Also known as the Battle of Fort Griswold, the last major engagement of the American Revolution in the north was on September 6th, 1781, between mostly Connecticut militia under Colonel William Ledyard and professional soldiers and loyalists under the command of turncoat British Brigadier General Benedict Arnold. After a courageous defense of Fort Griswold, which inflicted over twenty-five percent casualties against the assaulting British force, with relatively few among the defenders, the fort capitulated. The horrendous slaughter of nearly the entire surrendered garrison, ordered by and personally committed by British officers, has been a subject of debate for generations afterwards. Some argue that in the heat of battle, the American flag had been shot down. This caused the British to believe that the garrison had surrendered; however, the ‘wretched rebels’ continued to fire, resulting in their justified slaughter. Others state that the garrison had already surrendered when the carnage began – this as an act of revenge for the casualties inflicted, including the killing of British Major William Montgomery. Though General Arnold did not directly order the savage butchery of the fort’s garrison, he stands responsible for his subordinates’ actions. The former Connecticut native’s aggressive and merciless attack and brutal treatment of the ‘rebels’, resulting in the entire destruction of New London, was modeled by his officers’ actions, resulting in what has been labeled a massacre.
Events leading to Arnold’s Invasion of New London
It may be safe to say, had there been no siege of Yorktown, there would have been no Battle of Groton Heights and the city of New London would never have been torched. After the failed attempt by then American Major General Benedict Arnold to surrender West Point to the British on Sept., 21, 1780, and his escape to the British in New York, the newly commissioned British Brigadier General Arnold was eager to prove his merit to his new country. He was sent to Virginia, arriving on January 5th, 1781. Good to his reputation as a man of action, he soon captured Richmond then ravished the countryside, driving back all militiamen’s attempt to thwart his invasion. His actions aided in convincing British General Charles Cornwallis to give up chasing American General Nathanael Greene and advance his supply starved and weary southern army northward to Virginia. When Washington dispatched youthful Frenchman General Marquis de Lafayette to counter Arnold’s actions, Supreme British Commander General Henry Clinton would not entrust the recent turncoat to so important a position as commanding the remaining British forces in Virginia. The fuming Arnold was returned to New York City, itching for another opportunity to garnish trust and prove his loyalty to the crown.
General Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau had arrived in America with a French army on July 11, 1780. Washington and Rochambeau had resolved to lay siege to New York City. However, because of the large British presence in the city behind impregnable defenses (many having been thrown up by the Americans before they evacuated the city in 1776) the plan was put off. When American General Lafayette reported that Cornwallis’ southern army had marched to Williamstown, Virginia on May 20th, and then on to Yorktown, partly to replenish his exhausted troops, Washington saw his chance. He met with Rochambeau and the two decided they would assault Cornwallis’ army instead. Comte de Grasse’s French fleet in the Caribbean was requested to the Chesapeake to cut off all aide from Clinton in New York. Meanwhile, Lafayette would box in and harass Cornwallis’ seven-thousand-man force on the peninsula between the James and York Rivers. Leaving a small army stationed north and west of New York to contain the British in the city, the French and American armies immediately marched south.
By August 28th, 1781, British General Henry Clinton realized Washington’s intent; however, the trap had already been set. Lafayette’s forces, with reinforcements arriving, severed all land escapes while two days later, on the 30th, De Grasse’s fleet sat off the Chesapeake Bay. Conwallis was helplessly hemmed in. Meanwhile, Washington’s army had marched through New Jersey with the vanguard awaiting transport to Virginia. Clinton immediately dispatched Admiral Sir Thomas Graves with nineteen ships of the line to the Chesapeake with the hope of defeating the French and landing reinforcements. The Battle of the Capes (Battle of the Chesapeake), on September 5th, resulted in a British loss, leaving Admiral Graves no other choice but to limp back to New York City. Clinton’s spies reported that upwards of twenty thousand American and French troops were converging upon Cornwallis. While Graves’ fleet had been in route to the Chesapeake, Clinton devised another plan to help relieve the pressure on Cornwallis by possibly drawing Washington back to New England.
