USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > Portland by the sea; an historical treatise > Part 8
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It was in 1764 that aggressive action was first taken by Parliament for the enforcement of the Sugar Act, so-called, though it had been pro- mulgated a long time before. It provided for the imposition of heavy duties upon West India goods and products of foreign growth and man- ufacture for the benefit of the English treasury, but during the war period it had not been seriously considered. The parliamentary action produced serious effect upon the business of Falmouth, but not much was done except to make protests and to file complaints regarding the injury and losses sustained. The next year, when this proceeding was followed by the passage of the Stamp Act, which imposed heavy revenue taxes upon all kinds of business transactions, the people got together and instructed Col. Samuel Waldo, their represent-
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ALICE GREELE TAVERN, 1775
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BRITISH COLONIAL POLICIES
ative to the General Court, to use his utmost endeavors to obtain relief for this province. When the time of enforcement came and the stamped papers arrived the whole country was in a ferment. In Falmouth the inhabitants assembled in a body and marched to the custom house and having obtained the odious blanks, carried them through the streets and burned them publicly. The repeal of the Act came soon and was greeted with drums beating, colors flying and a brilliant illumination of the Court House.
The repeal, however, was followed by the pas- sage of a new and far-extended law which imposed revenue taxes upon tea and most of the necessaries of life, and Boston made a great and vigorous protest. The people of Falmouth in meeting assembled then voted the thanks of the town to Boston and pledged themselves to endeavor at all times to suppress the use of foreign imports. Parson Deane's journal shows how generally and vigorously this was done. When in 1767 the garrison of British troops arrived in Boston the Falmouth town meeting voiced its protest, declaring that a standing army in times of peace was an invasion of the rights of the people. The news of the Boston massacre in 1770 caused great excitement and deep resentment. During the immediate years following there was upon the British side a more determined purpose of coercion, and upon the other a constantly increasing dis- position to resist. The old feeling of friendliness and loyalty gave way more and more to resentful anger, culminating in bitter hostility.
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The coming of the year 1774 found the crisis rapidly approaching. In January of that year, when the cargoes of dutiable tea were thrown into Boston harbor, a general town meeting was called in Falmouth. It is apparent that public sentiment had then made positive advancement. The Bos- ton resistance was heartily applauded and for themselves they declared that "Neither the Par- liament of Great Britain nor any other power on earth has a right to lay a tax upon us but by our own consent." The next month a Committee of Correspondence was chosen to keep in immediate touch with the rest of the country. Upon the closing of the port of Boston by the Port Bill, supplies were voted and sent to the blockaded city in spite of the prohibition.
Following the act forbidding the election of local officials by town meetings the government of the town was exercised mostly by committees of correspondence, safety and inspection, and the more radical and reckless element came into prominence. A mob compelled Sheriff Tyng to declare that he would not exercise the duties of his office by royal appointment. Any one who counseled moderation of action found himself promptly denounced as a royalist and a tory and in some cases made a victim of assault.
Military organization was not neglected. When news of the battle of Lexington came in April a company of sixty soldiers was raised at once and dispatched to Cambridge. Minute men were organized and the selectmen were directed to provide arms and ammunition and make provision
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for the same by rate according to law, and a con- siderable accumulation was made. A regiment was raised by the County and placed under com- mand of Col. Phinney. Falmouth became known as the recognized center of popular action and organization. The activities of the patriotic and aggressive town were reported particularly to the angry British Admiralty with the result that they speedily made it an object for special and terrible retribution as an example to other restless and rebellious communities.
XV
THE BURNING OF FALMOUTH BY MOWATT.
