USA > Connecticut > New London County > Groton > Description of the monument on Groton Heights, with the inscription and names > Part 1
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GEN
DESCRIPTION .
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01807 2360
OF THE
M
IMENT,
GENEALO 974.602 G92H
ON
GROTON
HEIGHTS,
WITH THE
INSCRIPTION AND NAMES.
2. Homestead
NEW-LONDON:
WILLIAMS & BACON, PRINTERS, COR. STATE AND MAIN STREE TS.
1853:
135,94
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
1794689
cHempstead, Stephens 1.
Description of the monument, on Groben Heights, with the incosiption and names. few-London, 1055.
another copy
3335 .568
ePaBesi
INSCRIPTION.
This Monument was erected under the patronage of the State of Connecti- cut, A. D.1830, and in the 55th year of the Independence of the U. S. A., in memory of the patriots who fell in the massacre at Fort Griswold, near this spot, on the 6th of September, A. D. 1781, when the British, under command of the traitor Benedict Arnold, burnt the towns of New London and Groton, and spread desolation and woe throughout this region.
"Zebulon and Napthali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto death in the high places of the field."
Judges, 5th chapter, 18th rerse.
F8325.568
List of Men who fell at Fort Griswold,
SEPTEMBER 6TH, 1781.
WILLIAM LEDYARD, Lieut. Col. Commanding.
ELIJAH AVERY,
-
RICHARD CHAPMAN,
EBENEZER AVERY,
SOLOMON AVERY,
JASPER AVERY,
JAMES COMSTOCK,
ELISHA AVERY,
DANIEL AVERY,
DAVID AVERY,
CHRISTOPHER AVERY, JOHN P. BABCOCK, JOHN BILLINGS,
ANDREW BILLINGS,
RUFUS HURLBUT,
SAMUEL BILLINGS,
NATHAN ADAMS,
EZEKIEL BAILEY,
SIMEON ALLYN,
LUKE PERKINS, JR.
ANDREW BAKER,
SAMUEL ALLYN,
ELINATHAN PERKINS,
WILLIAM BOLTON, JOHN BROWN,
THOMAS AVERY,
ELISHA PERKINS, ASA PERKINS, SIMEON PERKINS,
HUBBARD BURROWS,
MOSES JONES,
ELIDAY JONES,
DAVID PALMER,
FREDERIC CHESTER, ELDRIDGE CHESTER, DANIEL CHESTER,
BENONI KENSON, BARNEY KENNY,
AMOS STANTON,
THOMAS LAMB,
ENOCH STANTON.
CAPT. ADAM SHAPLEY, of Fort Trumbull.
DAVID SEABURY,
JOHN STEDMAN,
NATHAN SHOLES,
HENRY WOODBRIDGE,
THOMAS STARR,
CHR. WOODBRIDGE,
NICHOLAS STARR,
DANIEL STANTON,
HENRY WILLIAMS,
THOMAS WILLIAMS, JOHN WILLIAMS,
PATRICK WARD, JOSEPH WEDGER, BENADAM ALLYN.
SAMBO LATHAM, JORDON FREEMAN.
This Monument is 26 feet square at the base, and 12 at the top, and has 168 steps, being 127 feet high.
371160
JONAS LESTER, WAIT LESTER, JOSEPH LEWIS, NATHAN MOORE,
DANIEL DAVIS,
SAMUEL HILL,
HENRY HALSEY, JOHN HOLT,
JOSEPH MOXLEY, SIMEON MORGAN, EDWARD MILLS, THOMAS MINER, LUKE PERKINS,
BELTON ALLYN,
JONATHAN BUTLER,
PETER RICHARDS,
JOHN WHITLESEY, STEPH. WHITLESEY, SYLV. WALWORTH,
YOUNGS LEDYARD, DANIEL LESTER, JOHN LESTER,
PHILIP COVIL, ELLIS COIT,
WILLIAM COMSTOCK, JOHN CLARK,
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/descriptionofmon00hemp
3
THE FOLLOWING NARRATIVE
Of the Battle at Fort Griswold, on Groton Heights, on the 6th September, 1781, was communicated to the Missouri Republican in 1826, by Mr. Stephen Hempstead, former- ly of New London, who was in the Fort at that time, and afterwards removed to that State.
