A later version of the events, taken from Lossing's Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution
(Describing how "the arch-traitor and his murderous bands" attacked New London.)
Vol. I; Chapter XXVI; 1850:
At daybreak on the morning of the 6th of September,
1781, a British fleet, under Captain Beasly, consisting of twenty-four sail,
bearing a considerable land and marine force under the general command of
Benedict Arnold, appeared off the harbor of New London, having left the eastern
end of Long Island the evening previous. A large proportion of the land forces
consisted of Tories and some Hessians, the instruments employed when any thing
cruel was to be performed. They landed in two divisions of about eight hundred
each: one on the east or Groton side of the Thames, commanded by
Lieutenant-colonel Eyre, and the other on the New London side, led by the
traitor general, who debarked in the cove at Brown’s Farm, near the light-house.
The militia hastened in small parties to oppose them, but were too few to
produce much effect other than wounding some of the enemy on their march toward
the town. The advance battery, situated about half way between Fort Trumbull and
the light-house, in which were eight pieces of cannon, as well as the fort
itself, was too feebly manned to offer resistance, and the troops of each
evacuated, and crossed over to the stronger post of Fort Griswold, on Groton
Hill. The city was thus left exposed to the enemy, whose great weapon of
destruction was the torch. First, the stores upon the wharves were set on fire,
and then the dwellings on Mill Cove were consumed. Nearly the whole town was
laid in ashes, and several vessels were burned. 38 Many inhabitants in
comfortable circumstances were now houseless and wanderers, reduced to absolute
beggary. None were permitted to save their furniture, and the soldiery were
allowed free scope for brutality and plunder. It is said that Arnold stood in
the belfry of a church, while the town was burning, and looked upon the scene
with the apparent satisfaction of a Nero. Had he been content to be a traitor
merely, the extenuating circumstances that have been alleged in connection with
his treason might have left a feeling of commiseration in the bosoms of the
American people; but this murderous expedition against the neighbors of his
childhood and youth, and the wanton destruction of a thriving town, almost in
sight of the spire of the church wherein he was baptized, present an act of
malice too flagrant to be overlooked even by "meek-eyed pity" or loving charity.
It was his last prominent blow against his country, and was such a climax to his
treachery, that Britons, who "accepted the treason, but despised the traitor,"
shunned him as a monster of wickedness.
When the enemy landed, alarm-guns were fired; and before noon, while the town
was burning, the militia collected in large numbers. Perceiving his peril,
Arnold hastily retreated to his boats, closely pursued by the armed inhabitants.
Five of the enemy were killed, and about twenty wounded. The Americans lost four
killed, and ten or twelve wounded, some of them mortally.
When Fort Trumbull was evacuated, Arnold sent an order to Lieutenant-colonel
Eyre to take immediate possession of Fort Griswold, in order to prevent the
American shipping from leaving the harbor and sailing up the river. The militia
hastily collected for the defense of the fort to the number of one hundred and
fifty-seven – so hastily that many of them were destitute of weapons. Colonel
William Ledyard was the commander of the fortress. The enemy approached
cautiously through the woods in the rear, and captured a small advanced battery.
Colonel Eyre then sent Captain Beckwith, with a flag, to demand a surrender of
the fort, which was peremptorily refused. An assault was begun; the American
flag on the southwest bastion was shot down, and an obstinate battle of about
forty minutes ensued, during which the British were repulsed, and were on the
point of fleeing back to their shipping. The attack was made on three sides, the
fort being square, with flanks. There was a battery between the fort and the
river, but the Americans could spare no men to work it. The enemy displayed
great coolness and bravery in forcing the pickets, making their way into the
fosse, and scaling the revetment, in the face of a severe fire from the little
garrison. When a sufficient number had obtained entrance thus far, they forced
their way through the feebly-manned embrasures, and decided the conflict with
bayonets, after a desperate struggle with the handful of determined patriots,
many of whom were armed only with pikes. The fort was surrendered
unconditionally. Colonel Eyre was wounded near the works, and died within twelve
hours afterward on ship-board. Major Montgomery was pierced through with a
spear, in the hands of a negro, and killed as he mounted the parapet, and the
command devolved upon Major Bromfield. The whole loss of the British was two
commissioned officers and forty-six privates killed, and eight officers (most of
whom afterward died), with one hundred and thirty-nine non-commissioned officers
and privates, wounded. The Americans had not more than a dozen killed before the
enemy carried the fort. When that was effected, Colonel Ledyard ordered his men
to cease firing and to lay down their arms, relying upon the boasted generosity
of Britons for the cessation of bloodshed. But instead of British regulars, led
by honorable men, his little band was surrounded by wolf-like Tories, infernal
in their malice, and cruel even to the worst savagism, and also by the hired
assassins, the German Yagers. They kept up their fire and bayonet thrusts upon
the unarmed patriots, and opening the gates of the fort, let in blood-thirsty
men that were without, at the head of whom was Major Bromfield, a New Jersey
Loyalist. "Who commands this garrison?" shouted Bromfield, as he entered.