T HE year 1775 was the critical period in the relations between England and her American colonies. King George the Third and his reactionary ministers were fixed in their purpose to reduce those colonies to the same condition which had been imposed upon helpless Ireland and non-resistent India. A few of the Parliamentary minority made vigorous opposition but were not regarded. The assembling of a Continental Con- gress and its declaration of rights was considered a piece of unwarranted insolence. The Regulating Act, depriving Massachusetts with its District of Maine, of their chartered rights of self-govern- ment had in practice been by them ignored. For the colonials themselves only contempt was ex- pressed. It had been ordered when they were serving with the British Army that Americans of all ranks must take orders without question from any British officer. The belief was constantly expressed that these presumptuous back woodsmen would not dare to resist regular troops. General Gage, the commanding officer, declared that four regiments would be enough to settle the whole business.
It having been discovered that an accumulation of military stores had been got together at Lex- ington and Concord an expedition was sent in
THE BURNING OF FALMOUTH BY MOWATT 135
April to capture or destroy what might be found and to arrest the patriotic leaders. The story of that expedition is well known. To the English the result was a matter of intense mortification and surprise, while to the Americans it was a cause of exultation and of passionate anger as well. Four months later an attempt was made at Bunker Hill to redeem the tarnished reputation of their supposedly invincible soldiers and this brought a victory so bloody and costly as to appall the leaders themselves. That battle was followed by a gathering of sixteen thousand of provincial militia and the coming of George Washington, who took formal command under the great elm at Cambridge on the third day of July and quietly proceeded to organize the poorly trained recruits. The Congress again sent a respectful remonstrance to the King, but he refused to receive that or any other petition directly or indirectly. The Yankee populace, it was thought, badly needed a humiliat- ing lesson, but they had not yet received it. Maine, especially, was teeming with sedition, and Falmouth was known to be its principal point of disturbance.
That town, though its general business had mostly been suppressed, still had something of allowable and profitable trade with England, consisting chiefly of the exports of masts. It was always liberal in religious matters and had a. prominent Episcopal Church called St. Paul's, of which Rev. Mr. Wiswell was minister. Some of the better class citizens were loyalist in their sympathies. The demand for redress of grievances
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was vehement, but the thought of independence from the mother country was remote. The harsh methods of the British authorities continued without relaxation. The royal government then thought it advisable to make use of the suppressive force of its sea-power, which they proceeded to do in the usual arbitrary method. The Lords of Admiralty sent a fleet, with general authorization to the commanders of ships to use their own discretion.
At that time Capt. Samuel Coulson, a resident here, was largely concerned in the masting busi- ness. Quite naturally he was a royalist and he also made himself obnoxious in his comments upon all patriotic action. In May of this year 1775 he had built at his ship yard near India Street a large vessel, designed especially for the carrying of masts. The local committee of inspection, alleging that masts for the navy were in the nature of military supplies, refused permission for the land- ing of rigging, sails and stores for this vessel. Capt. Coulson, in angry fashion, made an appeal to Capt. Mowatt of the sloop of war Canceau to come and compel the authorities to allow the completion of his work. In the midst of the excitement and irritation, caused by the threatened interference of the war ship, there came the news of the battle of Lexington, which had lost none of its stirring effect in transmission. Mowatt soon ar- rived with his ship and two tenders. Responsive to the call from the Continental Congress a gathering of minute-men had assembled around Falmouth, and among them was a company from Brunswick
THE BURNING OF FALMOUTH BY MOWATT 137
who were encamped among the trees on Munjoy Hill. One afternoon Capt. Mowatt with his surgeon came on shore and with Rev. Mr. Wiswell took a walk to the hill. Capt. Thompson, com- mander of the company, assuming that they were spying upon his assemblage of minute-men, ar- rested Mowatt and his attendants. Upon being informed of this hasty action Col. Phinney and some of the principal townsmen at once requested that the British Captain be released, but this Thompson refused to do. Finally Mowatt was discharged on his promise to return when re- quested, which promise was guaranteed by Gen. Preble and Col. Freeman as hostages. When on board of his ship Mowatt refused to keep his parole, asserting that threats had been made upon his life. He was assured by the citizens that the disturbances which caused his arrest were occa- sioned by unorganized people from the country, for whose action the resident people were not responsible, and with expression of gratitude the captain weighed anchor and departed, together with Coulson and his new ship. It was said that they made an exaggerated report to Admiral Graves who then commanded upon this station and that he threatened to beat down the town about the ears of the citizens.
