USA > Connecticut > The history of Connecticut, from the first settlement of the colony to the adoption of the present constitution, vol. II > Part 35
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403
ARNOLD AND LORD DALRYMPLE.
[1781.]
Arnold with the main body now advanced at a rapid rate through Vauxhall-street toward the place where the stores, shipping and public offices were crowded into a very small area. A number of citizens with muskets had stationed themselves on the hill above the old burial-ground, and gave him a few shots as he came within range. They retired on his nearer approach, to retreats more safe and remote. Under cover of Colonel Upham's party, which had gained possession of the outpost, Arnold, accompanied, as is sup- posed, by Lord Dalrymple, who acted as his aid, now rode to the top of another hill, that stood in the rear of the town. He could see from this point the few vessels that were flying before the shots of the little field-piece that Upham had brought from Town Hill, and here too, he had a fair view of Fort Griswold. He sat upon his horse with a perspective glass in his hand, and surveyed for a few moments the field where he was to reap such a harvest of infamy. After glancing his eye over it, and pointing out to his lordship the principal land-marks that were to guide them, they both fol- lowed the main body of the army down Richards-street. The most fastidious critic could hardly cavil at Arnold's methodical and comprehensive plan of destruction. He sent a detachment to the south part of the town, while he began the work himself at the northern extremity, by setting fire to the printing office and town mill. He also sent a company to Winthrop's Neck to burn the ships that had not escaped, as well as the houses and the battery. This was a very impor- tant part of the town, and so thoroughly was the torch applied, that of all the shipping, warehouses, dwellings, and other com- bustible property there, only a solitary house escaped. On Main-street, near the point reserved by Arnold for his own personal operations, stood a goodly number of old family mansions. The most expensive and imposing of these was the dwelling of General Gurdon Salstonstall. They were soon wrapt in flames. The custom-house, collector's house, shops, wharves, boats and lumber, all shared the same fate. When the party reached Hallam's corner they turned down
404
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
toward Water-street. As they came within fair view of the rich warehouses and the vessels that lay moored there, Arnold pointed with his sword to the tempting prize, as he cried with the energy of an officer giving orders upon the battle-field, "Soldiers, do your duty !"
A scene of conflagration followed that closed only with the failure of the fuel that fed it. They also destroyed every thing on the parade. The magazine and battery, the market, the court-house, and jail, the episcopal church, the wharf, and the dwellings, as well as the stores, were laid in ashes. Not even the houses of the tories were spared. The very roof under which Arnold dined that day, though it was the property of one of his old acquaintances, was treated with no more indulgence than the others in that vicinity, and before his repast was completed, the flames had been kindled over his head, as if to crown the festive board with an illu- mination.
A similar destruction followed the footsteps of the party that had been sent to the southern district of the town. The boats, shops, and stores, were consumed, but the dwellings were treated with more indulgence. The most valuable mansions on either side of Bank-street were burned, and the other buildings were indiscriminately consumed. It seems idle to linger over the sickening details of this conflagration. Even Arnold was ashamed to acknowledge that he was instrumental in destroying the town, and attributed it, as did Sir Henry Clinton, to the unexpected explosion of gun- powder. The candid reader will decide from the few facts that are given here, as well as from the conduct of the enemy at Fort Griswold, how far this excuse is to go in extenuation of the crime that has been charged at the door of the perpetrators.
The eastern bank of the Thames afforded, meanwhile, a very different spectacle. The order sent by Arnold to Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre, to attack Fort Griswold, had been based on the supposition that the Fort was much more feebly garrisoned, and that its walls were weaker than proved to be
405
FORT GRISWOLD.
[1761.]
the case. He had supposed that the place would be carried in a few minutes, and that its guns would be turned upon the shipping. But when he saw that the vessels were escap- ing, and that the fort was manned by a garrison of con- siderable size, he sent an officer in a boat to countermand the order. This second messenger did not arrive until after the attack had commenced. The situation of the fort was very well chosen, and in the hands of a garrison of sufficient size to man it, would have been very formidable. The fol- lowing is Hempstead's description of the fortification :
" The fort was an oblong square with bastions at opposite angles, its longest sides fronting the river in a north-west and south-east direction. Its walls were of stone, and were ten or twelve feet high on the lower side, and surrounded by a ditch. On the walls were pickets, projecting over twelve feet, above this was a parapet with embrasures, and within a platform for cannon, and a step to mount upon, to shoot over the parapet with small arms. In the south-west 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."
