USA > Connecticut > New London County > Ledyard > History of the town of Ledyard, 1650-1900 > Part 5
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As many of the things done by these people were not only out of harmony with all the decencies and proprieties of civilized society, but were also open and defiant violations of statute law, the penalties of the law were visited upon them. The penalties inflicted were at first comparatively light ; but were increased as the contest continued; and, in some cases, amounted in the ag- gregate to large sums of money, and long and weary months spent in prison. It is said that John Rogers, after he began to proclaim his peculiar views and to act openly in accordance with them, spent nearly one-third of his life in prison. Writing upon the subject in 1706 he used the following language: "I have
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been sentenced to pay hundreds of pounds, laid in iron chains, cruelly scourged, endured long imprisonments, set in the stocks many hours together, &c." According to the testimony of his son his sufferings continued through the long period of forty-five years.
As we look back over this history we wonder, perhaps, that such events as it records could ever have happened in this "land of steady habits;" wonder that these people could become so perfectly infatuated, and that the magistrates, administering the civil government, could proceed to such extremes in its treatment of them. And we may well rejoice that the times have so greatly changed, and this so decidedly for the better. The parties that were in such violent conflict with each other, here upon New London County soil, over two hundred years ago, still survive in the persons of their successors. But the contest between them has long since passed away. Peace now reigns where strife and contention and violence once prevailed. Quite a community, made up of the successors of those old-time Rogerenes, or Quakers, as they are more commonly called in our day, still live, and for a good many years have lived in the south-east por tion of the town of Ledyard. They are a peaceable and pros- perous people, and maintain friendly relations with the people who live among them and around them. They are still quite inclined to live isolated from others in many things. They have their own views of religion ; their own meeting-house ; their own modes of worship ; their own Sabbath-school ; and their own ways of doing things generally. They are in the main industrious, peaceable and honest, and inclined to let other people have their own ways, provided that other people will let them have theirs. Formerly, they refused to have anything to do with politics; refused to go to the polls to vote ; refused to pay taxes ; refused to bear arms. Some of these peculiarities have in recent years been partially laid aside. In the Civil War some of their young men enlisted as soldiers, and several laid down their lives in their country's service. The children are now educated in the public schools, and several of the young people have become successful teachers. Two or three of their young ladies have done well in
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THE ROGERENE QUAKERS.
the line of authorship. One is a gifted and widely-known poetess. Quite a number of their young men, and young women, too, have married into other than Quaker families. The result of this has been that considerable numbers have, in a measure, at least, broken away from the Quaker faith.
The old-time prejudice against churches and ministers, though still retained by some, is slowly wearing off with the ris- ing generation. Whenever a marriage ceremony is to be cele- brated, generally a clergyman is called in to officiate. At funerals also a minister of the Gospel is generally requested to take charge of the service. With few exceptions they are strong- ly opposed to war; and have for many years. been putting forth strenuous efforts to promote universal peace among men. They hold an annual Peace Meeting, so-called, on the banks of the Mystic river, just south of the village of Old Mystic. The meet- ing occurs in the month of August-is continued for three suc- cessive days-and brings together from the whole surrounding region large numbers of people. The services are held in a plain, yet spacious and well-arranged structure bearing the name of Temple of Peace. It is located on a hill-top in a beautiful grove. Distinguished speakers from abroad are usually present to par- ticipate in the exercises.
In the religious movements outlined in the foregoing sketches, we have perhaps a pretty fair sample of what has been going on during the last two hundred and fifty years all over New England, and to a considerable extent also in other parts of the country- in the line of spiritual development and ecclesiastical progress. Very many and quite varied religious opinions and practices have prevailed. Earnest discussions and sometimes violent con- tentions have taken place. Religious societies have come into be- ing and prospered for a time, then declined and disappeared, and others have taken their places. Still the great under-lying prin- ciples of the holy religion of Jesus Christ have survived; and that most important element-religious liberty-has been more and more thoroughly understood, and more and more firmly es- tablished as the years and the generations have passed by. And
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what has been done in this respect here in New England has been of incalculable service to the nation and the world. Well did Josiah Quincy, a former president of Harvard University, once say : "What lessons has New England, in every period of her history, given to the world? She has proved that all variety of Christian sects may live together in harmony under a government which allows equal privileges to all, exclusive pre- eminence to none; and that human happiness has no security but freedom, freedom none but virtue, virtue none but knowl- edge, and neither freedom nor virtue nor knowledge has any vigor or immortal hope, except in the principles of the Christian faith and in the sanctions of the Christian religion."
