HISTORY

August 9 -12, 1814
Naval Raid on Stonington

On Aug. 9, 1814, at about 5PM, four British ships under Capt. Thomas Hardy, who was Adm. Horatio Nelson's flag captain, sent a written message informing the residents of Stonington Connecticut that they had one hour to leave.

The town refused the demand. At 8PM, in reply to this refusal to surrender, the bomb ship HMS Terror began firing 130-pound incendiary shells on the village. It also fired rockets and cannonballs, the latter of which tore through wooden structures. Over the next three days, the Americans returned fire with a mere two cannons, doing serious damage to the brig HMS Dispatch. The town was aided by local sailors who had escaped after being impressed and trained to fire cannon by the Royal Navy. Another of the ships, the frigate HMS Pactolus, got stuck in shallow water off Sandy Point and had to unload cargo in order to float free.

The British fleet withdrew on August 13th.