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Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 in 2010 witii funding from 
 Tine Library of Congress 
 
 littp://www.arcliive.org/details/battleofgrotonlieOOcopp 
 
igSi. September^ 6th. 1881. 
 
 THE 
 
 Battle of Eroton Heights; 
 
 The Massacre of Fort Griswold; 
 
 — AND — 
 
 The Burning of Hgw London. 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH BY JGHM J, COPP, ESQ, OF GROTON, 
 
 — AND — 
 
 ADDRESS BY LEONARD WOOLSEY BACON, OF NORWICH. 
 
 — ON — 
 
 The Ninety-Eighth Anniversary, Sept. 6th, 1879. 
 
 '"If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was lauded in my 
 country, I never would lay down my arms— «e«cr, never, never.'''' 
 "You cannot, my lords, you cannot conquer America.''^ — Lord Chatham. 
 
 Published by authority of 
 
 The Groton Heights Centennial Committee, 
 
 December, 1879. 
 
Officers and Members of the Erolon Heights Cealennial Comittee. 
 
 President : 
 J. GEOKGE HAERIS, of Groton. 
 
 Yice Presidents : 
 
 BENJAMIN STARK, New London, 
 WILLIAM H. POTTER, Groton, 
 JOHN BREWSTER, Ledyard. 
 
 Secretary : 
 
 ;< JOHN J. COPP, Groton. 
 
 Treasurer : 
 
 CHRISTOPHER L. AVERY, Groton. 
 
 Members : 
 
 Robert A. Gray, Groton. 
 
 Frederic Bili,, " 
 
 Daniel C. Rodman, 
 John B. Getchell, 
 Braddock M. Chester, '• 
 
 Erasmus D. Avery, 
 Elisha a. Hewitt, 
 Robert A. Morgan, " 
 
 GuRDON Gates, 
 David A. Daboll, 
 Nathan S. Fish, 
 ALBERT L. Avery, " 
 
 William H. Miner, " 
 
 N. T. Allen " 
 
 Elihu Spicer, " 
 
 William H. Tubes, New London. 
 V'- Stephen A. Gardner, Jr., ^ " 
 
 ^*\ George F. Tinker, ' " 
 
 > ^<ij Charles All yn, 
 
 ^ ^. ^ Elisha V. Daboll, 
 
 v'^-x, Charles D. Boss, Jr., " 
 
 Christopher A. Brown, Ledyard. 
 Nbhemiah M. Gallup, 
 Edmund Spicek. 
 Sandford B. Stoddard, " 
 Erasmus Avery, " 
 
 James A. Billings, " 
 
 \. 
 
INTRODUCTION, 
 
 As the time approaches for the looth anniversary of the 
 battle and massacre of Groton Heights and the burning of 
 New London, which took place on Sept. 6th, 1781, it has 
 seemed to the citizens of Groton and New London that a 
 great and notable commemoration of those events should be 
 made. 
 
 The battle of Groton Heights is the only battle fought on 
 the soil of Connecticut during the War of Independence, and 
 that it was a battle worthy of the name, the heavy loss of the 
 British in officers and men sufficiently attests. 
 
 The massacre which followed the battle was so unexampled, 
 so contrary to civilized warfare that everything else was for- 
 gotten in its horrors and barbarities. 
 
 But it is to be hoped, that now that time has assuaged our 
 indignant grief, we may look upon the events of that 6th day 
 of September with calm judgment, and give them their true 
 place in the historic drama of the American Revolution. 
 
 Let every fact be gathered and a record be made which 
 shall outlast the afranite monument that rises in solemn o-radeur 
 above the spot where heroic blood was poured out like water. 
 
 The men who withstood the invader, the Averys, the Allyns, 
 the Baileys, the Billings', the Burrows', the Chesters, the 
 Chapmans, the Coits, the Halseys, the Hempsteads, the 
 Ledyards, the Lathams, the Lesters, the Morgans, the Per- 
 kins', the Starrs, the Seaburys, the Seymours, the Stantons, 
 the Woodbridges, the Williams', are early names among the 
 planters of the Colony. And here on this hill they reappear 
 after a century of struggle with the savage foe and the 
 inhospitable elements, to assert their right to the institutions 
 
which they have founded and to the soil which they have 
 cultivated. 
 
 The States of Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, New 
 York, Pensylvania, and Georgia, have celebrated their Revo- 
 lutionary Centennials with distinguished ceremonies. The 
 State of Virginia is putting forth her energies and calling upon 
 the nation to render illustrious the Centennial of Yorktown. 
 Let not the Commonwealth of Connecticut be unmindful of 
 the glorious part which she took in the War of Independence, 
 but rather let her show to her sister states and to ihe nation, 
 that she cherishes with just pride, the heroic deeds and patri- 
 otic sacrifices of her sons. 
 
 JOHN J. COPP, Secretary. 
 Groton, Dec. i6th, 1879. 
 
Minnies of llie Sroton HeiiMs Centennial CoMiltee. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the Groton Monument Association, on Sept. 6th, 
 1879, the following resolution was passed : — 
 
 Resolved by the Groton Monument Association, that a committee of three 
 be appointed, to be styled The Centennial Committee, to make arrangements 
 for the one hundreth anniversary of the Battle of Groton Heights, to celebrate 
 the same in a manner worthy of the great event, and to co-operate with any 
 committee that may be appointed by the citizens of Groton and other towns 
 for that purpose. Christopher L. Avery, Robert A. Gray, and Frederic Bill, 
 were appointed. 
 
 This resolution was presented later in the day, to the assembly of ladies 
 and gentlemen who were met to observe the 98th anniversary of the battle, 
 within the ramparts of the old fori, and the following resolution was there- 
 upon passed : 
 
 Resolved, That a Centennial Committee be appointed to co-operate with 
 the Groton Monument Association, in making such arrangements as shall be 
 necessary for the proper observance of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of 
 Groton Heights, and that they request the Mayor and Citizens of New 
 London to unite with them for that purpose. 
 
 Col. Daniel C. Rodman, John J. Copp, Braddock M. Chester, and John B. 
 Getchell, were appointed with power to add to their number from time to 
 time. 
 
 The Mayor of New London acting upon the suggestion contained in the 
 resolution, made response as follows : — 
 
 New London, October 4th, 1876. 
 Col. D. C. Rodman and others : 
 
 Gentlemen : — In response to the suggestion of the meeting of Groton, on 
 the 6th day of September last, I have selected the gentlemen named below 
 as a committee on the part of the city, for the purpose of arranging a proper 
 commemoration of the approaching centennial of the massacre on Groton 
 Heights and the burning of New Louden, Sept. 6th, 1781 : 
 
 Benjamin Stark, Charles D. Boss, Jr., Col. William H. Tubbs, Stephen 
 A. Gardner, Jr., George F. Tinker, Charles Allyn, Elisha V. Daboll. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 T. M. Waller, Mayor. 
 
