade. A week before, in Hale s last letter to 
 his brother, he describes a spirited attempt made by Sergeant 
 Fosdick, of his own company, and four privates to set fire to 
 the frigate Phoenix. The attempt was made doubtless un 
 der Hale s own orders ; and, though it did not succeed as fully 
 as had been hoped, the men received the thanks and rewards 
 of the General, and the Phoenix and her companion returned 
 to the Narrows. " It is agreed on all hands," Washington 
 writes, " that our people behaved with great resolution and 
 intrepidity." Though the Phoenix escaped, one of her tenders 
 was captured, and four cannon and six swivels were taken 
 from her. 
 
 After the letter describing this gallant affair, we have a few 
 broken notes in Hale s Diary, which closes suddenly with a 
 memorandum of the first skirmishing before the battle of 
 Long Island. After this event, we must trace his short his- 
 t9ry, with no help from his own pen. Through the month of 
 September, Washington is steadily driven further and further 
 up the island. After the battle of Long Island, Knowlton 
 had organized, under his own command, a separate corps of 
 officers and men from New England regiments. This corps 
 is spoken of as Knowlton s Rangers. The officers and men 
 had volunteered for this service, and on the rolls of their own 
 regiments are spoken of as " detached on command." They 
 received their orders directly from Washington and from 
 Putnam, and were of great service in watching the enemy 
 along the Harlem front. In this little corps of one hundred 
 and fifty men, Hale was one of the captains. Stephen Brown 
 and Thomas Grosvenor were two others. They bore off the 
 honors of the battle of Harlem Heights. In that action, 
 Knowlton was killed. " I asked him," said his Captain Brown, 
 " if he was badly wounded. He told me he was ; but says 
 he, I do not value my life, if we do but get the day. When 
 gasping in the agonies of death, all his inquiry was if we had 
 drove the enemy." They did drive the enemy, they did win 
 the day ; and Knowlton gave his life for the victory. The 
 
 25 
 
386 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 spot where he fell can be perfectly identified. It is, I believe, 
 in one of the most picturesque parts of the Central Park. It 
 is of Knowlton that Washington said in General Orders that 
 he was a gallant and brave officer, who would have been an 
 honor to any country. The day will come when some group 
 of bronze in the great Central Park shall bear this inscription 
 in memory of one of Connecticut s noblest sons. 
 
 But where is Hale, as these weeks pass by ? " The gallant 
 and brave Colonel Knowlton, who would have been an honor 
 to any country, having fallen yesterday, while gloriously 
 fighting, Captain Brown is to take command of the party lately 
 led by Colonel Knowlton." These are Washington s words 
 in General Orders the next day. Hale is not wont to be 
 absent from the field of danger. It is another line of duty to 
 which he is called ; and once and again, far away, he hears 
 the shots of distant battles, and wonders whether they are 
 aimed by his foes or by his friends. 
 
 He was on special service ; on difficult service ; service 
 called dishonorable, but service of his country. " We have 
 not been able to obtain the least information," said Washing 
 ton, on the 6th of September, "of the enemy s plans." In sheer 
 despair at the need of better information than the tories.of 
 New York City would give him, the great commander con 
 sulted his council, and at their direction summoned Knowlton 
 to ask for some volunteer of intelligence, who would find his 
 way into the English lines, and bring back some tidings that 
 could be relied upon. Knowlton summoned a number of 
 officers, and stated to them the wishes of their great chief. 
 The appeal was received with dead silence. It is said that 
 Knowlton appealed to a non-commissioned officer, a French 
 man, who was an old soldier. He did so only to receive the 
 natural reply, " I am willing to be shot, but not to be hung." 
 Knowlton felt that he must report his failure to Washington, 
 when the youngest of his captains spoke, and Nathan Hale 
 said, " I will undertake it." He had come late to the meet 
 ing. He was pale with recent sickness. But he saw an op 
 portunity to serve, and did the duty next his hand. 
 
 We have on record from his college classmate, Hull, the 
 
Centennial. 387 
 
 statement which Hale himself made at the moment. Hull 
 says he himself put fairly before Hale the danger of the task 
 and the ignominy attached to it in failure. Hale replied, " I 
 wish to be useful, and every kind of service necessary to the 
 public good becomes honorable by being necessary. If the 
 exigencies of my country demand a peculiar service, its claims 
 to perform that service are imperious." These are the last 
 words which we can report from him till the moment of his 
 death. He promised Hull to take his arguments into con 
 sideration, but Hull never heard from him again. 
 
 In the second week of September, he left the camp for 
 Stamford, with Stephen Hempstead, a sergeant in Webb s 
 regiment, from whom we have the last direct account of his 
 journey. With Hempstead and Ansel Wright, who was his 
 servant in camp, he left his uniform and some other articles 
 of property. He crossed to Long Island in citizen s dress, 
 and, as Hempstead thought, took with him his college di 
 ploma, meaning to assume the aspect of a Connecticut school 
 master visiting New York in the hope to establish himself. 
 He landed near Huntington, or Oyster Bay, and directed the 
 boatman to return for him at a time fixed by him, the 2Oth of 
 September. He made his way into New York, and there, for 
 a week or more apparently, prosecuted his inquiries. He re 
 turned on the day fixed, and awaited his boat. It appeared, 
 as he thought ; and he made a signal from the shore. Alas ! 
 he had mistaken the boat. She was from an English frigate 
 which lay screened by a point of woods, and had come in for 
 water. Hale attempted to retrace his steps, but was too 
 late. 1 
 
 He was ordered to remain, was seized and examined. On 
 
 1 In the rage and distress of the excitement of the time, the rumor 
 spread that Hale was betrayed by a tory kinsman. But the narrative in 
 the text, which is that of Solomon Worden, of Oyster Bay, gives no room 
 for any such treachery ; and I know no evidence for it, beyond " t is 
 said." I know that my father did not believe the story of treachery: I 
 "lo not think his father did. The fact that the disgrace was now attached 
 to one cousin, now to another, shows almost certainly that it belongs to 
 neither. - E. E. H. 
 
388 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 his person were the notes he had taken, written, as it proved, 
 in Latin. They compromised him at once. He was taken 
 on board the frigate, the captain of which expressed his grief 
 that he had to detain so fine a fellow. There was not a day s 
 delay, and Hale was sent back immediately to New York. 
 
