New London, Connecticut

New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the outlet of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. The city is part of the Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The city had a population of 27,367 at the 2020 census.[4] The Norwich–New London metropolitan area includes 21 towns and 274,055 people..

Map showing the location of this city within New London County, Connecticut. Data source: 2010 U.S. census

The town and city of New London are coextensive. Sections of the original town were ceded to form newer towns between 1705 and 1801. The towns of Groton, Ledyard, Montville, and Waterford, and portions of Salem and East Lyme, now occupy what had earlier been the outlying area of New London.[21]
New London is bounded on the west and north by the town of Waterford on the east by the Thames River and Groton and on the south by Long Island Sound.

Principal communities
Downtown New London
Ocean Beach

Other minor communities and geographic features include Bates Woods Park, Fort Trumbull, Glenwood Park, Green's Harbor Beach, Mitchell's Woods, Pequot Colony, Riverside Park, Old Town Mill

Towns created from New London
New London originally had a larger land area when it was established. Towns set off since include:

• Stonington in 1649
  • This large area ran from the Mystic River to the Pawcatuck River, including Pawcatuck, Wequetequock, and the easterly half of Mystic. It stretched inland from Long Island Sound to Lantern Hill.
  • North Stonington was created from the northern half of Stonington in 1807.
• Groton in 1705
  • Ledyard (originally North Groton) created from a part of Groton in 1836.
• Montville in 1786.
  • Salem created from parts of Montville, Colchester, and Lyme in 1819
• Waterford in 1801.
  • East Lyme created from parts of Waterford and Lyme in 1839.
• Fishers Island officially left Connecticut and became part of New York in 1879.

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History

Colonial Era

The area was called Nameaug by the Pequot Indians. John Winthrop, Jr. founded the first English settlement here in 1646, making it about the 13th town settled in Connecticut. Inhabitants referred to it informally as Nameaug or as Pequot after the tribe. In the 1650s, the colonists wanted to give the town the official name of London after London, England, but the Connecticut General Assembly wanted to name it Faire Harbour. The citizens protested, declaring that they would prefer it to be called Nameaug if it could not be officially named London.[5][6] The legislature relented, and the town was officially named New London on March 10, 1658.

American Revolution

The harbor was considered to be the best deep water harbor on Long Island Sound,[7] and consequently New London became a base of American naval operations during the American Revolutionary War and privateers where it has been said no port took more prizes than New London with between 400–800 being credited to New London privateers including the 1781 taking of supply ship Hannah, the largest prize taken during the war. Famous New Londoners during the American Revolution include Nathan Hale, William Coit, Richard Douglass, Thomas and Nathaniel Shaw, Gen. Samuel Parsons, printer Timothy Green, and Bishop Samuel Seabury.

New London was raided and much of it burned to the ground on September 6, 1781 in the Battle of Groton Heights by Norwich native Benedict Arnold in an attempt to destroy the Patriot privateer fleet and supplies of goods and naval stores within the city. It is often noted that this raid on New London and Groton was intended to divert General George Washington and the French Army under Rochambeau from their march on Yorktown, Virginia. The main defensive fort for New London was Fort Griswold, located across the Thames River in Groton. It was well known to Arnold, who had already informed the British of this so that they could avoid its artillery fire. British and Hessian troops subsequently attacked and captured New London's Fort Trumbull, while other forces moved in to attack Fort Griswold across the river, then held by Lieutenant-Colonel William Ledyard. The British suffered great casualties at Fort Griswold before the Americans were finally forced to surrender—whereupon Arnold's men stormed into the fort and slaughtered most of the American troops who defended it, including Ledyard. All told, more than 52 British and 83 American soldiers were killed, and more than 142 British and 39 Americans were wounded, many mortally. New London suffered over 6 defenders killed and 24 wounded, while Arnold's men suffered an equal amount.[8]

Connecticut's independent legislature made New London one of the first two cities brought from de facto to formalized incorporations in its January session of 1784, along with New Haven.

19th century

After the War of 1812 began, the Royal Navy established a blockade of the East Coast of the United States, including New London. During the war, American forces unsuccessfully attempted to destroy the British ship of the line HMS Ramillies while it was lying at anchor in New London's harbor with torpedoes launched from small boats. This prompted the captain of Ramillies, Sir Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet, to warn the Americans to cease using this "cruel and unheard-of warfare" or he would "order every house near the shore to be destroyed". The fact that Hardy had been previously so lenient and considerate to the Americans caused them to abandon such attempts with immediate effect.[9]: 693 

For several decades beginning in the early 19th century, New London was one of the three busiest whaling ports in the world, along with Nantucket and New Bedford, Massachusetts. The wealth that whaling brought into the city furnished the capital to fund much of the city's present architecture. The New Haven and New London Railroad connected New London by rail to New Haven and points beyond by the 1850s. The Springfield and New London Railroad connected New London to Springfield, Massachusetts, by the 1870s.
Many distinctive structures built in the 19th century remain, but the First Church built in 1853 unfortunately collapsed in January, 2024.

