Burning of New London

The City of New London during the Revolution

The city of New London is located in southeastern Connecticut at the mouth of the Thames River along Long Island Sound. The Thames River provides New London with an excellent harbor. It is wide and deep, the bottom has excellent mud for anchoring, it hardly ever freezes over, and its location at the eastern end of Long Island Sound allows ships easy access to the Atlantic Ocean. Because of the quality of its port, during Colonial times, New London was engaged in the "West Indies trade". Sugar cane was about the only crop grown on the islands of the Caribbean; therefore, plantation owners were completely dependent on imports of livestock, food, and supplies from the northern English colonies to feed themselves. In New London, sugar, rum and molasses from the Caribbean were exchanged for farm products needed by plantation owners in the Caribbean.

Goods coming into the colonies from foreign ports (such as rum, sugar, wine, and tea) were subject to duties--import taxes--to be paid to the British government. However, because New England has a long coastline, it was difficult for the British government to enforce these regulations. As these taxes increased in the 1760s to pay for England’s wars with France, smuggling became big business. Bringing commodities into port without paying taxes to the King became very common. Many New England captains and merchants also passionately opposed further British taxation.

Because New London's citizens had a reputation for being anti-tax and anti-British, New London was the perfect location from which to launch attacks on British shipping. However, the Patriots didn't have a large navy so the government gave permission to privately owned ships to serve as part of its navy. Commanders who owned these specially-licensed private ships became known as privateers. Their motivation was to support the cause of liberty while also supporting themselves.

The difference between piracy and privateering, in essence, was one piece of paper, a commission, sometimes referred to as a letter of marque. These documents were printed forms with blanks to fill in the name and size of vessel to be registered as a privateer, the name of captain and owner, the number of guns, and the size of the crew. Privateers were also required to follow a series of published regulations or rules of engagement.

The number of guns and size of crew was important, as the usual practice was to sail upon a merchant vessel that was believed to be not well armed, determine that it was a British ship, threaten to blow the ship out of the water should its captain not surrender, assign a crew of one’s own men to take over the sailing of the enemy ship, and sail it into New London. There the ship and cargo would be sold at auction and the stolen goods, or spoils, distributed to the owners, captain, and crew. So it should be no surprise that privateers could get all the crew that they wanted, while commanders of militia units near ports found it hard to compete with the privateers to get the quota of soldiers they needed. Indeed, Colonel William Ledyard, commander of the Patriots' forts protecting New London harbor, complained frequently that he had not enough cannon, not enough powder, and not enough men.

Burning of New London

In late July of 1781, the British merchant ship Hannah was seized and brought into New London by the Minerva, captained by New London native Dudley Saltonstall. This ship was the largest prize taken during the entire war, with a cargo of West India goods and gunpowder whose value was estimated at 80,000 pounds sterling--roughly $12,000,000 in 2015! This spurred the British to retaliate, to punish New London for its success at privateering. The General chosen to lead the charge against the Patriots was Connecticut's own Benedict Arnold who had switched sides during war. Instead of fighting on the side of the Patriots and George Washington, Benedict Arnold was now a supporter of the British!

It is believed that the attack on New London was to act as a distraction to George Washington and his troops who were heading south toward Virginia.

On September 6, Benedict Arnold landed half his force on the New London side of the Thames River under his own command, sending the other half, under the command of Colonel Edmund Eyre, to take Fort Griswold on the Groton side.

The Patriots' Colonel William Ledyard, in charge of the forts, had about seven hours’ warning between the sighting of the ships and the landing of the troops. He decided to concentrate on a defense of Fort Griswold and did all in his power to gather recruits. Several of the privateers in town attempted to get underway to sail up river toward Norwich to avoid attack.

Arnold’s force met some musket fire as they landed but found little resistance as they marched from the landing to town. There they split into two groups, planning to burn the city from both ends and meet in the center. Nathaniel Shaw’s house was one of the first set ablaze, but, as it was built of stone, neighbors were able to extinguish the flames before they consumed the structure. More than 140 buildings--homes, shops, warehouses--were destroyed, as were ships at the wharves. The Hannah was set on fire; when the gunpowder in her hold exploded, it helped to spread the flames.

On the other side, at Fort Griswold on the Groton heights, approximately 160 militiamen and civilians gathered to fight the 800 British and Hessian soldiers. Refusing to surrender when that option was offered, they fought furiously, killing 2 English officers and 43 others and wounding 193 more. After about 40 minutes, the British made it into the fort. Colonel Ledyard, realizing all was lost, commanded his men to put down their arms. At that point there were an estimated 6 American dead and 20 wounded. But after giving up his sword, Ledyard was immediately killed, and the British troops, after losing officers and so many of their comrades, refused to be held back. When the slaughter ended, 83 Americans were dead and 36 wounded. Several of the wounded died within a few days. Those who could walk were taken as prisoners back to New York.

One month later, as Lafayette led his troops at Yorktown, he challenged his men to “Remember New London.” British General Cornwallis surrendered in October, and by January many British officers were being sent back to England. Cornwallis and Arnold crossed on the same ship.

New London and Groton were almost entirely destroyed. Shaw was able to exchange prisoners after the Yorktown surrender. In December 1781 he brought some to his own home, one of the few structures still standing.

Due to the death of so many of Groton’s citizens, the Fort Griswold site almost immediately took on shrine-like status. A monument was erected there in 1830 and enlarged in 1881. The site was turned over by the federal government to the state in 1931, at the 150th anniversary commemoration of the battle.

"Arnold Orders Burning of New London." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2015. <http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/arnold-orders-burning-of-new-london>.

The Battle of Groton Heights and the Burning of New London http://www.battleofgrotonheights.com/The_Burning_of_New_London.html

Connecticut History.org, Benedict Arnold Turns and Burns New London. http://connecticuthistory.org/benedict-arnold-turns-and-burns-new-london/

New London History. Benedict Arnold. http://nlhistory.org/benedict-arnold/

Map of Fort Griswold. https://www.flickr.com/photos/uconnlibrariesmagic/3399693954/