 He was at once sent, well guarded, to New York. He 
 landed there when the city was in the terrors of a great con 
 flagration. It was on that 2ist of September, when nearly a 
 quarter of the town was burned down. Nearly five hundred 
 houses were destroyed. In the midst of the confusion and 
 terror, Hale is marched up to Howe s headquarters, and there 
 he meets his doom. 
 
 The trial was short. Hale was not there to prevaricate. 
 Nay, the papers on his person were his condemnation. He 
 was to be hanged the next morning. And only one thing 
 worse can be added to the agony of such a death. He is to 
 be hanged by William Cunningham, provost-marshal of the 
 English army. 
 
 Of the sleepless night which followed, we have little me 
 morial. He wrote to his father and family. Cunningham de 
 stroyed the letters before his eyes. " The rebels shall not 
 know they have a man who can die so bravely." He asked 
 for a Bible : his request was refused. At morning, he is 
 marched out to the gallows. Cunningham, in derision, bids 
 him speak to the people. And Hale turns and says, in words 
 which are immortal, 
 
 " I only regret that I have but one life to give to my coun 
 try." 
 
 The first news Washington receives of the adventure is by 
 the flag of truce, by which Howe sends him special word that 
 his messenger is hanged. 
 
 Thus ends a martyr s life. Hardly three months had 
 passed since he was twenty-one years old. 
 
 It is to be wished that some one had asked Washington, 
 while he lived, what was the special information for which he 
 was willing to detach an officer of such worth, under circum 
 stances so critical. Of that object, no record was made. But 
 it is easy to see how difficult yet how necessary it was, in the 
 
Centennial. 389 
 
 first confusion, the chaos of the retreat from Long Island 
 and the second retreat back on the island of New York, to 
 learn what was the English force, and, if possible, what the 
 purposes of the commander. The news of Hale s death was 
 received by his friends with an agony of distress. It hap 
 pened, five years after, that the whole history was recalled 
 again, when Andre was captured and tried. Major Tall- 
 madge, who had charge of Andr as a prisoner, broke to him 
 his own fate by telling him the story of Hate, which Andre 
 knew only too well. Andre himself alluded to it on his trial. 
 I think Clinton refers to Hale in his note on Andre s case. 
 I think he means to say that Hale s death was Howe s work, 
 not his. " Thou canst not say I did it." 1 From that time to 
 this time, the parallel between these two young men, both 
 brave, both rash, if you please, and both unfortunate, has 
 often been pursued. 
 
 I will not follow it. I am too near in blood and in affection 
 to Hale. I am too far from Andr in training and habit of 
 thought, and in my notion of what is the object of a man s 
 life. This, only, will I say : that, whoever tells Andre s story, 
 as he discusses the end of his life, has to carry the weight of 
 the wretched fact that, in Andre s own letter to his judges, 
 pleading for that life, he makes statements which are untrue, 
 and which he knows are untrue when he makes them. No 
 such difficulty hampers the speaker or the writer who tells the 
 short story of Nathan Hale. 
 
 1 The passage is: "Mr. Washington ought to remember that /had 
 never, in any one instance, punished the disaffected colonists within my 
 power with death, but, on the contrary, had in several shown the most hu 
 mane attention to his intercession, even in favor of avowed spies." Il 
 seems to me that, in this passage, Clinton alludes to Howe. No one has 
 ever complained that Hale s sentence, under the laws of war, was not 
 just. He did not complain himself. It was brutally executed. For this, 
 Howe s excuse must be that a quarter of the city was burning when he 
 pronounced sentence : he was in the flush of success, and doubtless 
 thought the whole matter well-nigh over. Whether a prisoner before him 
 did or did not hold a commission, was or was not in service as a soldier, 
 would be of no consequence when the Rebellion was put down, as he 
 probably thought it would be within a few months time. K. E. H. 
 
390 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 Let me rather close this memorial of one whom I have 
 learned to honor and love, by comparing him with another 
 son of Connecticut, a soldier, and a brave soldier, too, who in 
 that day filled a place far larger than Nathan Hale was called 
 to, but whom, this to-day, every man would be glad if he could 
 forget forever. Benedict Arnold went forth to war at the 
 same summons with Hale. He won early honors and prefer 
 ment, though Dr. Bacon tells me that his honors were always 
 from those who did not know him, and never from Connecti 
 cut herself. No man asks where is his burial-place. No man, 
 after a hundred years, retraces every step of his life, in fond 
 wish to reproduce his history. When he was born, a fond 
 mother gave to him the name of a Christian saint, of one who 
 had been foremost in the triumphs of the church, and, to day, 
 in all the millions of America, there is no man or woman but 
 would as soon call a child by the name of Judas Iscariot as 
 by the name of Benedict. " Who also betrayed her." This 
 is his epitaph. A friend of mine, traveling in the East, met 
 an accomplished Englishman, who joined cordially in the in 
 timacies of travel. But, when the American gave his name 
 to the other, and asked his in return, he hesitated, he begged 
 to be excused. " Indeed, you will be sorry you asked. 
 You will not like me as well as you do now." No, indeed. 
 For the name was the wretched name of Benedict Arnold ! 
 
 It is not to success in battle, it is not to eloquence of 
 speech, it is to prompt self-sacrifice, it is to readiness to die 
 when one s country calls, that the honors of to-day are given. 
 It is to such sacrifice, such loyalty, and such truth that we 
 owe it, that any man may be proud indeed, this day, that he 
 is called upon to say a halting word in memory of NATHAN 
 HALE. 
 
 At the conclusion of Mr. Hale s address, which was received 
 with appreciative applause, the Rev. Leonard Bacon, of New 
 Haven, was introduced by the president. 
 
 The venerable divine spoke briefly. During his remarks 
 he referred to the "acquaintance" spoken of in Nathan 
 Hale s last letter, being, indeed, the lady of his choice, who in 
 
Centennial. 39 1 
 
 her last hours, when the mind reverts to early life, murmured, 
 " Write to Nathan." This lady was a member of the church 
 Dr. Bacon attended in his youth, thus an acquaintance of his. 
 
 After this the Secretary of the Groton Heights Centennial 
 Committee proposed a resolution, " That the Connecticut 
 Legislature be memorialized to appropriate funds for the 
 erection of a statue or monument to Nathan Hale, the mar 
 tyr spy, in the Capitol at Hartford." 
 
 The resolution was unanimously indorsed by the audience, 
 and Senator Joseph R. Hawley, ex-Governors Richard D. 
 Hubbard and Charles R. Ingersoll, Dr. Leonard Bacon, 
 Mayor Robert Coit, and Hon. Thomas M. Waller, were ap 
 pointed a committee to assume charge of the matters relating 
 to the resolution. By request the audience arose and sang 
 the Doxology, with a reverential spirit, and after a benedic 
 tion by the Rev. Thomas L. Shipman the gathering dis 
 persed. 
 