New London skyline from Fort Griswold

Notable people

• Eliphalet Adams (1677–1753), clergyman
• Theresa Andrews (born 1962), winner of two Olympic gold medals
• Peter C. Assersen (1839–1906), Rear Admiral in the United States Navy
• James Avery (1620–1700), politician and military commander
• Valerie Azlynn (born 1980), actress
• Gaten Matarazzo (born 2002), actor
• Scott Barlow, professional Baseball Pitcher for the Kansas City Royals
• Nathan Belcher (1813–1891), congressman
• Augustus Brandegee (1828–1904), judge, congressman, abolitionist
• Frank B. Brandegee (1864–1924), congressman and senator
• Amy Brenneman (born 1964), actress
• Henry Burbeck (1754–1848), brigadier general
• Daniel Burrows (1756–1858), congressman
• John Button (soldier) (1772–1861), American-born Upper Canada settler (founder of Buttonville, Ontario), sedentary Canadian militia officer and founder of the 1st York Light Dragoons
• William Colfax, soldier and settler
• Frances Manwaring Caulkins (1795–1869), historian, genealogist, author
• Thomas Humphrey Cushing (1755–1822), brigadier general in the War of 1812 and collector of customs
• John M. K. Davis, U.S. Army brigadier general; lived in New London during his retirement[46]
• Harry Daghlian (1921–1945), physicist at Los Alamos National Lab, first person to die as a result of a criticality accident
• A. J. Dillon (born 1998), American football running back
• David Dorfman (born 1955), choreographer
• Richard Douglass (1746–1828), cooper and soldier
• Grace L. Drake, Ohio state legislator
• Doug DuBose (born 1964), NFL player
• Kris Dunn (born 1994), point guard for the Chicago Bulls
• Larry Elgart (born 1922), musician
• John Ellis (born 1948), baseball player
• Elsie Ferguson (1883–1961), stage and film actress
• Richard P. Freeman (1869–1944), congressman
• William Goddard (publisher) (1740–1817), Co-founded US Post Office with Benjamin Franklin
• L. Patrick Gray (1916–2005), lawyer and Watergate figure
• Nathan Hale (1755–1776), schoolmaster and patriot
• Doc Hammer (born 1967), multimedium artist and co-creator of the Venture Brothers
• Matt Harvey (born 1989), MLB pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds
• Glenne Headly (1955–2017), actress
• Barkley L. Hendricks (born 1945), painter
• Jedediah Huntington (1743–1818), Revolutionary War General and New London Customs Collector
• Linda Jaivin (born 1955), Australian author[47]
• Sarah Kemble Knight (1666–1727), diarist, teacher and businesswoman
• Madeline Kripke (1943–2020), book collector
• John Law (1796–1873), congressman
• Bryan F. Mahan (1856–1923), congressman
• Richard Mansfield (1857–1907), actor
• John McCain (1936–2018), senator and Republican presidential nominee (lived in New London as a child when his father, John S. McCain, Jr., worked at the naval submarine base)
• Lansing McVickar (1895–1945), career officer with the United States Army
• Thomas Minor (1608–1690), founder and early New England diarist
• Casey Neistat (born 1981), filmmaker
• James R Newby (born 1844), was a Civil War veteran who served in the first regiment of volunteer African Americans in the United States and a 19th-century African-American missionary to present-day Nigeria, Cameroon, and Liberia[48]
• Hannah Ocuish (1774–1786), believed to be the youngest person executed in the United States
• James O'Neill (1847–1920), actor, father of Eugene O'Neill
• Eugene O'Neill (1888–1953), playwright
• Walter Palmer (1585–1661), founder
• Elias Perkins (1767–1845), congressman
• Mary Philips (1901–1975), actress
• Edward Clark Potter (1857–1923), sculptor
• Ellen Culver Potter (1871–1958), physician, public health official
• Renee Prahar (1879–1962), sculptor
• Art Quimby (1933–2010), basketball player
• Jordan Reed (born 1990), tight end for the Washington Redskins
• Tim Riordan (born 1960), gridiron football player
• Dawn Robinson (born 1965), singer
• Dudley Saltonstall (1738–1796), naval officer
• "Magic Dick" Salwitz (born 1945), musician
• Thomas R. Sargent III (1914–2010), Vice Admiral in the United States Coast Guard
• C. John Satti (1895–1968), Secretary of the State of Connecticut
• Samuel Seabury (1729–1796), bishop
• Signe Margaret Stuart (b. 1937), artist[49]
• Benjamin Stark (1820–1898), senator
• Sigmund Strochlitz (1916–2006), activist and Holocaust survivor
• Dana Suesse (1909–1987), composer, songwriter, musician
• Ron Suresha, author and editor
• Flora M. Vare, (1874–1962), Pennsylvania State Senator from 1925 to 1928
• Cassie Ventura (born 1986), singer
• John T. Wait (1811–1899), former U.S. Representative for Connecticut[50]
• Thomas M. Waller (1839–1924), Mayor of New London and 51st Governor of Connecticut
• Mary Way (1769–1833), portrait miniaturist
• John Winthrop the Younger (1606–1676), statesman and founder
• Tyson Wheeler (born 1975), former Denver Nuggets basketball player[51]
• Abisha Woodward (1752–1809), early American lighthouse builder[52]