History

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Fort Trumbull is a fort near the mouth of the Thames River on Long Island Sound in New London, Connecticut and named for Governor Jonathan Trumbull. The original fort was built in 1777, but the present fortification was built between 1839 and 1852. The site lies adjacent to the Coast Guard Station New London and is managed as the 16-acre Fort Trumbull State Park by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Fort Trumbull occupies a key site in the approaches to New London Harbor. From its position it could fire upon any ship entering the Thames River and work in coordination with Fort Griswold on the Groton side of the river. Work was started on the present site of Fort Trumbull prior to the outbreak of the Revolution in 1775. On October 2nd, 1775 the Connecticut General Assembly ordered that the fort be completed in response to the outbreak of the Revolution. The superintendent of construction was Colonel Erastus Wolcott.

On April 10th, 1776 Commodore Esek Hopkins of the fledgeling United States Navy was asked to emplace cannon at Fort Trumbull. These guns were captured at by the U.S. Marines at Nassau in the Bahama Islands earlier in the war.

In 1775, Governor Jonathan Trumbull recommended building a fortification at the port of New London to protect the seat of the government of Connecticut. The fort was built on a rocky point of land near the mouth of the Thames River on Long Island Sound; it was completed in 1777 and named for Governor Trumbull, who served from 1769 to 1784.

The first fortifications on the site of the current fort date to the Revolution. None of these survive. Fort Trumbull takes its name from Jonathan Trumbull, Connecticut's wartime governor. During the Revolution Connecticut was known as the Provision State, and most of the supplies for Washington's army passed through the state, with New London being the principal port in this activity. New London was a hotbed of Revolutionary fervor, which brought about the British attack on the port in the closing weeks of the war.

On July 18th, 1777 Governor Trumbull ordered completion of the fort at New London (which the colony's assembly named after the governor). On March 25th, 1778 Major William Ledyard was placed in command of both Fort Trumbull and Fort Griswold.

The only combat in Fort Trumbull's history happened on September 6th, 1781. This was a diversionary raid to distract American and French forces from Yorktown where the British army surrendered the next month.

Fort Trumbull was garrisoned by only 23 men under the command of Captain Adam Shapley when it was attacked by British forces under the command of the infamous Benedict Arnold. In obedience to Colonel Ledyard's orders "Shapley fired one well-aimed volley, spiked the six guns, and withdrew his men in good order to several whale boats that were tied at the shore. Shapley's men rowed furiously, but by now two British ships were so far up the harbor that the men on their decks could reach the whale boats with musket shot. In fact seven of the men were wounded and one of the boats captured." (From the Connecticut History Series in the New London Historical Society Collection.)

Shapley was later severly wounded defending Fort Griswold and died on February 14th, 1782 at the age of 43.

After seizing Fort Trumbull, the British attacked Fort Griswold on Groton Heights. After a valiant defense, most of the defenders of Fort Griswold were massacred by the British.  Read the Letter from Benedict Arnold describing his attack on Fort Trumbull to the Inhabitants of America (1780).

Arnold's forces then attacked on the Groton side of the river and captured Fort Griswold.

Detailed Account of the Attack on Fort Trumbull.

Pension application of a soldier who served at Fort Trumbull during the revolution.

Captain Adam Shapley was very much a part of the historic revolutionary war battles that took place at the mouth of the New London Harbor. Opposite New London is Groton, now home of the Groton US Naval Submarine Base. Fort Trumbull was on the New London side and Fort Griswold on the Groton side.  It was there, fighting the British at Fort Griswold, that Captain Adam received his “fatal wounds” which he died from four months later. Until recently, however, nothing was known about how these wounds were received. Learn more about the story behind an old Gravestone.

Burning of New London in 1781:

On the morning of September 6, 1781, a large British force commanded by Benedict Arnold attacked New London, commencing at Fort Trumbull. The defenders of Fort Trumbull briefly engaged the British before spiking their guns and rowing across the Thames River to join the larger force of defenders at Fort Griswold. By the end of the day, most of New London lay in ruins after the British set it aflame, and the majority of the defenders of Fort Griswold were killed after the British stormed the fort. As a percentage of the nation's population, the number of Americans killed that day was two-and-a-half times as great as on September 11, 2001. The Groton Monument stands as a memorial to this terrible tragedy.  This is the only time Fort Trumbull has seen military action, and New London paid a greater price in blood and wealth than any other community during the Revolution. Six weeks after the British attack, and determined not to allow a repeat of the Groton slaughter, Washington prevailed at Yorktown and the war ended.

