USA > Maine > Waldo County > Belfast > History of the city of Belfast in the state of Maine v.I, 1770-1875 > Part 17
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Preparations were made with so great promptitude that in one month the expedition was ready. The formidable appearance of this military movement, the first undertaken on so large a scale by any single colony, would have been creditable during the recent rebellion. Our fleet consisted of nineteen armed vessels, carrying three hundred and forty-four guns, and twenty-four transports. At its head was the beautiful frigate " Warren," which mounted thirty-two eighteen and twelve pounders. Townsend harbor was designated as the place of rendezvous, and here the eastern militia were to embark.
The instructions of the Council to the commanders indicate an entire expectation of success. It was only feared that a surrender would afford no opportunity for fighting. Commodore Saltonstall was especially enjoined " to captivate, kill, or destroy the enemy's whole force, both by sea and by land." " And as there is good reason to believe," continued the despatch, "that some of the principal men at Penobscot requested the enemy to take post there, every precaution is to be taken that none of them escape, but that they receive a just reward for their doings." If the British had evacuated the position, pursuit was to be given to any port in the Provinces except Halifax.
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On the 21st of July, our forces had assembled at Townsend, where for several days they were detained by a head-wind. At three o'clock on the following Sunday afternoon, the whole fleet arrived off Bagaduce Point. Forming into three divisions, our ships advanced and engaged those of the enemy, which were stationed in line of battle, directly within the harbor. A brisk cannonade on both sides continued for two hours, when the former bore up and anchored outside. Our fire being random and irregu- lar, the enemy's vessels suffered only in their rigging. A portion of our troops attempted to land ; but, the wind being high, they were repulsed with some loss. Upon witnessing their retreat, the garrison gave three cheers, which were returned from the British ships. Our transports then came to anchor near the mouth of Penobscot River.
From the heights on the eastern side of the harbor, the popula- tion of Belfast witnessed the first engagement between the two forces. "I saw the American fleet when it came up the bay," said Mrs. Tolford Durham, " and the vessels attacking each other. The sound of the guns was distinctly heard." A counter-procla- mation from General Lovell was soon received. It assured those who had responded to the demands of the British that the oath imposed was compulsory, illegal, and void, and that unless those who had taken it did not within forty-eight hours repair to the American head-quarters, and give proper evidence of a determina- tion to adhere to the United States, they would be regarded as traitors, and punished accordingly. In this dilemma, Mitchell, Houston, and others obeyed the summons, and participated in the subsequent events of the expedition. " My husband carried over two boat-loads," said Mrs. Durham; and although not accredited to any regiment on the muster rolls, as lieutenant, he commanded the little detachment, all of whom were eager to become extri- cated from the false position into which they had been betrayed.
Rumors that a fleet and army were preparing at Boston reached the enemy about a week before. Little notice was at first given to the report ; but Captain Mowatt, who had been many years on the eastern station, and was well acquainted with public senti- ment, gave credence to the information, and ordered his three sloops of war into the best situation for defence. General McLean desisted from the purpose of constructing a regular fort, and pre- pared to complete his works in a more expeditious manner, and better suited to the emergency. At this time, the curtains, or
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that part of the ramparts designed to connect the bastions, were not over four feet high, and two of the latter were unfinished. No platforms for bringing the guns into position were laid, and not a single gun-carriage had been mounted. The walls were so low, that a soldier said he could easily jump over them with a musket in each hand. Orders were at once issued for the inhabi- tants to assist in completing the defences, and a large number were employed in felling trees and raising an abatis around the fort. By constructing parapets composed of fascines, logs, barrels of earth, and any materials which were at hand, the fort was made to assume quite a formidable appearance. The whole force, in- cluding marines from the ships, were kept at work day and night.