Throughout the war, Connecticut had furnished the largest quotas in both man power and supplies to the American cause, mainly through Washington’s faithful supporter, Governor Jonathan Trumbull. New London, Connecticut had grown fat over the years from privateering and the spoils of captured merchant ships. Just earlier that year, in late July of 1781, the British merchant ship Hannah was seized and brought into New London by the Minerva, captained by Dudley Saltonstall. She was the largest prize taken during the entire war, with a cargo of West India goods and gunpowder whose value was estimated at 80,000 pounds sterling. This loss may have spurred Clinton to retaliate. An expedition to capture the region would promise plunder as well as strategic advantages to pursue further incursions inland. Local authorities would demand the Continental Army’s attention, forcing Washington to dispatch large numbers of troops northward to counter a British invasion of New England.
Brigadier Benedict Arnold sails for New London
Clinton needed a man for the expedition who was familiar with the region and who would be both efficient and ruthless in its execution. He had to look no further than former Connecticut resident, Benedict Arnold, who was born and 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. This once American general (at one time considered the finest of all Washington’s generals) assembled his men into two battalions, numbering just over 1,600. The first, under Lt. Colonel Edmund Eyre, was composed of the 40th and 54th Regiments of Foot. Eyre also commanded a loyalist provincial regiment of Cortlandt Skinner’s – New Jersey Loyalist Volunteers. The second battalion would be under Arnold’s direct command. He had the 38th Foot plus a variety of Tory units including the Loyal American Regiment and Arnold’s provincial regiment, known as the American Legion. To complete the expedition, were about 100 Hessian Jaegers (German riflemen) and a small number of artillerymen manning three six-pound cannon and a howitzer, these were divided among the two battalions.
As Washington’s army marched through Philadelphia on September 2nd, Clinton sent a courier vessel to Yorktown with the following dispatch: “Mr. Washington,[1] is moving an army to the southward with an appearance of haste, and gives out that he expects the cooperation of a considerable French armament. Your lordship, however, may be assured, that if this is the case, I shall either endeavor to reinforce the army under your command by all the means within the compass of my power or – make every possible diversion in your favor.”[2] On the afternoon of September 4, 1781, a fleet of thirty-two sail under command of Arnold left New York. On the afternoon of the 5th, at 2 PM, they anchored off Long Island shore opposite New London, about thirty miles distant, and waited for darkness.
British Forces Sail up River Thames and the Americans Prepare to Defend the Forts
There were two forts approximately two and a half miles from the harbor entrance and up the Thames River. East, in Groton on what is called Groton Heights, was Fort Griswold, a substantial fortification with ditching, pointed stakes, and cornered bastions. West of the Thames, in New London was a small battery with guns facing seaward and open from behind called Fort Trumbull. Both forts were lightly garrisoned with regular Continental troops, relying on alarms to muster regional militia to properly defend the fortifications. Fort Griswold was commanded by Captain William Latham, a soldier in the Continental Army who had fought at Bunker Hill, Boston. Fort Trumbull was commanded by Capt. Adam Shapley. Overall command of the region was placed under Colonel William Ledyard, a local resident, whose headquarters was in New London.
