Battle of Stonington

The Battle of Stonington was an engagement between British and American forces during the Chesapeake campaign of the War of 1812 where Stonington residents and local militia resolutely returned fire for three days repulsing a British attack on the small community of Stonington, resulting in many British casualties but few American casualties despite facing overwhelming odds.

Battle

First day

At mid afternoon on 9 August 1814, 4 ships of the Royal Navy under the command of Sir Thomas Hardy appeared off of Stonington Point. At 5:30pm, Hardy sent an ultimatum to the town of Stonington which read, "Not wishing to destroy the unoffending inhabitants residing in the town of Stonington, one hour is granted them from the receipt of this to remove out of town." The selectmen of Stonington replied to the ultimatum with a note that read, "We shall defend the place to the last extremity; should it be destroyed, we shall perish in its ruins." Women and children took their belongings and fled Stonington while the men stayed behind to set a tar barrel smoke signal in order to alert militia units in other nearby towns. At 6:00pm, 4 men, William Lord, Asa Lee, George Fellows, and Amos Denison manned 3 cannons, two of which were 18-pounder long guns that were leftovers from the American Revolutionary War They were later joined by 16 militiamen from Mystic, Connecticut, including Captain Jeremiah Holmes who would lead the defenders. Holmes had been impressed into the Royal Navy years earlier which had given him knowledge know being an accurate gunner. Town officials sent messengers to all neighboring towns seeking gunpowder and reinforcements. At 8:00pm, Terror opened fire on the town while the defenders fired back with their 18-pounder guns. The bombardment lasted until midnight.

Second day

During the night, the HMS Dispatch moved within half a mile of the coast. At dawn, the Royal Navy resumed bombardment for one hour.