Charles Eldredge

Wounded in defense of Fort Griswold - September 9,1781

He was on the first committee of correspondence of Groton; ensign in militia; wounded at Fort Griswold (Conn. Men in Rev'n, 649). His store and house on Main street were burned "when Arnold burnt the town." His tombstone bears the following: "Charles Eldridge Esq., after great suffering from a wound received at Fort Griswold, Sept. 6, 1781, died Nov. 20, 1798, aged 55 years."

THE GROTON AVERY CLAN, Vol. I, by Elroy McKendree Avery and Catherine Hitchcock (Tilden) Avery, Cleveland, 1912. p. 251

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"Ensign Charles Eldredge Jr. was born in Groton in 1743 where he was living in his house on the east side of Main Street at the foot of Coon Hill and keeping a store diagonally across the street south of his house. These were both burned.

The well at present in the street nearly in front of the location of his house, between that and his store, was dug by him it is about forty feet deep and for more than a century has slaked the thirst of man and beast.

An ensign in the local militia company he entered the fort in response to the alarm Here he was badly wounded in the knee by a bullet and it is said afterward bought his life with a gold watch.

He was married first in 1764 to Rachel Avery. It seems probable it was about this time the miniature was painted from which our portrait is copied, as it is accompanied by one of his Avery wife. In 1778 he married for his second wife Glorianna Havens. He was buried in the Eldredge burying ground near the head of Mystic River where his tombstone says "Charles Eldridge Esq., after great suffering from a wound received in Fort Griswold, Sept 6, 1781, died Nov 20, 1798, aged 55 years."

His son William Eldridge was the last surviving one of the fire land commissioners, who surveyed and laid out in "New Connecticut," the land alloted to the sufferers by Arnold's wanton destruction of their property."

source: The Battle of Groton Heights: A Collection of Narratives, Official Reports ...

By William Wallace Harris, p.242-3

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"Samuel Eldred and Some of His Descendants," Nelson B. Eldred III, LOC Card No. 92-81631, p 136-137. Charles Eldredge was an Ensign in the local Militia Company. He was wounded badly in the knee by a bullet during the Battle of Groton Heights in 1781. The official report reads "Ensign Charles Eldredge of the Militia, who entered the Fort (Griswold) voluntarily, was wounded with a musket ball through the joint of the knee, and although after long confinement, the wound is closed up, yet the knee is entirely stiff, and as many pieces of the bone have discharged from the substance of the joint, the limb is rendered very weak and doubtless will ever remain so." Another account from a narrative by Rufus Avery reads, "Samuel Edgecomb, Jr. and myself were ordered to take Ensign Charles Eldredge out of the magazine. He was a very large, heavy man who had been shot in the knee joint." His tombstone in Groton has the following inscription, "This monument sacred to the memory of Charles Eldredge, Esq. who departed this life Nov 20th, 1798, after a long series of distress and pain occasioned principally by a wound received in his knee at Fort Griswold in 1781, while gloriously serving his country in defence of American Freedom, aged 55 years." _____

Note Citation Below DAR Records- Charles Eldridge Wounded at the Battle of Groton Hieghts: I've combined this with Ebenezer Averys Record as they are Recorded together with the DAR. The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Volume 8 Added by Elwin C Nickerson about my Ancestor: DAR ID Number: 7007 Born in Connecticut. Descendant of Isaac Denison, Sergt. Jeremiah Holmes, Lieut. Ebenezer Avery, Jr., and Ens. Charles Eldridge, Jr., all of Connecticut. Daughter of Hiram Clift Holmes and Hannah Fish Denison, his wife. Granddaughter of Jeremiah Holmes, Jr., and Ann Boradell Denison, his wife; Nathan Fish Denison and Mary Eldridge Avery, his wife. Gr.-granddaughter of Jeremiah Holmes and Mary Denison, his wife; Col. Ebenezer Avery and Mary Eldridge, his wife; and of Isaac Denison. Gr.-gr.-granddaughter of Ebenezer Avery, Jr., and Phoebe Denison, his wife; Charles Eldridge, Jr., and Rachel Avery, his wife. Jeremiah Holmes, 1777, was sergeant under Capt. Richard Hewit, Col. Jonathan Latimer's regiment that reenforced Gates at Saratoga. Also Nos. 3183, 4189. Isaac Denison was a member of the Committee of Safety and his home was a retreat for the patriots from Long Island while it was occupied by the British. Also Nos. 3180, 4189. [p.4] “Lieut. Ebenezer Avery, Jr., who fell gloriously in defense of Fort Griswold and American freedom September 1, 1781, in ye 49th year of his age.” This is the inscription on his tomb. Also Nos. 934, 3854, 4716. Charles Eldridge, Jr., was wounded at the battle of Groton Heights, where he served as ensign.

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