USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > The history of Portland, from 1632 to 1864: with a notice of previous settlements, colonial grants, and changes of government in Maine > Part 44
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514
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
French war, 1758. He died in Westbrook, 1816, aged ninety- three. There were three companies raised in Falmouth, Cape Elizabeth, and Scarborough in the beginning of the struggle.
So many of our inhabitants having been withdrawn to sup- ply the army, attention was bestowed to place the remainder in an attitude of defense; the selectmen were ordered to de- liver a quarter of a pound of powder to each person who was destitute, but who had a gun and was willing to defend the country ; and a committee was appointed to mount as many of the cannon belonging to the town as they thought proper. A few men were also raised and stationed under the direction of a committee in the most suitable places. These measures of preparation were of so absorbing interest that but little at- tention was paid to civil affairs ; the court of common pleas met on the 25th of July, and adjourned the same day ; the
Major in Col. Timothy Bigelow's regiment, January 1, 1777. He died in 1818. Maj. Bradish married Abiah Merrill, July 19, 1767, by whom he had several children. His sons, Levi and David, are well remembered by our aged citizens. Levi inherited the martial spirit of his father and commanded the "Portland Light Infantry" company from December, 1803, to May, 1809, with a fine mili- tary spirit and discipline. This company succeeded in 1803, the first Volunteer company established in Portland, or, as I think, in Maine. That company was organized in 1798, under a call by President Adams on the declaration of war with France. Its officers were Joseph C. Boyd, Capt., Ezekiel Day, Lieut., Rich- ard C. Wiggin, Ensign, and the late Thomas Motley of Boston, Orderly Sergeant. This company was disbanded in 1803, and the Portland Light Infantry company then organized. Ezekiel Day was Captain, and Thomas Motley, Lieutenant. The uniform was the Roman helmet with waving hair over the top, red coats faced witlı black, black stocks, white vests, and pantaloons, the latter with black cord on the seams, black half gaiters with red tops. It was an admirable and beautiful company, and for several years the only uniformed company in town. Francis Osgood, Nathaniel Shaw, John H. Hall, succeeded Bradish. The Cap- tains up to 1850, now living, are Jonathan Smith, Benjamin Ilsley, Arthur M. Small, Joseph Ilsley, Samuel J. Anderson. The social gatherings of the com- pany were exceedingly attractive, as were also those of the Portland Rifle Co., which in 1811 ranged in line with the Light Infantry, and under command of Capt. Atherton with Henry Smith for his Lieutenant, for the first time in that year made its brilliant and striking parade.
515
REVOLUTION-GOV. HUTCHINSON'S ADDRESSERS.
sheriff and crier were absent and no jurors had been returned. They did not meet again until October, 1776.1
The remainder of the summer passed away without any trouble from abroad, and the interval was employed to see if all was sound within.2 The towns were generally making in- vestigations into the firmness of the principles of the people, and whenever any act was done by which suspicion was aroused, the screw of public opinion was immediately applied. When Gov. Hutchinson was about leaving the country in 1774, people in various parts of the country, according to custom, presented him with complimentary addresses. A paper of that kind was sent from this town signed by some of the principal men, with- out distinction of party. When it was perceived by the letter book of the governor accidentally found in the garret of his seat at Milton, that he had been constantly misrepresenting to the British ministry the motives and conduct of the people, while he was pretending to be friendly to them ; a universal horror was felt at his duplicity, and all who had shown him any marks of respect, were made to feel in a degree the indig- nation which was due to his conduct. Those who had been deceived by the arts of the Governor, and had subscribed these addresses, were required to publish apologies in the public papers. The one from this town was dated September 1, '75, and appeared in the Essex Gazette on the 7th, and was as fol-
1 William Tyng was sheriff and Joshua Freeman, crier; the judges were Jere- miah Powell, Enoch Freeman, Moses Pearson, and Jonas Mason. Oct 11, 1775, the provincial Congress issued a commission in the name of the "Government and people of Massachusetts Bay," appointing Powell, Freeman, Mason, and Solo- mon Lombard, justices of this court; next day John Waite was appointed sheriff.
2 In May, 1775, the selectmen of this town employed Jabez Mathews and David Dinsmore of New Gloucester, to go to Quebec and ascertain if there were any hostile movements there against the back settlements of our province ; their route was by the Kennebec river. Mathews returned in June, and reported that there was no such design ; and was sent to make report to the provincial Con- gress .- Freeman, vol. ii. pp. 39, 46.
