few artillerymen, and overall command of the area's defenses was directed by Lieutenant Colonel William Ledyard. The forts suffered from continuous shortages of provisions and equipment. Fort Trumbull was unfinished; Fort Griswold's infrastructure was complete, but it lacked sufficient gunpowder, cannonballs, food, and troops to conduct an effective stand against the British. In August 1781, Continental Army Major General George Washington realized that there was an opportunity to strike at the British army of Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis in Virginia. He began moving his forces south from the New York area, using a variety of stratagems to deceive Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton, the British Commander-in-Chief and head of the British forces in New York City. Clinton realized on September 2 that he had been deceived. He was unable to mobilize quickly enough to assist Cornwallis, and was unwilling to detach a large percentage of his forces in the face of the Continental forces that Washington had left around New York. Clinton decided to launch a raid into Connecticut in an effort to draw Washington's attention. He only planned it as a raid, but he also believed that New London could be used as a base for further operations into the interior of New England if a permanent British occupation could be established. He gave Brigadier General Benedict Arnold command of the forces for the raid. Arnold was a native of Norwich, Connecticut just up the river from New London. He had been a successful Patriot general, but had changed sides to support the British the previous September. Prelude The forces assembled by the British were divided into two divisions, numbering about 1,700 men. The first was under Lieutenant Colonel Edmund Eyre, composed of the 40th and 54th Regiments of Foot and a Loyalist provincial regiment of Cortlandt Skinner's New Jersey Volunteers. The second division was under Arnold's command and consisted of the 38th Foot and a variety of Loyalist units, including the Loyal American Regiment and Arnold's provincial regiment, known as the American Legion. The expedition also included about 100 Hessian jägers, a small number of artillerymen, three six-pound guns, and a howitzer, all of which were divided among the divisions. These troops were embarked on transports and sailed on September 4 in the company of a fleet of smaller armed ships, led by Commodore John Bazely in the fifth-rate . The fleet anchored about west of New London