Arnold’s war ships and transports spent the evening of the 5th at anchor. With darkness and a south-west wind, they hoped to approach the harbor undetected, expecting to arrive at midnight. They would surprise the garrisons and quickly capture the forts, preventing the escape of American shipping. At 7 PM the fleet weighed anchor and stood for New London with a fair wind. At 1 AM they reached the mouth of the river. They still had two and a half miles to sail when the wind suddenly shifted to the northward. It was 9 AM on Sept. 6th before the transports could 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.[3] He immediately notified Colonel William Ledyard in New London. Ledyard did not hesitate and ordered the alarm by firing cannon, two guns at spaced intervals.[4] For six years, the militia from the outlying towns had been subject to many tests and false alarms whenever reports of possible enemy activity alerted the garrisons. Many of the militia, who in the past had heeded the call to arms and rushed to defend the forts, treated the alarm guns lightly while others disbelieved it altogether. But Col. Ledyard also sent out riders to deliver the alarm to militiamen who “caught its tones with death’s prophetic ear.”[5] Once the alarm was sounded, Col. Ledyard, assuring Capt. Adam Shapley and his small force of twenty-three soldiers at Fort Trumbull were well aware of enemy ships approaching, crossed the river from New London to Groton Heights and Fort Griswold.[6]
British Disembark. Fort Trumbull Attacked and Taken
At 10 AM, Thursday morning, September 6, 1781, Arnold landed his troops on either side of the river in two divisions of about 800 men each. To the west, at New London, he took personal charge while east, on the Groton side of the river, Lieutenant Colonel Edmund Eyre was in command. Arnold’s division marched up the Town Hill road from which he sent a detachment under Capt. Millet to Fort Trumbull. Capt. Shapley watched the large body of troops approach and fired one volley, wounding or killing five soldiers according to Arnold, before he spiked his guns[7] and evacuated the fort. He and his men piled into three boats and began rowing across the Thames towards Groton. They were fired upon by Arnold’s ships resulting in half a dozen wounded and the capture of one boat of seven men before they gained shore and hurried to Fort Griswold. Shapley and the remaining sixteen men, most experienced artillerists, were heartily welcomed by the fort’s garrison.
Lt. Colonel Eyre and his second in command, Maj. William Montgomery, landed their troops in two debarkations. The first, the 40th and 54th regiments along with a battalion of New Jersey loyalists, were just disembarking when at 11 AM, word arrived from Arnold. He was informed by local Tories that there were only twenty or thirty men defending Fort Griswold. Also, that the local militia were more interested in saving their property then responding to defend the fort. He ordered Col. Eyre to begin his assault on the fort at once with what men he had already landed. The second landing consisted of the 3rd battalion of New Jersey volunteers with a detachment of Jaegers (German riflemen) and artillery. They would become entangled hauling artillery through the swamps and did not arrive in time to storm the fort.
Eyre set off as ordered with a third of his force including artillery still waiting to be off-loaded. He found a local farm boy, Bill Herrin, to guide his men on a grueling and time-consuming march through tangled woodlands and swamps that lead up from the river. This approach brought his troops to the fort’s southwestern bastions. When Major Montgomery got to Dark Hollow, just in the rear of Packers Rock, he sent Capt. George Beckwith, a New Jersey loyalist, with a flag. Beckwith was “to demand the immediate surrender of the fort, with a threat, that if the demand was not compiled with, it would be stormed five minutes after the return of the flag.” It was now close to noon and since the alarm, militiamen had been answering the call to arms. Instead of the original twenty odd men manning the fortification, the number had swollen to one hundred and sixty; however, the garrison could accommodate far more defenders. Many militiamen did not respond to the call, choosing to remain at home to protect their families and property. Besides Colonel William Ledyard and Capt. William Latham, were a large number of militia company officers, including eighty-six privates. These farmers and merchantmen from Groton, Ledyard, and a scattering of other towns, would prove to lay down a galling fire in the stubborn defense of the fort. According to twelve-year-old George Middleton who would later write, “Colonel Ledyard…sent a flag who met Beckwith… The bearer of the American flag answered, “Colonel Ledyard will maintain the fort to the last extremity.” Eyre sent a second parley flag, threatening to give no quarter if the militia did not surrender. Ledyard’s response was as before.” Colonel Eyre, still without his second landing present, ordered the attack.
