The Battle of the Frogs

The so-called battle was actually a large-scale death of frogs in a millpond known as Frog Pond. In 1754, sometimes misrepresented as 1758, there was a severe drought happening in Windham. An attack from French and native forces was also expected from Canada. One night, in July, the frogs began to attack each other over the last remaining water. The resulting noise was so great that the townspeople thought that it was the attack already happening. Many took to arms. This led to mass hysteria of sorts. Numerous people became convinced that Armageddon was upon them. Some sources claim that the names "Dyer" and "Elderkin" were heard, the names of two influential lawyers and colonels. Other sources say that the people thought they were Native Americans saying "gin" and "rum." Townsfolk ran into the streets, some with guns and knives. Those who were armed mounted a hill to see the landscape around them. In the morning, the colonists found the cause of the noise. Hundreds of dead and dying bullfrogs lay in the last remaining parts of the pond.

People throughout the colonies heard the story and many were amused. Warner Barber wrote in the 1836 book Connecticut Historic Collections "Long and obstinately [fought] was the contest, and many thousands of combatants were found dead on both sides of the ditch the next morning."

The people of Windham were ridiculed in the colonies, and the town seal was made to be a bullfrog. Willimantic, Connecticut has a bridge commemorating the event. In the 1850s, the Windham Bank issued private bank notes prominently featuring a vignette of a frog standing over the body of another frog to remind everyone of Windham's famous battle of the frogs. The event has become memorialized as a part of the town's folklore.[1]