Sgt. Jasper Avery

Jasper was slain during the fight with the British at Fort Griswold. He resided with his family at the house near High Rock, two or three hundred rods southwest of the old Avery mansion on Birch Plains, which his father , Captain Parke Avery, had given him, and which was later occupied by Mr. Crane. He rushed off through Dark Hollow to the forts on hearing the alarm guns on the day of the battle, and as a corpse was carried back upon the shoulders of his neighbors the next morning.

"Jasper Avery, another brother (of Parke & Elisha who were in the Ft.Griswold massacre), born 1743, lived on the Poquonoc Plains near the old Avery homestead. On hearing the alarm guns, he responded, participated in the defense, and was carried back a corpse upon the shoulders of his neighbors the next morning."

source: The Battle of Groton Heights: A Collection of Narratives, Official Reports ...By William Wallace Harris, p. 252-3

_____ Grave Inscription: Sgt. Jasper Avery - Killed, Age 38

Gravestone Inscription: "In Memory of Mr Jasper Avery who was slain in fort Griswould in defence of the his Country's freedom sept 6th 1781 in ye 38th year of his Age. This life uncertain but Death is Certain to all"

It is difficult to determine the names of the children of Jasper Avery. May 21, 1787, Stephen Avery receipted to Mr. Park Avery, as the guardians of Betsey (Elizabeth) Avery, daughter of Jasper Avery. Ebenezer Avery receipted, as the guardian of Sally, Jasper, Frederick, Polly, and Cyrus, children of Jasper Avery. Cyrus is called the oldest child. (Stonington Wills, 5:224)

The Battle of Groton Heights (also known as the Battle of Fort Griswold, and occasionally called the Fort Griswold massacre) was a battle of the American Revolutionary War fought on September 6, 1781 between a small Connecticut militia force led by Lieutenant Colonel William Ledyard and the more numerous British forces led by Brigadier General Benedict Arnold and Lieutenant Colonel Edmund Eyre.

Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton ordered Arnold to raid the port of New London, Connecticut in an unsuccessful attempt to divert General George Washington from marching against Lord Cornwallis's army in Virginia. The raid was a success, but the Connecticut militia stubbornly resisted British attempts to capture Fort Griswold across the Thames River in Groton, Connecticut. New London was burned along with several ships, but many more ships escaped upriver.

Several leaders of the attacking British force were killed or seriously wounded, but the British eventually breached the fort and the Americans surrendered—whereupon the British entered the fort and massacred the defenders. However, the high level of British casualties in the overall expedition against Groton and New London led to criticism of Arnold by some of his superiors. The battle was the last major military encounter of the war in the northern United States, preceding and being overshadowed by the decisive Franco-American Siege of Yorktown about six weeks later. At the battle of Yorktown, the Marquis de Lafayette reportedly yelled, "Remember Fort Griswold!" as American and French forces stormed the redoubts.