With the fall of Fort Griswold, the burning of New London and the departure of the invading British, Loyalist and Hessian Yagers the citizens of New London and Groton began to slowly return to the site of the atrocities. Read more about the Battle of Groton Heights and the burning of New London.

In the 1790's Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Rochfontaine, chief engineer of the United States Army, toured the defenses of New London and recommended that both forts Trumbull and Griswold be retained by the US Army for the defense of New London.

In 1812 the old fort was leveled and replaced by a much stronger work. The second Fort Trumbull was a "second system" fort.

Outraged by British restrictions on trade, the impressment of American sailors, and confrontations in the Northwest Territory, the United States declared war on Great Britain on June 18, 1812. That summer, as the war got underway, Secretary of War William Eustis wrote to Captain C. D. Wood in New London, Connecticut:

Sir, You will immediately commence the repairs of the magazine at Fort Trumbull and the block house at Fort Griswold and will forward estimates with your opinion of the enclosed plan & works for the harbour of new London.

Fort Trumbull, in New London, was in fact rebuilt in 1812. The fort that was built was torn down in 1839, replaced by the structure that still stands. The plan is on a single sheet of paper, approximately 11×17 inches. An image of the profile is on the reverse side. A scale in the upper right corner of the document shows a representation of 20 feet to one inch. Various letters, listed in the lower left corner, denote distances between points of land, a well, and magazines for powder and fixed ammunition. Structures visible are the officers’ quarters and barracks.

This new fort was able to keep the British Fleet offshore for the remainder of the War of 1812. This fort deteriorated after the war and was torn down in 1839 to make way for a new Third System fort. [Reference: FortWiki].

The new Third System fortification was built between 1839 and 1852 as a five-sided, four-bastion coastal defense fort. The fort was built under the supervision of Army engineer George W. Cullum, who later served as superintendent of the United States Military Academy. [Reference: FortWiki].

In 1839 work was begun on a newer "3rd System" fort which stands today. It was primarily constructed of granite (as was the the case of most 3rd system forts in the northern states). The new Fort Trumbulll is five sided but, oddly enough, only has four bastions.

The present fortification replaced the older fort, and was built between 1839 and 1852 as a five-sided, four-bastion coastal defense fort. It could accommodate 42 guns on the seacoast fronts, plus 10 additional guns in two flanking batteries outside the fort, along with flank howitzers in bastions for close-in defense.  The engineer in charge of the Fort's construction was Captain George Washington Cullum (1809 - 1892) of the Army Corps of Engineers.  Cullum was a West Point graduate and had previously served as an assistant engineer at Fort Adams under the tutelage of Colonel Joseph Totten.

Cullum, like his contemporaries in the Corps of Engineers, was a man of many talents and interests. His military career spanned five decades during which he served as both a civil and military engineer and as chief of staff to Major General Henry Halleck who had served as Commanding General of the Army from 1862 to 1864. He served as Superintendent of West Point from 1864 to 1866.

The new fort was completed in 1852 and still stands today. It is a small but significant example of fortification architecture and engineering.

Some of this reference material is from The History of Fort Trumbull, Researched and Written by John Duchesneau

During the Civil War, Fort Trumbull served as a Union fort used primarily for inducting and training recruits.

On July 14th, 1861 the 14th Infantry Regiment was organized at Fort Trumbull. The 14th Infantry was a "super sized" Regular Army regiment with twenty-four (24) companies instead of the usual ten (10). Fort Trumbull served as the regiment's recruiting depot where troops were trained and organized before being sent to the front.

During the war units of the 14th Infantry served mostly in Virginia and fought in numerous battles and campaigns. Among the most noteworthy were the Peninsular Campaign, Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, The Wilderness Campaign, the siege of Petersburg. 

Early in the war the fort was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John F. Reynolds of the 14th Infantry. Reynolds was later promoted to the rank of major general and fell at the battle of Gettysburg on July 1st, 1863.

