New London County

New London and Norwich both shed towns across this county. New London, founded in 1646 by John Winthrop Jr., gave up Groton in 1705, Montville in 1786 and Waterford in 1801; Norwich, settled in 1658-59 at the head of the Thames, gave up Bozrah, Franklin and Lisbon, all in 1786. Much of what followed is maritime. New London ranked in the nineteenth century as New England's second-largest whaling and sealing port by volume, Mystic's yards launched more than 600 vessels from 1784 onward, Stonington still works the state's last commercial fishing fleet, and Groton's Electric Boat delivered 74 submarines in the Second World War and launched the USS Nautilus in 1954. On September 6, 1781, Benedict Arnold — born at Norwich in 1741 — burned New London and stormed Fort Griswold at Groton, where Colonel William Ledyard was killed and the town of Ledyard later took his name. Mohegan ground runs through it all: Uncas's fort at Shantok in Montville, Uncas Leap on the Yantic at Norwich.