Early in June another ship, the Senegal, appeared in the harbor and Coulson also came to obtain his load of masts. The committee notified him that, pursuant to resolve of the Continental Congress, they could not consent that he should take in his cargo, whereupon both he and the war-
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ship departed. These splendid timber sticks were never removed and for sixty years lay in decaying piles upon the shore between Vaughan's Bridge and Stroudwater. The remainder of the summer passed by without trouble from abroad. The Siege of Boston was then on, and companies were raised in Falmouth, Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough and sent forward to augment the army of Washington in the conduct of the siege. No concessions were suggested upon the part of the British, and it became apparent that the contest was compelling an issue between complete sub- mission or independence. A large proportion of the able-bodied men had gone to join the army at Boston, but patriotic work was kept up. A few cannon were acquired, ammunition and arms were to a small extent obtained and something done to put the place in a condition of defence. It was plain that without fortifications of any consequence and with so exposed a water frontage there was nothing of consequence to offer against a naval attack, yet there was no faltering in the expressed purpose of the people to resist at all hazards, and the town was denounced as a younger member of the same rebel family as Boston.
A time of comparative quiet at Falmouth ensued, although civil business was generally sus- pended. The smaller settlements along the coast were then suffering by reason of plunder and abuse from the British war vessels. At Machias in June, the Margaretta, a small English raiding schooner, was captured, in what was called the first naval battle of the Revolution, and the crew
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THE BURNING OF FALMOUTH BY MOWATT 139
were transported to Falmouth. On the sixteenth
of October the people of the town were surprised
by the arrival of four naval vessels and a store ship. This occasioned no especial alarm, as it was supposed that they had come on a foraging expe- islands and elsewhere to guard and conceal the active men at home were quietly sent to the dition such as was not unusual. Most of the few
sheep and other live stock. Late in the afternoon
move the human specie from the town," for which Falmouth, and that he hereby gave warning "to re- to execute a just punishment on the town of in which it was stated that he had it in orders command, sent an officer on shore with a letter, of the next day, Captain Mowatt, who was in
purpose two hours would be allowed. The people
on the Neck immediately assembled and appointed
General Preble and two others a committee to
wait upon the British Captain to ascertain the
could not be averted. The mission produced no cause of the threatened calamity and see if it
effect. The reply of Mowatt was that his orders
however, he consented to postpone the execution to give any warning. Upon earnest entreaty, were peremptory and did not even authorize him
of his harsh purpose until eight o'clock the next morning on condition that the inhabitants would deliver to him eight small arms and surrender the
all of their small arms and ammunition. The four pieces of cannon then in town, together with
committee promised to lay the matter speedily
before the town and bring back their answer. It was thought expedient to send the eight muskets
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with a statement that a meeting would be held in the early morning, when a definite reply would be given.