 The celebration was brought to a close by a grand illumi 
 nation of New London, which surpassed anything of the kind 
 ever before attempted in that city. 
 
 The illumination was too general to make individual men 
 tion possible ; each one did what they could, from the one 
 small lantern bought with the hardly saved pennies of the 
 almost pauper child, to the thousand fanciful lanterns and 
 calcium lights of the millionaire. 
 
 From the Parade to the city limits, from Water Street to 
 the Park, the citizens had realized that this was a celebration 
 that would never occur again for them, and improved the 
 opportunity, producing a fairy display to be remembered 
 one s life through. 
 
 The streets were filled till a late hour with pedestrians 
 viewing the different displays. 
 
 Thus ended the Centennial Celebration of the heroism of 
 Groton Heights and the burning of New London. We trust 
 it leaves naught but pleasant memories, and certainly New 
 London and Groton will have reason to congratulate them 
 selves if they ever bring together again so vast a crowd, en 
 tertain it so well, and send it home with so little accident. 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 IN acknowledging the receipt of an invitation to be present on the 
 occasion of the Centennial Celebration at Groton Heights, Mr. Benson 
 J. Lossing wrote as follows to the Invitation Committee : 
 
 THE RIDGK, DOVER PLAINS P. O., DUTCHESS COUNTY, N. Y., | 
 
 August 22, 1881. \ 
 
 GENTLEMEN : Your kind invitation to participate in the celebration of 
 the one hundredth anniversary of the battle of Groton Heights was duly 
 received, and I have delayed a response with the hope that I might be able 
 to accept it, but I regret to say circumstances will deny me the pleasure of 
 such participation. I cordially thank you for the invitation. The occasion 
 is one of such deep interest in its relations to our national history that it 
 should excite the liveliest sympathy of every patriotic American citizen. 
 The battle of Groton Heights, sad and disheartening to the friends of 
 freedom as were its immediate results, proved to be the decisive prelim 
 inary skirmish before the great battle which secured victory to the 
 patriots of Yorktown a few weeks later. Treason and toryism were so 
 conspicuously hateful at New London and Groton on the occasion which 
 you now celebrate, and the savagism of both, directed by the merciless 
 mailed hand of oppression and wrong, committed such cruel outrages, that 
 the great heart of the struggling Americans, at first appalled, received 
 unwonted strength and determination. The horror and indignation 
 awaked -by the crackling flames at New London, and the cries of the vic 
 tims murdered at Fort Griswold sounding in the ears of the patriots 
 before Yorktown, gave strength to their arms, keenness to their blades, 
 sharpness to their bayonets, precision to their bullets, and indomitable 
 energy to their will in the final battle which secured independence to 
 Americans. The events on Groton Heights and at Yorktown are as insep 
 arable as cause and effect. Again thanking you, I remain, gentlemen, 
 Your friend and fellow-citizen, 
 
 BENSON J. LOSSING. 
 
 To J. George Harris, Benjamin Stark, Hugh H. Osgood, Charles 
 Perrin, James A. Billings, Invitation Committee. 
 
 Hon. George Bancroft wrote as follows to his old friend, Mr. J. George 
 Harris, President of the Centennial Committee : 
 
Appendix B. 393 
 
 NEWPORT, August 22, 1881. 
 
 MY DEAR HARRIS : To receive a letter from an old faithful friend is 
 a delight to me in my octogenarian year. Of course, I should wish to 
 take you by the hand, but I am here in the power of printers and cor 
 rectors of the press, and cannot leave home even for a day. You must, 
 to all who speak to you upon the subject, express how entirely my heart 
 is with them on the great occasion which they celebrate, and how I think 
 the country people that won the day in the struggle of the Revolution 
 deserve to be remembered and praised as much as the Greeks of 
 Marathon. Their courage and love of country should be celebrated not 
 at the end of a century only, but of a thousand years. 
 
 Ever, in true affection, yours, GEORGE BANCROFT. 
 
 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MARCH IJ, l88o. 
 
 John Turner. Wait, member for the Third District of Connecticut, intro 
 duced the following bill, which he had the pleasure of seeing passed after 
 the usual delays : 
 
 AN ACT appropriating money towards the expense to be incurred in the Cen 
 tennial Celebration of the battle on Groton Heights, and for other purposes. 
 
 Whereas, the battle of Groton Heights was one of the closing events 
 of the American Revolution, preceding the final surrender of the British 
 forces at Yorktown, in Virginia, only one month and thirteen days, and 
 is logically and historically connected with that great event ; and 
 
 Whereas, the State of Connecticut has already commenced preparations 
 for the Centennial Celebration of this battle, the massacre attendant upon 
 the capture of Fort Griswold, and the burning of New London, all 
 scenes in the bloody drama of September sixth, seventeen hundred and 
 eighty-one ; and 
 
 Whereas, the people of the other States of the Union, proud of the 
 part which their fathers took in achieving American independence, and 
 actuated by the feeling of a common brotherhood, must desire to unite 
 with the people of Connecticut in paying a proper tribute to the patri 
 otism, dauntless courage, and heroic sacrifice of the noble band of men 
 who fought valiantly against superior numbers of British troops, and 
 chose death rather than surrender their homes to the brutality and lust 
 of the invaders : Therefore, 
 
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
 States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum of five thousand 
 dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in 
 the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended by the Centen 
 nial Committee of the Groton Monument Association, under the direc 
 tion of the Secretary of War, for the purpose of aiding to defray the ex 
 penses which will be incurred in celebrating the one hundredth anniver 
 sary of ihe battle and massacre at Kort Griswold, or Groton Heights, 
 and the burning of New London, on the sixth day of September, seven 
 teen hundred and eighty-one, in such manner as shall befit the historical 
 significance of that event, and be indicative of the present power, pros 
 perity, and greatness* of the United States as a nation. 
 
394 
 
 Battle of Groton Heights. 
 
 SEC. 2. That the further sum of five thousand dollars, or so much 
 thereof as may be necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, 
 out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the 
 purpose of thoroughly repairing the granite monument erected in 
 eighteen hundred and twenty-six on Groton Heights, and to be dis 
 bursed under the direction of the Groton Monument Association. 
 
