The cannons that sit on Cannon Square on Stonington Point are the actual ones that were used against the British in 1814 and, before that, in 1775.

   In 1775, just before the Revolution, a British ship attacked Stonington in search of food. Locals refused to let the sailors land. These cannon were fired at the ship, which decided to leave. The anniversary of that event had been celebrated by Stonington people thirty-three times by the time the British returned, this time in four ships, in 1814. Out of a shed came the trusty cannons, and the results of that fracas are captured in this English ditty of 1815:

The shells were thrown, the Rockets flew,
But not a shell of all they threw,
Though every house was in full view,
Could burn a house in Stonington.

Now some assert on certain grounds,
Beside their damage and their wounds,
It cost the King Ten Thousand Pounds
To have a fling at Stonington.