The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Fort Griswold, Massacre of

FORT GRISWOLD, Massacre of, 6 Sept. 1781. Hearing of Washington's southern march, Sir Henry Clinton, as the only available diversion, sent an expedition against New London, Conn., where a quantity of stores was collected, with slight defense from Fort Trumbull on the New London side and Fort Griswold on the Groton side of the Thames, and which was a nest of privateers that had greatly annoyed the British. Benedict Arnold was selected to head it, as a Connecticut man; an ugly method of sealing his new allegiance. On taking possession of Fort Trumbull, it became evident that the American shipping would escape unless Fort Griswold were captured also; it was reported unfinished and occupied only by 20 or 30 men, and Arnold ordered an attack on it. Shortly seeing that it was stronger than he supposed, and garrisoned by those who had escaped from Fort Trumbull, and that the ships were escaping up the river, he countermanded the order, but too late. The British detachment of 600 regulars had assailed the fort, where 157 militia had gathered; and after 40 minutes' assault, with the loss of 192 men, the British carried it, and despite appeals for quarter, massacred nearly the whole garrison. Colonel Ledyard, the commander, and 70 others were killed, 60 wounded, 35 mortally, and only 26 escaped unhurt. The British officers, however, did their best to stop the slaughter, and the atrocious story formerly told of the murder of the colonel is fiction. The massacre of garrison in terrorem, to teach them not to defend untenable places, was justified by the European rules of war at the time, but had not been practised in America. Even American officers, however, spoke of it at the time as a regrettable but almost inevitable incident of war. Consult ‘The Massacre of Fort Griswold’ (in ‘Magazine of American History,’ Vol. VII, 1880).