The author of the following narrative of events which took place at the battle at Fort Grisworld, on Groton Heights, entered the service of his country in 1775, and arrived in Boston on the day of the battle of Bunker Hill. He was at Dorchester Point-was on Long Island at the time of the retreat of the American army-and was also a volunteer in the first ships that were sent to destroy the Asia, 84 gun ship, and a frigate lying above Fort Wash- ington. In this attempt they were unsuccessful, although grappled to the enemy's vessel twenty minutes. For the bravery displayed by them, they received the particular thanks of the commanding officer, in person, and in gene- ral orders, and forty dollars were ordered to be paid to each person engaged. He was afterwards wounded by a grape shot while defending the lines at Harlem Heights, which broke two of his ribs. He continued in the service, and was again wounded on the 6th of September, 1781. Mr. Hempstead removed to this State in 1811, and is now 72 years of age. He was present at the reception of General La Fayette in this city. Mr. H. is one of the few survi- ving patriots of the revolution, who have been permitted to .view the unexampled rapidity with which our country has increased in wealth, power, and population; the bless- ings which their exertions contributed to bestow upon us and the happiness by which all classes are surrounded.
NARRATIVE:
Mr. Charles :- I have thought, since last fall, that I would send you an account of the battle of Fort Gris- wold, on the 6th of September. 1781. The celebration of that event in September last, caused several notices of it to appear in different newspapers, none of which, I think, are sufficiently particular or wholly correct. As I was a participator in that catastrophe, and had an opportunity of knowing most of the circumstances, and reasons for remembering them, besides some notes taken subsequently, I am enabled I think, to give a clearer ac- count of it, (particularly in detail) than any I have seen; , and if you believe the following worthy of publication, you are at liberty to do so.
STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD.
On the morning of the 6th of September, 1781, twenty- four sail of the enemy's shipping appeared to the west- ward of New London harbor. The enemy landed in two divisions, of about 800 men each, commanded by that infamous traitor to his country, Benedict Arnold, who headed the division that landed on the New London side, near Brown's farms; the other division, commanded by Col. Eyre, landed on Groton Point, nearly opposite.
I was first sergeant of Capt. Adam Shapley's company of State troops, and was stationed with him at the time, with about twenty-three men, at Fort Trumbull, on the
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New London side. This was a mere breastwork or water- battery, open from behind, and the enemy coming on us from that quarter, we spiked our cannon and commenced a retreat across the river to Fort Griswold in three boats. The enemy were so near that they overshot us with their muskets, and succeeded in capturing one boat commanded by Josiah Smith, a private. They afterwards proceeded to New London and burnt the town. We were received by the garrison with enthusiasm, being considered experi- enced artillerists, whom they much needed, and we were immediately assigned our stations. The Fort was an ob- long square, with bastions at opposite angles, the longest side fronting the river in a N.W. and S.E. direction.
Its walls were of stone, and were ten or twelve feet high on the lower side, and were surrounded by a ditch. On the wall were pickets projecting over twelve feet; a- bove this was a parapet with embrasures, and within, a platform for the cannon, and a step to mount to shoot over the parapet with small arms.
In the S. W. bastion was a flag-staff, and in the side near the opposite angle was the gate in front of which was a triangular breastwork to protect the gate ; and to the right of this was a redoubt, with a three pounder in it, which was about one hundred and twenty yards from the gate.
Between the fort and the river was another battery, with a covered way, but which could not be used in this attack, as the enemy appeared in a different quarter. The garrison, with the volunteers, consisted of about one hun- dred and sixty men. Soon after our arrival the enemy appeared in force in some woods about half a mile S. E.
6
of the Fort from whence they sent a flag of truce, which was met by Captain Shapley, demanding an uncondition- al surrender, threatening at the same time to storm the fort instantly, if the terms were not accepted.
A council of war was held, and it was the unanimous voice, that the garrison was unable to defend themselves against so superior a force. But a militia Colonel* who was then in the fort, and had a body of men in the imme- diate vicinity, said he would reinforce them with two or three hundred men in fifteen minutes, if they would hold out ; Col. Ledyard agreed to send back a defiance, upon the most solemn assurance of immediate succor. For this purpose Col .- started, his men being in sight; but he was no more seen, nor did he attempt a diversion in our favor.
When the answer to their demand had been returned by Capt. Shaply, the enemy were soon in motion, and marched with great rapidity, in a solid column, to within a short distance of the fort, where, dividing the column, they rushed furiously and simultaneously to the assault of the S. W. bastion and the opposite sides. They were, however, repulsed with great slaughter, their commander mortally wounded, and Major Montgomery, next in rank, killed, having been thrust through the body, while in the act of scaling the walls at the S. W. bastion, by Capt.