 SEC. 3. That the Centennial Committee of the Groton Monument 
 Association are hereby authorized to enter upon and use the battle-field 
 on Groton Heights at such times and in such manner as may be neces 
 sary for the Centennial services. 
 
 Approved, March 2, 1881. 
 
 RECEIPTS OF THE CENTENNIAL COMMITTEE. 
 
 From Congress of the United States 
 " the Legislature of Connecticut . 
 " subscriptions ...... 
 
 " rent of ground 
 
 " receipts for transportation 
 
 " interest .... . . 
 
 Total receipts 
 
 EXPENSES OF THE COMMITTEES. 
 
 Historical 
 
 Finance 
 
 Military ........ 
 
 Transportation 
 
 Invitation 
 
 Reception 
 
 Music ......... 
 
 Entertainment 
 
 Decorations, tents, seats, police, etc. . 
 
 Civic bodies 
 
 Publication ........ 
 
 Fireworks . 
 
 Press 
 
 Ladies Committee 
 
 Miscellaneous expenses 
 
 Total 
 
 Paid to treasurer of Groton Monument Association 
 Returned to subscribers at their request 1 
 Balance on hand * . . . 
 
 Total . 
 
 $5,000.00 
 . 3,000.00 
 2,480.00 
 1 20.00 
 1,008.50 
 56.25 
 
 $11,664.75 
 
 . $246.75 
 
 29-53 
 
 324.98 
 
 1,959.42 
 
 152.00 
 
 437-75 
 
 251.00 
 
 1,304-82 
 
 2,214.42 
 
 148-63 
 
 325-34 
 
 1,008.00 
 
 148.95 
 
 IOO.OO 
 
 360.34 
 
 $9,011.93 
 
 . $1,970.00 
 
 532.00 
 
 150.82 
 
 $11,664.75 
 
 1 A part of this was on receipt paid into the treasury of the New London County Historical 
 Society. 
 * A large part of this sum is appropriated, but not yet paid out. 
 
INDEX 
 
 TO INDIVIDUAL NAMES. 
 
 SEE ALSO LISTS ON PAGES 22, 24, 28, 148, 266, 269, 271, 286, 307. 
 
 ABRAHAM, SAMUEL, 122. 
 
 Adams, Elizabeth, 137. 
 
 Adams, John, 260. 
 
 Adams, Nathaniel, 137, 
 260. 
 
 Alden, David, 263. 
 
 Alden, John, 263. 
 
 Alger, Mrs. M. L., 107. 
 
 Allen, Ethan, 282. 
 
 Allyn, Helton, 196, 259. 
 
 Allyn, Benadam, 196, 259. 
 
 Allyn, Esther, 139. 
 
 Allyn, Joseph, 196, 259. 
 
 Allyn, Mary, 134. 
 
 Allyn, Capt. Robert, 244. 
 
 Allyn, Robert, 14, 259. 
 
 Allyn, Capt. Samuel, 134, 
 195. 223, 2 37. 238, 25 8 . 
 259- 
 
 Allyn, Samuel G., 237. 
 
 Allyn, Capt. Simeon, 139, 
 197, 259. 
 
 Amherst, General, 217. 
 
 Anderson, William, 284, 
 285. 
 
 Angel, James, 126. 
 
 Arnold, Benedict, 14, 19, 
 20, 21, 29, 37, 47, 59, 
 61, 63, 70, 77, 83, 85. 
 86, 90, 94, 96, 98, 100, 
 104, 105, in, 163, 165, 
 166, 171, 174, 177, 179, 
 l8t, 195, 196, 197, 198, 
 199, 200, 216, 219, 223, 
 243, 282, 283, 284, 285, 
 286, 288, 291, 297, 298. 
 
 Arnold, Isaac, N., 282. 
 
 Arnold, Oliver, 284. 
 
 Ashcroft, William, 65, 66. 
 
 Avery, Amos, 253. 
 
 Avery, Benjamin, 254. 
 
 Avery, Caleb, 35, 215, 256. 
 Avery, Christopher, 249, 
 
 253- 
 Avery, Daniel, 93, 136, 
 
 201, 254. 
 Avery, David, 93, 139, 204, 
 
 253. 2 54- 
 
 Avery, Deborah, 136. 
 Avery, Ebenezer, 41, 54, 
 84, 138, 189, 240, 252, 
 
 254, 256. 
 
 Avery, Capt. Elijah, 32, 
 
 134, 203, 253. 
 Avery, Elisha, 202, 253, 
 
 255- 
 Avery, Elizabeth Allyn, 
 
 256. 
 
 Avery, Eunice, 253. 
 Avery, George, 253. 
 Avery, Hannah, 255. 
 Avery, James, 253, 256. 
 Avery, James D., 256. 
 Avery, Jasper, 203, 252. 
 Avery, Jefferson, 252. 
 Avery, John, 253, 254. 
 Avery, Jonathan, Jr., 238. 
 Avery, Jonathan, Sr., 238. 
 Avery, Lydia Lord, 139. 
 Avery, Mary, 256. 
 Avery, Elder Park, 242, 
 
 25 . 2 53. 256. 
 Avery, Lieut. Parke, 50, 
 
 93, 130, 251, 252, 255, 
 
 256. 
 
 Avery, Parkejr., 122, 201. 
 Avery, Peter, 14, 254,256. 
 Avery, Phebe, 138. 
 Avery, Prudence, 134. 
 Avery, Rachel, 243. 
 Avery, Rufus, 9, 21, 29, 44, 
 
 iio, 240, 255, 256, 257. 
 
 Avery, Silas Deane, 50. 
 Avery, Solomon, 93, 201, 
 
 254. 
 
 Avery, Thankful, 254. 
 Avery, Thomas, 50, 93, 
 
 201, 252. 
 
 Avery, Youngs, 256. 
 Ayres, Col. See Eyre. 
 
 Babcock, Anna, 135. 
 Babcock, John P., 135, 205. 
 Bacon, Edward Woolsey, 
 
 293- 
 
 Bacon, Dr. Leonard, 290. 
 Bailey, Benjamin, 245. 
 Bailey, Elijah, 234, 277. 
 Bailey, Elizabeth, 136. 
 Bailey, Ezekiel, 136, 249, 
 
 291. 
 
 Bailey, James, 84. 
 Bailey, Mother, 277, 278. 
 Bailey, Silas, 246. 
 Baker, Andrew, 135, 199, 
 
 228. 
 
 Baker, Joshua, 93, 228. 
 Baker, Mary, 135. 
 Barber, Rev. Jonathan, 
 
 246, 247. 
 
