Freeman, Jordan

Source:

 African American National Biography

Freeman, Jordan

(?–6 Sept. 1781),

a soldier in the American Revolution, was the personal servant of Lieutenant Colonel William Ledyard. Freeman served primarily as an orderly while Ledyard was in command of Fort Griswold at New London, Connecticut. A British force under the command of Brigadier General Benedict Arnold on 6 September 1781 besieged the fort. Freeman demonstrated an exceptional degree of courage during the fighting of what came to be known as the Battle of Groton Heights.

The operations undertaken by Arnold were part of a larger British strategy to impede George Washington's efforts to encircle Cornwallis at Yorktown by using diversionary forces to draw Americans out. Arnold's immediate objective was to seize the port of New London. The British force succeeded in burning New London, and a defensive force from the town drew back to Fort Griswold on the Groton side of the Thames River. The small American force numbered approximately one hundred and fifty men and was eventually overrun by the superior British numbers. Ledyard held the fort only under the understanding that the local Groton militia would reinforce him, yet the militia failed to appear. A general court-martial convened after the battle with some militia officers acquitted and others convicted over their failure to reinforce Fort Griswold

The British force suffered heavy casualties in their attack on the entrenched position of the Americans. When the British at last began to make their way through openings in the walls of the fort, the Americans switched from using firearms to using pikes or spears of approximately fifteen feet in length. It was with one of these spears that Freeman killed the leader of the British assaulting force, Major Montgomery, who had succeeded to the command after Colonel Eyre was wounded. The reports of Montgomery's death at the hands of Freeman are based on reports from the battle, one the account from a witness, George Middleton. In some versions Montgomery was killed in hand-to-hand combat. Other sources, however, attribute Montgomery's death to Freeman and Captain Adam Shapley, and still others attribute it to Freeman and Lieutenant Henry Williams. Freeman remains the common thread in versions of Montgomery's death, however, whether by his efforts alone or in combination with some other American.

The British suffered heavy losses in taking the fort, which may explain their failure to show clemency when the Americans finally laid down their arms. The assault cost Arnold 163 men, including many officers. Ledyard surrendered to Major Stephen Bromfield, who asked who commanded the fort. Ledyard replied, “I did sir, but you do now,” while handing over his sword. After the exchange Bromfield killed Ledyard with the same sword. Accounts of Ledyard's death, like those of Montgomery's, differ, with some tracing the murder to a Captain George Beckwith and others tracing it to Lieutenant Colonel Buskirk of the New Jersey Volunteers, an American Loyalist officer. In later accounts another African American, a slave, Lambert Latham, was credited with bayoneting the officer who killed Ledyard. Latham had come to the fort, following his master into danger though he was instructed to stay with the stock. The killing of Ledyard initiated a more general massacre of the Americans who had surrendered in the fort. Freeman himself was killed either in combat or in the massacre of the Americans that occurred after the surrender of the fort. Freeman was buried in a Ledyard family cemetery plot.

In 1830 the state of Connecticut erected a monument to the patriots at the site of the Battle of Groton Heights. The names of those Americans who died at the battle are listed, starting with Ledyard's name at the top; Jordan Freeman and Lambert Latham are listed at the bottom of the tablet on the monument under the description “colored men.” Latham's first name was listed as Sambo, which derived from the shortening of Lambert to Lambo and then to Sambo. The courage demonstrated by Freeman and Latham at the battle of Groton Heights became an oft-cited example of multiracial support for the American cause, but it also served as an example for future advocates of African American participation in the armed forces of the United States.

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