History Of The Town Of Ledyard, 1650-1900 (1901) (Hardcover)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER VIII. The Revolutionary War?1775-1783. The struggle for liberty, through which our fathers passed a century and a quarter ago, was between a few feeble Colonies on one side, and a great and powerful Kingdom on the other. It resulted, indeed, in the independence of the Colonies, and the establishment of a Republic which has become one of the great powers of the earth. But it was at an expense of treasure and of blood, which, considered in connection with the small population and the limited resources of the country at the time, seems truly appalling. Each of the thirteen Colonies had a share in that vast expenditure; but no one probably a larger share, according to its means, than Connecticut; and no part of Connecticut a larger share than New London County, and no part of the county a larger share than New London and Groton. And North Groton, now Ledyard, had its full proportion. Abundant proof of this is furnished in the following account of the massacre at Fort Gris- wold, taken from The Springfield Republican, also in the appended list of North Groton men who served in the Revolution?so many of them at the cost of their lives. The Fort Griswold Battle And Massacre. "At daybreak on Sept. 6, 1781, a British fleet of 32 sails appeared at the mouth of New London harbor. Sir Henry Clinton had sent Benedict Arnold to destroy stores, privateers, and forts. A native of Norwich, Arnold knew the country'and its inhabitants. At about nine o'clock the troops began to land in two divisions of eight hundred men each. The first, under command of Arnold, landed on the west side of the harbor andimmediately moved on the town of New London. Fort Trum- bull was then only a water battery, and readily yielded to a superior force coming from the land on its unprotected rear. Ca...