 Beaston, Robert, 165. 
 Beaumont, Samuel, 290, 
 
 291. 
 Beazley, Captain, 15, 105, 
 
 112. 
 
 Beckwith, Capt. George, 
 35. 37, 49, 52, 86, 9 . 
 
 96, 101, 104, 112. 
 Belton, Captain, 87. 
 Benton, Col. Thos. H., 60. 
 Bill, Benjamin, 84, 223. 
 Bill, Joshua, 230. 
 Bill, Phillip, 230. 
 
396 
 
 Index. 
 
 Billings, Andrew, 188, 
 
 221. 
 
 Billings, Bridget, 188. 
 
 Billings, John, 250. 
 
 Billings, Mary, 136. 
 
 Billings, Samuel, 136, 250. 
 
 Billings, Stephen, 188, 
 221. 
 
 Bissell, Hezekiah, 88, 117. 
 
 Bloomfield, Captain. See 
 Bromfield. 
 
 Bolton, William, 134, 223. 
 
 Botta, Charles I. W., 169, 
 171. 
 
 Boyd, James, 102. 
 
 Boyden, Eunice Fish, 235. 
 
 Bromfield, Major Ste 
 phen, 34, 35, 37, 38, 40, 
 41, 84, 92, 102, 112, 168, 
 
 256, 257. 
 
 Brooks, Jonathan, 10, 74, 
 
 82, 1 10, 1 16, 230, 287. 
 Brown, George W., 290. 
 Brown, John, 249. 
 Buddington, Walter, 290, 
 
 291. 
 Burdick, Mercy Jaques, 
 
 236. 
 
 Burgoyne, 283. 
 Burrows, Hubbard, 93, 
 
 135, 204, 236, 250, 254. 
 Burrows, Sarah, 135. 
 Bushnell, Reuben, 143. 
 Butler, Jonathan, 248. 
 
 Calkings, Pember, 126. 
 
 Calkins, Jonathan, 63. 
 
 Canfield, John, 144. 
 
 Capewell, Mrs., 251. 
 
 Caulkins, Frances Man- 
 waring, 37, 50, 79, 93. 
 98,99, 105,109,182,237, 
 291. 
 
 Chapman, Esther, 134. 
 
 Chapman, Lieut. Richard, 
 51, 65, 66, 68, 78, 82, 
 134, 209, 229, 288. 
 
 Chester, Abraham, 240. 
 
 Chester, Augustin, 239. 
 
 Chester, Charles, 237, 238, 
 
 239- 
 Chester, Daniel, 187, 237, 
 
 238. 
 Chester, Eldredge, 188, 
 
 237, 238, 239. 
 Chester, E. Starr, 238. 
 Chester, Frederic, 240. 
 Chester, Jedediah, 240. 
 Chester, Jeremiah, 240. 
 Chester, John, 2^7. 
 Chester, Sarah Eldredge 
 
 237- 
 
 hester, Samuel, 237, 238. 
 Chester, Thomas, 187, 
 
 188, 237. 
 
 Hark, Elizabeth, 136. 
 Hark, John, 68, 72, 136, 
 
 206, 247. 
 
 Clinton, Sir Henry, n, 
 12, 14, 20, 37, 84, 96, 
 98, 104, in, 165. 
 oit, Elias, 249. 
 oit, John, 65, 67. 
 oit, Oliver, 13. 
 loit, Capt. William, 63. 
 Comstock, James, 134, 
 
 211. 
 
 Comstock, Robert, 211. 
 omstock, William, 250. 
 onverse, Mr., 275. 
 ooke, Joseph P., 144. 
 Cornwallis, Lord, II, 12, 
 
 60, 165. 
 
 Covil, Phillip, 136, 249. 
 Covill, Mary, 136. 
 Craigie, Capt. George, 
 
 IO2. 
 
 Crary, Robert, 131, 133. 
 
 Daboll, John, 50, 231. 
 Daboll, John, Jr., 122. 
 Daboll, Nathan, 231. 
 Dalrymple, Lord, 37, 96, 
 
 104, 112. 
 
 Danforth, Mrs., 230. 
 Darrow, Betsey Bill, 231. 
 Darrow, Major, 66. 
 Dart, Elias, 229. 
 Dart, Levi, 143, 228, 229. 
 Daunt, Lieut. Thomas, 
 
 102. 
 
 Davis, Daniel, 93, 250. 
 Denison, Captain George, 
 
 263. 
 
 Denison, Phebe, 254. 
 Deshon, Capt. John, 62, 
 
 126, 146, 147, 236. 
 Deshon, Captain Richard, 
 
 63, 65. 
 Downer, Dr. Avery (M. 
 
 D.), 10, 56, 83, 88, 223. 
 Downer, Dr. Joshua, T 
 
 88. 
 Durkee, Lieutenant, 229. 
 
 Edgecomb, Daniel D., 50. 
 Edgecomb, Gilbert, 51. 
 Edgecomb, Samuel, Jr., 
 
 38, 5. 5 . 93. 122, 241. 
 Edwards, Peirpont, 220. 
 Eldredge, Ensign Charles, 
 
 38, 122, 129, 242, 243, 
 
 244. 
 Ekhidge, Daniel, Jr., 122. 
 
 Eklridge, Daniel, 51, 130, 
 
 243. 244- 
 
 Eldridge, William, 243. 
 
 Ellis, Captain, 25. 
 
 Eyre, Lieut. -Colonel Ed 
 mond, 19, 31, 32, 33, 37, 
 47, 49, 70, 85, 86, 90, 94, 
 95, 98, 100, 101, 102, 
 
 112, 166, 167, 169. 
 
 Faden, William, 275. 
 Fellows. Col. John, 70. 
 Fish, Ebenezer, 234. 
 Fitch, Thomas, 67, 77. 
 Ford, Gordon L., II, 287. 
 Fosclick, Thomas Updike, 
 
 59- 
 
 Fox, Jonathan, 208. 
 Franklin, Benjamin, 108. 
 Franklin, Phrebe, 244. 
 Franklin, Gov. William, 
 
 108. 
 Freeman, Jordan, 91, 102, 
 
 241, 285. 
 Frink, Captain, 99. 
 
 Gage, General, 12. 
 Gallop, John, 225. 
 Gallup, Andrew, 20, 35, 
 
 40, 130, 215, 224, 235. 
 Gallup, Col. Benadam, 87, 
 
 225. 
 