For the first week, our operations consisted in engagements with the enemy's ships, and in the capture of a small battery on Nautilus Island, at the entrance of the harbor. In this battery, large siege guns were mounted, which obliged the British ships to move farther up the Bagaduce River. Their transports followed, and anchored within line. Lovell was anxious to enter the harbor at once, and attack the ships; and in this he was seconded by the masters of the armed vessels, who addressed a petition to Commo- dore Saltonstall upon the subject. "Strongly impressed with the importance of the expedition," says the memorial, " we re- spectfully represent that the most speedy exertions should be used to accomplish the design we came upon. We think delays in the present case are extremely dangerous, as our enemies are daily fortifying and strengthening themselves. We do not mean to advise, or to censure your past conduct, but intend only to ex- press our desire to go immediately into the harbor, and attack the enemy's ships." Colonel Brewer, an intelligent patriot, who had been in the British fort only the day before our troops arrived, and knew the weakness of the situation, made a similar statement. "I told the Commodore," wrote Brewer, "that he could silence the vessels and a small battery, and in a half hour have every thing his own." All the answer he gave was : "You seem to be d-d knowing about this matter. I am not going to risk my shipping in that d-d hole." Captain Titus Salter, of the ship " Hampden," who ventured a similar suggestion to that of Colonel Brewer, was met by a threat that his fine vessel should be degraded into a bread ship. As Saltonstall would listen to no advice, Gen- eral Lovell determined to take the responsibility of attacking the fort without his aid. On the morning of the 28th, before. day-
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light, he effected a landing on the western side of the peninsula, surmounting a precipice over two hundred feet high. A galling fire from the enemy above received our men, and our loss was over one hundred killed, among them several officers. Fifteen of the enemy were found dead on the field. A small battery which had been erected to oppose our progress was carried by assault. The whole force was driven into the fort with such precipitation that only a small number were taken prisoners. In the attack, the celebrated Sir John Moore, whose heroic death at Coruña has been immortalized by the beautiful verses of Wolfe, had his first military experience. One of his letters gives the following account : " After a sharp cannonade from the shipping on the woods, to the great surprise of General McLean and the garrison, the Americans effected a landing. I happened to be on picket that morning, under command of a captain of the 74th Regiment, who, after giving them one fire, instead of encouraging his men, who naturally had been a little startled by the cannonade, to do their duty, ordered them to retreat, leaving me and about twenty men to shift for ourselves. After standing for some time, I was obliged to retreat to the fort, having five or six of my men killed and several wounded. I was lucky to remain untouched." The second boat that reached the shore conveyed the late Honorable William Trask, of Gloucester, who was one of the last survivors of the conflict. He was then only fourteen years old, and a musi- cian of one of the Massachusetts companies. The friendly rock at the foot of the bank, which sheltered him from the balls of the British muskets, as he played his fife during the forming of our troops on the beach, is still known as "Trask's rock." Another rock commemorates the brave Captain Hinckley of Georgetown, in our own State, who was killed upon its top, where he had stationed himself to rally his men. There is a stain upon it now, which superstition says was caused by his blood.
Our army advanced within cannon-shot of the fort, and threw up intrenchments, the lines of which can be traced at this day. At a council held directly after the battle, it was proposed by the . land officers to carry the fort by storm ; but the loss had been so great, Commodore Saltonstall declined the aid of his men for the purpose. Thus was the golden opportunity for a complete vic- tory thrown away. The garrison would have been compelled to submit to any terms which we might have imposed. It is stated on reliable authority that General McLean stood with the pen-
12
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nant halliards in his own hands, ready to strike the colors himself; saying that he had participated in nineteen battles, all of which had been successful, but that he expected to be beaten in the twentieth. He afterwards remarked to Colonel Brewer : "I believe the commanders were a pack of cowards. I was in no situation for defence. I only meant to give them one or two guns ; and then surrendered, as I did not wish to throw away the lives of my men for nothing."
Additional guns and ammunition were now brought from the British ships, and dragged up the heights. This was a work of great difficulty, owing to the rocks and innumerable stumps of trees ; but the alacrity of the troops surmounted every obstacle. A vigorous cannonade was soon commenced by us against the fort. This movement, added to the annoyance already received from our island battery, obliged the enemy to surrender a small redoubt near the shore, and to withdraw their ships a second time beyond the range of our guns. The attack on the redoubt was conducted by General Wadsworth, with a considerable loss. Thirty of the enemy were taken prisoners.