516
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
lows : "We, the subscribers, declare that in signing the letter to Gov. Hutchinson of the 11th of February, 1774, lately pub- lished, it was the farthest from our intentions to injure or of- fend our town or country, or to signify our approbation of those acts of Parliament which are so universally and justly odious to America. We really thought Governor Hutchinson was a friend to his country, and hoped he would have endeav- ored when in England, to obtain a redress of our grievances, and are sorry to find ourselves mistaken. We detest the thought of knowingly countenancing or encouraging an enemy to our once happy constitution ; and had we then been con- vinced that he was one as we now are, we should never have signed that letter. We further declare that it has always been our determination to observe the association and resolves of the continental and provincial Congresses, and hope this decla- ration will be satisfactory to the public, whose favor we shall always think ourselves happy in deserving."'
After this, nothing particularly interesting took place rela- tive to Falmouth until the 16th of October, when Capt. Mowatt again arrived at the mouth of the harbor with the Canceau, another ship called the Cat, two schooners, and a bomb sloop. When the people perceived that it was Mowatt, they felt but little apprehension for themselves, supposing his object to be to get cattle and provisions ; they therefore sent the greater part of the two companies here, to guard the islands where were large stocks of cattle and quantities of hay, and near which Mowatt had anchored. The next day the wind being unfavorable, the vessels were warped up the harbor and formed in a line fronting the principal settlement on the Neck. The first intimation the people had of the object of his visit, was by a letter he sent on shore in the afternoon of the 17th, in which
! This and another similar paper was signed by Enoch Ilsley, Theophilus Bradbury, Thomas Sandford, John Kent, Benjamin Titcomb, David Wyer, Jr., Simeon Mayo, and Moses Shattuck. Of the signers of the address, Pote, Ox- nard, and Coulson became refugees.
517
MOWATT'S FLEET-HIS SUMMONS.
he informed them that he had been sent to "execute a just punishment on the town of Falmouth," and allowed them but two hours to remove themselves and families from the scene of danger.1
1 The following is the letter written on this occasion :
"CANCEAU, FALMOUTH, October 16. 1775.
" After so many premeditated attacks on the legal prerogative of the best of sovereigns, after the repeated instances you have experienced in Britain's long forbearance of the rod of correction, and the manifest and paternal extention of her hands to embrace again and again, have been regarded as vain, and nuga- tory ; and in place of a dutiful and grateful return to your King and parent State, you have been guilty of the most unpardonable rebellion, supported by the ambition of a set of designing men, whose insidious views liave cruelly im- posed on the credulity of their fellow creatures, and at last have brought the whole into the same dilemma; which leads me to feel, not a little, the woes of - the innocent of them in particular on the present occasion, from my having it in orders to execute a just punishment on the town of Falmouth, in the name of which authority I previously warn you to remove without delay, the human specie out of the said town, for which purpose I give you the time of two hours, at the period of which, a red pendant will be hoisted at the main top gallant inast head, with a gun. But should your imprudence lead you to show the least resistance, you will in that case, free me of that humanity so strongly pointed out in my orders, as well as in my inclination.
I do also observe, that all those who did on a fermer occasion fly to the king's ship under my comniand, for protection, that the same door is now open to re- ceive them .
The officer who will deliver this letter, I expect to return immediately ull- molested.
I am, &c., H. MOWATT."
The Rev. Jacob Bailey, who was officiating in Falmouth, in place of Mr. Wiswell, in a letter published in.vol. v., p. 441, of the Maine Historical Collec- tions, says the officer "landed at the lower end of India street amid a prodigious assembly of people, which curiosity and expectation had drawn together from every quarter." He says the officer was conveyed with uncommon parade to the town house, and silence being commanded, "a letter was delivered and read by Mr. Bradbury, a lawyer, but not without such a visible emotion as occa- sioned a tremor in his voice." This was Theophilus Bradbury, who moved to Newburyport after the destruction of the town, and became a judge in the Su- preme Court. Mr. Bailey adds, " It is impossible to describe thie amazement which prevailed upon reading this alarming declaration ; a frightful consterna- tion ran through the assembly ; a profound silence ensued for several moments." He says again, Brigadier Preble, Dr. Coffin, and Mr. Pagan were chosen a com- mittee to wait upon the Commodore. "He received them with expressions of
518
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
The vessels came here directly from Boston, and no doubt can be entertained that the order for the destruction of the town proceeded from Admiral Greaves, who then commanded on this station, whose mind had probably been inflamed by the representations of Mowatt, Coulson, and others. On the receipt of Mowatt's letter the people on the Neck immediately assembled and appointed Gen. Preble, Dr. Coffin, and Robert Pagan to wait upon him to ascertain the cause of the threatened calamity, and see if it could, by any means, be averted. The mission was fruitless, Capt. Mowatt informed them that his orders werc peremptory, that they did not even authorize him to give the inhabitants any warning and in so doing he had risked the loss of his commission. At the earnest entreaty of the committee, he consented to postpone the execution of his severe orders until eight o'clock the next morning, on condition that the in- habitants would deliver to him eight small arms, and agree to suspend further proceedings until he could receive an answer to an express which he would dispatch to the admiral, provided the people would, before eight o'clock the next morning, sur- render four pieces of cannon which were then in town and all their small arms and ammunition. The committee frankly told him that they thought the inhabitants would not submit to this proposition, but promised to lay it before them and return him an answer.