From 1863 to 1864 the fort was under the nominal command of retired colonel William Gates of the 3rd Artillery Regiment. Gates graduated West Point in 1806 and had a military career lasting over half a century. Gates had retired from the Army prior to the outbreak of the war but, as the army had no pension plan in those days, he was probably given a command in honor of his previous service and to provide him with an income.

With the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861 the Union needed to maximize its resources and Gates was given an active assignment, despite being 73 years old. In December 1861 he assumed command of Fort Trumbull in New London, Connecticut. He was retired from the Army on 1 June 1863, under the retirement law of 17 July 1862, for having served in the Army for more than 45 years. Due to wartime needs, however, he continued to command Fort Trumbull until he was reassigned in March 1864 to Fort Constitution near Portsmouth, New Hampshire. ["William Gates • Cullum's Register • 11"]

In the winter of 1862-63, a boy, aged fourteen or fifteen, shows up at the recruiting office at Fort Trumbull, wanting to enlist. The commandant objects, saying the boy is too young and too small. He feels for the boy, though, and allows him to stay a while. He listens to the boy’s story. He relents, and let’s the boy join, although not as a soldier. Read Mark Twain's short thriller (25 pages) set at Fort Trumbull during the Civil War: “A Curious Experience." 

On February 2, 1863, he mailed an article to the Enterprise over the pen name ‘Mark Twain.’ This appeared in print in the March 3, 1863, issue, and soon was on its way to being one of the most recognizable nom de plumes in history.”

[Today in Media History: In 1863 a reporter named Samuel Clemens became Mark Twain; By: David Shedden; February 2, 2015]

After the Civil War, Fort Trumbull was improved by having more modern artillery pieces installed. In the early 1900s, several more modern Endicott era fortifications were built to defend Long Island Sound as the Harbor Defenses of Long Island Sound, including Fort Mansfield in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, Fort H.G. Wright on Fishers Island, and Fort Michie on Great Gull Island. Fort Trumbull served as the headquarters of these forts until it was turned over to the Revenue Cutter Service (later renamed the Coast Guard) in 1910 for use as the Revenue Cutter Academy, which was renamed the United States Coast Guard Academy in 1915.

In 1910 after completing a summer cruise, the Corps of Cadets sailed the Itasca to Fort Trumbull, a Revolutionary War fort in New London, Connecticut. Fort Trumbull was the new location of the Academy until 1932. 

Fort Trumbull was the home of the nation's first Coast Guard Academy from 1915 to 1932 when it was moved further up river to its present location at the northern end of New London.  The Coast Guard Academy was important as it provided the Coast Guard with a professional officer corps to lead the Coast Guard in its diverse missions and responsibilities. in 1932, the citizens of New London donated land to the Treasury Department for the present site of the Academy.

The Coast Guard's training ship, the Barque Eagle, docks at Fort Trumbull two or three times during the year and is open to visitors when at the Fort. This site has more ship specifications for the Eagle.

During the 1930s, the Academy did not have a resident sailing vessel for cadet training. In 1939, the Danish Navy's sail training vessel Danmark was in New York City to take part in the 1939 World's Fair. After World War II broke out, the ship was offered to the U.S. government and transferred to the Coast Guard Academy, where she was commissioned as USCGC Danmark and served as the cadet training ship until 26 September 1945, when she was returned to the Danish government. Sail training during these early years of the Coast Guard Academy is remarkably similar to the program on board Eagle today.

From 1939 to 1946 Fort Trumbull was home to the Merchant Marine Officer Training School (OTS) program.

As this was during the second world war, the fort's service cannot be understated. Merchant ships were critical to the war effort and needed competent officers to operate them safely and effciently. Fort Trumbull helped to meet this need.

The Maritime Officers Training School at Fort Trumbull graduated 15,473 officers in 76 classes between 1939 and 1946, when the operation was transferred to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy on Long Island. More information can be found here.

Actor Jack Lord of "Hawaii Five O" fame was a graduate. Another noteworthy attendee at Fort Trumbull was Captain Hugh Mulzac, an Afro-American Master Mariner aboard the SS Booker T. Washington (a ship with a racially intergrated crew), took refresher work at Fort Trumbull.

The Navy, under one of its officers involved in the corporate effort, established the Naval Experimental Station at Fort Trumbull where physicists and engineers, including scientists from nearby universities, worked under the direction of the Special Board on Antisubmarine Devices.

