Groton’s Congregational United First Church of Christ sits quietly on Monument Street, a very short walk from the gates of Fort Griswold. It exudes a peaceful countenance that, for 241 years, seems to have successfully deflected historians from considering its revolutionary role in the deadly 1781 Battle of Groton Heights, fought just down the road.

But I’ve long wondered: Who was Groton’s First Church pastor in 1781, and did he play a role in that tragic battle?

American clergy in general didn’t appreciate the overbearing authority of England’s Anglican Church. They were so effective in agitating social unrest over the years leading to war that the British often blamed them for the American Revolution, labeling them the “Black Robed Regiment.”

It appears that, beginning in 1769 when he was first ordained, First Church Rev. Aaron Kinne joined the clerical chorus of discontent in sowing the intellectual seeds of revolution in southeastern Connecticut, according to a pamphlet titled ’A Review of the Congregational Church of Groton, Conn., WITH SKETCHES OF ITS MINISTERS. 1704-1876,’ by Pastor J.A. Woodhull, published in 1877.

Woodhull refers to Kinne as “Pastor of the Revolution,” stating “On the Lord’s day, religious meetings are somewhat tinged with politics. Everything he utters is watched, in its bearings upon the war. Words spoken on both sides of the ocean had already come to blows at Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill. The preacher’s style broadens and kindles with holy patriotism.”

From his Sunday pulpit, Rev. Kinne likely quoted Boston pastor Jonathan Mayhew, who preached that opposition to a tyrant like King George and his British occupiers, was a “glorious Christian duty.”

Groton and New London were indeed in a rebellious mood, assured by clergy that God was on their side. Woodhull tells us “Here as elsewhere the people are conversing in earnest tones about the wrongs they are enduring (from Great Britain), but will not long endure. Men are talking of entering the army, and the question is uppermost, 'who will care for mother, sister or wife?’”

Like his extended family, Fort Griswold commander Colonel William Ledyard was a Congregationalist, a member of the First Church. He was baptized on Jan. 14, 1739, when he was a little over a month old, and his own children were also baptized in the church.

William and Anne Ledyard were devout, listed in early church records as “owning the covenant,” or having sworn their beliefs in the tenets of the church on Oct. 30, 1763.

Along with their fellow congregants, they absorbed years of sermons that included political discontent. As a merchant whose income suffered greatly from British trade restrictions and shipping taxes, such spiritual inspiration surely fed into William Ledyard’s own growing dissatisfaction with his oppressive king.

The Second Meeting House was built in 1760, near what is now Kings Highway, in the vicinity of the Groton Bowling Center and 99 Restaurant today.

It became known as both the Black Meeting House, due to the weathering of its exterior, and the Kinne Meeting House, in deference to Rev. Kinne.

Kinne served as chaplain for 8th Connecticut Regiment, and though he wasn’t officially appointed to the troops at Fort Griswold, the defenders were essentially comprised of his Groton congregation, so they naturally fell under his spiritual guardianship.

Earlier in the day, that notorious traitor and British commander Benedict Arnold had confused the fort’s cannon signal for help, gravely delaying the militia response. Arnold caused even more trouble for responding units when he deployed a detachment of 40 German Jagers north of the fort to take possession of the Post Road, the main access route into Groton.

Rev. Kinne doesn’t appear to have taken up arms when Groton was attacked, like many clergy of the revolution, but he did render much-needed assistance.

The 37-year-old reverend lived less than a mile from Fort Griswold. According to his granddaughter, “On the morning of that fatal day my grandfather upon hearing the alarm guns rose from his bed and went to the fort. He came back soon and told his wife to prepare for him cordials and linen for the wounded and dying, for said he, ‘there will be a fearful battle.’”

With attack imminent, Kinne gathered what medical supplies he could find.

Meanwhile, militia making their way to Groton from the north and east encountered the German mercenaries. Fighting erupted along the Post Road, likely in the area of Starr Hill and Lestertown Roads, with both sides incurring casualties. The injured Americans were taken to the meeting house, now a makeshift field hospital, with Kinne assisting.

Kinne later returned to the fort “and spent the day, carrying his flag of truce, going to and fro, ministering to the suffering” (Woodhull). If he required a flag of truce, then the British were still present, by this time likely burying their own dead at the fort and preparing prisoners for transport to British ships.

His working among the enemy is an indication of Kinne’s courage and commitment to his congregation. He surely had his hands full working among that scene of utter human devastation.

Kinne’s tending to the wounded didn’t end with the battle on Thursday, Sept. 6. He would have taken the pulpit on Sunday, just three days later, to address the community’s spiritual wounds, to somehow console a congregation now devoid of almost all male members.

God only knows Kinne’s anguished thoughts as he prepared his sermon with a broken heart, knowing he would face pews full of distraught, grieving, and desperate widows struggling to comfort their fatherless children. He would have to resurrect a spiritual wasteland of unimaginable sorrow.

I haven’t found his sermon yet, but a marble plaque embedded in one wall of the Groton monument pronounces that “Zebulun and Naphtali were people who jeaporded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field” (Judges 5:18.)

Zebulun and Naphtali were places that knew invasion, darkness and the shadow of death. Jesus grew up in the region, and brought God’s light even to those darkest of places. Perhaps therein lies a clue to Kinne’s heartbreaking, impossible task.

Rev. Kinne’s church remains in Groton today, appropriately just a short walk from the front gates of Fort Griswold. It is the same lineal congregation that was first established in 1702.

Churches, led by the “Black Robed Regiment,” sowed the intellectual seeds of revolution in America, and the Congregational United First Church of Christ in Groton was no exception.

In his sermons over the years preceding the battle, Rev. Kinne played an integral role in cultivating the spiritual convictions of Colonel William Ledyard and his fellow patriots. He also bravely administered to his congregation throughout and after the devastating attack.

The historical significance of the Pastor of the Revolution and his church deserves remembrance.

Supporting information courtesy of author Matthew E. Reardon.

John Steward lives in Waterford. He now lectures on the personal life of Colonel William Ledyard. He can be reached at tossinglines@gmail.com.