There were in this fort one hundred and fifty men, and of these two-thirds were farmers and mechanics who were totally unacquainted with the usages of war. They were poorly armed too, many of them, having snatched up their weapons and rode at a moment's warning to defend the fort. About noon the British troops were seen coming out of the woods about half a mile from the fort. They ran with broken ranks until they were protected from the guns of the garrison by the hills and rocks that occupy the middle ground between the fortification and the forest. Under the friendly shelter of a ledge one hundred and thirty yards south-east from the
406
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
fort, Colonel Eyre brought his men again into line, while Major Montgomery at the head of the fortieth regiment, sought the cover of a hill near at hand.
Colonel Eyre soon sent a flag and a summons for the instant surrender of the fort. Colonel Ledyard called a council of war to decide what answer should be given. The officers composing it were all in favor of resistance. The council was not very formal and did not waste much time in deliberation. Its decision was made known by three volun- teers who left the fort and advanced to meet the British officer who had delivered the summons.
Shortly after, the flag was again seen emerging from behind the ledge of rocks. The demand was the same as the first, with the addition of a threat, that if it should become necessary to storm the works, "Martial law should be put in force !" The officers were still unanimous in their resolu- tion. Captain Shapley, who had commanded at Fort Trum- bull, was sent to deliver their answer : " We shall not sur- render, let the consequences be what they may."
Of course all parley was now at an end ; and both divis- ions of the enemy immediately moved forward with a quick step, and formed in solid columns.
The arrangements made by Colonel Ledyard, when it is borne in mind what scanty materials that he had at his com- mand, were truly admirable. He had placed a small party of his little band in the eastern battery, to open their fire upon the enemy. They fired a single round, and then with- drew into the fort. He strictly enjoined upon the garrison not to fire a gun, until the columns of the detachment that led the attack, should have advanced within a range where every shot would tell upon them Colonel Eyre's division was the first to approach ; Captain Halsey, an old naval officer, stood by an eighteen pounder loaded with bags of grape shot, and brought it to bear upon them with a deliber- ate aim. When the order was given to fire, twenty men dropped dead or wounded. This shot broke their columns and threw them into disorder. It was the signal for a resist-
407
FALL OF COLONEL EYRE.
[1781.]
ance as obstinate as can well be imagined. Volley after volley was poured upon the enemy with murderous effect. It was with the greatest difficulty that Colonel Eyre, and the officers under him, could keep their men from running away in utter confusion ; but, by exposing their own persons, and remaining in front of their shattered columns, they were able to prevent a retreat. The soldiers advanced without much regard to discipline, running with their bodies bent half way to the ground, for a few paces, then falling upon the ground, and then again rushing forward. This division made their attack upon the south-west bastion of the fort, and upon its south and west sides. Eyre was soon shot through the body, and carried from the field mortally wounded, and three other officers of his regiment fell dead before they reached the fort. Montgomery pressed forward with his detachment, and found no difficulty in throwing him- self into the redoubt on the east side of the fortification. He was not long in getting possession of the ditch, and from thence, with headlong impetuosity, he vaulted to the base of the rampart, and attempted to ascend it. This was no easy task. The rampart was very high and was strongly guarded by projecting pickets. The soldiers were obliged to get up by climbing upon each others shoulders, and from this uncertain footing, wrench away the pickets, or struggle up between them. Of course this effort required their whole strength, and consumed a good deal of time. The Americans shot them dead, one after another, with musket balls, as they thrust their heads above the rampart- coolly taking aim and making sure of their men-at almost every fire. Many a poor fellow clung quivering to the pickets, as if in the last agonies of impalement. Joseph Woodmancy counted eighteen times that he loaded and fired his piece. As fast as the dead bodies were taken down, living men supplied their places. The Americans resisted the assailants by the application of every weapon and missile that came to hand. They threw down cold shot and nine pounders on their heads. But Montgomery's attack was like
408
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
a whirlwind, and he finally succeeded in effecting a lodge- ment upon the rampart. The few soldiers who first scaled it were obliged to silence a nine pounder that swept the place. After this was done, a larger force was hoisted up, and the enemy now attempted to enter the works through the embra- sures with fixed bayonets. Here they were met by the main body of the garrison under Ledyard, who were armed with long sharp spears, which they wielded with fatal effect. The British soldiers staggered before this strange weapon that kept the point of their bayonets at such a safe distance. Major Montgomery urged them on, and to encourage them by his own example threw himself into the front ranks, as Colonel Eyre had done outside of the walls, and exposing his breast to the points of the spears, was pierced through and fell dead at the threshold of the embrasure. Ensign Whit- lock of the fortieth regiment, was also killed, and three other officers of the same regiment were wounded.
