Groton

Fort Griswold Fortified

Fort Griswold was fortified beginning in 1775 as part of the effort to defend the Thames River and New London harbor. The earthwork fortification on Groton Heights commanded views of the harbor and the river, providing a defensive position from which artillery could challenge British naval approaches. The fort was designed to complement defenses on the New London side of the river. Its garrison was typically drawn from local militia, as the Continental Army could not spare regular troops for coastal defense. This reliance on militia meant that the fort's defenders in 1781 were local men — farmers, craftsmen, and sailors fighting on ground they knew intimately.

Battle of Fort Griswold

On September 6, 1781, approximately 800 British troops assaulted Fort Griswold on Groton Heights as part of Benedict Arnold's coordinated attack on the Thames River communities. The fort's garrison of roughly 150 militia under Colonel William Ledyard defended fiercely, repulsing two assaults before the British breached the walls on the third attempt. The fighting was intense — the British suffered approximately 200 casualties, including the death of Major Montgomery. After the fort fell, the massacre began. Accounts vary in detail, but the essential facts are consistent: many defenders were killed after resistance had ceased. Colonel Ledyard was stabbed with his own sword after offering it in surrender. Approximately 85 Americans were killed and 60 wounded.

Killing of Colonel Ledyard After Surrender

After Fort Griswold was overwhelmed, Colonel William Ledyard reportedly offered his sword to a British officer in formal surrender. According to multiple American accounts, the officer took the sword and stabbed Ledyard with it. The killing of a surrendering commander was a violation of the conventions of eighteenth-century warfare and became the defining atrocity of the battle. The exact identity of the officer who killed Ledyard has been debated. British accounts dispute or minimize the incident. But the American testimony — from survivors, from witnesses in the town, from subsequent investigations — is consistent enough that the basic narrative is considered reliable by most historians.

Jordan Freeman Kills Major Montgomery

During the assault on Fort Griswold, free Black soldier Jordan Freeman reportedly killed Major William Montgomery with a spear as the British officer scaled the fort's walls. Montgomery's death during the assault was one of the factors that may have provoked the retaliatory violence against the garrison after its surrender. Freeman himself was killed during the battle. His name is inscribed on the Groton Monument alongside the other defenders. His participation in the battle — a free Black man fighting and dying for the American cause — represents the diverse composition of the militia forces that defended Connecticut's coast.

Wounded Defenders Sent Down the Hill

After the battle, British soldiers placed wounded American defenders on a cart and sent it down the steep hill from Fort Griswold. The cart reportedly broke free and careened down the slope, further injuring and killing some of the wounded men. The act — whether deliberate cruelty or careless indifference — became part of the massacre's enduring horror. Survivors' accounts of this episode contributed to the public outrage that followed news of the battle. The treatment of wounded prisoners violated widely accepted norms of military conduct and deepened Connecticut's determination to continue the fight.

Groton's Maritime Defense Legacy Established

The September 6, 1781 defense of Fort Griswold established a tradition of maritime defense that runs through Groton's history to the present. The same strategic geography that made the Thames River mouth worth defending in 1781 — control of a deep-water harbor with access to Long Island Sound — made Groton the site of the U.S. Navy's primary submarine base in the 20th century. The connection between the Revolutionary War garrison and the modern submarine force is recognized in local commemorations.

Anna Bailey Brings Flannel to the Fort

According to local tradition, Anna Warner Bailey — later known as "Mother Bailey" — brought flannel petticoats to Fort Griswold during the battle to be used as wadding for the garrison's cannon. The story, while difficult to verify from contemporary sources, became one of the most celebrated examples of female civilian support during the Revolution. Bailey's legend grew over the decades after the war. She was honored in her later years as a living symbol of patriotic sacrifice, and her story was invoked whenever Connecticut celebrated its Revolutionary heritage. Whether the petticoat story is precisely accurate or represents a broader truth about civilian women's contributions to the defense, it remains part of Groton's Revolutionary identity.

Groton Community Buries Its Dead After the Massacre

In the days following the September 6, 1781 massacre at Fort Griswold, the Groton community faced the task of identifying, recovering, and burying 88 of its men — farmers, fishermen, and tradespeople who had answered the militia call. Families across the region lost fathers, sons, and brothers in a single afternoon. The dead were buried in a mass grave near the fort. The community's grief was compounded by the sight of New London burning across the river, where livelihoods and homes were simultaneously destroyed.

Groton Community Mourns and Recovers

The day after the battle, the people of Groton began the grim task of recovering their dead and caring for the wounded. In a small community where nearly every family was connected to the militia, the casualties represented an almost unbearable loss. Approximately 85 men were dead and 60 wounded — from a garrison of roughly 150. The community's recovery was slow and shaped by grief. Widows and orphans of the fallen defenders petitioned for assistance. The memory of the massacre became a binding element of community identity, retold at commemorations and passed down through families for generations. Fort Griswold became sacred ground — a place where the cost of resistance was measured in names etched in granite.

Groton Monument Erected

The Groton Monument, a 134-foot granite obelisk, was dedicated on the site of Fort Griswold on September 6, 1830 — the forty-ninth anniversary of the battle. It was one of the first monuments in the United States dedicated to Revolutionary War dead and bore the names of the defenders killed in the battle and massacre. The monument's construction reflected decades of community effort to memorialize the event. Its height and permanence were deliberate statements about the significance of the sacrifice. The monument remains a central feature of the Fort Griswold Battlefield State Park and continues to serve as a memorial for ceremonies honoring the fallen defenders.