 Gallup, Esther, 259. 
 Gallup, Capt. Joseph, 255. 
 Gallup, Col. Nathan, 87, 
 
 113, 115, 225. 
 Gallup, Robert, 225. 
 Gallup, Thomas, 225. 
 Gardner, Samuel, 67. 
 Gates, Genera], 255, 283. 
 Gordon, James, 139. 
 Gordon, William, D. D., 
 
 169, 170, 171. 
 Gorton, Collins, 275. 
 Grasse, Count de, 12. 
 Green, Col. Samuel, 85. 
 Green, Timothy, 21, 81, 
 
 85, 126. 
 Greene, General, 12. 
 
 Hale, F. M., 107. 
 
 Hale, Captain Nathan, 58, 
 
 59- 
 
 Hale, Hon. Nathan, 275. 
 
 Hallabord, Hannah. See 
 Hurlbnrt. 
 
 Hallam, Edward, 122. 
 
 Hallebard, Rufus. See 
 Hurlburt. 
 
 Halsey, Capt. Elias Hen 
 ry, 21, 33, 260. 
 
 Hammersley, W. I., 285. 
 
Index. 
 
 397 
 
 Harding, Jeremiah, 143. 
 Hardy, Commodore, 278. 
 Harris, Lieut. -Col. Joseph, 
 
 62, 66, 67, 76, 77, 116, 
 
 117. 
 
 Harris, W. W., 8, 29, 35. 
 Kartell, John, 8. 
 Haven, Henry P., 182. 
 Havens, Captain, 120. 
 Havens, Glorianna, 243. 
 Hempstead, Mary Lewis, 
 
 60. 
 
 Hempstead, Robert, 58. 
 Hempstead, Stephen, 9, 
 
 21, 47, 5 6 - 57. 58, 59, 
 
 DO, 86, 130, 222, 257. 
 
 Hempstead, William, 63, 
 
 68, 69. 
 Hempsted, John, 10, 58, 
 
 61, 66, 1 1 6. 
 Hempsted, Samuel B., 07, 
 
 223, 224. 
 
 Hertell, Thomas, 8, 70, 73. 
 Hill, Esther, t37. 
 Hill, Samuel, 137, 249, 
 
 290. 
 
 Hillhouse, Major, 127. 
 Hinman, Captain, 232. 
 Holdridge, lienajah, 237. 
 Hollister, 108. 
 Holt, David, 65. 
 Holt, John, 68, 136, 146, 
 
 147, 206, 236. 
 Holt, Martha, 136. 
 Horndon, William H., 
 
 107. 
 
 Hosford, Elizabeth, 241. 
 Hotman, William (or 
 
 Stillman), 291. 
 Hubbell, Hez, 144. 
 Hubbil, Major, 108. 
 Huntington, Levi, 233. 
 Hurlburt, John, 233. 
 Hurlburt, Kufus, 137, 195, 
 
 2 33- 
 Hyde, Thomas, 102. 
 
 Jaques, Samuel W., 236. 
 
 {ones, Eliday, 250. 
 ones, Esther, 138. 
 /ones, Moses, 138, 197. 
 Jones, Paul, 232. 
 Vudd, Daniel, 140. 
 Judd, Jehial, 131, 140. 
 
 Kenson, Benoni, 248. 
 Kilburn, 143. 
 Kinne, Aaron, 247. 
 Kinney, Barney, 249. 
 Kirtland, 235. 
 
 Lamb, Thomas, 225. 
 
 Larnard, Amasa, 126. 
 Latham, Christopher, 34, 
 
 132, 233. 
 Latham, Captain Edward, 
 
 34, 122. 
 Latham, Jonathan, 240, 
 
 241, 258. 
 Latham, Lambo, 241,242, 
 
 285, 286. 
 Latham, Captain William, 
 
 13, 30, 44, 93, 142, 143, 
 144, 145, 219, 227, 233, 
 241, 242, 255, 256, 257, 
 292. 
 
 Latham, Lieut. William, 
 
 258. 
 
 Latham, William, Jr., 227. 
 Lalhrop, Elisha, 131, 132. 
 Lathrop, Rufus, 122. 
 Latimer, Col. Daniel, 67. 
 Latimer, Ensign Daniel, 
 
 115. 
 Latimer, Col. Jonathan, 
 
 Latimer, Picket, 67, 82, 
 
 109. 
 
 Ledyard, Anna, 135. 
 Ledyard, Bridget, 135. 
 Ledyard, Ebenezer, 41, 
 
 54, 120, 239, 257, 276, 
 
 277. 
 Ledyard, Elizabeth Sal- 
 
 tonstall, 212. 
 Ledyard, Miss Fanny, 55. 
 Ledyard, Isaac, 212. 
 Ledyard, John, 55, 257. 
 Ledyard, Col. William, 
 
 14, 16, 17,19, 22,30,31, 
 32, 34, 35,36,37,39,44, 
 49, 52, 53, 54, 55- 72, 73- 
 84, 86, 87, 91, 92,93,95, 
 3. I2 5- 35- 46, 163, 
 164, 165, 168, 169. 170, 
 
 71, 173, 74, I75> 78, 
 184, 185, 186, 187, 190, 
 
 212, 213, 214, 215, 2l6, 
 
 221, 222, 223, 224, 228, 
 
 232, 241, 256, 257, 258, 
 
 262, 275, 276, 285, 286, 
 287, 288, 291. 298. 
 
 Leeds, Capt Gary, 122, 
 
 138, 234. 
 
 Leeds, Jerusha, 138. 
 Leffingwell, Benajah, 117. 
 Lemoine, Capt., 104, 107. 
 Lester, Amos, 258, 259. 
 Lester, Daniel B., 250. 
 Lester, Daniel, 247. 
 Lester, Dorithy, 137. 
 Lester, John, 137, 199, 
 
 223, 234, 250. 
 Lester, Jonas, 250. 
 
 Lester, Mary Allyn, 247. 
 Lester, Thomas, 193, 247. 
 Lester, Wait, 193, 247, 
 
 250. 
 
 Lewis, Charles A., 24. 
 Lewis, Deborah, 135. 
 Lewis, Joseph, 135, 200, 
 
 259- 
 
 Mackenzie, Fred, 112. 
 Malley, Michael, 62. 
 Mallison, Thomas, 237. 
 Manwarring, Robert, 65, 
 
 67. 
 
