Before the Dutch and the English settlers, the area now known as New London County was inhabited by several Indian tribes. The Pequot had migrated from the Hudson river region and inhabited the land between the Thames and Pawcatuck Rivers.  The  Mohegan tribe was split after a war with the Pequot in the 1630s, and the Uncas moved farther northwest.   The Western Nehantics (Niantics) were centered around Lyme and Waterford, and the Narragansett tribe was located east of the Pawcatuck River.

    The Pequot  was the dominant tribe and, in 1632 drove the Narragansetts ten miles beyond the Pawcatuck river, initiating a border dispute between Connecticut and Rhode Island that would last for many years to come.The Dutch fort and trading post where Hartford now stands had negotiated a satisfactory agreement with the Pequot and expected to continue its hunting and trade business in that area peacefully, but in 1633 the Pequots attacked a group of English traders, and relations began to change.
The parent colonies of Connecticut were the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies.  In 1636 an expedition led by the Reverend Thomas Hooker became the first permanent settlement in Connecticut.  The first white child born in Connecticut was David Gardiner, son of Lion Gardiner, born April 29, 1636 in Saybrook.

       Feeling that it was time for strong action, the General Court in Hartford ordered an offensive war against the Pequot, and two parties were mobilized under Capt. John Mason, with Capt. Underhill.  The result was the attack of the Pequot fort on the west side of the Mystic River, and the massacre of over 700 Pequot men, women and children.
    In 1640/41 the General Court surveyed and divided the Pequot Country among Captain John Mason and the soldiers who had served with him, but it was several more years before there was a permanent settlement in what is now New London County.

        William Chesebrough from Rehoboth, MA  was the first actual settler of New London in 1649,  followed immediately by Thomas Stanton of Hartford, Indian interpreter, and in the next ten years by the families of:   Walter Palmer, George Denison, Thomas Miner; James Avery,  Johnathan Brewster,  The Rev. Richard Blinman,  John Picket,  Lion Gardiner,  John Hayes,  Robert Hempstead,  John Gallup, John Stebbins,  John Winthrop,   Peter Harris,  John Chennery,  Cary Latham,  Robert and Thomas Park(e),  Obadiah Bruen,  James Rogers, Thomas Hewitt,  Matthew Griswold and others.

   The settlements enjoyed a period of growth and development for the next decade, until the 1660s when threats from the surrounding Indian tribes began to grow.  War finally erupted June 1675 in Swansea, Massachusetts with "King Philip", second son of Massasoit, sachem of the Pokanoket Indians.    In the beginning Connecticut felt secure in its geographical location and longstanding alliance with the local Mohegans...then followed several years of brutal attacks and a reign of terror against the English settlements.

        The Narragansetts had remained fairly neutral until this time, but were found sheltering some of King Philip's men.  Three hundred and fifteen Connecticut men lead by Major Robert Treat attacked the Narragansett fort on December 19, 1675 and were met by 2,000 Indians.   This was later known as the "Great Swamp Fight," and Capt. John Mason was killed in the battle.

THE WARS WITH THE BRITISH

        In March 1775 Governor Trumbull called for action against the Tories, and on Wednesday, April 19, 1775 Israel Bissell, postrider, set out from Watertown, Massachusetts to spread the word through the Connecticut towns of Norwich, Lyme and Saybrook to mobilize against the British.  Connecticut's navy was formed from an act of July 1, 1775, and in the beginning of the war Connecticut became the leading source of provisions for the American forces.  Read more about New London County in the Revolutionary War.

       The  New London coast was subjected to British intimidation and attacks, the most memorable being the Battle of Stonington in which, on August 9, 1814 the town of Stonington was given one hour to vacate before the bombardment began.

Read more about the HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY at the USGenWeb Archives.

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