After Fort Trumbull’s evacuation, Arnold’s troops continued into the town where they set about destroying stockpiles of goods and naval stores. The commander took a position on the high ground in the old Winthrop cemetery that offered an excellent vista of the town and Fort Griswold across the river. What Arnold saw caused him to severely doubt his hasty decision to send Eyre against the fort with only part of his battalion. He sent a message to delay the attack, but it was too late. In his report to General Clinton he wrote: “On my gaining a height of ground in the rear of New London, from which I had a good prospect of Fort Griswold, I found it much more formidable than I expect, or than I had formed an idea of, from the information I had received.” He noted in his report that he also had seen that the fort was further strengthened with most of Fort Trumbull’s garrison. He continued, “I immediately dispatched a boat with an officer to Lt. Col. Eyre to countermand my first order to attack the fort, but the officer arrived a few minutes too late…the attack had commenced.”[8]
British Forces Assault Fort Griswold
The British under Lt. Col. Eyre and Major Montgomery launched a full-scale assault on the southwest bastion[9] of the fort. They formed in two lines of battle; Eyre assembled his line behind Packer’s Rocks, and Montgomery deployed his men to the north of them. As the British neared the fort’s ditch, they were met by a hail of musket shot and grapeshot[10] from nine pounders that swept the field. Still, the British regrouped and came on. Stephen Hemstead, a sergeant in Shapley’s Company, wrote, “When the answer to their demand had been returned… the enemy were soon in motion, and marched with great rapidity, in a solid column… they rushed furiously and simultaneously to the assault of the southwest bastion and the opposite sides.” After being thrown back, Eyre regrouped and led his men in the face of the American’s fiercest fire. It was so intense, his men were thrown back again, only to reform and renew the attack, this time seriously wounding Eyre[11] and several of his officers.
Major Montgomery Killed by African American Jordon Freeman
Major William Montgomery led his second party to an abandoned redoubt, just east of the fort. From there, they cut across the ditch and assaulted the ramparts[12]. Having gained the bastion against fierce resistance, Montgomery mounted the rampart and was immediately impaled, killed by a ten-foot pike thrust upwards by Jordan Freeman, an African American who had previously been enslaved to Colonel Ledyard. Forty-nine-year-old Freeman had been William Ledyard’s ‘man-servant’, having been given to William by his father John. At the start of the American Revolution, William set Jordon free, the two having formed a bond of friendship. When Ledyard raised the alarm, Jordon Freeman readily responded and fought beside his former master, ultimately giving his life in the name of liberty. Montgomery’s men continued the attack and were finally able to gain a gate from inside [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.
Arnold detailed the attack in his report to General Clinton writing afterwards that “…the troops approached on three sides of the work, which was a square with flankers[13], made a lodgement in the ditch, and under a heavy fire which they kept up on the works, effected a second-lodgement upon the fraizing,[14] which was attended with great difficulty, as only a few pickets could be forced out or broken in a place, and was so high [escarpment – the inner-side of a ditch below the parapet or breastwork] that the soldiers could not ascend without assisting each other. Here…the first who ascended the fraise were obliged to silence a nine-pounder, which enfiladed the place upon which they stood until a sufficient body had collected to enter the works, which was done with fixed bayonets through the embrasures[15], where they were opposed with great obstinacy by the garrison with long spears [pikes].”
Massacre of the Fort’s Defenders
Accounts differed widely as to what next occurred and as to why. Some historians suggested that earlier in the battle, the American flag had been shot down. British soldiers mistook it as a sign of capitulation and some of them had been killed when they lowered their weapons. This resulted in a brutal butchery of Americans who would try to surrender. Defender Sergeant Stephen Hempstead wrote, “they had attacked twice with great vigor and were repulsed with equal firmness…but now just at this point a luckless shot cut the halyards of the flag and it fell to the ground. This accident proved fatal to us, as the enemy supposed it had been struck by its defenders, rallied again, and rushing with redoubled impetuosity, carried the south-west bastion by storm. Until this moment our loss was trifling in number, being six or seven killed and eighteen wounded.”[16]
Colonel Ledyard Murdered
Others point to first-hand accounts that detail the actions of Americans trying to surrender and British officers purposely putting them to the 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. I then leaped the walls and made my escape.” So too, Jonathan Rathbun confirmed the cold-blooded murder of Colonel Ledyard with his own sword writing, “at the same moment [Ledyard] handing him [British officer] his sword, which the unfeeling villain buried in his breast!”