 The Groton Committee subsequently added to their number, and sent an 
 invitation to the town of Ledyard to appoint a committee. It was acted 
 upon at the annual town meeting, and John Brewster, Christopher A. Brown, 
 Edmund Spicer, Sandford B. Stoddard, Erasmus Avery, James A. Billings, 
 and Nehemiah M. Gallup, were appointed. 
 
The Committees of the three towns met on Wednesday, November 12th, 
 1879, at the vestry of the Congregational Church in Groton, and organized 
 under the name of "The Groton Heights Centennial Committee.'"' 
 
 J. George Harris, U. S. N., of Groton, was elected President, ; Benjamin 
 Stark, of New London, William H. Potter, of Groton, and John Brewster, of 
 Ledyard, Vice Presinents ; John J. Copp, was elected Secretary, and Christo- 
 pher L. Avery, Treasurer. 
 
 The Secretary read the following communications in reply to inquiries 
 respecting appropriations for centennial purposes in other states. 
 
 COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, 
 Treasury Departmeist, 
 
 Boston, Oct. 23nd, 1879. 
 John J. Copp, Esq,, Sec. &c., Groton, Conn., 
 
 Bear Sir : — Yours of the 20th is received. Our Legislature in 1875 passed 
 three Resolves appropriating money for the Centennial Celebration of the 
 Battle of Bunker Hill, to wit : 
 
 1st Resolve. Chapter 59. Appropriating $10,000 "to defray the necessary 
 expenses attending the reception and entertainment of the President and 
 Vice President of the United States and other distinguished guests of the 
 Commonwealth," &c. 
 
 2nd Resolve. Chapter 70. Appropriating $5,000, for the compensation 
 and transportation of the volunteer militia. 
 
 ord Resolve. Chapter 77. Appropriating $2,000 additional for the pur 
 poses named in the two preceeding resolves. 
 Substantially, all these sums were expended. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Chas. Endicott, Treasurer. 
 
 CITY OF BOSTON, 
 Office of Auditor op Accounts, 
 
 22nd Oct., 1879. 
 John J. Copp, Esq., Secretary, &c.. 
 
 Dear Sir : — The City of Boston expended in celebrating the one-hundreth 
 anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, thirty-four thousand two hundred 
 and forty-three dollars and ninety-six cents, $(84,243 96). 
 
 In addition to this sura, the state paid certain expenses of the militia. 
 
 Yours truly,- 
 Alfred T. Turner, Auditor of Accounts. 
 
 STATE OF VERMONT, 
 
 Treasurer's Office, 
 Montpelier, Nov. 21st, 1879. 
 J. J. Copp, 
 
 gij-' ; — Your favor of 17th at hand. This state appropriated for erection of 
 monument in commemoration of Battle of Bennington, $15,000, and for 
 Centennial Celebration, $2,000. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 J. A. Page, Treasurer. 
 
A preamble and resolution was read and adopted by a rising vote, to wit : 
 
 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 only one month and thirteen days, and is logically and histori- 
 cally connected with that great event ; and 
 
 Whereas, The Battle of Bunker Hill, at the opening of the war, although 
 a defeat, inspired the fathers with confidence in what their arms could do, 
 so that they no longer sought for any adjustment with the mother country, 
 but determined fully and finally upon independence, so the Battle of Groton 
 Heights although a defeat and a massacre with its second Warren, in the 
 person of Ledyard, in a like manner showed the unyielding spirit and daunt- 
 less courage of the Americans, and made impossible all compromises short 
 of full and complete independence , and 
 
 Whereas, The other states of the Union have celebrated with military pomp 
 and civic display the Centenary of their battle fields, and the state of Virginia 
 has already commenced preparations for the Centennial of Torktown, on 
 Oct. 19th, 1881 ; now therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That the people of Connecticut have just cause to glory in the 
 part which their fathers took in the War of Independence and especially 
 may they rejoice in the valor, the patriotism, and the heroic sacrifice which 
 was displayed at Groton Heights on Sept. 6ih, 1781, when a band of one 
 hundred and sixty farmers and sailors fought valiantly against superior 
 numbers of British troops, inflicting severe loss upon them and choosing 
 death rather than surrender her soil to the invader. 
 
 And we call upon the people and the legislature of the state to join in 
 making the one hundreth anniversary of the battle on Sept. 6th, 1881, an 
 occasion worthy of the sacrifice which it commemorates, and worthy of the 
 character, the prosperity and the intelligence of the Commonwealth of 
 Connecticut. 
 
 Besohed, That the Legislature of the State be requested to pass such bills 
 as are necessary, during the coming session, to provide for all military 
 expenses connected with the Centennial, the entertainment and transportation 
 of visiting militia, the entertainment of the Chief Magistrate of the U. S., 
 his Cabinet, and other officers of the General Government, and for the 
 Governors of other States 
 
 It was voted that the secretary should publish the address of Eev. Leonard 
 Woolsey Bacon, of Norwich, delivered at the late anniv^ersary together with 
 his historical sketch, and such other matter as should be of interest at this 
 time. 
 
 The Committee met Dec. 10th and appointed Erasmus D. Avery, Benjamin 
 Stark, and William H. Potter, a committee to memorialize the Legislature 
 upon the subject of the Centennial. 
 
 Attest : JOHN J. COPP, Secretary. 
 
(nr^ 
 
 Old Fort Gris^ATold. 
 
 EXPLANATION OF GROUND PLAN. 
 
 1. Central area, 150x110 feet, surrounded by a face wall from 2 to 5 feet high. 
 
 2. Rampart, — width at entrance 30 feet from the face wall. 
 
 3. Ditch 30 feet wide. 
 
 4. Breastwork to protect the entrance to the fort. 
 
 5. Entrance 12 feet wide. 
 
 6. Well. 
 
 7. Sally-port. 
 
 8. Covered way leading from the sally-port to water battery. 
 
 9. Ruin in the center. Cellar 22x10 feet. 
 
 10. Ruin, 38x12 feet. 
 
 11. Natural ledge forming part of the wall. 
 
 12. Battery or redoubt about 120 rods from the gate. 
 
 The fort faces the north. No ditch on the south on account of the slope of the 
 land, hence the British troops chose the south-west bastion for their main attack, 
 and it was here that the fort was carried. 
 
 For the Ground Plan and the explanation I am indebted to Miss Stella C. Brown, 
 
 lately of Groton, now of South Hadley, Mass. 
 
 «J. J. C 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH. 
 
 By JOHN J. COPP, of Groton. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen ; Fellow Citizens : 
 
 The Battle of Groton Heights must be viewed in its 
 relations to other events of the American Revolution. It was 
 not a single and isolated event. It was a scene in the great 
 act which closed at Yorktown, in the surrender of Lord 
 Cornwallis. Groton Heights stands connected with Yorktown. 
 Had there been no seige of Yorktown, there would have been 
 no Battle of Groton Heights and no Burning of New London. 
 
