Amos Avery Shot At 1781 Battle Of Groton Heights / Fort Griswold - 1781 Document For Sale

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The Battle of Groton Heights (also known as the Battle of Fort Griswold, and occasionally called the Fort Griswold massacre) was fought on September 6, 1781, between a small Connecticut militia force led by Lieutenant Colonel William Ledyard and the more numerous British forces led by Brigadier General Benedict Arnold. In an unsuccessful attempt to divert General George Washington from marching against General Lord Cornwallis's army in Virginia, Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton ordered General Arnold to raid the Connecticut port of New London. Although the raid was a success, the Connecticut militia stubbornly resisted British attempts to capture Fort Griswold, across the Thames River in Groton. Several leaders of the attacking British force were killed or seriously wounded, and much of the defending garrison was either killed, mortally wounded, or captured when the fort was stormed. High British casualties lead to criticism of General Arnold by some of his superiors. The battle was the last major military encounter of the war in the northern United States, preceding the decisive American victory at Yorktown, Virginia, by about six weeks.

From "The Battle of Groton Heights" by William W. Harris (New London, CT: Charles Allyn: 1882):

NAMES OF THE WOUNDED,

PAROLED AND LEFT AT HOME.

"A Particular Account of the Men that were Wounded at Fort Griswold, in the Battle with the British, on the 6th of Sept 1781, who were paroled by Captain Bloomfield; and Ebenezer Ledyard, Esq., was taken as Hostage to see them forthcoming, if called for." In the presence of Rufus Avery.

Lieutenant Parke Avery, Jr., lost one eye . Groton.

Ensign Ebenezer Avery, in the head . . Groton.

Amos Avery, in the hand .... Groton

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