Major Montgomery was a universal favorite both with his officers and soldiers, and the instant that he fell they rushed through the deadly gaps uttering fierce cries of vengeance.
It was no longer possible for Ledyard and his band of self- sacrificing patriots to resist their overpowering numbers. They swept through the embrasures like tide streams, and carried every thing before them until they came to the gate. This they tried to force open. The first assailant was instantly killed, but the frail barriers soon yielded, and the British soldiers with fixed bayonets crowded into the fort by hundreds. They swung their caps over their heads and uttered a yell of exultation as the signal of their entrance.
As soon as the enemy had forced the gate, Colonel Led- yard, who had until that moment fought with determined resolution, seeing that the garrison could maintain the une- qual struggle no longer, ordered his men to throw down their arms. They instantly obeyed, but the British troops who had now full possession of the fort kept firing upon them from the parapets, and stabbing them with their bayonets as they crossed the area to open the south gate. Captain Shap-
[1781.]
THE MURDER OF LEDYARD. 409
ley and his little company, ignorant of what was going on within the walls, still kept their dangerous post at the south- west bastion. The British now turned the cannon of the north bastion upon them and cut them literally in pieces. Captain Shapley and Lieutenant Richard Chapman were both killed. The few survivors fled to the inside of the fort and threw down their arms. The south gate was now opened and the troops of the other division marched in, in solid columns, and fired by platoons upon the unresisting gar- rison who retreated before them, some to the magazine, and others to the barracks, to secure themselves, as weapons were now denied them, against this wholesale butchery. Major Bromfield, who was now the officer in command, marching at the head of the southern division, called out as he entered :
" Who commands this fort ?"
The gallant Ledyard, who had made a resistance unsur- passed, perhaps, in the whole history of freedom's battles, replied :
" I did, sir, but you do now."
As he spoke, he raised and lowered his sword and advanc- ing respectfully, presented it to the conqueror. The brutal wretch took the proffered weapon and instantly plunged it to the hilt into the breast of the unsuspecting patriot .* When this barbarous murder took place, Captain Richards, who had been wounded, was standing by holding himself up by his spontoon in company with Captain Ledyard, the nephew of the colonel, and a few other fearless spirits, who had scorned to take refuge in the magazine or barracks. They now saw that they were contending with savages, and that it was vain to look for quarter at the hands of such a foe. They rallied around the corpse of their commander, and fought till they fell pierced, some of them with more than twenty wounds. The whole parade was open, and as the platoons marched in, they shot or stabbed every American who was standing on it. They then fired by platoons into the maga-
* Gordon iii. 249.
-
.
410
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
zine where a large part of the garrison were crowded together in masses, so that one bullet would perhaps pass through two or three bodies before its force was spent. The dead bodies and the wounded men that lay bleeding upon the grounds, were also made the target for this devilish past- time.