 During the summer of 1781, the Continental Government 
 had been informed that a fleet and a body of land troops was 
 about to arrive from France under Count de Grasse, to co- 
 operate with the American forces against the British. Wash- 
 ington and Rochambeau had held an interview, and resolved 
 to lay seige to New York and wrest it from the British. Gener- 
 al Clinton, commander in chief of the British forces, began to 
 bend everything to the defense of this stronghold. With the 
 exception of Charleston and Savannah, and a few such strong- 
 holds, all the territory of the colonies, was recovered into the 
 power of Congress. While these preparations were going 
 on for the defense of New York, Washington changed his 
 purpose. The insufficiency of the allied forces to capture so 
 large an army as that now gathered under Clinton : the diffi- 
 culty of crossing the bar which lies at the entrance of New 
 York harbor with a large fleet like that of de Grasse's, deter- 
 mined him upon the more feasible plan of la3'ing seige to the 
 army of Cornwallis in Virginia. So effectually did Washing- 
 ton conceal his ultimate design, that he marched his forces 
 around New York, crossed tlie Hudson, made rapid marches 
 
10 
 
 through the State of New Jersey, and was well on his wa^^ 
 towards the head of Chesapeake Bay before General Clinton 
 suspected that his movements had any other end in view than 
 the seige of New York. It was now the 28th of August and 
 Cornwallis with seven. thousand men was hemmed in between 
 the James and York rivers. La Fayette was in his rear. 
 Count De Grasse with a fleet of twentv-five sail of the line 
 had blocked up the mouths of the two rivers. Sir Henry 
 Clinton lulled into a profound slumber as to the real purposes 
 of the allies, was suddenly awakened to the perilous situation 
 of Cornwallis and resolved to extricate him. Admiral Graves 
 with nineteen sail of the line was dispatched to the Chesa- 
 peake; there he encountered Count deGrasse. A naval skirmish 
 ensued in which he suffered the heavier loss, and he returned 
 to New York. Twenty thousand French and American troops 
 were now converging upon Cornwallis. Washington was 
 still at the head of Chesapeake Bay waiting transportation. 
 *The 'British General aimed to draw him back, and for that 
 purpose, he planned a diversion into Connecticut, the colony 
 that had furnished the largest quotas to the Continental Army, 
 the cqmmonwealth of Washington's dear friend and faithful 
 supporter, Jonathan Trumbull. 
 
 Benedict Arnold, "that infamous traitor," had just returned 
 from an expedition into Virginia, in which he had marked 
 his path with conflagration and slaughter. He was selected 
 for the new enterprise. Grand preparations were made. The 
 objective point was New London, a rich and flourishing town 
 for those days and filled with spoils recently captured. The 
 expedition promised plunder as well as strategic advantages. 
 
 On the afternoon of September 4th, 1781, a fleet of thirty- 
 two sail under command of Benedict Arnold left New York. 
 On the afternoon of the 5th, at 2 o'clock, they came to anchor 
 
 *0n the second of September, while the American Army was marchino' through Phila- 
 delphia, Sir Henry Clinton sent a courier vessel to Yorktowu with the following dispatch : 
 (Clinton to Cornwallis.) "September 2nd, 1781,"' (In cypher,) Received 1.5th September. 
 
 "Mr. Washington is moving an army to the southward with an appearance of haste, and 
 gives out that he expects the co-operation of a considerable French armament. Your 
 lordship, however, may be assured, that if this is the case, I shall either endeaver to rein- 
 force the army under your command by all the means within the compass of my power, or ■ 
 make evei'y imssible diversion in your favor.^" — Carriiigton's Battles of the American Revo- 
 lution, p. t>24. 
 
11 
 
 oft' Long Island shore about opposite New London. Here 
 they waited for darkness and the south-west wind, hoping to 
 arrive in the harbor at midnight, suprise the garrisons, capture 
 the forts and prevent the escape of the shipping. At 7 p. m. 
 tlie fleet weighed anchor and stood for New London with a 
 fair wind. At i o'clock next morning they arrived off the 
 mouth of the river, when the wind suddenly shifted to the 
 northward, and it was 9 o'clock in the forenoon before the 
 transports could beat in. Capt. William Latham, a soldier of 
 the Continental Army, who had seen service at Bunker Hill, 
 had charge of the garrison of Fort Griswold. About 3 o'clock 
 in the morning the fleet had been descried by a sentinal from 
 the fort, and Capt. Latham had sent notice to Colonel William 
 Ledyard who was in command of the forts and harbor of 
 New London. The signal to call the militia in from the out- 
 lying towns was two guns fired at intervals. Col. Ledyard 
 ordered the signal guns to be fired. The British seem to have 
 understood the signal and fired a third gun which broke the 
 alarm. Col. Leydard, however, had taken the precaution to 
 send out expresses, one to Governor Trumbull at Lebanon, 
 and others to commanders of militia in the neighborhood, to 
 hasten to the defense of the fort. Many treated the alarm 
 lightly — others disbelieved altogether. For six years they 
 had been subject to alarms and gun firings. But Col. Ledyard, 
 "caught its tones with death's prophetic ear." Taking leave 
 of some friends as he crossed the river from New London he 
 said, "if I must lose to-day, honor or life, you, who know me 
 can tell which it will be," 
 
 At 10 o'clock, Thursday morning, September 6th, 1781, the 
 British troops in two divisions, of about eight hundred men 
 each, landed on either side of the river ; that on New London 
 side, under the traitor Arnold; that on the Groton side, under 
 Lieutenant Colonel E3'^re. Arnold's division marched up the 
 Tovv-n Hill road from which he sent a detachment under Capt. 
 Millet which captured Fort Trumbull, then a mere water 
 battery, open from behind, in which were twenty-three men 
 under command of Capt. Adam Shapley. Capt. Shapley 
 finding it idle to resist so large a body of troops, threw a few 
 
12 
 
 charges of shot into them as they came up, then spiked liis 
 guns and started his command across the river in three boats. 
 The British fleet was so near that they were subject to their 
 fire during the flight across the river and one boat with seven 
 men was captured. Shapley with the remaining sixteen, 
 among whom was Sergeant Hempstead, found shelter in Fort 
 Griswold, where the little garrison welcomed them with many 
 demonstrations of joy, for they were experienced artillerists. 
 From the summit of Town Hill at ii o'clock, Arnold had 
 dispatched an officer to Colonel Eyre, giving him such tory 
 information as he had received; to the effect that there were 
 only twenty or thirty men in Fort Griswold, the inhabitants 
 being chiefly concerned in saving their property, and bidding 
 him make all haste in his attack on the fort. Colonel Eyre 
 was landing his troops at Eastern Point in two debarkations. 
 The 40th and 54th regiments were the first to land and with 
 these he started for the scene of action. A lame boy (the 
 name of this boy was Bill Herrin) was cc5mpelled to act as 
 their guide. Over the rocks and through the swamps Bill 
 Herrin went limping along followed by the British regulars 
 till he got them into Dark Hollow, near the old house formerly 
 occupied by Deacon Austin Aver)^ From this place, just in 
 tlie rear of Packers Rocks, Col. Eyre sent Capt. Beckwith, a 
 New Jersey loyalist, "to demand the immediate surrender of the 
 fort, with a threat, that if the demand was not complied with, 
 it would be stormed five minutes after the return of the flag." 
 The second debarkation of Col. Eyre's troops consisting of 
 the 3rd battalion of New Jersey volunteers with a detachment 
 of yagers and artillery, did not arrive in time to take part in 
 the storming of the fort. 
 
