Civil War

The Civil War began in April 1861 when Confederate cannon fired on Fort Sumter, a Third System fort built on an island to defend the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, and the bombardment of hot cannonballs and exploding shells set the fort ablaze and forced the federal troops there to surrender. Although Third System forts had been built to protect the U.S. coastline from foreign aggression, some instead were attacked by American rebel forces. Within a week of the attack on Fort Sumter, the mayor of New London sent the city guards to man Fort Trumbull, which then had no troops in residence, and in July a company of the 3rd U.S. Infantry arrived to garrison the post. By late 1862, Fort Trumbull served as a recruiting station for all troops leaving from Connecticut, and it never faced Confederate forces because they never advanced as far north as New England. During the war, some troops stationed there gained a reputation for rowdy behavior through tavern brawls and street fights in town. Fort Trumbull also later became the setting for Mark Twain's short story about spying during the Civil War, “A Curious Experience,” published in 1881 and narrated by a fictional commandant of the fort.

New London, Connecticut · United States