Meantime, General Lovell was burning with impatience to attack the fortress, and constantly urged the co-operation of the Commo- dore. Several days were wasted in a fruitless discussion of the matter. Lovell had already sent to Boston for reinforcements. An unabated fire was maintained on both sides, but without any decisive result. The enemy made good use of the time in strengthening their works, which had sustained but slight injury from our guns. They took fresh courage from news that a large squadron was on the way to their assistance. This information, communicated by prisoners, produced in our camp a disheartening and distrustful effect. Ammunition was beginning to fail; and by loss, desertion, and sickness, the whole effective force was reduced to only nine hundred and fifty men. There was no power to check the utter insubordination which prevailed. Many of the officers were remiss in duty, and the soldiers were so undisciplined that on the first alarm nearly one-quarter skulked into the woods and concealed themselves. The captains of several of the armed vessels reported that their men, who were volunteers, had become demoralized, and could be held for only a few days longer.
In this alarming aspect of affairs, another council of war was held, which resulted in a vote to continue the siege. General Lovell thought that if three hundred men were detailed from the
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ships, the land in rear of the fort could be taken, and the present lines in front maintained. This would cut off communication between the land and naval forces of the enemy. But Colonel Revere argued that our numbers were insufficient to hazard a division, and to this view the General reluctantly assented.
On the 11th of August, Lovell made a final appeal to Commo- dore Saltonstall, in the following language : "I am once more obliged to request the most speedy service in your Department, and that a moment be no longer delayed to put in execution a combined attack by both sea and land forces. The destruction of the enemy's ships must be effected at any rate, although it mnight cost us half our own. ... I mean not to determine on your mode of attack, but it appears to me so practicable, that any further delay must be infamous. ... The alternative now remains to destroy the ships or raise the siege. We must deter- mine instantly, or it may be productive of disgrace, and loss of ships and men. I feel for the honor of America, in an expedition which a nobler exertion had long before this crowned with suc- cess." Against the protest of the Commodore, Colonels Revere and McCobb, and other officers, who wished to abandon the peninsula, it was finally determined to force the harbor on the 13th, and take or destroy the ships of war, while Lovell should take a position in the rear, and endeavor to bring about a general action. "I would rather die," said the brave General, "than con- sent to raise the siege, or leave the Commodore any further ex- cuse for not co-operating with me." He accordingly marched off at the head of a portion of his force, leaving the balance under Wadsworth to defend the main lines.
This determination arrived too late. In the afternoon of the 13th, while our ships were getting under weigh, a British fleet, con- sisting of seven men of war, appeared in the offing. A retreat was instantly ordered. Aided by a dark and foggy night, which pre- vented the enemy from advancing up the bay, our men effected an embarkation so successfully, that it was undiscovered. Early the next morning, they evacuated Nautilus Island, leaving their cannon spiked and dismounted. Signals were made for our captains to go on board the flag-ship, and in the interview which followed the Commodore informed them that all must shift for themselves. With the transports in advance, the whole fleet crowded on sail, and proceeded up Penobscot River, closely pursued by the enemy's reinforcement, which proved to be a squadron from New
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York, commanded by Sir George Collier, carrying two hundred guns and fifteen hundred men. General Wadsworth, whose con- duct in the whole course of the expedition merited unqualified approbation, conducted the retreat of the land forces with great skill, and labored incessantly to keep them together. At an early period of the siege, he had made preparation against the emergency of a retreat, by establishing fortifications at the narrows, where General Scott, seventy years afterwards, selected the site of Fort Knox. But Lovell, with pardonable boldness, objected to any step which might suggest even a suspicion that any defence was needed. Wadsworth determined even then to make a stand. I had been up the river, a little distance," his despatch states, "to select a place for landing our cannon to check the enemy's progress, having given orders to that effect when we left Bagaduce. On returning, to my great surprise, I found many of the transports on fire, all deserted, and our troops scattered in the bush. It was now dusk, and the enemy's ships had anchored just below our little cluster of vessels. No pains were spared to rally the troops to save the stores and ordnance, but neither men nor officers were under the least control. With the utmost difficulty, only a small quantity of provisions was saved from the conflagration, in the midst of fire, smoke, and shot. By whose orders the transports were burned, is uncertain. General Lovell, it was said, had gone up river in the first ship." Not one of our vessels succeeded in escaping. Two of the largest endeavored to pass around Long Island, in the middle of the bay ; but they were soon intercepted, one being taken, and the other run ashore and blown up by her crew. All the others were burned. A few ascended as high as the mouth of the Kenduskeag, where within a few years their wrecks might have been seen at low tide. In the summer of 1871, a cannon belonging to one of the ships was raised in the harbor of Bangor. It was in a perfect state of preservation, and has been repeatedly used for firing salutes. Wadsworth led off five com- panies of militia in good order to a place of safety. The remain- der, in detached parties, explored their way through a pathless wilderness to the Kennebec settlements, exhausted with famine and fatigue.