Colonel Ledyard, who was standing near, mildly replied, "I did, sir, but you do
now," at the same time handing his sword to the victor. The Tory miscreant
immediately murdered Ledyard by running him through the body with the weapon he
had just surrendered! The massacre continued in all parts of the fort, until
seventy men were killed, and thirty-five mortally or dangerously wounded. The
enemy then plundered the fort and garrison of every thing valuable. Their
appetite for slaughter not being appeased, they placed several of the wounded in
a baggage-wagon, took it to the brow of the hill on which the fort stands, and
sent it down with violence, intending thus to plunge the helpless sufferers into
the river. The distance was about one hundred rods, the ground very rough. The
jolting caused some of the wounded to expire, while the cries of agony of the
survivors were heard across the river, even in the midst of the crackling noise
of the burning town! The wagon was arrested in its progress by an apple-tree,
and thus the sufferers remained for more than an hour, until their captors
stretched them upon the beach, preparatory to embarkation. Thirty-five of them
were paroled and carried into a house near by, where they passed the night in
great distress, a burning thirst being their chief tormentor. Although there was
a pump in a well of fine water within the fort, the wounded were not allowed a
drop with which to moisten their tongues, and the first they tasted was on the
following morning, when Fanny Ledyard, a niece of the murdered colonel, came,
like an angel of mercy, at dawn, with wine, and water, and chocolate. She
approached stealthily, for it was uncertain whether the enemy had left.
Fortunately, they had sailed during the night, carrying away about forty of the
inhabitants prisoners. Thus ended the most ignoble and atrocious performance of
the enemy during the war, and the intelligence of it nerved the strong arms of
the patriots in the conflict at Yorktown, in Virginia, a few weeks later, which
resulted in the capture of the British army of the South under Cornwallis.
During the war between the United States and Great Britain, from 1812 to 1815,
New London was several times menaced with invasion by the enemy. In May, 1813,
as Commodore Decatur, then in command of the United States, with his prize, the
Macedonian, fitted out as an American frigate, was attempting to get to sea, he
was chased by a British squadron under Commodore Hardy, and driven into New
London, where he was blockaded for some time. On one occasion the town and
neighborhood were much alarmed on account of a report that the enemy were about
to bombard the place. A considerable military force was stationed there, and
preparations were made to repel the invaders. The forts were well garrisoned
with United States troops, and the militia turned out in great numbers. The
enemy, however, did not attempt an attack, and, becoming wearied of watching
Decatur, the British squadron put to sea, soon followed by our gallant
commodore. Since that time no event has disturbed the repose or retarded the
progress of New London. The whaling business, and other commercial pursuits,
have poured wealth into its lap, and spread its pleasant dwellings over more
than thrice its ancient area.
The most prominent point of attraction to the visitor at New London is the
Groton Monument, on the eastern side of the Thames, which, standing upon high
ground, is a conspicuous object from every point of view in the vicinity. I
crossed the Thames early on the morning after my arrival [October 12, 1848.],
and ascended to Fort Griswold, now a dilapidated fortress, without ordnance or
garrison, its embankments breaking the regular outline of Groton Hill, now
called Mount Ledyard. A little northward of the fort rises a granite monument,
one hundred and twenty-seven feet high, the foundation-stone of which is one
hundred and thirty feet above tide-water. It was erected in 1830, in memory of
the patriots who fell in the fort in 1781. Its pedestal, twenty-six feet square,
rises to the height of about twenty feet, and upon it is reared an obelisk which
is twenty-two feet square at the base, and twelve feet at the top. It is
ascended within by one hundred and sixty-eight stone steps; and at the top is a
strong iron railing for the protection of visitors. Marble tablets with
inscriptions are placed upon the pedestal. The cost of its erection was eleven
thousand dollars, which amount was raised by a lottery authorized by the state
for that purpose.
I paid the tribute-money of a "levy," or York shilling, to a tidy little woman
living in the stone building seen at the right of the monument, which procured
for me the ponderous key of the structure, and, locking myself in, I ascended to
the top, with the privilege of gazing and wondering there as long as I pleased.
It was a toilsome journey up that winding staircase, for my muscles had scarcely
forgotten a similar draught upon their energies at Breed’s Hill; but I was
comforted by the teachings of the new philosophy that the spiral is the only
true ascent to a superior world of light, and beauty, and expansiveness of
vision; and so I found it, for a most magnificent view burst upon the sight as I
made the last upward revolution and stood upon the dizzy height. The broad,
cultivated hills and valleys; the forests and groves slightly variegated by the
pencil of recent frost; the city and river at my feet, with their busy men and
numerous sails; the little villages peeping from behind the hills and woodlands
in every direction, and the heaving Sound glittering in the southern horizon,
were all basking in the light of the morning sun, whose radiance, from that
elevation, seemed brighter than I had ever seen it. It was a charming scene for
the student of nature, and yet more charming for the student of the romance of
American history. At the base of the monument were the ruined fortifications
where patriot blood flowed in abundance; and at a glance might be seen every
locality of interest connected with the burning of New London and the massacre
at Groton.
Here was Fort Griswold; there were Fort Trumbull and the city; and
yonder, dwindling to the stature of a chessman, was the lighthouse, by whose
beacon the arch-traitor and his murderous bands were guided into the harbor.