 There were now 160 men in Fort Griswold. There was Col. 
 William Ledyard, brother of John Ledyard the traveller. 
 There was Capt. William Latham, Capt. Amos Stanton, Capt. 
 Simeon AUyn, Capt. Samuel Allyn, Capt. Elisha Avery, Capt. 
 Elijah Avery, Capt. Youngs Ledyard, Capt. John Williams, 
 Capt. Hubbard Burrows, Capt. Nathan Moore, Capt. Solomon 
 Perkins, Capt. Edward Latham, Lieut. Joseph Lewis, Lieut. 
 Eben^zer Avery, Lieut. Henry Williams, Lieut, Patrick Ward, 
 
18 
 
 Lieut. Park Avery? Lieut Obadiah Perkins, Lieut. William 
 Starr, Ensign John Lester, Ensign Daniel Avery, Ensign 
 Charles Eldridge, Ensign Joseph Woodmancy, Ensign Ebene- 
 zer Avery, Sergeant Eldridge Chester, Sergt. John Stedman, 
 Sergt. Solomon Avery, Sergt. Jasper Avery, Sergt. Ezekial 
 Bailey, Sergt. Rufus LIurlburt, Sergt. Nicholas Starr, Sergt. 
 Rufus Avery, Sergt. Christopher Avery, and eighty-six others, 
 mostly farmers and farmers sons from Groton, including the 
 present town of Ledyard. There was Capt. Adam Shapley, 
 Capt. Peter Richards, Lieut. Richard Chapman, Sergt. Stephen 
 Hempstead, and nine others from New London. There were 
 the Stanton Brothers and Thomas Williams from Stonington, 
 the Whittlesey Brothers and Daniel Williams from Sa3-brook, 
 and Capt. Elias H. Halsey of Bridgehampton, Long Island. 
 These are the heroes of Groton Heights. "These are the 
 names, the immortal names, that were not born to die." 
 
 The men that day who chose to save their property, or from 
 a safe distance on the heights and hills beyond, to watch the 
 unequal conflict, have long been forgotton. They have met 
 the common fate. "The places that once knew them, know them 
 no more forever." But how tenderly, how proudly are the 
 names of Ledyard's valiant band cherished in the hearts of the 
 people. Death has no power over them. Generations shall 
 come and go and be forgotten, this monument shall totter and 
 fall and mingle again with the soil; conflagration may sweep 
 off yonder city and its site become the camping ground of 
 savage hordes; revolution may overthrow the Government 
 and the Republic may be destroyed; yea, the ocean may waste 
 the shore and the sea again claim the continent for its bed, but 
 History on ever during tablets shall record their valor, their 
 patriotism and their sufi'erings. 
 
 To the impudent demand of the British officer Col, Ledyard 
 sent back word that "he would defend the fort to the last," 
 and Capt. Beckwith returned with the flag to headquarters. 
 
 While this was going on Arnold had gained the heights 
 back of New London. The gunners of Fort Griswold were 
 throwing shot across the river into Fort Trumbull and sub- 
 jecting the English on the hills an outskirts of the town to a 
 galling fire. 
 
14 
 
 It was now between u and 12 o'clock. Arnold stood on 
 the tomb of the Winthrops in the old burial ground, and with 
 his field glass surveyed the scene. What conflict of emotion 
 boiled in the uneasy breast of the arch traitor, as he cast his 
 eye around the happy scene of his early life which he was 
 now ravishing with sword and torch we may not know. But 
 what he thought it would cost his army to take Fort Griswold 
 from Col. Ledyard and his little company of farmers and 
 sailor boys he has not left us to doubt. In liis report to Sir 
 Henry Clinton, he says: "on my gaining a height of ground 
 in the rear of New London, from which I had a good pros- 
 pect of Fort Griswold, I found it much more formidable than 
 I expected, or than I had formed an idea of, from the informa- 
 tion 1 had received. I observed at the same time that the men 
 who had escaped from Fort Trumbull, had crossed the river 
 in boats and had thrown themselves into Fort Griswold. 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 
 Col. Eyre had sent Capt. Bcckwith to demand the surrender 
 of the fort which was peremptorily refused, and the attack 
 had commenced. After a most obstinate defence of forty 
 minutes the fort was carried by the superior bravery and per- 
 severance of the battalions." 
 
 It was the hour of noon. The battle had begun. Colonel 
 Eyre led one regiment and Major Montgomery the other to 
 the assault. Eyre formed his line behind Packer's Rocks, 
 Montgomery deployed his to the north. And so, with gleam- 
 ing guns and nodding plumes, tliey extend a long and fiery 
 wave from north to south and fill the held. With shouts and 
 yells thoy rend the air; over walls and rocks, over fields of 
 ripening corn, through upland pastures on they come like 
 mad men. As when a rocky headland in the sea projects its 
 front against tlie north-east storm and beats the assaulting 
 oc-ean into spray, so Ledyard and his patriot band transported 
 into courage such as heroes feel, received the British files and 
 beat them back. Time would fail me to tell how Capt. Elias 
 Halsey with an eightccn-pounder, at one discharge, swept 
 
twenty red coats down; how Capt. Shapley wounded Colonel 
 Eyre; how Jordan Freeman, Ledyard's colored man, ran 
 a boat pike through brave Mongomery, as he broke over the 
 north-east bastion, and he tell lifeless back; how Stephen 
 Hempstead with his pike, his left arm being wounded, cleared 
 a breach ; how Samuel Edgcomb raised great cannon balls 
 and smote the assailants in the ditch below : how Park Avery 
 in the hottest of the fight, cheered his son a lad of seventeen 
 and the next moment saw him bite the dust ; how Helton 
 Allyn, a gentle, pious boy, fell on the ramparts and went up 
 to heaven. With gun stocks, pikes and canon balls, they 
 fought in hand to hand encounter, one against five. Arnold's 
 Report describes in official language what happened. He 
 saj^s, "the troops approached on three sides of the work, which 
 was a square with flankers, made a lodgement in the ditch, 
 and under a heavy fire which they kept up on the works, 
 eifected 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 coolness and bravery of the troops was very conspicuous, 
 as the first who ascended the fraise were obliged to silence a 
 nine-pounder, which enfiladed the place upon which they stood 
 until a sufficient body had collected to enter the works, which 
 was done with fixed bayonets through the embrazures, where 
 they were opposed with great obstinacy by the garrison with 
 long spears." 
 
 The punishment and loss of the British was now completed. 
 The dead, the dying and the wounded that lay in the ditches 
 and fields around, were the work of the stout hearted little 
 garrison. Who and how many they were, we learn from 
 Arnold's returns^ "i major, i ensign, 2 sergeants, and 44 
 rank and file, killed ; i lieutenant colonel, 3 captains, 2 
 lieutenants, 2 ensigns, 8 sergeants, 2 drumniers, and 127 rank 
 and file, wounded." Total 193 — thirty-three more than there 
 were in the garrison. Surely our brave sires were not the 
 only sufferers that 6th day of September, 1781 ! Major Mont- 
 gomery had a mother and sisters, those British captains had 
 
16 
 
 wives and children, and quite as many English homes as Gro- 
 ton and New London homes went into mourning because of 
 that fated day. 
 