Though that laboratory had closed with the end of World War I, the same criteria and some of the same people advising made New London the logical place to site the East Coast laboratory in response to the Chief, Bureau of Ships, now Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), April 10, 1941 request to the National Defense Research Committee to establish both an East and West coast antisubmarine warfare research laboratory. On July 1, 1941 the New London laboratory's establishment got approval with management by Columbia University for a wide range of antisubmarine warfare work including, passive sonar, ocean acoustics and recording of underwater sounds for that work.

In 1944 the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) directed reorganization of the Underwater Sound Laboratory at New London for peacetime operation consolidating the Harvard Underwater Sound Laboratory, which had focused on physics of underwater sound, surface ship sonar and weapons systems, in Cambridge, Massachusetts with the New London laboratory. After recruiting scientists from both efforts the new Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory was established on March 1, 1945.

Significant accomplishments during World War II included the development of greatly improved surface ship and submarine sonar systems, acoustic homing torpedoes, sonobuoys, and acoustic mines. This work contributed greatly to the success against U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic and the near-total destruction of the Imperial Japanese Navy and merchant fleets in the Pacific War.

The Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory was formed in 1945 when the US Navy merged on-going efforts of Columbia and Harvard Universities to combat the German U-boat threat in the North Atlantic. Prior to that time, the Division of War Research of Columbia, housed in a single building at Fort Trumbull, was sponsored by the National Defense Research Committee while the Harvard Underwater Sound Laboratory was doing similar work in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For the next fifty years until it was formally closed in 1996, the rich scientific culture of the "Sound Lab" continued to support virtually all aspects of Naval Warfare technology.

In July 1945 the Harvard facility's equipment and many of its personnel were moved to the new Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory, New London. NRL oversaw NUSL until turning over direction to the Bureau of Ships. Navy laboratories were reorganized in 1966 under Director of Naval Laboratories, Naval Material Command, to consolidate expertise and decrease competition among laboratories.

The Bermuda Research Detachment, Tudor Hill Laboratory after formation of Naval Underwater Systems Center in 1970, and its Argus Island offshore tower and support/research vessel Erline were field detachments of NUSL. The laboratory was unique in that it was the only one in the Atlantic to be located adjacent to and have access to an operational Naval Facility of the Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS).

In ceremonies directed by Vice President Hubert Humphrey, the decade-long effort to establish a deep water test and evaluation range with 3-D capabilities culminates with the official commissioning of the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) on Andros Island in The Bahamas in 1967.

Research intensified during the Cold War, which was as much a technology race with the Soviets as it was an arms race. The Sound Lab's efforts were key to the further development of both submarine and anti-submarine warfare.

On July 1, 1970 the Naval Material Command independent laboratories, Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory at New London and the Naval Underwater Weapons Research and Engineering Station (NUWS) at Newport, were administratively combined to form the Naval Underwater Systems Center (NUSC) with headquarters in Newport.

The Bermuda Research Detachment, formed by NUSL in 1961, became the NUSC Tudor Hill Laboratory, a major field detachment on formation of NUSC in 1970. In July the next year the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) located in the Tongue of the ocean with the main facility on Andros Island, Bahamas, with a logistics component located at the Palm Beach International Airport became a detachment of NUSC. Among the smaller facilities and detachments were the underwater ranges at Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island Sound, field activities at Seneca Lake Facility, New York, Dodge Pond at Niantic, Connecticut, the Central Test and Evaluation Activity (CTEA), Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

NUSC was the lead laboratory in partnership with eight North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nations to for the instrumented Azores Fixed Acoustic Range (AFAR) in the Azores based on Santa Maria Island. The range features three bottom fixed towers 124 ft (37.8 m) high by 43 ft (13.1 m) across set approximately in an equalateral triangle. Two towers are receive only and one is transmit and receive. The principle studies are in acoustic propagation, reverberations and ambient noise.

Much of the work involved sonar suites for both submarines and surface vessels; however, other work ranged from improved periscopes, computing, combat control systems, and communications. Illustrating the wide variety of work are some examples:

• NUSC continued work begun by its NUSL predecessor on Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) radio commendations with submarines proving communication with Seawolf in 1963. That system went operational with first use on an attack submarine with Batfish in 1976 and for ballistic missile submarines with Simon Bolivar two years later.

