Connecticut’s Fort Griswold State Park, in the city of Groton, has a sweeping view of the Thames River. It contains one of the few reasonably intact Revolutionary War forts in the country, with earthen walls, trenches and a tunnel much as they were when the fort was completed in 1776. And it is the site of the only major engagement of the revolution to take place in Connecticut — the Battle of Groton Heights, which occurred just 43 days before the British surrender in 1781.
Many of those who fell were relatives or neighbors of one another, and to this day local residents are keenly aware of the sacrifice. But the state, shrugging at the fort’s tale of heroism and atrocity, has largely neglected the site since taking control of it from the federal government.
Local citizens felt strongly enough about the loss of life to build a 135-foot tall obelisk, which was completed in 1830. It was the first Revolutionary War monument of its kind in the country (Bunker Hill’s obelisk wasn’t completed until 1842). Anyone who climbs the 166 winding, chiseled granite stairs inside can see for miles across Long Island Sound as well as the fort and ramparts below.
Sadly, though, the mortar that makes up the monument is crumbling, and the $350,000 approved to repoint it has yet to be released by the bond commission. Pamphlets explaining the battle are little more than photocopied sheets of paper. The Web site is rudimentary. A planned visitor’s center designed to tell the story of the battle in an organized way has never materialized.
It’s a tale worth telling. On the morning of Sept. 6, 1781, British soldiers led by the traitor, Benedict Arnold, attacked both sides of the river. The Americans realized that they would have a better chance of repulsing the attack if they concentrated their forces on one side, so 165 men and boys (the youngest was 10) gathered at Fort Griswold. For 40 minutes, they held off 800 enemy troops before the British overwhelmed them. By the time the American commander, Col. William Ledyard, handed over his sword and surrendered the fort, only about 10 Americans had been killed and a few wounded.
But instead of accepting the sword, and the surrender, the British officer killed Ledyard with his own weapon. Mayhem ensued, and dozens more were killed or wounded.
Families were decimated. Of the 14 members of the Avery family who fought, nine died, along with four members of the Allyn family, four members of the Lester clan, three Stantons, three members of the Billings family, six Perkinses, and others. So many men were killed — 88, with 35 wounded — that one nearby church had only one male congregant left alive the Sunday after the battle. The British withdrew and burned New London on the opposite shore. But a little more than six weeks later, the war was won.
The state’s treatment of Fort Griswold can’t be blamed on the Department of Environmental Protection, which oversees 130 sites on a tiny budget. The real culprit is Connecticut’s indifference to tourism in general.
What’s needed is not just new mortar but a broader plan to enhance this historic treasure in a way that can bring the story alive. The Battle of Groton Heights provided no turning point in the war. But the men’s sacrifice was wrenching and deeply personal, and deserves better.