 When Eyre had fallen and Montgomery was killed, their 
 two highest officers in command, the enemy seem to have be- 
 come discouraged with their losses. Stephen Hempstead says, 
 ''they had attacked twice with great vigor and were repulsed 
 with equal firmness" — but now just at this point a luckless 
 shot cut the halyards of the flag and it fell to the ground. 
 "This accident." he says, "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 south-west 
 bastion by storm. Until this moment our loss was trifling 
 in number, being six or seven killed, and eighteen wounded." 
 Could the battle have stopped before that flag fell, we should 
 have met to day with lighter hearts, we should have come 
 together to celebrate a second Battle of New Orleans, or 
 rather the first. Groton Heights instead of an high altar on the 
 earth bathed with sacrificial blood, would have become a field 
 of victory, a plain of triumph. For the sake of England, we 
 could wish the story ended here; but for the sake of America, 
 let us thank Heaven that our liberties were secured at such a 
 cost, that we can never lightly esteem them. Let us return 
 thanks that we have no occasion for vain glorying, but rather 
 for undying gratitude that our fathers here illustrated not 
 only heroic valor but also heroic self sacrifice. Through all 
 the years there come to us from this hill no murmurs, no com- 
 plaints. Like soldiers they fought, like martyrs they fell. 
 
 The work of the garrison was now done, brave soldier 
 work, never yet excelled on any battle field. The assailants 
 carried the south-west bastion, they crossed the parade and 
 unbarred the gates. Colonel Ledyard had ordered his men to 
 cease firing and stood in his place near the gates. Captain 
 Beckwith the flag bearer was one of the first to enter. A 
 British officer (probably Beckwith) shouted "Who commands 
 this fort.''" Colonel Ledyard replied, "I did, sir, but you do 
 now," at the same time stepping forward, and presenting his 
 sword with the point toward himself. His sword was thrust 
 
17 
 
 back through him by the hand that received it, and he fell 
 prone on the earth. This was the signal of indiscriminate 
 slaughter, and the common soldiers crossed the parade ground 
 in platoons firing on the defenseless garrison, who had ground- 
 ed their arms. With the bayonet they killed thrice over'those 
 who were already dead. Blood flowed over all the area and 
 hid the greensward. They trod in blood. There was blood 
 in the magazine and in the barracks, blood was on the plat- 
 forms, blood was everywhere. Out of one hundred and thirty 
 able bodied men when the Brittish troops entered, they left 
 scarce twenty able to stand upon their feet. There they lay 
 in heaps fallen one upon another, as brave a band as fought 
 with Leonidas at Thermopyle. Without the uniforms of 
 soldiers but with all the valor of veterans. 
 
 But let us turn from these distressing thoughts, nor any 
 longer seek to disclose the outrages of that day. It is enough 
 for us to know that the victor did not remain to enjoy his 
 triumph. With sun set Arnold gathered up his wounded (the 
 dead English soldiers having been buried on this hill where 
 they fell) and taking with him seventy prisoners, (the wounded 
 being paroled,) reembarked and set sail for New York with 
 his fleet of thirty-two vessels. 
 
 All the boasts of the Tory papers of that day could illy 
 conceal the chagrin and sense of loss which the royalists felt 
 over this accursed expedition. Sir Henry Clinton in his 
 "General Orders" respecting it, made no attempt to disguise 
 his feelings. He says: 
 
 "Brigadier General Benedict Arnold having reported to 
 the Commander-in-chief the success of the expedition against 
 New London on the 6th inst.. His Excellenc}' 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 strength as Fort Griswold is reputed to be, he 
 cannot hut lament with the deepest co?icern the heavy loss in officers 
 ^nd men sustained by the 40th and 54th regiments, who had 
 the honor of the attack." 
 
18 
 
 But as deplorable and costly as this aflfair was to the British, 
 as a strategic movement it was an utterfailure. In the language 
 of Charles Botta, the historian, "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 executions in Connecticut; Washington 
 scarcely deigned to notice it. Unshaken in his prior de- 
 signs, he knew perfectly that whoever should triumph at 
 Yorktown would have decided the whole campaign in his favor. 
 Instead, therefore, of sending troops into Connecticut, he 
 drew them all into Virginia. Of the two attempts made to 
 succor Cornwallis, (the naval battle, and the diversion against 
 New London,) neitht'r Iiad obtained its obie('t." 
 
 On Grotoii Heights I wiilkcd iiloiic, 
 
 The sun was .m'oinj;- down, 
 A nioUow nuliiinc'c round nic slionc, 
 And biitlu'd Uio liill and town, * 
 
 And liUo this niullo\v/;v liti'lit appears 
 'I'lui memory of a hundred years. 
 
 Here where I stand the heroes stood, 
 
 A liundred years a»'o ; 
 "Far east tlie same green I'lJlUni;' wood, 
 The sanu' lair title below ; 
 
 And there tlie Sound so full and l>hu', 
 Hefleetinji; henvou's sereiuu hue. 
 
 All ! was it thus the eve before 
 
 Tliat fatal morninj;' rose? 
 Were there such murmers from tlu^ shore V 
 Was there tlie soft repose y 
 It was a sweeter, lovlier seeue, 
 iOre due dark shadow eame between. 
 
 1 tread iqion a battle hill. 
 
 On sternly saered ground, 
 And it has nu)re to make me thrill, 
 Thau all that lies around ; 
 For what are laud, and sea, and skills, 
 To valor shown, and sacrillee? 
 
 Say when h;is history writ a di'ed 
 
 More brave, nu)re true, more' slrongV 
 Of Sjiarta we've no further need, 
 To niorali/e a song. 
 Since Ledyaid and his patriot band 
 StoiMl like a eoast to uuai-d the land. 
 
19 
 
 111 .sciilU'ivd i;i-avoy tlic licroi's sk'L'ii 
 
 Hy river, pond and wood, 
 Their pircious dust tlic valloyt^ kw[>, 
 Tlu'ir blood tliis liill cnibrucd. 
 Iniuiortalis ! wlioroso'er tlioy lie 
 'riicy live wluni t;eiiei'atioiis die. 
 
 Pcrhaiis wc I'hildron may lori;'ivo— 
 
 Fcrluips wo liavo. foigivcn — 
 The eauseless crime, but if, to strive 
 The nation should be driven, ^^i- 
 Tlien, with the British on lht\^lleit;hts 
 We'll set a shameful wronj^' to rig'hts. 
 
/VDDRESS 
 
 By LEONARD WOOLSEY BACON, of Norwich. 
 