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 ex- penditure ; 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 and
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immediately 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. Capt. Shapley and liis men retired in their boats to reinforce Fort Griswold on the opposite hights. The second division, under command of Lieut .- Col. Eyre, landed at Groton point, on the east side of the harbor. This force was to take Fort Griswold, which commanded the surrounding country, and would prevent all operations if held by the Americans. Meeting no opposition, they moved rapidly up the hill in two bodies.
"Fort Griswold had a small regular garrison, but depended on the support of militia who responded to alarm guns fired at the first sign of danger. From its position the surrounding coun- try was entirely at its mercy. On the morning of the fatal day Lieut .- Col. William Ledyard, commander of the military district of New London, Groton and Stonington, took personal com- ·mand of this position as the best place from which to protect the country.
"When the British fleet appeared, the alarm was fired to call in the militia. The signal was broken by the enemy. This alarm consisted of two guns discharged at intervals. Privateers had been in the habit of firing three guns on entering the harbor after a successful cruise. Arnold knew the signal of the fort, and he knew the habit of the privateers. By ordering a third gun, he broke the alarm. Ledyard then sent out two messengers to tell every militia captain to hurry his men to the fort. But ex- presses could not go far in a few hours, and the enemy moved rapidly. Only 160 men were in the fort when the storming com- menced. They were not enough to man the 32 guns of the fort and dependent batteries. While many had seen service on bat- tle fields and privateers, a very large number had never been in action.
"A detachment under command of Col. Eyre halted and pre- pared for action behind a ledge of rocks 130 rods south of the fort ; one under command of Maj. Montgomery, behind Avery's hill, 150 rods to the south-east. About 10 o'clock Eyre sent a flag to demand surrender, which was refused. A second flag was
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THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR-1775-1783.
sent, with the statement that if he had to take the place by storm, martial law would be put in force. This was understood to mean death by bayonet to all who survived the storming. Without a dissenting vote, Ledyard and his officers replied that the fort would not be given up, be the consequences what they might. The obstinacy of these men is inspiring. If they had surrendered in this contest of five to one, history would have approved the act. Fort Griswold was thus made an altar of liberty, on which was offered the last sacrifice on New England soil ; it was trans- formed into a monument to the bravery of its little garrison and their stubborn loyalty to duty.
It was II o'clock when the second flag returned with Led- yard's answer. Immediately both British divisions started, mov- ing rapidly. Capt. Halsey directed a charge of grape into Eyre's solid column, clearing a wide space, killing and wounding over 20 men, disabling their leader and scattering the column. They rallied and returned to the attack, to be repulsed a second time. Montgomery's column was approaching from the east, suffering severely under a heavy fire from the fort and east battery. Sev- eral times the enemy were repulsed and demoralized, once so completely that the cheers of the little band rang out over the hills in triumph to their listening homes.
"But for an accident the fort would probably not have been taken. Seeing that the position was stronger than he had sup- posed, Arnold sent an officer to Eyre to countermand the order for an attack. This officer was instructed to make all possible haste to deliver the message, that the storming might not be begun. But a stray shot cut the halyards of the flag and it fell to the ground. Though this was instantly caught up and re- mounted on a pike pole, the enemy thought it had been struck by its defenders and rallied with determined energy. They swarmed into the ditch and assaulted the fort on three sides. There was hard fighting at every point. Cannon balls and other missiles were hurled by hand upon those who came near the walls. Williams and Bailey, who worked the one-gun battery at the east, were forced to fly for their lives. One of the assailants boldly tried to unlock the gate and was killed. It was a long
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time before another could get near enough to make the attempt. The assailants were losing heavily.
"A grand-daughter of Caleb Avery writes me: 'I have often heard grandmother and aunt and father recount the terrible mas- sacre at Fort Griswold ; I have always understood from them that the British were repulsed so successfully that they were in a demoralized condition, when the flag was shot from the pole, which caused the enemy to make a desperate assault.' Caleb Avery was one of the defenders.
"That desperate rush gave entrance at the south-west bastion, which was entered through its embrasure. Soon the sallyport was forced. The enemy mounted the south wall. Montgomery was killed while coming through an embrasure, and died with the words, 'Put every man to death.' The main gate had now been opened and the British were pouring into the fort. The day was lost.
