BATTLE OF GROTON HEIGHTS IN CONNECTICUT

Battle of Groton Heights in Connecticut

Near the end of the Revolutionary War, British forces raided the harbor town of New London, Connecticut, to burn supplies and shipping that supported the American cause. Militia under Colonel William Ledyard took position at Fort Griswold on Groton Heights, a small earthwork fortification guarding the approach. The defenders were outnumbered and lightly supported, but they chose to resist rather than abandon the post. After a fierce assault and close-quarters fighting, the British stormed the works and inflicted heavy casualties, including a brutal aftermath remembered as a massacre. Strategically the raid did not alter the course of the war, but it left deep scars in local memory and showed how even late in the conflict small coastal communities were exposed to sudden violence. The fight at Groton Heights illustrates the risks militia companies accepted in defending their own towns and the personal cost of a war often remembered through larger campaigns.