Major Bromfield, whose hands were still stained by the blood that had trickled down upon the hilt of Ledyard's sword, and to whom humanity could make no successful appeal, commanded them to stop their firing, as he feared it might blow up the magazine, and thus involve the victors and the victims in one promiscuous ruin. It was thought that such an event might have taken place at the firing of the first volley, had not the powder that lay scattered under the feet and bodies of those who had taken refuge there, been floating in pools of blood.
But this prudential order did not put an end to the slaugh- ter. A number of American soldiers had crowded under the platforms to escape the massacre, but the bayonets found them and pierced them through and through until their bodies were perforated some of them with a dozen deep stabs, any one of which would have been mortal. As this did not endanger the safety of his own party, Major Bromfield did not interfere with it. The barrack-rooms were carefully searched, and those who were found in them were shot or bayoneted, and their remains treated with the same indigni- ties. The hands of some of the dead soldiers were horribly gashed and mutilated as they encountered the points and edges of the bayonets in their vain strugglings to keep that dreaded weapon from their faces, breasts, and throats. Mr. William Seymour, of Hartford, a brave volunteer, and a nephew of Colonel Ledyard, after his knee had been shat- tered by a musket ball, was stabbed thirteen times with the bayonet. Ensign Woodmancy, who had counted the number of times that he loaded and fired at the enemy while they were scaling the fortress, had his hands and arms almost cut into splinters with a cutlass as he lay wounded and helpless,
411
CAPTAIN BECKWITH.
[1781.]
and Lieutenant Parke Avery, whose skull had been entered by a bullet that rent away a part of the brain, and who had lost one of his eyes, was still further tortured by a cut in his side.
One of the British officers, Captain Beckwith,* perhaps, sickened by the details of this awfully protracted butchery, commanded the soldiers to desist. It was with the greatest difficulty that he could call off these hell-hounds already drunk with blood ! With his drawn sword in his hand he ran from room to room of the barracks crying out :
" Stop ! stop !- in the name of Heaven, I say, stop !- my soul can't bear it !"
After awhile the carnage was checked ; but not until eighty-five men lay dead in the fort, and sixty wounded, only a few of whom survived that day of horrors.
But murder and mutilation were not the only features of this grim victory. The soldiers were allowed to strip the scanty summer clothing, valueless as it was, from the dead and wounded, until some of them were nearly or quite naked ; and although there was a well of cold spring-like water within the inclosure, that quenched the thirst of the British soldiers, the poor wretches that lay panting and gasp- ing in the hot sun looked upward imploringly toward the precious drops that dripped from the pump, but looked in vain.
The English now gathered their dead and buried them, and removed their wounded to a place of safety as a step preliminary to blowing up the fort. Then, too, whether in mockery of the common sentiment of humanity, or impelled by an inconsiderate haste scarcely less blame-worthy, they counted off thirty-five of those who were least likely to ;
* Captain Beckwith acted as aid to Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre, and after the death of the latter, led on his men to a bold charge upon the fort, being one of the first officers that entered the works. He was afterwards promoted in the king's ser- vice, and was at one time appointed governor of Barbadoes. Caulkins, p. 563. Some have charged him with the murder of Ledyard ; he, however, indignantly denied the accusation, and the evidence of history as well as the testimony of those who participated in the Groton fight, both go to establish his innocence of the crime.
412
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
recover, and raising them fainting and bleeding as they were in every stage of approaching dissolution, carried them upon boards to an ammunition wagon that stood near the fort, and notwithstanding the heat of the day, and the groans of the sufferers, packed them in layers one above another, and employed about twenty men to draw them down to the shore. The declivity was so steep and the load so heavy that the momentum of the vehicle could not long be resisted, and the soldiers who had charge of it soon stepped aside and committed it with its precious freight to the guid- ance of chance and the force of gravitation. The ground was covered with earth-fast rocks, stumps and other obsta- cles, but such was the strength of the wagon, that it rolled down the rough hill-side for a distance of nearly one hundred rods, until it was arrested in its career by the trunk of an apple-tree that stood near the water's edge. The shock was so sudden that the wagon rebounded and swayed half round. Some of the wounded men were instantly killed by the jar, others fainted away, and a few were thrown violently upon the ground. The survivors were carried into a house near by and left there on their parole. There was, indeed, little danger that they would violate it.