 Fellow Citizens : 
 
 In the course of the successive annual celebrations of the 
 tragedy once enacted on this height, we are drawing near to 
 its centennial anniversary. It is natural that our thoughts 
 should run forward to the completion of the century, and that 
 this celebration and the next should seem to be hardly more 
 than preliminary and preparatory to the more worthy cele- 
 bration which will surely commemorate the great martyrdom 
 of American patriotism when the full round of one hundred 
 years shall have been accomplished on the 6th of September, 
 1881. As we await the completion of the century, it is 
 instructive to turn back to the period just a hundred years ago 
 from now— the period two years before the storm of massacre 
 and conflagration broke over the estuary of the Thames, while 
 the clouds by which it was engendered were still brooding in 
 the West and beginning to roll up toward the zenith. If we 
 can tell the story of 1779 and 1780, so as to set forth the cir. 
 cumstances that were working on toward so tragic a catastro- 
 phe, we shall have prepared the way for the poet and orator 
 who shall be thought worthy to rehearse once more the story 
 of 1 78 1 to the third and fourth generation from the actors and 
 sufferers therein. 
 
 Two facts, illustrated to the eye, must be held as characteristic 
 of the State of Connecticut in its relation to the War of 
 Independence. The first is that bloodiest and most atrocious 
 
22 
 
 deed of all the war, which is commemorated by the lofty 
 obelisk beside us. The other is that this should be the only 
 battle-monument within tile boundaries of the State — that 
 Connecticut should be a State without battle-fields of a later 
 date than the war of self-defense against the Pequot savages. 
 The only exception, if it can be called an exception, is that of 
 the skirmish at Danbury in 1777, and the invasion of New 
 Haven in 1779. These instances are the only ones in the 
 history of Connecticut for two hundred years, in which the 
 armed force of an enemy has remained over night upon her 
 soil. These two facts, that Connecticut should possess the 
 scene of the most atrocious and malignant massacre of the war, 
 and that she should possess no other battle-field, are facts that 
 stand in significant relation to each other, and a relation that 
 is in the highest degree honorable to the State. It was the very 
 fact that the whole of her little territory was so loyal to liberty 
 that oppression could never get a foothold here, — the fact that 
 her whole resources of men and material were freely employed, 
 not in self-defense, but in advancing the cause of, freedom 
 outside of her own boundaries, through gallant deeds by land 
 and sea, that instigated the invader and the tory to a special 
 malignity of revenge, in the few brief and stealthy blows which 
 they were able to deliver at the more exposed points of her 
 seaboard. It is a grand thing to be able to point to monuments 
 like those at Concord and Bunker Hill, to historic fields like 
 those of Monmouth and Saratoga. But rightly understood, 
 it is a far nobler thing to point, as Connecticut can, to a terri- 
 tory without a battle-field, and for its solitary battle-monument 
 to this silent witness to the unsurpassed heroism of her sons, 
 and the unequalled ferocity of her enemies, in the war for the 
 national independence. 
 
 The chief origin of this distinction of Connecticut is doubt- 
 less to be found in the fact that, alone of all the thirteen 
 colonies, she entered into the struggle for independence com- 
 plete, with lier governor and council and the whole machinery 
 of the colonial government. In Connecticut, there never was 
 a revolutionary war. In other colonies there was more or less 
 of revolution. Existing authorities, having proved false to 
 
the people, had to be supplanted, and provisional governments, 
 extemporized for the emergency, erected in their stead. We 
 in Connecticut fought through a war not of revolution but of 
 conservation — not for the achieving of new liberties but for 
 the defense of the old. And this fact gave a solid strength to 
 her resistance to British intrusions, which was impossible to 
 the other colonies, burdened by the incubus of royal govern- 
 ors, affected more or less by the social influence of their petty 
 courts, divided, consequently, in some measure, into two 
 parties, patriot and loyalist, and more or less disorganized by 
 the sudden necessity of reconstructing their governmental 
 machinery. It is not claiming too much for Connecticut to 
 say that it was the principal base of supplies for the national 
 cause, and that the grandest figure, next to Washington him- 
 self, among all the heroes of that heroic age, is the figure of 
 the Puritan governor, Jonathan Trumbull, *^Brother Jonathan." 
 A day's ride to the north of us, beside the broad village 
 street of ancient Lebanon, was the little store and counting- 
 room that are justly designated in local tradition as the "War 
 Office" of the War of Independence. Here was the commis- 
 sariat ©n which again and again the famishing army of 
 Washington drew the supplies that saved it and the country. 
 It was natural enough that the strenuous patriot who was 
 wielding all the resources of his State with such splendid 
 energy and efficiency for the American cause should be made 
 the object of peculiar spite, such as manifested itself in the 
 offering of a price for his head : and it was not less obvious 
 that the superb seaport, unsurpassed on all the coast for its 
 natural advantages, through which the military stores and 
 forces of Connecticut found their readiest outlet, should be 
 regarded with jealous detestation by the adherents of the royal 
 cavise. 
 
 But this share in the general distinguished patriotism of 
 the little commonwealth was not the only thing that provoked 
 the peculiar malice of the British and their partisans towards 
 the towns at the mouth of the Thames. A jealousy of the 
 commercial enterprise and prosperity of our chief seaports 
 had provoked from that quarter no small expressions of 
 
24 
 
 delight at the death-blow to the sea-faring interest that had 
 been dealt by the outbreak of the war. Never was exultation 
 more misplaced. The expert mariners nurtured in the com- 
 merce and fisheries of this great harbor, thrown out of their 
 customary employment, became soon an intolerable scourge 
 to the pride of the mistress of the seas. The swarms of tory 
 plundering boats that ran out from the coves of Long Island 
 to infest the Connecticut coast with petty raids and cattle- 
 stealing expeditions, provoked the most energetic and effectual 
 reprisals. Perhaps it is safe to say that the headquarters of 
 the privateering warfare, as well as of the little State vessels 
 equipped and armed under the direction of the tireless Gov- 
 ernor Trumbull, that were the beginning of the splendid naval 
 history of America, were here in the Thames. The swift, 
 alert little craft scourged the tory depredators from Long 
 Island back to their hiding places, and inflicted such injury 
 on the supply-ships and merchant-ships that sailed under the 
 enemy's flag, as to compel no small part of the naval strength 
 of the greatest maritime power in the world to waste itself in 
 patrolling Long Island Sound, looking up the Thames in 
 passing to see the aggravating Yankee vessels scudding vip 
 stream where His Majesty's ships would have found it unsafe 
 tofollowthem. Vigilance like this could represstheannoyance 
 in some measure, and so it did in the years 1777 and '78; for in 
 those years the maritime losses of New London were heavy and 
 the gains comparatively light.* But when 1779 came in, the 
 fortune of war turned again, and the 'wharves of the harbor 
 were soon crowded with prizes, armed and unarmed, lying 
 under the guns of Forts Trumbull and Griswold, and the 
 warehouses were stuffed with their cargoes, ready to be applied 
 to the uses of Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth's commissariat. 
 
 Is there any wonder, now, that with all these motives of 
 exasperation and of policy working in combination on the 
 mind of the enemy — with a State solid for liberty and pouring 
 
 *So great was the vigilance of the British squadron on the coast, that between the summer 
 of 1776 and that of 1778, not a single prize was brought Into the harbor of New London." 
 — Miss Ccmlki/is^ Histonj of New London, p. 544. 
 