Soon after daylight all the people came together at the town house. It was an impressive gathering. Along the shore lay the war ships, cleared for action with shotted guns and so placed as to do most effectively their deadly business. Around the as- sembled citizens were their defenceless homes with all their property. In the concourse were the helpless women and children, but there were few men at hand except the aged and infirm. It was indeed an historic scene. The proposition sub- mitted was in its full substance one of uncondi- tional surrender or murderous destruction. The time allowed was short, as the reply must be given at eight o'clock. There was little of debate. Amid tense excitement the vote was taken, and, as it is said, without a dissenting voice it was declared that they rejected the proposition which carried with it terms so abject. They instructed the committee to obtain all the delay possible, but they found Mowatt angry and impatient and he allowed but thirty minutes for escaping from the coming storm. At precisely half-past nine a red flag was run up and all the ships opened fire. A discharge of bombs, grape shot, and especially of cannon balls heated red hot, was rained upon the devoted town. Most of the buildings were upon the level land between India and Center Streets and within easy range. Soon the place presented a broad sheet of flame. Some attempted to rescue their household belongings,
THE BURNING OF FALMOUTH BY MOWATT 141
but the danger was so great that they could only retire prudently out of range. All through the bright day until six o'clock in the evening the havoc continued. In the meantime parties were landed from the vessels, who systematically applied the torch to buildings that escaped the missiles of the cannon. All the houses but one on Fore Street, every combustible thing on India Street and nearly all the buildings on Middle Street were destroyed. The work of devastation took in the whole of the Neck except isolated structures, and many of them were shattered. Four hundred and fourteen buildings, including the new Court House, the Town House, the Custom House, with many barns and warehouses, went up in the general conflagration. All the wharves of con- sequence, the ships in the harbor, with furniture and other personal property were included in the ruin. St. Paul's Church was burnt but the First Parish Church, being far back, was rescued though set on fire. The present stone church has as a memento a cannon ball which was lodged in the walls of its predecessor. One prominent building, being somewhat out of range of the cannon fire, escaped. This was the fashionable one-story tav- ern of Alice Greele. The intrepid proprietor all through the frightful day stood by her property and, though it was more than once set on fire, it finally escaped. The work was thoroughly done. Scarcely anything remained of the enterprising town except blackened ruins. Nearly two thou- sand people were left homeless and destitute upon the verge of the winter. The situation was one of
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great hardship and distress, although the ad- joining neighborhoods took in the exiles to the best of their ability, and in the battered houses there remained a shelter for a part.
The burning of Falmouth awakened widespread indignation all over the country. It is said that the news of the outrage reached the Continental Congress at Philadelphia at the same time as the report that Hessian mercenaries had been em- ployed to conquer America, and that the two events produced an almost decisive effect upon the declaration of independence which followed soon after.
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XVI
FALMOUTH IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
T HE Neck, meaning the part of the town which afterwards became Portland, was left by the bombardment in a condition of general desolation and ruin. Parson Smith, whose house had been burned and who had retired to Windham, came to the town about a month after the attack, thinking to re-establish church services. He was obliged to return without finding any accommo- dation and noted in his diary, "No lodging, eating or housekeeping in Falmouth." The selectmen's statement made at the time says, "We were greatly impoverished before the final catastrophe by the decay of navigation and trade which were our sole means of support. .... We conjecture not less than one hundred families must suffer for the necessaries of life." This estimate was exclusive of those who were crowded into the few habitable and partly habitable buildings and those who had found accommodations elsewhere. The settle- ments back of them, they said, were poor and the lands only in part cultivated so that much of alms could not be contributed by them.
Yet Old Falmouth town, instead of being intimidated by misfortune seems to have been aroused to greater effort in its public activities. In December following, a committee was chosen to join other towns to consider measures for the
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PORTLAND BY THE SEA
general safety. The breaking up of homes and business appears to have given additional impulse to enlistment. In the winter, in reply to applica- tion from Washington's army, then engaged in the siege of Boston, James Sullivan, acting Com- missary of Troops, replied that every man who could leave was gone or going to Cambridge and that further reinforcements could be obtained "only by drawing upon women instead of men and for knives and forks instead of arms." General Washington by a strategic move to Dorchester Heights compelled the evacuation of Boston. The seventeenth of March is still celebrated as evacua- tion day. Men from Falmouth, it is said, marched among the foremost when occupation was taken.
The records show that the people at home were still devoted to the political welfare of the country. In May, when the question of declaration of independence was pending before the Continental Congress, it was voted that if the Congress should make such declaration "the inhabitants of this town in meeting now assembled will solemnly engage with their lives and fortunes to support the measure." Other votes were frequently passed of high literary as well as of high patriotic quality.