• NUSC became the responsible for design of the MARK 113 fire control systems for Polaris/Poseidon ballistic missile submarines after its design proposal for the MARK 113 MOD 9 Conversion Program was chosen over that of the Naval Ordnance Laboratory. System development had begun at Newport in 1968 and continued after the formation of NUSC with successful introduction and selection of NUSC for oversight in 1971.

• Beginning in 1970 NUSC began work for the Naval Electronics Systems Command (NAVELEX) on tactical towed arrays for use by faster surface ships. That work led to NAVELEX sponsorship of research and development of towed surveillance arrays to augment the fixed bottom SOSUS arrays. That work, in cooperation with the NAVELEX Naval Undersea Center (consolidated with Naval Electronics Laboratory Center in 1977 to become Naval Ocean Systems Center (NOSC)), San Diego, to develop what became the Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System.

On 2 January 1992 a major consolidation of Navy laboratories resulted in NUSC becoming a part of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center.

Fort Trumbull’s final tour of duty on behalf of the nation was during the second half of the Twentieth Century when the U.S. Navy created the Naval Underwater Sound Laboratory there.  This was the principal sonar research facility operated by the Navy, and worked in close cooperation with the Naval Submarine Base and Electric Boat shipyard, both located across the Thames River in Groton.  Sound Lab personnel gained international recognition for their pioneering work in acoustics and applied their expertise to develop and introduce into the U.S. Fleet advanced high-performance sonar suites for both submarines and surface vessels.  The Laboratory was also involved in the development of periscopes and non-acoustic sensors used on submarines, providing at one location an expertise in all aspects of detection.  The broad mix of talent covered a spectrum ranging from theoretical acoustic research, computerized system and warfare analysis and simulation, through fleet introduction and check-out of new sonar suites.  This provided a core of resident expertise that was at the forefront of the evolution of modern antisubmarine warfare sensor systems. 

The efforts of the New London Laboratory began in the early days of World War II in response to the presence of German U-boats in the North Atlantic which generated a requirement for an effective means of combating that threat.  In response to this requirement, a small building was erected at Fort Trumbull for the Columbia University Division of War Research under the sponsorship of the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC).  Concurrently, a similar group known as the Harvard Underwater Sound Laboratory was established in Cambridge, Mass.   Development work at New London in the period from April 1941 to August 1943 included aircraft listening equipment, ordnance, surface craft listening and echo-ranging equipment.  The highly successful radio sonobuoy and submarine-installed listening sonars were developed at Fort Trumbull.  Concurrently, the work at Harvard was directed toward active antisubmarine warfare scanning equipment.  The term “SONAR” (S Ound Navigation And Ranging) originated there.  Their efforts resulted in numerous devices and equipment, radically new in design and function, that ultimately reduced the threat to shipping in the Atlantic and changed the nature of warfare in the Pacific.  After the war, in 1944, the university laboratories’ work was continued under Navy cognizance, and in 1945, Harvard and New London’s Columbia laboratory were merged to form the Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory (NUSL) at Fort Trumbull. 

The efforts of the New London Laboratory began in the early days of World War II in response to the presence of German U-boats in the North Atlantic which generated a requirement for an effective means of combating that threat.  In response to this requirement, a small building was erected at Fort Trumbull for the Columbia University Division of War Research under the sponsorship of the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC).  Concurrently, a similar group known as the Harvard Underwater Sound Laboratory was established in Cambridge, Mass.   Development work at New London in the period from April 1941 to August 1943 included aircraft listening equipment, ordnance, surface craft listening and echo-ranging equipment.  The highly successful radio sonobuoy and submarine-installed listening sonars were developed at Fort Trumbull.  Concurrently, the work at Harvard was directed toward active antisubmarine warfare scanning equipment.  The term “SONAR” (S Ound Navigation And Ranging) originated there.  Their efforts resulted in numerous devices and equipment, radically new in design and function, that ultimately reduced the threat to shipping in the Atlantic and changed the nature of warfare in the Pacific.  After the war, in 1944, the university laboratories’ work was continued under Navy cognizance, and in 1945, Harvard and New London’s Columbia laboratory were merged to form the Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory (NUSL) at Fort Trumbull.