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Col. William Ledyard; b. 6 Dec 1738 at Groton, CT was in command of the state troops defending Fort Griswold and Fort Trumbull
in 1781 against the advance of Benedict Arnold, who had been granted a command in the British army in exchange switching sides
in the American Revolutionary War. Ledyard had hastily gathered 157 of his militia in Fort Griswold when it was surrounded
by nearly 800 trained British soldiers under Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre. In the assault Colonel Eyre was mortally wounded, Major
Montgomery, second in command, killed, and Major Brownfield, third in command, who effected the entrance to the fort, partially
disabled, forty-eight of his men having been killed by the fire of Colonel Ledyard's militia. To save the lives of his neighbors
and friends, who formed his little force, after twelve of their number had been killed or wounded, Colonel Ledyard ordered
them to lay down their arms and he handed his sword to his wounded captor. On taking the sword (as tradition hands down the
story), Major Brownfield turned its point on the breast of his unarmed captive and plunged it through his body. His waistcoat
pierced by the sword is preserved by the Connecticut Historical society. Not content with a single victim, the British soldiers
turned upon their unarmed captives and killed eighty-five and wounded sixty. Many of the wounded, who were cared for by the
women of Groton, including Fanny, niece of Colonel Ledyard, died from their wounds. His nephew, John Ledyard (1750-1789) was
a navigator, explorer, witness of the death of Captain Cook and author of Narrative of the Third and Last Expedition of Capt.
James Cook (1798). Col. William Ledyard died in Fort Griswold, Conn., Sept. 7, 1781. The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary
of Notable Americans: Volume VI page 371
William Ledyard Campbell (that is I) is a descendant of his older sister Mary Ledyard Seymour. I am named after my grandfather
who in turn, I imagine, was named after this almost-ancestor.
John Ledyard (1700 - 1771)
is your 6th great grandfather
Mary Ann Ledyard (1735 - 1807)
Daughter of John
Thomas Youngs Seymour (1757 - 1811)
Son of Mary Ann
Charlotte Ann Seymour (1794 - 1873)
Daughter of Thomas Youngs
Mary Snelling Clark (1825 - 1900)
Daughter of Charlotte Ann
Mary Lucia Pearl Lincoln (1850 - 1937)
Daughter of Mary Snelling
W. Ledyard Mitchell (1881 - 1964)
Son of Mary Lucia Pearl
Ann Sherman Mitchell (1922 - )
Daughter of W. Ledyard
Living Campbells
You are the son of Ann Sherman
This monument
was erected under the patronage of the state of
Connecticut A.D. 1830 and in the 55th year
of the independance of the U.S.A.
IN MEMORY OF THE BRAVE PATRIOTS
who fell in the massacre at Fort Griswold
near this spot on the 6th of Sept. A.D.
1781 when the British under the command
of THE TRAITOR BENEDICT ARNOLD
burnt the towns of New London
and Groton and spread desolation and woe
throughout this region.
Judges 5:18
Click here for info about their commander Lt Col. William Ledyard
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