Following the departure of the British from Boston they made a combined military and naval attack upon New York which, Sept. 15, 1776, they succeeded in occupying and which was made their military base during the remaining years of the war. New England, though continually harassed, was thereafter a field for minor warfare. During those subsequent years there was little of local
FALMOUTH IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR 145
incident or improvement. Not enough remained upon the Neck to induce new settlers to come or to furnish means of support for many people. It was manifestly useless in its exposed condition to attempt rebuilding. The British came and went at will, but there was nothing in the ruined wharves and structures, remote from each other, to make it desirable for occupation by them. Their ships ranged the coast, intent upon capturing all that was afloat. Even the little fishing boats were not excepted. Communication overland was slow and difficult, as the highways were little more than trails without definite location. The Neck was not abandoned, for it was still the central point for business and for the assembling of military recruits. Alice Greele's tavern seems to have been the general headquarters. There were bul- warks erected in various places near the shore, such as made landings of men from warships a dangerous proposition. At the present Fort Allen Park was a half-moon fortification named for Ethan Allen of Ticonderoga fame. This was once attacked by the British ship Cerberus. The fort had but two six-pounder cannon but these, by plunging fire, could strike the vessel while her guns could not be elevated sufficiently for her shot to reach the battery and the attack was, therefore, without effect. The civil government was kept up in regular order in accordance with Massachusetts laws, and the county business con- tinued to be transacted at Falmouth, the shire town. In 1777 it was estimated that it had about seven hundred and ten residents.
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The slowly passing period of the Revolutionary War was here, even more than elsewhere, a time of hardship, poverty and occasionally almost famine. During this long, unbroken test of endur- ance there was never mention of submission or compromise. The people kept constantly in touch with the general cause of independence. As Willis says, "Deprived of their commerce, cut short of ordinary supplies, they abated nothing of the spirit with which they engaged in the great cause of freedom." The government made special mention of this town "as highly commendable, manly and patriotic." .Only a hasty glance can now be given to the sequence of events.
The year 1776, which opened hopefully, ended in discouragement, relieved only by the brilliant feat of Washington in its closing days when he crossed the Delaware, encumbered with floating ice, and at Trenton captured a whole Hessian division. The special event in 1777 was the campaign of General Burgoyne. It was believed that a mil- itary expedition sent from Canada, following the old Indian route by the way of Lake Champlain, Lake George and the Hudson River, would strike the rebellious colonies in their most vulnerable part, and if successful would break the connection between New England and the more southern colonies. The distinguished commander had a selected army of seven thousand regulars, an ample train of artillery and several tribes of Indian warriors. It was expected to be a triumphal procession. He swept all before him until at Bennington a detachment of his troops was routed.
FALMOUTH IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR 147
He soon found himself constantly assailed by the minute-men from New England. The roads were obstructed by fallen trees and communications and supplies cut off, until he could neither advance or retreat. In October, at Saratoga, after a desperate battle the British army was hemmed in, surrounded, and the entire force compelled to surrender unconditionally. After that the Amer- ican contest was no longer regarded as a mere revolt but as formidable warfare. Encouraged by this event France, angered at its humiliating defeat and loss of Canada fifteen years before, and which had been hesitating, recognized, when the following spring opened, the independence of the colonies and openly espoused their cause. Saratoga is now reckoned as one of the sixteen decisive battles of the world. As usual the men from Maine, with Falmouth in the lead, were in the forefront. The news of the victory, as noted in the good minister's diary, was greeted here with expression of extravagant joy.
Notwithstanding the great success at Saratoga the colonial cause was in desperate condition. The Congress could lay no taxes. Supplies for the armies were wofully deficient. The British army at New York, still intact, was concentrated upon the wretchedly equipped forces of the Amer- ican commander. He was largely outnumbered but never outgeneraled. Stubbornly contesting every step he fell back from point to point until, upon the approach of winter, the enemy took possession of Philadelphia. Washington, with his
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