The Battle of Fort Griswold, Groton, Connecticut, was fought on September 6, 1781, between Connecticut militia and British Regulars under turncoat traitor Benedict Arnold. Jordan Freeman, African American patriot, stood firm before the onslaught of enraged redcoats pouring over the fort’s walls. Just as British Major William Montgomery mounted the rampart, Jorden grabbed a 10-foot pike and rushed the thong of regulars. He thrust the pike upwards and impaled the commanding officer, killing him instantly. Freeman would die that day alongside his fellow patriots; defending the fort, his home, and the cause of liberty. His legacy was freedom for himself and for all; no matter one’s ancestry, no matter the color of one’s skin.
Early Life
Jordan was born a slave on October 30, 1732. According to historian Kevin Johnson of the Connecticut State Library History Department, his parents were Oscar and Temperance, servant slaves of Richard Lord of Old Lyme, Connecticut. Of Jordan’s life, almost nothing has been recorded. Once more we turn to Mr. Johnson to learn that Jordan married Ms. Lilly in 1755, servant to Mary Princess. Sometime afterward, Jordan was sold to merchant John Ledyard Esquire of Groton, Connecticut.
John Ledyard, Esquire (1701-1771) [not to be confused with his famous son and traveler John Ledyard] and his wife Mary Austin (1715-1797), had immigrated from Bristol, England to Groton. John established a successful warehouse and shop on Thames Street, Groton. He and Mary prospered with a large family, twelve children. So too, they had a small number of slaves; typical for New England’s upper class. At some time, John Ledyard’s son William Ledyard (1738-1781) was given Jordan as his ‘man servant.’ William became a Groton Bank Merchant and at 23 had married 16-year-old Anne Williams of Stonington. William and Anne settled in a home close to the Ledyard Warehouse along the wharf on Thames Street. This residence, just down the hill from Fort Griswold, became Jordan’s home for several years. William Ledyard would assume the family business after John and Mary moved from Groton to Hartford where they lived the remainder of their lives.
Though a successful merchant, William Ledyard was active in politics. Along with much of New England, he became a passionate patriot. As things worsened between England and her colonies, William joined the militia. It was common practice for bondsmen to also follow their masters into the militia and one can assume Jordan, William’s ‘man servant’, did likewise. William Ledyard’s prominent place as one of Groton’s citizens, as well as his active role in the militia, earned him a place on the Connecticut Assembly representing Groton.
American Revolution
While a slave to William Ledyard, Jordan and he had become good friends. In 1776, with the outbreak of war, William was commissioned 1st captain in the Groton militia artillery company. So too, with the start of war, we believe that William awarded Jordan his freedom. One indication of this is Jordan’s assumed last name; Freeman. Slaves were almost always given the surname of their masters. Jordan was probably Jordan Lord upon birth and would have been called Jordan Ledyard when he was sold to John Ledyard. Jordan would have kept this name, unless he obtained his liberty – free to choose his surname; in this case Freeman. It is not recorded where Jordan lived while free or if he was still married to Lilly.
By 1778, Jordan’s former master, William, was a major, assigned to improve the defenses at New London, Groton, and Stonington; important ports, all from which American privateers sallied to attack British shipping. By 1780, now Lt. Colonel Ledyard was commander of both Forts at the mouth of the Thames River; Fort Trumbull in New London (name for Gov. Trumbull), and Fort Griswold in Groton, across the river. Meanwhile, his family had grown to seven children; from infant to teens, having previously lost a child to sickness. Both freeman and former master had retained their friendship. In conjecture, without recorded evidence, one could assume William may have employed Jordan within the family business. So too, Jordan may have been active in the Groton and New London’s militia.
By the fall of 1781, General Henry Clinton in New York City, was under pressure to do something about the American privateers raising havoc on British shipping. The Thames River ports and harbor, including New London and Groton, were a safe haven for privateers who often brought in prizes to unload captured supplies and compensation for the vessels. Clinton decided to attack the harbor and destroy all shipping facilities and supplies. For that he needed someone who was familiar with the region and who would be both efficient and ruthless in its execution. He would look no further than former Connecticut resident, turncoat Benedict Arnold, who was raised just ten miles from New London. After having demonstrated his thoroughness in the conflagration of Virginia, the recently returned traitor was more than willing to renew his destructive vigor against his former homeland.