Some historians believe that the British officer who took Ledyard’s sword and thrust it through his body was the earlier flag-bearer, loyalist Captain George Beckwith. Others claimed it was Captain Stephen Bromfield, who assumed command after Eyre was wounded and Major Montgomery was killed. So too, accounts differ as to which American revenged Ledyard’s murder by killing the British officer who killed the garrison’s leader. Though some state it was Captain Allen, others claim it was African American former slave Lambo Latham who dealt the fatal blow. [Some internet articles incorrectly state that Jordon Freeman had also killed the officer who murdered his good friend]. In all events, Captain Allen and Lambo Latham were soon among those slaughtered shortly after.
Rufus Avery wrote in his account that the killing continued prior to and after the murder of Colonel Ledyard writing, “I believe there was not less than five or six hundred men of the enemy on the parade in the fort. They killed and wounded nearly every man in the fort as quick as they could. Stephen Hempstead recalled the bloody scene in the aftermath: And that only out of fear of igniting the powder magazine did the butchery end. He recorded, “Never was a scene of more brutal wanton carnage witnessed than now took place. The enemy were still firing upon us… [until] they discovered they were in danger of being blown up.” So too, Rufus Avery believed that “the attack was called off due to the chance that further musket fire might set off the fort’s powder magazine.”
Casualties
Prior to the fort’s surrender, Sergeant Hempstead reported that six or seven had been killed with eighteen wounded. Dozens would be slaughtered in the closing minutes of the battle, during and after the American commander Colonel William Ledyard attempted to surrender. Some survivors escaped, such as George Middleton, but most were taken prisoner. This included Hempstead, who was wounded and carted on a wagon among others to Arnold’s fleet to be shipped to New York. He stated, “After the massacre, they plundered us of everything we had, and left us literally naked.” Arnold reported that eighty-five men “were found dead in Fort Griswold, and sixty wounded, most of them mortally. Some accounts place the number of Americans at 130 when the British stormed the fort and Ledyard offered his surrender. 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.
As to British losses, Arnold was very exact in his report to Clinton. Perhaps he was too thorough for afterwards, he was fiercely criticized for having callously bungled the assault on the fort resulting in far too many casualties for such an operation. Arnold’s returns stated of killed, “1 major [Montgomery], 1 ensign, 2 sergeants, and 44 rank and file”; for a total of 48 killed. Of wounded: “1 lieutenant colonel [Eyre], 3 captains, 2 lieutenants, 2 ensigns, 8 sergeants, 2 drummers, and 127 rank and file”; for a total of 145. This was 193 casualties in all, thirty-three more than there were in the garrison. Clinton praised Arnold for his ‘spirited conduct’, but also complained about the high casualty rate; about 25 percent of the troops sent against Fort Griswold were killed or wounded.
Destruction of New London & Arnold Departs
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. However, reportedly, he was suppose to spare the homes of known Tory residents, some who still resided in the city – this did not happen. As reported in the Connecticut Gazette a month later, “Through the whole of Bank Street, where were some of the best mercantile stands and the most valuable dwelling houses in the town, the torch of vengeance made a clean sweep. 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.
Arnold buried his men on the hill where they fell and, with his wounded, including seventy prisoners (wounded Americans were paroled), reembarked and set sail for New York. Of the 162 wounded British soldiers put aboard ship (some were injured during the assault on New London), many would die in route back to New York or shortly after. Major Montgomery was buried near the raveline[17] 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.
Youtube Video of the Fort Griswold Attack
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RESOURCES
Avery, Rufus & Jonathan Rathbun & Stephen Hempstead [eyewitness accounts] Narrative of Jonathan Rathbun : with accurate accounts of the capture of Groton Fort, the massacre that followed, and the sacking and burning of New London, September 6, 1781… 1840: New London, CT.
