Anna Bailey Brings Flannel to the Fort

According to local tradition, Anna Warner Bailey — later known as "Mother Bailey" — brought flannel petticoats to Fort Griswold during the battle to be used as wadding for the garrison's cannon. The story, while difficult to verify from contemporary sources, became one of the most celebrated examples of female civilian support during the Revolution.

Bailey's legend grew over the decades after the war. She was honored in her later years as a living symbol of patriotic sacrifice, and her story was invoked whenever Connecticut celebrated its Revolutionary heritage. Whether the petticoat story is precisely accurate or represents a broader truth about civilian women's contributions to the defense, it remains part of Groton's Revolutionary identity.