*In this statement Mr. Hempstead has doubtless fallen into an error. Lieut. Col. Gallup is supposed to be the person referred to, as charges of that nature were pre- ferred against him at that time, for which he was court-martialed, the sentence of which court was as follows:
"The court, upon due consideration of the whole matter before them, are unani- mously of opinion that Lieut. Col. Nathan Gallup, not guilty of neglect in duty, or of cowardly behavior, as charged against him; be therefore, by the court, acquitted with honor."
Tradition asserts that another person, of the same name, but holding no commission in the militia, left the fort a short time before the attack was made, for the avowed purpose of obtaining a reinforcement, but was no more seen until after the battle.
7
Shapley. The command then devolved on Col. Beckwith, a refugee from New Jersey, who commanded a corps of that description. The enemy rallied and returned to the attack with great vigor, but were received and repulsed with equal firmness. During the attack a shot cut the halyards of the flag, and it fell to the ground, but was in- stantly remounted on a pike pole.
This accident proved fatal to us, as the enemy sup- posing that it had been struck by its defenders, rallied a- gain and rushing with redoubled impetuosity, carried the S. W. bastion by storm. Until this moment, our loss was trifling in number, being six or seven in killed, and eighteen or twenty wounded. Never was a post more bravely defended, nor a garrison more barbarously butch- ered. We fought with all kinds of weapons and at all places, with a courage that deserved a better fate. Many of the enemy were killed under the walls by simply throwing shot over on them, and never would we have relinquished our arms, had we had the least idea that such a catastrophe would have followed.
To describe the scene I must be permitted to go back a little in my narrative. I commanded an 18 pounder on the south side of the gate, and when in the act of sighting my gun a ball passed through the embrasure, struck me a little above the right ear, grazing the skull and cutting off the veins, which bled profusely. A handkerchief was tied around it and I continued at my duty.
Discovering some little time after, that a British soldier had broken a picket at the bastion on my left, and was forcing himself through the hole, while the men stationed there were gazing at the battle which raged opposite to
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them, and observing no officer in that direction, I jumped from the platform and run to them crying "My brave fellows the enemy are breaking in behind you," and raised my pike to dispatch the intruder, when a ball struck my left arm at the elbow and my pike fell to the ground.
Nevertheless, I grasped it with my right hand, and with the men who turned and fought manfully, cleared the breach.
The enemy however, soon after forced the S. W. bas- tion, where Capt. Shapley, Capt. Peter Richards, Lieut. Richard Chapman, and several men of distinction, and volunteers, had fought with unconquerable courage, and wereall either killed or mortally wounded, and sustained the brunt of every attack.
Colonel Ledyard, seeing the enemy within the fort, gave orders to cease firing, and to throw down our arms, as the Fort had surrendered. We did so, but they continued firing upon us, crossed the fort and opened the gate, when they marched in, firing in platoons upon those who were retreating to the magazine and barrack rooms for safety. At this moment the renegado Colonel commanding cried out, "Who commands this garrison?" Colonel Ledyard, who was standing near me answered "I did sir, but you do now," at the same time stepping forward, handed him his sword with the point towards himself. At this mo- ment I perceived a soldier in the act of bayoneting me from behind. I turned suddenly round and grasped his bayonet, endeavoring to unship it, and knock off the thrust-but in vain. Having but one hand, he succeed- ed in forcing it into my right hip, above the joint, and just below the abdomen, and crushed me to the ground. The
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first person I saw afterwards, was my brave commander, a corpse by my side, having been run through the body with his own sword, by the savage renegado. Never was a scene of more brutal, wanton carnage witnessed, than now took place. The enemy were still firing on us by platoons in the barrack rooms, which they continued for some minutes, when they discovered that they were in danger of being blown up, by communicating fire to the powder scattered at the mouth of the magazine, while de- livering out cartridges, nor did it then cease in the rooms for some minutes longer. All this time the bayonet was 'freely used," even on those who were helplessly wounded and in the agonies of death. I recollect Capt. William Seymour, a volunteer, from Hartford, had thirteen bayonet wounds, although his knee had previously been shattered by a ball, so much so, that it was obliged to be am- putated the next day. But I need not mention par- ticular cases. I have already said that we had six kill- ed and eighteen wounded, previous to their storming our lines; eighty-five were killed in all, thirty-five mortally and dangerously wounded, and forty taken prisoners to New York, most of them slightly hurt.