 It is difficult fully to reconcile this statement of a most careful and painstaking writer, 
 with the facts detailed In Stuart's Life of Governor Trumbull.— ^^. 347 — 350. 
 
 K^L^ 
 
 'd 
 
 ,tf 
 
25 
 
 into the common treasury of the nation's cause her resources 
 of life and material with a magnificent but exhausting liberality 
 to which the experience of our generation affords no paral- 
 lel — with a patriot governor, the only such officer in all the 
 colonies, whose position and patriotism and calm genius for 
 public business made him the bridle-hand of the young nation, 
 as Washington was its sword-hand, with a sea and river front 
 alive with mariners driven from their customary peaceful pur- 
 suits, and ready and eager to punish the depredations of the 
 invader and the traitor, and with this splendid harbor holdino- 
 tlie spoil of the high seas and of the Sound, and the stores and 
 warehouses filled with materials that had been turned over 
 froin the cause of oppression to that of independence — is there 
 any wonder, I say, that a hundred years ago, about the year 
 1779, there should be a daily consciousness of peril in the 
 minds of the dwellers on the Thames, from the tremendous 
 maritime strength of the invading power, and that they should 
 look from time to time, with anxious solicitude, to the condi- 
 tion of the forts on either side of the river, with their scanty 
 equipment and still more scanty garrisons.* It is impossible 
 but that the misgiving must sometimes liave crept into men's 
 minds whether they had done wisely to strip their own State 
 of its wealth and of its men to help in distant fields, and leave 
 their own homes so naked to the vengeance of the enemy. + 
 
 It is a splendid proof of the large-minded and unselfish 
 patriotism of our fathers, that such a thought seems never 
 once to find expression in all their documents, still less in any 
 of their doings. The spirit of Connecticut was the same in 
 1780 as in i860, — a spirit of love for the whole country and 
 not for her own corner of it. 
 
 But now, in this year 1779, there comes an additional peril 
 to the towns along this strip of seaboard ; for now at last the 
 policy of rapine and devastation is openly adopted as a part 
 
 *]t V at^ iibout this time (just after the bnriiiiig of Fairfield and Norwalli;! that TruiulxiU. 
 piovidiu;.' for a rendezi^oiis of troop.s at New London, described it as a post "not to be left 
 naked for a day." — Stuart\-< Life. 2>. 443. 
 
 f'This town has been drained of men already, so that there is scarcely a sufliciency of 
 hands left to get in the harvest." J>athaniel Shaw. Jr.. to Governor Trumbull. Aug. "7tli, 
 1(7(5. Quoted by Miss Caulkins, p. 521. 
 
26 
 
 of the British strategy. The pretense, long kept up to their 
 own imagination, that they were the protectors of America 
 from a conspiracy of insurgents, and the restorers of law and 
 government, is completely abandoned by the invaders, and 
 they confess that they mean to deal with their late subjects as 
 alien enemies. And in what spirit of savage cruelty British 
 soldiers are capable of dealing with an alien enemy, there are 
 many other and more recent witnesses than Groton Heights 
 and Wyoming. 
 
 The transition to this policy is to be dated from the year 
 1779, when the ripening of the French alliance gave warning 
 to the British leaders both at home and in the field to make 
 up their minds that their American colonies were not only 
 free from their control, but that they would pass into relations 
 of amity with the ancient and hereditary enemies of England. 
 Then it was that the British commander in New York resolved 
 that what he could not hold for the advantage of the British 
 crown should be so spoiled and laid waste as to be useless to 
 any other power. ^' As the armament of the tory Tryon tainted 
 the western breeze, during that summer of 1779, with the 
 smoke of burning New Haven and Fairfield and Norwalk, the 
 only wonder to the people of Eastern Connecticut was that 
 New London and Groton instead of being spared had not 
 been the first victims. 
 
 But the preparations of history for this catastrophe were not 
 yet complete. It seemed as if the dramatis personae were not 
 ready for their parts. The heroes, indeed, were not wanting; 
 but there was no one ready and competent for the part of the 
 chief villain of the plot. And it seemed as if History must 
 wait until this role could be suitably filled. 
 
 Now when a villain or knave is wanted, there has never yet 
 appeared to be any lack of capacity in Connecticut to produce 
 
 *The policy as well as benevolence of Great Britain have thus far checked the extremes 
 of war. But when America jn-ofesses the unnatural design not only of estranging herself 
 from us, .but of mortgaging herself to our enemies, the whole contest is changed, and the 
 question is, how far Great Britain may, by any means in her power destroy and render use- 
 less a connection contrived for her ruin, and for the aggnindizemeut of France." Procla- 
 mation to tlie colonies, 1778. "Keep the coasts of the enemy constantly alarmed. Destroy 
 their ships and magazines. Prevent the rebels from becoming cifoi-mMable mantinie poiver, 
 and obstructing the commerce of his Majesty's subjects," &c. — Lord George Germain to 
 Sir Henry Clinton, 1779. 
 
27 
 
 him. This soil, that is the birthplace of heroes from the 
 beginning, has shown that it is not incapable of bringing- 
 forth the opposite. The deep and fertile earth that rears great 
 forest trees for glory and for pleasant shade, sends up shoots 
 of noxious weeds also, the fetid narcotics, the poison ivy and 
 the poison sumach. There are no heroes in history more 
 heroic than the heroes of Connecticut birth and lineage; and 
 there are no traitors viler and meaner than Connecticut 
 traitors. And this was' just as true a hundred years ago as it 
 was eighteen years ago. If the country needs a colossal statue 
 of treason to vent its execi'ations on, to set up as a lesson of 
 warning and detestation for future generations, it finds the 
 material for it in the same quarries of primeval granite from 
 which the Roman features of Trumbull and the chivalrous 
 head of Ledyard are carved for immortal fame. 
 
 The only man in America wholly worthy to be the leader 
 in the deed of infamy on Groton Heights, was, one hundred 
 years ago, in 1779, perhaps the most brilliant officer in the 
 continental army. In the greatest pitched battle that had 
 yet been fought on this continent, and the battle attended 
 with the greatest results, it was not so much the fine generalship 
 of Gates, that drew the admiring gaze of the army and the 
 nation, as the magnificent daring, the splendid fury- of General 
 Arnold of Connecticut. As he limped away on his wounded 
 leg from that victorious field, there was real danger that the 
 known vices of his character would be lost from view in the 
 lurid glare of his martial bravery, and that this base man, 
 who never was any thing else than base, would become, among 
 all the conspicuous figures of the war, the one eminent object 
 of popular admiration and imitation. The treason that saved 
 us from that calamity was a blessing to the nation in all its 
 generations. The best use to which such a man as Arnold 
 can be put, — a brilliant man, patriotic from considerations of 
 expediency, and when expediency seems to take the other side 
 a patriot no longer — the only good use that the country has for 
 such a man is to set him in the pillory of public scorn, and 
 teach each new generation of growing boys to abhor him. 
 And that is the use that we put Benedict Arnold to, to-day. 
 
