This is a sneak peek at Sketchbook Traveler: New England; the third volume in the series, from Schiffer Publishing. Projected publication date: Spring 2023
Fort Trumbull, River Thames, New London, Connecticut. Sketchbook painting. Aqueous media on paper. 3.5 x 10.5 inches
Mao of the mouth of the River Thames in Connecticut, showing the movement of British troops under the command of General Benedict Arnold on September 6, 1781.
Standing guard on a rocky headland at the mouth of the Thames River, Fort Trumbull was constructed in 1777 to protect the town of New London. Four years later, Crown forces commanded by Norwich native Benedict Arnold landed on opposite sides of the river and advanced northward. Fort Trumbull was quickly overwhelmed. Fort Griswold, on the east side of the river, greeted the attack with stiff resistance before falling to the British, who murdered its commander and most of the defenders.
Revolutionary War-era map of Fort Griswold, Groton, CT. The earthen fort has been preserved as a public park, and a memorial to William Ledyard and members of his command murdered by British troops following their surrender.
During the War of 1812, both of these fortified positions were updated and improved. In 1839 construction began of a new Third System fort on the former site of Fort Trumbull. Completed in 1852, the Egyptian-Revival fortress never faced an invader but served instead as mustering point and training center during the Civil War. General Seth Eastman included a romanticized view of the fort in his series the Principal Fortifications of the United States, commissioned by the U.S. House Committee on Military Affairs.
Fort Trumbull’s coastal guns were steadily upgraded until 1910. For two decades, the fortress was home to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Merchant Marine officers received their training here during World War II, after which the facility served as a laboratory for developing submarine warfare technologies in concert with the U.S. Naval Submarine Base New London, and General Dynamics Electric Boat across the river in Groton. Decommissioned in 1996, the building and grounds were reopened as a state park in 2000. This picturesque relic of a bygone age is also a souvenir of grim purpose and personal sacrifice, in America’s fight for independence.
(A preview of SKETCHBOOK TRAVELER by James L. McElhinney (c) 2020. Schiffer Publishing). Pub date: July 23, 2022
Copyright James Lancel McElhinney (c) 2022 Texts and images may be reproduced (with proper citation) by permission of the author. To enquire, send a request to editions@needlewatcher.com