"Ledyard ordered his men to throw down their arms. He himself approached the British leader to surrender. When within six feet, Bromfield called out : 'Who commands this fort?' 'I did, but you do now,' said Ledyard, presenting his sword. Bromfield seized the weapon and plunged it through Ledyard's heart, driving it through the body from the left armpit to the right. Capt. Youngs Ledyard and many of his companions rushed again into the thick of the fight and died around the body of their chief. Maddened by the determined resistance of so small a force, by Montgomery's death, and by the havoc made in their ranks, the enemy proceeded to execute the threat made by Eyre before the battle. Platoon after platoon delivered their fire into a garrison that had thrown down their arms. Squad after squad kept pouring volleys into the magazine, where many had fled, till Bromfield called out: 'Stop firing; you'll send us all to hell together' Soldiers in broken ranks rushed here and there plying the bayonet on living and dead. Some they brained with clubbed muskets, others they knocked senseless and stabbed. Daniel Stanton, helpless with a bullet wound, received 20 gashes with bayonets and cutlasses. The wounded crying piteously for life were murdered in their blood, Park Avery received a bayo-
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THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR-1775-1783.
net thrust that carried away one eye and part of the skull. One man's ribs were driven from the bone by the stroke of a musket butt. 'Be Jasus, I'll skipper ye!' screamed a Briton as he planted his bayonet in Rufus Avery's breast. Charles Eldridge, helpless with wounds, saved his life by giving a gold watch to the soldier that would transfix him. John Daboll, who had been already disabled, was knocked senseless by a ruffian who was in the act of bayoneting him when a British officer drove him off. Edward Stanton's left breast was torn open by a wound that showed the heart ; but a British officer, of whom he asked aid, bound up the wound with a night-cap that he took from his pocket, gave him water, and saved a life. Some fought with the desperation of despair, selling their lives at a fearful price. Others dropped among the slain and feigned dead. Many jumped from the parapets to meet death in trying to flee. Samuel W. Jacques alone escaped unhurt. Having killed his antagonist in a hand- to-hand fight, he leaped from the walls unseen. But 'it was a source of grief to him in his last hours that he won his freedom by the death of one so young and beautiful.' The enemy kept saying that they must all die before sundown ; for that was in the summons sent to Col. Ledyard.
"But not all were of this mind. After the deadly order had been well-nigh executed, an English officer, who is said to have entered the fort too late to stop the butchery, cried out: 'My soul cannot bear such destruction !' Ordering the drums to beat a parley, he stopped the carnage.
"Stephen Hempstead says: 'The cruelty of our enemies can- not be conceived, and our renegade countrymen surpassed in this respect, if possible, 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 one drop of it nor give us any themselves. Some of our number, who had not been disabled from going to the pump, were repulsed with the bayonet, and not one drop did I taste after the action commenced, although begging for it after I was wounded of all who came near me.'
"Eighty-eight victims of 'martial law' lay dead upon the
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ground. Most of those not killed were wounded by the bayonet. Only six or seven of the garrison had been slain when the fort was taken. One month later Yorktown fell, but not a Briton was killed except in fair fight. Alexander Hamilton led the American attacking column. The redoubt that he took was car- ried by the bayonet. Not one of the enemy was injured after he surrendered. Our troops showed to the world that they would not be provoked into retaliation for the butchery of Fort Gris- wold. Two years before this Wayne had stormed the fortress at Stony Point. The attack was at midnight, when fiercest passions might be aroused in a hand-to-hand fight in the darkness. Yet not a man in the fort was put to death except in fair combat, and not one was hurt after he surrendered. The British themselves praised the magnanimity of our men.
"At I o'clock the enemy began preparations for departure. They loaded a large wagon with the wounded to be taken to the boats. They piled them in on top of each other, like cordwood. Starting to draw the wagon down hill to the place of embarka- tion, they found themselves unable to control the heavy load. Letting the wagon run down the incline, it struck a tree with such force that many of the wounded were thrown out and killed. One who had been thrown out attempted to crawl away and was knocked in the head with a musket butt. Twenty-six were car- ried off to Briton prison ships. Thirty-five of the most severely wounded were paroled at the request of Ebenezer Ledyard, eldest brother of the murdered colonel. These were taken by the British into the house of Ebenezer Avery, near the place where the enemy were to embark. Soon after the men had been taken to this house, marauders fired it in several rooms. These fires were extinguished with difficulty. At Mr. Ledyard's request, Capt. Bromfield posted a sentinel to defend the helpless fellows till the last British soldier had embarked. This was not till II o'clock at night. The blood that flowed from their wounds stained the floor where the men lay. The owner of the house, who was one of the number, would never allow it to be washed out. These blood stains can be seen to-day.
"It was a night of terrible anguish. Thirty-five mangled, ex-
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hausted men suffered by exposure and cold, racked by spasms and the tortures of undressed wounds, weakened from loss of blood, parched with thirst ; not a friendly hand to relieve distress, turn the aching body, or bear a last message from those upon whom the day would dawn in eternity. But the morn brought relief. None of the friends or neighbors dared to come to their relief till daylight, not knowing that the enemy had gone. First
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AVERY HOUSE.
to appear was Miss Fanny Ledyard, neice of the dead colonel. Stephen Hempstead says: 'We were a horrible sight at this time. Our friends did not know us. Even my own wife came in the room to search for me, and did not recognize me; and as I did not see her, she left the room to look for me among the slain. It was with the utmost difficulty that many of them could be identified, and so we were frequently called upon to assist their friends in distinguishing them, by remembering particular wound, etc. Being myself taken out for that purpose,
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I met my wife and brother. Never, for a moment, have I regretted the share I had in it. I would be willing, if possible, to suffer it again.'
