GRO'TON. A town in New London County, Conn., on the Thames River, opposite New London, and on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (Map: Connecticut, G 4). It contains the Bill Memorial Library, and has large ship-building yards. The government is administered by annual town meetings. Population, in 1890, 5539; in 1900, 5962.
Here occurred, on September 6, 1781, what has been called the ‘Massacre of Fort Griswold.’ One hundred and fifty Americans stubbornly resisted an attack of about 800 Tories under Benedict Arnold, who finally forced their way into the fort, and, maddened by the prolonged resistance, butchered the greater part of the survivors after their surrender. Of the 150, 85 were killed and 65 wounded, 35 mortally. A monument marks the site of the fort. Consult: History of New London County (Philadelphia, 1882), and an article, “The Massacre of Fort Griswold,” in Magazine of American History, vol. vii. (New York, 1880).