Only the day before the retreat, the Massachusetts Board of War, having heard that a British reinforcement. was near Baga- duce, sent peremptory instructions to Saltonstall to attack the enemy's ships without delay. They also applied to General Gates
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for permission for General Jackson's regiment, then in Rhode Island, to proceed to the aid of General Lovell, which was granted. On the 15th, seven vessels, conveying this well-disciplined corps, left Boston, on their way to the scene of action. Off Cape Ann, news of the defeat was received; and, as several British ships were supposed to be in pursuit, the regiment landed at Kittery. They thence proceeded to Falmouth. "It was extremely fortu- nate," wrote Dr. Thacher, " that we were detained two or three days on our passage by contrary winds : had there been no im- pediment to our voyage, we must inevitably have fallen into the hands of the enemy."
Onr loss of men in this famous expedition was never definitely ascertained. The British account gives it as four hundred and seventy-four, and states their own loss to be eighty-five. The cost to Massachusetts was immense. A petition to Congress for its re- imbursement runs as follows : " The failure of the attempt planned by this State to dislodge the enemy from Penobscot hath involved the government in extreme difficulty. The calls for pay are great, and must be fulfilled, or the public faith and credit will be irre- parably injured. We have therefore earnestly to request of Con- gress for this State to retain the six millions of dollars, the un- limited tax, to be used until the expenses of the expedition be liquidated." So much obloquy, however, attached to the matter, that Congress refused to pay the claims until after peace was declared.
On the return of our troops, an investigation of the conduet of the officers was demanded; and in September a committee, or Court of Inquiry appointed by the Legislature, commenced its session. After a thorough examination, the committee pronouneed their opinion as follows : "That the principal reason of the failure was the want of proper spirit and energy on the part of the Com- modore ; that the destruction of the fleet was occasioned essentially because of his not exerting himself at all, in the time of the retreat, by opposing the enemy's foremost ships in pursuit;" " that Gen- eral Lovell, throughout the expedition and retreat, acted with proper spirit and courage, and had be been furnished with all the men ordered for the service, or been properly supported by the Commodore, he would probably have reduced the enemy;" " that though a majority of the Commodore's naval council, being commanders of naval vessels, were against offensive measures, yet he repeatedly said 'it was matter of favor that he called any
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council of them, and when he had taken their advice he should follow his own opinion,' and in that way discouraged all the measures on the part of the fleet ; that the naval commanders behaved like experienced officers during the whole time;" and that " Brigadier Wadsworth, the second in command throughout the expedition, conducted with great activity, courage, coolness, and prudence." Upon this report, the Legislature adjudged " that Commodore Saltonstall be incompetent ever after to hold a commission in the service of the State, and that Generals Lovell and Wadsworth be honorably acquitted."
Such was the "Penobscot expedition," which, under a com- petent commander, would have redounded to the glory of those who inaugurated it, and terminated all the designs of the British in Maine. Thenceforth their forces held possession of Bagaduce until 1784. Fort George was completed according to the original plan, and held the whole eastern country in subjection. Its ruins still form an attractive object of interest to the visitor.
The project of a second attempt to retake Bagaduce is frequently mentioned in the Revolutionary correspondence be- tween Washington and Congress. In 1781, Rochambeau offered a force for the purpose, at a time when the British fleet was con- ceutrated in Chesapeake Bay. After all the arrangements had been put in train, the anticipated arrival of a superior force pre- vented them from being entered upon.
