Cannonballs Flew Near Alewife Cove, Connecticut-- Part 1

From the Alewife Cove Conservancy. 

Alewife Cove is named for the herring fish by that name which at one time were a problem in Chicago.  It is near the city of New London, Connecticut.

During the War of 1812, the British fleet blockading the Connecticut shoreline constantly.  One of the skirmishes took place off Goshen Point, present-day Harkness State Park which involved some 1,500 cannon balls being exchanged between the Americans and British.

On Sunday, November 28, 1813,  an action took place between Royal Navy ships and about 200 local defenders.  It started when the coasting sloop Roxana, bound from New York to Providence, was run ashore about a half mile west of the New London Light to escape three barges from the fleet that were in hot pursuit.

The alarm sounded immediately as the Roxana's crew rowed ashore and local residents grabbed their their weapons and rushed to to defend the vessel.

--Brock-Perry