After the massacre they plundered us of every thing we had, and left us literally naked. When they com- menced gathering us up, together with their own woun- ded, they put their's under the shade of the platform, and exposed us to the sun, in front of the barracks, where we remained over an hour. Those who could stand were then paraded, and ordered to the landing, while those who could not (of which number I was one,) were put into one of our ammunition wagons, and taken to the brow of the hill, (which was very steep, and at least one hundred rods
10
in descent,) from whence it was permited to run down by itself, but was arrested in its course near the river, by an apple tree. The pain and anguish we all endured in this rapid descent, as the wagon jumped and jostled over rocks and holes, is inconceivable: and the jar in its arrest was like bursting the cords of life assunder, and caused us to shriek with almost supernatural force. Our cries were distinctly heard and noticed on the opposite side of the river, (which is nearly a mile wide) amidst all the confu- sion which raged in the burning and sacking the town. We remained in the wagon more than an hour, before our humane conquerors hunted us up, when we were again paraded and laid on the beach, preparatory to embarkation. But by the interposition of Ebenezer Ledyard, (brother to Col. L.) who humanely represented our deplorable sit- uation, and the impossibility of our being able to reach New York, thirty-five of us were paroled in the usual form. Being near the house of Ebenezer Avery, who was also one of our number, we were taken into it. Here we had not long remained, before a marauding party set fire to every room, evidently intending to burn us up with the house. The party soon left it, when it was with diffi- culty extinguished, and we were thus saved from the flames. Ebenezer Ledyard again interfered and obtained a sentinel to remain and guard us until the last of the en- emy embarked, about 11 o'clock at night. None of our people came to us till near daylight the next morning, not knowing previous to that time that the enemy had departed.
Such a night of distress and anguish was scarcely ever passed by mortal. Thirty-five of us were lying on the bare floor-stiff, mangled and wounded in every manner,
- ..
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exhausted with pain, fatigue and loss of blood, without clothes or any thing to cover us, trembling with cold and spasms of extreme anguish, without fire or light, parch- ed with excruciating thirst, not a wound dressed, nor a soul to administer to one of our wants, nor an assist- ing hand to turn us during those long, tedious hours of the night ; nothing but groans and unavailing sighs were heard, and two of our number did not live to see the light of the morning, which brought with it some ministering angels to our relief. The first was in the person of Miss Fanny Ledyard, of Southold, L. I. then on a visit to her uncle, our murdered commander, who held to my lips a cup of warm chocolate, and soon after returned with wine and other refreshments, which revived us a little. For these kindnesses she has never ceased to receive my most grateful thanks and fervent prayers for her felicity.
The cruelty of our enemy cannot be conceived, and our renegado countrymen surpassed in this respect, if possi- ble, our British foes. We were at least an hour after the battle, within a few steps of a pump in the garrison, well supplied with water, and, although we were suffering with thirst, they would not permit us to take a drop of it, nor give us any themselves. Some of our number who were not disabled from going to the pump, were repulsed with the bayonet, and not one drop did I taste after the action had commenced, although begging for it after I was wounded of all who came near me, until relieved by Miss Ledyard. We were a horrible sight at this time. Our own friends did not know us; even my own wife came into the room in search of me, and did not recognize me, and as I did not see her, she left the room to seek for me among the slain, who had been collected under a large
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elm tree near the house. It was with the utmost difficul- ty that many of them could be indentified, and we were frequently called upon to assist our friends in distinguish- ing them, by remembering particular wounds, &c. Bc- ing myself taken out by two men for this purpose, I met my wife and brother, who, after my wounds were dressed by Dr. Downer from Preston, took me-not to my own home, for that was in ashes, as also every particle of my property, furniture and clothing-but to my brother's where I laid eleven months as helpless as a child, and to this day feel the effects of it severely.
Such was the battle of Groton Heights; and such as far as my imperfect manner and language can describe, a part of the sufferings which we endured. Never, for a moment, have I regretted the share I had in it. I would, for an equal degree of honor, and the prosperity which has resulted to my country from the Revolution, be will- ing, if possible, to suffer it again. I regret very much my not being able to be with my compatriots and co-veterans at the late celebration.
STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD.
NUMBER OF KILLED AND WOUNDED.
Return of Americans, Killed, 8-1
Wounded, . 40
Total, . 124
British Loss, Killed, 48
66 Wounded,. 127
Total,. .175
Captain P, Richards, Lieut. Chapman and several oth. ers were killed in the bastion; Capt. Shapley, and others wounded. He died of his wounds in January following.
HECKMAN
BINDERY, IN C. Bound-To-Please®
SEPT 05
N. MANCHESTER, INDIANA 46962
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