Rochambeau established his headquarters at the Odell House, in Westchester (Stone, French Allies, 394; C. A. Campbell in Mag. Amer. Hist., iv. 46). On June 12th, the two commanders held a council of war at New Windsor (Mag. Amer. Hist., iii. 102). Clinton's secret journal shows how well the British commander was informed of what was going on (Ibid. xii. 73, etc., 162, etc.). Beside the correspondence of Washington at this time, in Sparks, there are other letters in Ibid. iv. and v. Washington's first attempt to act in union with the French was in the proposed attack on the forts on New York Island. (Cf. Washington's journal in Ibid. vi. 117; xi. 535.) There is among the Lincoln Papers (Sparks MSS., xii.) a "memorandum to regulate the movements of the allied army on the night of the 31st of July, 1781." J. A. Stevens follows the operations of the combined armies at this time (Mag. Amer. Hist., iv., Jan., 1880). He gives a map of the attempt at King's Bridge, July 3, 1781. There is among the Rochambeau maps an excellent draft, about thirty inches wide by fifteen high, showing New York with Long Island, with the French camp as high up as Tarrytown, called Position du camp de l'armée combinée de Phillipsbourg du 6 Juillet au 19 Août, 1781. Stevens gives a fac-simile of this, and also a map of the environs of New York between the Sound and the Hudson, called Surveys in New York and Connecticut States for his Excellency, Gen. Washington, by Robert Erskine, Anno 1778, W. Scull delin.,—a MS. plan in the New York Hist. Soc. library (Proc., 1845, p. 56), where is also a MS. Chart of the Harbour of New York, with a map of the Country bordering upon the Sound, and extending to the Connecticut, with the names of the principal places laid down thereon, by Robert Erskine, 1779 (N. Y. Hist. Soc. Proc., 1848, p. 188). The Rochambeau maps contain other evidences of the activity at this time of the French topographical engineers; as, for instance, a plan (no. 29) done in ink and color, measuring ten inches wide by twelve high, and not very exact, called Reconnaisance Juillet, 1781, ouvrages [de] Morrisania, Isle de New York, by Montresor and Buchanan, and a second (12 x 15 inches) which gives the works at Frog's Point (no. 30), and adds to the title "Plan d'une batterie de Long Island." Another (no. 32), called Reconnaisance des ouvrages du nord de l'Isle New York, 22-23 Juillet, 1781, measures twelve inches wide by fifteen high, apparently the work of Montresor, and shows Fort Washington, Laurel Hill, etc. It was Washington's purpose at this time to make Clinton expect an attack on New York (Sparks's Washington, viii. 54, 130, 517; Amer. Antiq. Soc. Proc., 2d series, i. 327). Clinton has recorded his reason why he did not venture to attack Washington in July and August, while the Americans were encamped at King's Bridge (New York City during the Rev., New York, 1861, pp. 177-184). By August 14th, the coöperation of the French fleet being assured, Washington decided to march to Virginia (Mag. Amer. Hist., vii.; also xi. 343; Diplom. Corresp., xi. 417). He said the main cause of his coming to this decision was the failure of the New England States to supply men (Mag. Amer. Hist., vi. 125). Washington's headquarters at this time were in the Livingston mansion (Lossing, ii. 195).
The question of Washington having been made a marshal of France has caused some discussion. Hist. Mag., ii., iii.; E. M. Stone's French Allies, 373; Balch, Les Français en Amérique, 122.
While Washington marched towards Virginia, the marauding expedition which Clinton had sent under Arnold, along the Connecticut coast, failed to divert him from his purpose, as the British commander had hoped it would. The attack fell upon New London and Groton, early in September. Trumbull's letter to Washington is in the Corresp. of Rev., iii. 403. Cf. Stuart's Trumbull, ch. 45; Arnold's account in the Polit. Mag., ii. 666; Sparks's Arnold, and Arnold's Arnold; "Sir Henry Clinton and the burning of New London", in Mag. Amer. Hist., March, 1883, p. 187. There are contemporary accounts in N. E. Hist. and Gen. Reg., x. 127 (1856); Niles's Principles (1876), p. 143; Moore's Diary, ii. 479; and in the Narrative of Jonathan Rathbun, with accurate accounts of the capture of Groton fort, the massacre that followed, and the sacking and burning of New London, Sept. 6, 1781, by the British forces, by Rufus Avery and Stephen Hempstead, with an appendix (1810).
The principal monograph is William W. Harris's Battle of Groton heights: a collection of narratives, official reports, records, etc., of the storming of Fort Griswold, the massacre of its garrison and the burning of New London by British troops. With introd. and notes; rev. and enl. with additional notes, by Charles Allyn (New London, 1882). The original issue was in 1870. The perfected edition is enriched with many documentary proofs.
There have been other anniversary addresses: Tuttle's at Fort Griswold (1821); W. F. Brainerd's (1825); Griswold's in commemoration of Col. Ledyard (1826), who was run through by his own sword after he had surrendered it; R. C. Winthrop's (1853) in his Addresses (1852-1867, p. 84); Leonard W. Bacon's, with an historical sketch by J. J. Copp, in the Battle of Groton Heights (1879).
The local authorities are Hollister's and other histories of Connecticut; Caulkins' New London, ch. 32; Hinman's Hist. Collections; L. W Champney's "Memories of New London" in Harper's Mag., lx. (Dec., 1879), p. 62, with views in Lossing's Field-Book, ii. 43, 46.
A paper by C. B. Todd on the massacre (Mag. Amer. Hist., vii. 161) has an account of Ledyard and his family, with views of his house in Hartford and the monument on Groton Heights (cf. Harris and Allyn, p. 179), and a list of the slain. Gov. Trumbull made a report on the losses inflicted at New London and Groton, Sept. 6, 1781, which, with affidavits respecting the conduct of the enemy, are in the State Dept. at Washington.
There are critical accounts in Dawson's Battles and in Carrington's Battles. The latter has a plan. A map of Mass., Rhode Island, and Connecticut, showing the geographical relations, is in Polit. Mag., iii. 171.
A MS. "Sketch of New London and Groton, with the attacks made on Forts Trumbull and Griswold by the British troops, under the command of Brig.-Gen. Arnold, Sept. 6, 1781", is among the Faden maps (no. 98) in the library of Congress, together with a separate ink drawing of Fort Griswold (no. 99),—both of which are engraved in Harris and Allyn.