The Battle of Groton Heights (also known as the Battle of Fort Griswold, and occasionally called the Fort Griswold massacre) is a battle of the American Revolutionary War 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 and Lieutenant Colonel Edmund Eyre.
Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton orders General Arnold to raid the Connecticut port of New London in an unsuccessful attempt to divert General George Washington from marching against Lord Cornwallis's army in Virginia.
The raid is a success, but the Connecticut militia stubbornly resists British attempts to capture Fort Griswold, across the Thames River in Groton.
New London is burned, along with several ships, but many more escaped upriver.
Several leaders of the attacking British force are killed or seriously wounded, and much of the defending garrison is killed, mortally wounded, or captured when the fort is stormed.
High British casualties lead to criticism of General Arnold by some of his superiors.
The battle is the last major military encounter of the war in the northern United States, preceding and being overshadowed by the decisive Franco-American victory at Yorktown, Virginia, about six weeks later.
At the battle of Yorktown, the Marquis de Lafayette reportedly yells "Remember Ft. Griswold!" as U.S. and French forces storm the redoubts.
