September 6th, 1781. A Connecticut militia colonel hands over his sword in surrender at Fort Griswold — and is killed with it, on the spot, by the very officers accepting his capitulation. What follows is one of the bloodiest afternoons of the American Revolution, carried out under the command of the war's most infamous traitor: Benedict Arnold, raiding the state that once called him a son.

This is the story of Lieutenant Colonel William Ledyard, the citizen-soldiers who held an undermanned fort against nearly five-to-one odds, and the broken promise that turned a surrender into a slaughter. It's also the story of what the historical record can — and can't — confirm about who gave the order, whose sword struck the fatal blow, and whether "massacre" is even the right word for what happened on Groton Heights that morning.

A cinematic deep-dive into the Battle of Groton Heights and the Fort Griswold Massacre — the raid on New London, Arnold's return to his home state in a British uniform, and the myth-vs-reality debate historians still haven't settled two centuries later.

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 A Fort on Groton Heights, September 6th, 1781
03:18 A Turncoat Returns to His Home State
07:43 The Colonel, the Commander, and the Traitor
11:10 Alarm Guns and a Fort Too Small to Hold
14:26 The Sword That Killed Him
19:00 A Wagon Down the Hill, a Town in Flames
22:11 What the Record Can and Cannot Confirm
26:36 Return to Groton Heights

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