 Martin, Colonel, no. 
 Mason, Andrew, 225. 
 Mason, Henry, 236. 
 Mason, Japhet, 215, 222. 
 Mason, John, 225. 
 Mason, Nehemiah, 225. 
 Mather, Hon. J. P. C.,85- 
 Mathews, Mayor, 108. 
 McCarty, Capt. John, 67. 
 McClanan, Colonel. See 
 
 McLellan. 
 McClaning, Col. Samuel. 
 
 See McLellan. 
 McLellan, Gen. George 
 
 B, 17. 
 McLellan, Col. Samuel, 
 
 17, 87, 123, 125, 127, 
 
 142, 147. 
 Middleton, Mai. George, 
 
 8,89. 
 Middleton, Rev. John C., 
 
 8. 
 
 Mifflin, General, 43. 
 Miller, Esq., 65. 
 Miller, Jeremiah, 100,288. 
 Millet, Captain, 99, 112. 
 Mills, Edward, 137, 249. 
 Mills, Hannah, 137. 
 Minard, Thomas. See 
 
 Thomas Miner. 
 Miner, Abigail, 231. 
 Miner, Clement, 225. 
 Miner, Mrs. Minerva, 234. 
 Miner, Rebecca, 137. 
 Miner, Thomas, 137, 191, 
 
 225. 
 
 Minor, Jonathan, 143. 
 Mitchell, S. M., 14-^, 144. 
 Mitchell, Col. William, 
 
 241. 
 
 Monroe, President, 265. 
 Montgomery, Major, 19, 
 
 3 , 33,34,35.49.71,85, 
 
 86, 91, 92, 102, 167, 169, 
 
 241, 291. 
 
 Moore, Elizabeth, 139. 
 Moore, Capt. Nathan, 39, 
 
 93, 139, 227. 
 
398 
 
 Index. 
 
 Moore, Mrs. Nathan, 227. 
 Morgan, Dr. Klisha, 247, 
 
 248. 
 
 Morgan, Isaac, 122. 
 Morgan, Capt. John, 115. 
 Morgan, John, 93, 122, 
 
 129, 248. 
 Morgan, Captain Joseph, 
 
 234- 
 
 Morgan, Joseph, 3d, 234. 
 Morgan, Simeon, 198, 234. 
 Moseley, Increase, 128, 
 
 133. MO. 
 Mott, Samuel, 122, 131, 
 
 32. 33- 
 
 Moxley, Elizabeth, 135. 
 Moxley, Joseph, 135, 198, 
 
 240. 
 
 Moxley, Joseph, Jr., 241. 
 Mumforcl, David, 126. 
 Mumford, Katherine, 288. 
 Mumford, Thomas, 127, 
 
 276, 287, 288. 
 
 Newberry, Brig. - General 
 
 Roger, 88, 113. 
 Noyes, Capt. Peleg, 255. 
 
 Owen, John, 247. 
 
 Palmer, Abigail, 138. 
 Palmer, David, 93, 138, 
 
 200. 
 
 Payne, Esq., 277. 
 Perkins, Abigail, 134, 139. 
 Perkins, Amanda Wood- 
 worth, 289. 
 Perkins, Asa, 137, 192, 
 
 245. 
 
 Perkins, Ebenezer, 246. 
 Perkins, Elisha, 139, 193, 
 
 245, 246. 
 
 Perkins, Elizabeth, 137. 
 Perkins, Elnathan, 191, 
 
 235, 244, 245, 246, 290. 
 Perkins, Jabez, 121. 
 Perkins, John E., 246. 
 Perkins, Capt. Levi, 245. 
 Perkins, Luke, 49, 73, 134, 
 
 192, 244, 246, 290. 
 Perkins, Luke, Jr., 49, 
 
 134, 244, 245, 290. 
 Perkins, Margaret, 134. 
 Perkins, Lieut. Obadiah, 
 
 142, 245, 246, 290. 
 Perkins, Kussel, 246. 
 Perkins, Sarah, 139, 246. 
 Perkins, Simeon, 193,245, 
 
 246. 
 Perkins, Capt. Solomon, 
 
 129, 245, 246. 
 Peters, Major, 93. 
 
 Peters, Rev. Samuel A., 6 
 Pettibone, 143. 
 Phelps, Ch., 139. 
 Pigot, Sir Robert, 98. 
 Prentice, Amos, 14. 
 Prentice, Captain, 255. 
 Prentis, John, 226. 
 Prentiss, Dr., 84. 
 Prior, Elisha, 122. 
 
 Rainforth, William, 102. 
 Ramsay, Daniel, 169. 
 Ramsay, David, 170, 171. 
 Rathbun, Jonathan, 9, 29 
 Raymond, Samuel, 287. 
 Rich, Captain, 102. 
 Richards, Catharine 
 
 Mumford, 139, 233. 
 Richards, Elijah, 146, 233. 
 Richards, Guy, 232. 
 Richards, Guy, Jr., 126. 
 Richards, Major, 66. 
 Richards, Capt. Peter, 51, 
 
 139, 210, 232, 287, 288. 
 Robert, David, 67. 
 Robinson, Col. Beverly, 
 
 98. 
 
 Rogers, Colonel, 80. 
 Rogers, Col. Zabdiel, 116, 
 
 287, 288. 
 Rosseter, Elnathan, 282. 
 Rowley, Isaac, 143. 
 Rude, Louisa Sanford, 
 
 222, 223. 
 Russel, Col. Edward, 127, 
 
 128. 
 
 Sage, Col. Comfort, 127, 
 128. 
 
 Saltonstall, Captain Dud 
 ley, 237. 
 
 Saltonstall, G., 126. 
 
 Saltonstall, Captain Na 
 thaniel, 58, 63, 76. 
 
 Saltonstall, Roswell, 118, 
 119. 
 
 Saltonstall, Wint., 126. 
 
 Sanford, Daniel, 222. 
 
 Sanford, Holsey, 215, 222, 
 223. 
 
 Schuyler, General, 283, 
 284. 
 
 Scott, Captain, 43. 
 
 Scott, John, 220. 
 
 Scovill, Mr., 93. 
 
 Seabury, Bishop, 249. 
 
 Seabury, David, 136, 249. 
 
 Seabury, Elizabeth, 136. 
 
 Searle, Miriam Sanford, 
 223. 
 
 Seymour, Capt. William, 
 S3. 298. 
 
 Seymour, Governor, 285. 
 
 Shapley, Capt. Adam, 13, 
 31, 32, 47,48,49,51,52, 
 82, 86,91, 143, 144, 145, 
 146, 207, 226, 228, 250, 
 258, 260, 292. 
 