So important was the place regarded as a military positiou that, two years before the war closed, the British ministry deter- mined to make it the seat of government of a colony, to be called New Ireland. It was then supposed that Penobscot River consti- tuted the eastern boundary of Massachusetts. But the fact that certain townships west of the St. Croix had been previously con- firmed to that Province caused the Attorney-General to entertain scruples of her charter rights, as she was still regarded as subject to the Crown. He refused concurrence, and no further action took place. The question of boundary, however, remained unsettled until after a declaration of peace. Under a different construction, the quiet village of Castine might have been to-day what Halifax is, the military capital of one of the dominions of Great Britain in America.
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CHAPTER XIII.
BELFAST DURING THE REVOLUTION: CONCLUDED.
Dismay of the Inhabitants. - Arrival of Dispersed Troops. - General Wadsworth. - Concealment of Property. - No Safety but in Flight. - The Settlement abandoned by Night. - Mitchell, Houston, the Pattersons, John Brown, Clark, and Others. - Fugitives find Refuge at Clam Cove. - Miller and Durham permitted to return. - Dow's Exploit at Camden. - Affray at Belfast. - Sergeant Jenks taken Prisoner by the British. - Rescued by Richard Stimson. - Lieutenant Armstrong killed. - His Body disinterred. - Houston's House and Barn burned by the British. - Return of a Few Families in 1780. - Depredations of the Enemy. - Requisition on Belfast for Men and Clothing. - Wadsworth and Burton escape from Bagaduce. - Reach Bel- fast. - Kindly provided for by Miller. - His Sons conceal them in the Woods. - Declaration of Peace. - Appeal of the Dispersed Inhabitants to the General Court. - Their Excuse for taking the British Oath of Allegiance. - Their Hardships and Sufferings. - Resolves relieving them from Taxation.
T HE defeat of the Americans filled with dismay the already perplexed people of Belfast. The bay was filled with re- treating vessels, closely pursued by the enemy ; and at night the flash of cannon, and the lurid light of the burning transports, which illumined even the deep shades of the forest, added new terrors to the tale of disaster. Scattered parties of our troops, some hy boats and canoes, others who had found their way through the woods on foot, and all famished and fatigued, soon began to reach the little settlement. From these, the good offices of the inhabitants were not withheld ; and food and clothing were cheerfully shared with the fugitives 1 by many who were soon to become fugitives them- selves. The condition of the latter was indeed a critical one. So recent and complete had been their violation of the oath of alle- giance that no hope of pardon or even of clemency could be enter- tained. Their only refuge from the vengeance of a triumphant and exasperated foe was in flight. General Wadsworth, who had escaped on foot, after landing on the western shore of Penobscot River,
1 Papers relating to Penobscot Expedition, in Secretary's office, Boston, No. 557, After peace, Samuel Houston was allowed £6 2s. 9d., "his account for supplying the troops on their march after the defeat at Penobscot." Jolin Mitchell was allowed £298 old currency.
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ordered a company of men to make a stand at Belfast for the pro- tection of the women and children, but in the confusion which pre- vailed his order was unheeded. So, with knapsack at his back, he marched for Camden, directing all .whom he met to take the same course.1 In Belfast, immediate preparations for departure were made. Some of the inhabitants hastily concealed their furniture in the woods, and the wells were used as a hiding-place for pewter platters and other domestic articles. The residents then numbered one hundred and nine, comprised in eighteen families. On the night after the destruction of our fleet, all embarked in gondolas and boats, and, following the shore, proceeded down the bay without interference from the British. Samuel Houston and the Pattersons availed themselves of an old bateau, which six years before brought the latter from Saco. John Brown and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Tolford Durham and child, Alexander Clark and wife, with John Barnet, his wife, and three children, set sail in a sloop. Mitchell put such of his effects as he was able to collect into a gondola, and with his family and such others as chose to share his fortunes floated away upon the evening tide.2 The remainder escaped in various water-craft.
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