Burnham, Norman Hammond. The battle of Groton Heights: a story of the storming of Fort Griswold, and the burning of New London, on the sixth of September, 1781. 1903: Bingham Paper Box Co.’s Print, New London, Conn.
Carrington, Henry. Battles of the American Revolution, 1775-1781. 1876: A. S. Barnes, NY, NY.
Chipman, William P. A Brave Defense, A Story of the Massacre at Fort Griswold. 1900: A. L. Burt Publisher, New York, NY
Copp, John J. Battle of Groton Heights; The Massacre of Fort Griswold; and The Burning of New London. 1879: The Groton Heights Centennial Committee, Groton, CT.
Commager, Henry Steele & Morris, Richard B. The Spirit of ‘Seventy-Six, The Story of the American Revolution as Told by Participants. 1958: Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis, IN. Reprint 1975: Da Capo Press, New York, NY.
Harris, William Wallace. The battle of Groton Heights : a collection of narratives, official reports, records, &c., of the storming of Fort Griswold, and the burning of New London by British troops, under the command of Brig.-Gen. Benedict Arnold, on the sixth of September, 1781. 1870: Office of Libraries of Congress, Washington, DC.
Lehman, Eric. Homegrown Terror: Benedict Arnold and the Burning of New London. 2017: Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT.
Ward, Christopher. The War of the Revolution. Reprint 2011: Skyhorse Publishing, NY, NY.
ENDNOTES
[1] Throughout the war, British officers rarely referred to Washington’s rank as general, calling him Mr. Washington both verbally and in dispatches. They did no consider the American rebellion justified nor lawful and therefore did not merit the same respect given to other nation’s military officers. All ‘rebel’ officers were disrespectfully referred to as Mister.
[2] Carrington’s Battles of the American Revolution, pg. 624.
[3] Rufus Avery wrote: “… about three o’clock in the morning, as soon as I had daylight so as to see the fleet, it appeared a short distance below the lighthouse. The fleet consisted of thirty-two vessels…. I immediately sent word to Captain William Latham, who commanded [Fort Griswold], and who was not far distant. He very soon came to the fort, and saw the enemy’s fleet, and immediately sent a notice to Col. William Ledyard, who was commander of the harbor, Fort Griswold, and Fort Trumbull.”
[4] It was reported that the British seemed to have understood the signal and fired a third gun, trying to break the alarm.
[5] Copp, pg. 17
[6] It is reported in more romantic treatises of the battle that Ledyard, taking leave of his friends, stated, “…if I must lose today, honor or life, you, who know me, can tell which it will be.”
[7] Method to render cannon useless by ramming steel or rock obsticles down the muzzle or better yet – to drive steel wedges in the touch-holes. Some hammer off the trunnions (that which attaches the chase or barrel to the mounting truck or carriage). This last step is considered among the best so the enemy cannot exact quick repairs to use the cannon.
[8] Copp, pg. 14
[9] A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort.
[10] Grapeshot – canisters of broken metal that when fired from a cannon, spray the area before the cannon with a sheet of deadly and fatal shards of metal.
[11] New London historian Frances Manwaring Caulkins asserted that Eyre was mortally wounded, while Benedict Arnold reported that Eyre survived
[12] Rampart is a length of bank or wall forming part of the defensive boundary of a fortification that is usually broad-topped and made of excavated earth; protecting the defenders from direct fire and allowing them to fire over it.
[13] Flankers: fortification jutting out so as to command the side or flank of an enemy marching to the assault or attack. Bastions would often serve this purpose.
[14] Fraise in fortifications were obstacles lining the ditch before a fort’s walls and parapets. Often they were sharpened wooden spikes, the but end buried into the ground with the sharpened spars projecting outward toward an attacking enemy.
[15] Openings made in fortified structures to allow the defenders to fire out and down upon the attackers.
[16] Copp, pg. 16.
[17] A raveline is a triangular fortification or detached outwork, located in front of the inner works of a fortress.