 Shapley, Mary Harris, 
 
 , 139- 
 
 Shaw, Captain Nathaniel, 
 
 43- 
 
 Shaw, Thomas, 126, 238. 
 Sliippen, Dr., 219. 
 Sholes, Nathan, 138, 249. 
 Sholes, Susannah, 138. 
 Smith, George, 64. 
 Smith, James, 67. 
 Smith, Josiah, 48, 143, 229. 
 Smith, Maj. Simeon, 278. 
 Smith, William H., 102. 
 Southworth, Constant, 
 
 263. 
 Southworth, Sir Gilbert, 
 
 263. 
 
 Southworth, Mary, 263. 
 Spicer, Capt. Abel, 255. 
 St. John, Colonel, 143. 
 Stanton, Capt. Amos, 32, 
 
 86, 88, 136, 262, 263. 
 Stanton, Daniel, 122, 133, 
 
 210, 261, 263, 264. 
 Stanton, David, 264. 
 Stanton, Edward, 122, 130, 
 
 131, 236, 264, 265. 
 Stanton, Enoch, 38, 138, 
 
 210, 263, 279, 280, 281. 
 Stanton, Capt. Phineas, 
 
 210, 263. 
 
 Stanton, Thankful, 136. 
 Stanton, Thomas, 261, 
 
 263. 
 Stanton, Waity, 138, 279, 
 
 281. 
 
 Stanton, William, 261. 
 Starr, Hannah, 138. 
 Starr, John, 122, 129, 227. 
 Starr, Mrs. Nicholas, 251. 
 Starr, Nicholas, 138, 194, 
 
 227. 
 
 Starr, Thomas, 226. 
 Starr, Thomas, Jr., 194, 
 
 227. 
 Starr, Lieut. William, 226, 
 
 227. 
 Stedman, John, 134, 249, 
 
 255- 
 
 Stedman, Sarah, 134. 
 Steel, Captain, 42. 
 Stow, Jabez, 142, 143, 144, 
 
 229. 
 Strong, Jedediah, 122. 
 
 Thomas, Captain, 42, no. 
 
Index. 
 
 399 
 
 Thompson, Lieutenant, 
 
 255- 
 
 Throop, Colonel, 143 
 Tift, Nelson, 250. 
 Tift, Solomon, 250. 
 Tilley, James, loo. 
 Tracey, Dr. Elisha, 216. 
 Trumbull, Governor, 6, 
 
 16, 127, 162, 164, 217, 
 
 275, 288, 298. 
 Turner, Humphrey, 2:6. 
 Turner, Dr. John, 220. 
 Turner, Dr. Phillip, 140, 
 
 216, 217, 218, 219, 288. 
 
 Upham, Lieutenant-Col 
 onel, 108, 109. 
 
 Van Buskirk, Alexander, 
 102, 264. 
 
 Wadsworth, Finn, 145. 
 Wait, John Turner, 216. 
 Wait, Marvin, 126. 
 Wales, Horatio, 145. 
 Walworth, Sarah, 135. 
 Walworth, Sylvester, 93, 
 
 35. 2 4S. 
 
 Ward, Experience, 139. 
 Ward, Patrick, 93, 139, 
 
 202. 
 
 Warner, Anna, 277. 
 Washington, General, II, 
 
 I2 - 5. 59.73. 62 > "70, 
 
 219, 221, 257, 282, 283, 
 
 284, 297. 
 
 Watson, Captain, 103 
 Way, Mr., 69. 
 Wayne, General, 73. 
 Webb, Colonel, 58. 
 
 Webster, Noah, n. 
 Wedger, Joseph, 250. 
 Welles, Thomas, 247. 
 Whaley, Jonathan, 68. 
 Wheeler, Joshua, 251. 
 Wheeler, Capt. Thomas, 
 
 "5- 
 
 Whittelsey, John, 134, 
 
 260, 261. 
 
 Whittelsey, Joseph, 261. 
 Whittelsey, Lucy, 134. 
 Whittelsey, Stephen, 260, 
 
 261. 
 Williams, Amey Hewitt, 
 
 213- 
 
 Williams, Anna, 213, 
 Williams, Capt. Charles, 
 
 211. 
 Williams, Daniel, 211, 
 
 235- 
 Williams, Eliza Avery, 
 
 256. 
 
 Williams, Eunice, 137. 
 Williams, Capt. Henry, 
 
 206. 
 Williams, Lieut. Henry, 
 
 88, 137, 206, 241. 
 Williams, John, 281. 
 Williams, Capt. John, 32, 
 
 134, 189, 235, 291. 
 Williams, Lieut. John, 
 
 115. 
 
 Williams, Mary, 136. 
 Williams, Nathaniel, 213. 
 Williams, Sanford, 131. 
 Williams, Seth, 206. 
 Williams, Theoda, 134. 
 Williams, Thomas, 136, 
 
 205, 236. 
 Williams, Warham, 117. 
 
 Williams, William, 121, 
 
 276. 
 
 Willock, Archibald, 102. 
 Winthrop, Francis, 119, 
 
 120. 
 
 Winthrop, Governor, 120. 
 Winthrop, Robert, 120, 
 
 284, 285. 
 Witter, Capt. Ebenezer, 
 
 115. 
 Wogan, Capt. Samuel, 
 
 102. 
 Wolcott, Simon, 126, 145, 
 
 146. 
 
 Wood, Eunice, 258. 
 Wood, Mary, 258. 
 Wood, Sarah, 245. 
 Wood, William, 245. 
 Woodbridge, Christopher, 
 
 136, 191. 
 Woodbridge, Henry, 139, 
 
 192. 
 Woodbridge, Michael, 
 
 39- 
 
 Woodbridge, Sarah, 136. 
 Woodmansee, Joseph, 93, 
 
 122, 129. 
 
 Woodworth, Azel or Asa- 
 
 hel, 219, 221, 289 
 Woodworth, Benjamin, 
 
 121, 289. 
 Woodworth, Joseph El- 
 
 lery, 221. 
 
 Woodworth, Phoebe, 221. 
 Woodworth, Samuel, 289. 
 Woodworth, Thomas, 221. 
 Woodworth, Zibe, 130, 
 
 221, 289. 
 Wylis, George, 122, 128, 
 
 133, 140, 143, 144, 145. 
 
 " And here will J make an end. And if I have done well, and as is fitting the 
 story, it is that which I desired ; but if slenderly and meanly, it is that which I 
 could attain unto." MACCABEES. 
 
 ERRATA. 
 Page 23 r, for "Sarah Halsey," read" Sarah Haley."