Battle of Fort Griswold
On the evening of September 5, 1781, General Benedict Arnold’s fleet of 38 vessels sailed for New London with 1,800 regulars on board. They were to surprise and capture all shipping and, upon Arnold’s digression, destroy warehouses, supplies and anything useful to the American resistance. For Arnold, it became a free pass to basically wipe New London off the map.
At 1 AM, Arnold reached the mouth of the river Thames. They still had two and a half miles to sail to reach New London and Groton when the wind suddenly shifted to the northward. It was 9 AM on Sept. 6th before the transports could finally beat in. Arnold did not get his surprise. As his transports spent painful hours tacking up the river Thames, they were spotted by Rufus Avery, a Continental Army sentinel at Fort Griswold. He immediately notified Lt. Colonel William Ledyard in New London. Ledyard did not hesitate and ordered the alarm by firing cannon, two guns at spaced intervals. Knowing he had few men to contest Arnold landing his troops, he left Fort Trumbull in New London with a small garrison.
After sending riders to sound the alarm for militia to gather, he hurried what troops he had on hand to the larger and better armed fort across the river; Fort Griswold. By the time Arnold landed his troops at New London, Ledyard, along with approximately 150 militiamen who answered the alarm, were behind the defenses at the fort. Arnold would remain in New London with about half his troops, sending 800 men across the river under Lieutenant Colonel Edmund Eyre to take Fort Griswold.
The Americans manning the fort offered a courageous defense. They inflicted over 25% percent casualties against the assaulting British force, with relatively few among the defenders. Second in command of British forces, Major William Montgomery, led his second assault party to an abandoned redoubt, just east of the fort. From there, he cut across a ditch and assaulted the ramparts.
By now, the Americans had run low or were completely out of ammunition. Those choosing to continue the fort’s defense grabbed whatever weapons were available, often left to just the butt of their muskets. The regulars under Montgomery, having gained the bastion against fierce resistance, surged up to the rampart. Montgomery mounted it and as he rallied his men, he was immediately impaled, killed by a ten-foot pike thrust upwards by Jordan Freeman.
Montgomery’s men continued the attack. They were finally able to gain a gate from inside; the sally port that allowed defenders to escape through ditching when the fort was compromised. Enraged British infantrymen poured through the opening and attacked the defenders without mercy. It is reported that Colonel Ledyard, seeing that the fort was penetrated, realized he could not hold back the attacking force and called for a surrender. The horrendous slaughter of nearly the entire surrendered garrison, ordered by and personally committed by British officers, occurred after Ledyard offered his sword.
Rhode Island soldier Joseph Wood gave witness to what occurred during the final moments of the battle: “When Colonel Ledyard found that he was not able to withstand the attack upon the fort, he opened the gate to surrender. As he did so, the British commander asked, ‘Who commands this fort?’ Colonel Ledyard answered, ‘I did, but you do now.’ And presented to the British commander his sword.” [Eighteenth century military protocol allowed the victorious officer to either give back the sword if the enemy fought gallantly, or keep the sword if his enemy did not fight honorably]. Wood continued, “The British commander took the sword and thrust it through Colonel Ledyard. This I heard and saw. Upon that, Captain Allen, who was standing nearby in the act of presenting his sword to surrender, drew it back and thrust it through the British officer who had thus killed Colonel Ledyard. Captain Allen was then immediately killed by the British. This I also saw.”
Some accounts state that it was not Captain Allen, but slave Lambert (Lambo) Latham who drew the blade from Ledyard and pierced the British officer. Upon that, the unarmed Americans within the fort were horrendously attacked with musket fire and bayonets; some were pieced dozens of times. Benedict Arnold later reported that eighty-five men “were found dead in Fort Griswold, and sixty wounded, most of them mortally.
Aftermath
Some accounts place the number of Americans present when the British stormed the fort and Ledyard offered his surrender at 130 men. By the time the last shots were fired and final bayonets were thrust, scarcely twenty Americans stood on their feet. A plaque at the Fort Griswold Memorial and Museum states the number of American casualties as: 85 killed, 35 wounded and paroled, 28 taken prisoner, 13 escaped, 1 captured and released (12-year-old William Latham Jr.). Total: 162. For the British; it was recorded that 53 were killed in the assault on the fort and another 133 wounded.
Of Jordan, we do not know when or how he fell. He may have still been alive when the butchery began. We only know that he was listed as one of the 85 militiamen (some accounts state 88) killed defending the fort. Of bondsman Lambert Latham, he was one of the many dead. His master, Captain William Latham, father of captured 12 year old William Jr., was severely wounded, but would survive.