The other wounded men to the number of thirty had been already removed and put under guard to be carried away as prisoners.
At sun-set, when the enemy embarked, the flames of the village of Groton, flaring on the river's brink, lit up the waters with a sickly glare that deepened into an awful red as night drew on, making a fit beacon to light a TRAITOR from the shore that he had stained with the slime of his foot-prints for the last time. Doubtless he looked out eagerly from the deck of his ship to witness the explosion of the magazine at Fort Griswold, that was to have been the epilogue of this tragedy. In this he was disappointed. The train had been perfectly laid, although Arnold attempted to throw blame upon the officer charged with this task. The flames were extinguished by the brave Major Peters, who
413
THE DEPARTURE OF THE TRAITOR.
[1781.]
rushed into the fort and at the risk of his life quenched them with water from the friendly well. He then looked among the dead bodies for the corpse of Colonel Ledyard. He had no difficulty in finding it. The pale forehead, the high placid features, made visible by the blaze of the burning village and the gleam of the evening twilight, could not be mistaken. They bore witness that the pledge which he had given at the ferry but a few hours before was redeemed : " If I must lose to-day honor or life, you who know me, can tell which it will be !" *
Thus Benedict Arnold, t who from the day that he insulted
* In addition to the facts gathered and presented by Miss Caulkins in such per- fect method, and those set forth by Captain Avery's Narrative, I have been greatly assisted by the account given me in 1840 by that excellent old gentleman, who spent nearly two days in walking over the ruins of the fort where the massacre took place, and detailing to me the events of the day with the minute- ness and feeling of one who was not only an eye-witness, but a participator in the scenes that were so indelibly stamped upon his memory.
t Benedict Arnold was born in Norwich, January 3rd, 1741. I am indebted to Miss Caulkins' History of that town, for the particulars of his life which are here given.
He descended from an honorable Rhode Island family, where one of his ances- tors bearing the same name, for fifteen years held the office of governor. Two brothers of this family, Benedict and Oliver, removed from Newport to Nor- wich about the year 1730. The elder Benedict, (the father of the traitor,) soon became engaged in trade and public affairs. He served his fellow- townsmen as collector, lister, selectman, constable, and militia captain. He married Mrs. Hannah King, whose maiden name was Lathrop, November 8, 1733. The following letter from her to her wayward son, who was then at school in Canterbury, will be read with interest-indicating as it does her charac- teristics as an affectionate mother and devoted christian :
"To Mr. Benedict Arnold, at Canterbury.
" NORWICH, April 12, 1754.
" Dear Child-I received yours of the 1st instant, and was glad to hear that you was well. Pray, my dear, let your first concern be to make your peace with God, as it is, of all concerns, of the greatest importance.
" Keep a steady watch over your thoughts, words, and actions. Be dutiful to superiors, obliging to equals, and affable to inferiors, if any such there be. Always choose that your companions be your betters, that by their good examples you may learn.
"From your affectionate mother,
" HANNAH ARNOLD.
"P. S. I have sent you 50s. Use it prudently, as you are accountable to God
-
414
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
the venerable Wooster, at New Haven, had never been honored by a single office by the state where he was born, and the people who knew him best, paid the long score of revenge with conflagration and blood.
and your father. Your father and aunt join with me in love and service to Mr. Cogswell and lady, and yourself. Your sister is from home."
" It is lamentable," adds Miss Caulkins, " that the son of such a mother, and the recipient of such wholesome advice, should have become a proud, obstinate, and unprincipled man."
Among the anecdotes related of Arnold while a lad, are the following : On a day of public rejoicing for some success over the French, Arnold, then a mere stripling, took a field-piece, and in a frolic placed it on end, so that the mouth should point upright, poured into it a large quantity of powder, and actually dropped into the muzzle, from his hand, a blazing fire-brand. His activity saved him from a scorching, for though the flash streamed up within an inch of his face, he darted back, and shouted hurrah ! as loud as the best of the company.
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