"The American dead were left unburied, mostly within the fort walls. The British had all that they could do to attend to their own wounded and slain. Their dead were buried in the ditch of the triangular work before the gate and in shallow graves near it. Maj. Montgomery and one or two other officers were buried in the fort, under the embrasure where Montgomery fell. Great emergencies call forth acts of pathetic devotion. Edward Mills lived three miles from the fort, and responded to the alarm on that fatal morning. Anna Warner was a member of her uncle's household. During the long hours of that terrible day no tidings reached the home but the boom of cannon. At its close no message came. Night passed and morning dawned, but no tidings reached the distracted wife. At an early hour Anna walked to the fort. On the floor of Avery's house she found her uncle. At sight of her he began to mourn for his wife and children. Hastening back to the lonely home, placing the wife and elder child upon the horse, and taking the babe in her arms, she hurried to the dying father and placed the infant on his breast. Capt. Burroughs, hearing the signal gun, left his oxen still hitched to the plow and started for the fort, taking his son to ride back the horse. 'When will you get back?' asked the wife. 'Good-by! God knows!' On the morrow the son rode back the horse for the body of his father. The wife and daughter of Buddington watched, with anxious eyes, as he left their home above the fort and went within its gate. All that dreadful day they watched the battle and conflagration from the rocks above the fight. The long suspense ripened into months of heartache. They never knew whether father and husband were dead or alive till the starved and sick survivor of the prison ship staggered across the threshold of his home. John Prentis, and others who had dropped. among the slain and feigned dead, arose during the night and ministered to the wants of their dying companions.
"The defenders of Fort Griswold were mostly young men. Fifty-two of their tombstones give dates of birth. Most of them
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were less than 30; 36 were under 40; only 16 were over that age. Lieut .- Col. Ledyard was but 43. Boys were there, and one aged sire whose locks had been silvered by the snows of 70 winters. Daniel Williams fell at the age of 15; James Comstock at 75.
"In the darkness of the morning, anxious wives and mothers, daughters and aged sires, sisters and those of a tenderer tie, groped among the slain for those who had left their hearth stones not a day before. As the lantern gleam showed the lifeless features of one, and another, and then another of neighbors whom they had known for years, they came at last upon the mu- tilated form of the one they sought. Often they were so dis- figured as to need some mark to prove the body. The dead were borne, one by one, to their last resting places in the different towns.
"Four or five hundred yards south-east of the fort are the graves of Ledyard and many of his fellow-martyrs. Here Led- yard saw the British column trample the grave of his daughter whom he had laid to rest just six weeks before that day. The state of Connecticut has erected a granite monument over the remains of William Ledyard. Near it is all that relic hunters have left of the original tombstone. The inscription has been nearly all chipped away, but it may be found copied upon the north side of the monument. In a wooded valley called 'Gunga- wamp' is a rough granite slab bearing the letters N. A. This marks the grave of John Adams's brother, Nathaniel. Many of the graves were never marked and cannot be located. In 1826-30, Groton monument was erected 'In memory of the patriots who fell in the massacre of Fort Griswold near this spot on the 6th of September, A. D. 1781, when the British, under the command of the traitor, Benedict Arnold, burnt the towns of New London and Groton, and spread desolation and woe throughout this region.' The top of this granite obelisk is 265 feet above the har- bor. Within the door of the monument is a marble slab bearing the names of those who fell; beside it hang many relics of the battle. In the Bill Memorial Library near by is the sword of Ledyard. It is a short weapon of the rapier pattern. In the
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atheneum at Hartford are the vest and shirt that he wore, with the rents made by the sword. The writer has a piece of the trimming of this vest, presented by a granddaughter of Gurdon Ledyard, a brother of the colonel.
"In form and outline Fort Griswold is substantially the same as when taken by the British. In the south-west bastion is the
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PLAN OF FORT GRISWOLD, GROTON, CONN.
ruined masonry of the old magazine. Across the east side of the parade are the remains of the barrack chimneys; the stone foundations of the old platform run along the west. On the right of the gate is the well ; in the south wall, opposite, is the sallyport where Shapley's party entered, with its covered way outside. In front of the gate is what was left of the breast-work after the enemy had shoveled it into the ditch to bury their slain; just within is the marble slab* marking the spot where Ledyard fell.
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