In July of 1781, an American privateer captured the British merchantman the Hanna, loaded with a bounty of luxury goods destined for New York City. That action induced the supreme leader of British forces in America to grant permission to the infamous traitor Benedict Arnold to lead an 1,800-man punitive amphibious expedition to destroy the American privateer base in New London. Arnold-a former American general-had intimate knowledge of the port and its defenses, including the most powerful fortification defending the harbor from Groton Heights Fort Griswold...Arnold dedicated half of his expeditionary force to landing on the east side of the Thames River, for the sole purpose of capturing the fort and putting its heavy cannon out of commission. But Arnold miscalculated and misapprehended the strength of the fort and its defenders...The bulk of the defenders were citizen volunteers from Groton and nearby towns. Virtually all males of local families, aged anywhere from twelve to seventy, defended the fort. In the end, the attackers suffered close to two hundred casualties. The patriots faced catastrophic losses amounting more than 80 percent with half the defenders slain outright. This is a story of that long forgotten stubborn defense by American patriots and the unusual and unforeseen circumstances that turned the assault into a bloodbath-the most sanguinary battle ever witnessed on the soil of Connecticut.