While Eyre’s command assaulted Fort Griswold, Arnold’s battalion was busy with the destruction of New London. After pilfering what supplies he could, Arnold split his command into two groups, planning to burn the city from both ends. More than 140 buildings were destroyed including homes, shops, and warehouses.” Ships tied to wharves were also put to the torch. The Hannah, British merchant ship captured by American privateers two months previously, was burned. This caused a conflagration when the gunpowder in her hold exploded and spread flames throughout the town, leveling buildings of both patriots and Tories. By the time the former American general was through, New London basically ceased to exist.
Of those killed, Major Montgomery was buried in front of the main gate; his family eventually retrieved his skull for burial in England. The other British dead were placed in unmarked graves. The American bodies were claimed by mourning loved-ones and buried among their family plots. We can assume Jordan’s body was collected and buried among the other Groton militiamen. Lt. Colonel Ledyard left a wife and seven young children – almost all would die of illness within ten years of their father’s death. Battle of Fort Griswold would be the last major engagement of the American Revolution in the north. The last major battle in the deep south would be just two days later, Battle of Eutaw Springs (Sept. 8th) which proved to be the bloodiest of the entire war. And British General Charles Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, would occur only 43 days after the slaughter at Fort Griswold, signaling the end of the war.
Systemic Racism Denies Recognition
The 72nd anniversary of the battle and sacrifice at Groton Heights and Fort Griswold was celebrated by the people of New London and vicinity, on Wednesday, September 7, 1853. All the state’s governor and dignitaries were there including former Connecticut Congressman and Senator Robert C. Winthrop. The New York Express stated of the event: “It was beautifully eloquent and appropriate…Mr. Winthrop pictured the events of the 6th of September, the bravery of the volunteers, the shocking murders, the dead and surviving, the sufferings of Ledyard, the revolutionary struggle, and all in letters of gold…”
Winthrop’s failure, as well as each and every orator that day, to make even a brief allusion to the two colored soldiers did not go completely unnoticed. African American William Anderson of New London wrote, “I stood…listening to the praises of the white heroes…” Commenting on no mention of black soldiers who gave their lives he concluded “…but none more gallantly than the two colored men; and, if the survivors of the day’s carnage tell truly, they fought like tigers, and were butchered after the gates were burst open…”
Mid-nineteenth century author William Cooper Nell shared in his groundbreaking text, The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, a letter to him from Parker Pillsbury of New Hampshire. Pillsbury wrote about the marble plaque that listed the names of those who died defending the fort. He noticed the particular placement of the two black men who died. He wrote:
“The names of the two brave men of color, who fell, with Ledyard, at the storming of Fort Griswold, were Lambo Latham and Jordan Freeman. All the names of the slain, at that time, are inscribed on a marble tablet, wrought into the monument – the names of the colored soldiers last, and not only last, but a blank space is left between them and the whites; in genuine keeping with the “Negro Pew” distinction- setting them not only below all others, but by themselves, even after that….And the name of Jordan Freeman stands away down, last on the list of heroes – perhaps the greatest hero of them all!”
Check out Historian Kevin Johnson of the Connecticut State Historical Library and His Excellent and Learned Portrayal of Jordan Freeman on Youtube
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ MORE ABOUT AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, CHECK OUT THESE FREE PREVIEWS ON AMAZON
SIMILAR ARTICLES ON REVOLUTIONARY WAR JOURNAL
RESOURCES
Gilbert, Alan. Black Patriots and Loyalists, Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence. 2012. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
Holt, Thomas C. Children of Fire, A History of African Americans. 2010: Hill and Wang, New York, NY.
Kapland, Sidney & Kapland, Emma Nogrady, The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. 1989 University of Massachusetts Press.
Lanning, Lt. Col. Michael Lee. Defenders of Liberty. African Americans in the Revolutionary War. 2000: Citadel Press & Kensington Publishing Corp., New York, NY.
Nell, William Cooper. The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution. 1855: Reissued 2010: Readaclassics.com
Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro in the American Revolution. 1961: The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC.
Schenawolf, Harry. “Battle of Groton Heights and Massacre of Fort Griswold’s Garrison” Revolutionary War Journal.
“Tossing Lines: Colonel William and Anne Ledyard’s revolutionary children.” Feb 10, 2022: The Day; Local News.