28 
 
 A hundred years ago to-day, as I have said, Arnold was the 
 most brilliant officer in the continental service. A hundred 
 years ago next September, he was a traitor, in disgrace, fleeing 
 from the sight of honorable and patriotic men, and loathed 
 and abhorred even by those who had bought him and paid for 
 him and were ready to use him on the base business, unworthy 
 of the name of war, to which they had now resolved to stoop. 
 At last it seemed that History had completed her dramatic 
 preparations, and the curtain was ready to rise on a scene of 
 slaughter. Only a brief rehearsal of his part, by the burning 
 of Richmond and the devastation of other parts of Virginia, 
 and Arnold is ready when September comes round again, one 
 year from the date of his treason, to disembark from a British 
 ship in the bright daylight of the morning of September Gth, 
 1 78 1, with his band of foreign incendiaries and assassins, and 
 take his stand on the tomb of the Winthrops, to direct the de- 
 struction of the town and the slaughter of his fellow-citizens 
 and neighbors. 
 
 There is a curious superficial resemblance to be observed 
 between the battle of Groton Heights and the battle of Bunker 
 Hill. In each case, there was the storming of a hill-top fort 
 by a vastly superior force of regular troops against a scanty 
 garrison of untrained militia- In each case the successful 
 storm was accompanied by the burning of the neighboring 
 town. In each case the military defeat is commemorated by 
 a granite obelisk, and the memory of it is cherished proudly 
 as more precious than the memory of many victories. It may 
 even be said that the likeness runs deeper than these outside 
 circumstances, and that as the brave fighting ot the farmers on 
 Bunker , Hill committed the people to the commencement of 
 the war, so the more heroic suffering and dying of the martyrs 
 of Groton Height made it thenceforth impossible so much as 
 to think of the compromises and concessions which already 
 again and again the British government had been offering to 
 the American people on condition of their renewed allegiance. 
 If ever, in the discouragements, and the inexpressible exhaus- 
 tion and distress of this protracted war, the people had been 
 ready to yield the great issue of Independence, the folly and 
 
20 
 
 wickedness of the enemy himself had been God's instrument 
 for the deliverin^y the land from that peril. After the death of 
 I.edyard and his neighbors, there could be no end of the war 
 but in victory. The victory was not far away, indeed ; for the 
 glory of Yorktown was nigh at hand. But there was need, 
 nevertheless for the horror of Groton Heights. The blood of 
 all these martyrs was not spilled in vain.* 
 
 As I have traced the tragical records of the massacre of 
 Groton Height, and goiie through the roster of "the embattled 
 farmers" who died within this bloody inclosure, and their 
 associates in the great struggle, the thing that more than any 
 other has made the story real and vivid before my eyes has 
 been the old family names, still extant and familiar in this 
 region, to show that the sons of those sires still hold the soil 
 their fathers died in defending. I read on the roll of the 
 dead the name of Nathan Sholes, and cannot help thinking of 
 the man with the steadiest arm and the surest rifle last Sep- 
 tember on the camp-ground of the Third Regiment at Niantic. 
 I come elsewhere upon the name of Joe Huribut, and immedi- 
 ately I think of the pale New London bo)^ who divided with 
 his fellow townsman and classmate Branclegee the highest hon- 
 ors of our college class at Vale, but whose peaceful laurels 
 were laid with him in the early grave in which he sleeps in 
 Christian hope. I come again upon the ncunQoi Marvin Wait, 
 and wonder to think how well the heroism of a hundred years 
 ago was reproduced in our own time under the same name, in 
 the person of the chivalrous young soldier of Norwich. When 
 I read the record of the doughty service and the ingenious 
 persistency, of that ancient mariner Jeremiah Halsey, it is 
 
 *The Plan of Conciliation of Lord North was submitted to I^arliament in February, 1778. 
 and sent to America in April of the same year. Even so early in the war, it was answered 
 to these proposals, as in the noble letter of Governor Trumbull to the tory Tryon ; * * * * 
 "the barbarous inhumanity which has marked the prosecution of the war on your part in its 
 several stages : the insolence which displays itself on every petty advantage : the cruelties 
 which have been exercised on those unhappy men whom the fortune of ^var has thrown into 
 your hands : all these are inseparable bars to the very idea of concluding a peace with Great 
 Britain on anv other conditions than the most perfect and absolute independence." — Stuarts 
 Life. p. 40ti 
 
 In like tenor, but with greater asperity General Persons answered other overtures of Tryon. 
 after the Imniinu- of Fairfield and Norwalk, 1779. See his letter in Hollister"s History of 
 Connecticut, vol. ii, p. 379 How this feeling was intensified by the Groton Massacre is 
 nowhere so touchingly and eloquently shown as in the rude epitaphs of the victims scat- 
 tered among the neighboring graveyards, and transcribed in Mr. Harris's admirable memo- 
 rial pamphlet. 
 
30 
 
 impossible not to think how some of his qualities are still 
 shining at the front of the New London County bar, and 
 winning victories of peace, not less renowned. But it is a 
 still more striking illustration of the soundness of the stock 
 and the genuineness of the pedigree, when we see the martyr 
 name of Ledyard borne by his nearest kinsman in the very 
 front of the pioneers of African Exploration and the great- 
 grandson of Col. McClellan the commander of New London 
 harbor, flinging the thunderbolts that pierced the hostile lines 
 at Antietam. 
 
 O fellow-citizen of Connecticut, and especially, O men of 
 Groton, children of these martyred heroes, be proud of the 
 stock from which you are descended — proud with that worthy 
 and honest pride which shall lead you to emulate the virtues 
 of the race from which you are sprung! You do well to 
 build your school-house in the shadow of this lofty obelisk, 
 and to let this arena of the bloody struggle be trodden year 
 by year in the happy sports of boys and girls. But think what 
 shame it were before the world, if the children of such ances- 
 tors should prove recreant to their glorious name .'' Think 
 what a legacy of glory and ennobling responsibility has come 
 down to you, to be kept and handed dovi^n unimpaired and 
 enhanced to your children after you! 
 
 "Guard well yonr trust — 
 The faith that dared the sea. 
 The truth that made them free, 
 Their cherished purity, 
 
 Their s-arnered dust!" 
 
ijSi. Septembee^ 6th. 1881. 
 
 THE 
 
 Battle of Groton Heights; 
 
 The Massacre of Fort Griswold; 
 
 — AND — 
 
 The Burning of Ngw London. 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH BY JOHN J. COPP, ESQ., OF GROTON 
 
 ADDRESS BY LEONARD WOOLSEY BACON, OF NORWICH, 
 
 The Ninety-Eighth Anniversary, Sept. 6th, 1879. 
 
 '•If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in 
 my country, I never would lay down my arms— never, never, never.'''' 
 "Yon cannot, my lords, ijow cannot conquer America.'''' — Lord Chatham. 
 
 Published by authority of 
 
 The Groton Heights Centennial Committee. 
 
 December. ISTQ. 
 
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