On reaching the shore they found the anxious multitude as-
humanity, and even shed tears at the repetition of his orders." He adds, " At length the fatal hour arrived ! At exactly half an hour after nine, the flag was hoisted on the top of the mast, and the cannon began to roar with incessant and tremendous fury." After describing the terrible scene of the bombardment and conflagration in which "the elegant and thriving town of Falmouth was suddenly ruined," he closes, "in a word about three-quarters of the town was consumed, and between two and three hundred families, who twenty-four hours before enjoyed in tranquility their commodious habitations, were now in many instances destitute of a hut for themselves and families."
We cannot but think that the tears which Mr. Bailey says Mowatt shed were like the iron tears which came from Pluto's eyes !
519
REVOLUTION-DESTRUCTION OF FALMOUTH.
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sembled at the town house, to whom they reported the result of their conference. The town without hesitation disapproved of the terms, but in order to gain time for the removal of the women and children, and the sick, with as much property as possible, they sent off in the evening the eight small arms and informed the Captain that the town would have a meeting early in the morning, and give a definite reply to his proposal by eight o'clock. The meeting was held, and the inhabitants with a firmness and courage worthy of all praise and a better fate, while the loaded cannon were pointed toward them, reso- lutely rejected a proposition which carried with it the abject terms of surrendering their arms to save their property. The same committee was appointed to convey their determination and were instructed to occupy as much time as possible on board. But so impatient was Mowatt to begin the work of destruction, that the committee at half-past eight o'clock were requested to go on shore and only half an hour allowed then to escape from the coming storm.
At nine and a half o'clock the firing commenced from all the vessels in the harbor which kept up a discharge of balls from three to nine pounds weight, bombs, carcasses, shells, grape shot, and musket balls with little cessation until six o'clock in the eve- ning. In the mean time parties landed from the vessels and set fire to various buildings.1 The inhabitants were so much
1 The first house set on fire was B. Bailey's, which stood where the brick block stands on Middle street near where Federal street joins it; it was two stories, and occupied by Josiah Shaw for a dwelling-house and saddler's shop; it was fired by a shell. Mr. Shaw was the father of Nathaniel, who died in 1831, and grandfather of Nathaniel Shaw now living among us; they both followed the trade of their ancestor who came here from Hampton, N. H., in 1753. The next was a dwelling-house on the corner of India and Federal streets, belonging to Capt. Hoole, by a carcass. A barge came on shore and the crew scattered in different directions, one detachment proceeded to Dr. Lowther's house on India street, the Dr. who was standing at the door, was ordered to quit the house; on his departure, they set fire to the building and burnt it with its con- tents, and also those of his apothecary shop ; about one hundred men landed
520
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
occupied in removing their families and property to places of safety, that but little resistance was made to the parties which landed. No plan of defense had been concerted; the soldiers were scattered, part of them having that morning returned from the islands, where they had been on duty, were employed in saving their families and goods, and the remainder were without any sufficient leader ; all, both soldiers and others, were in too great consternation to make any effectual resist- ance. There was also a deficiency of powder, there not being an hour's supply in town. Had there been one company here, well organized and of sufficient coolness, much of the evil oc- casioned by straggling marines might have been prevented. Several of the Britishi were killed and wounded ; none fortu- nately were killed on the side of the inhabitants, and only one wounded.1
The town soon presented a broad sheet of flame, which as the buildings were of wood, spread with great rapidity and in- volved all the thickest part of the settlement in one common ruin. All the houses were destroyed on Fore street from Jor- dan's Point, where the Portland Company's works are, to Ex- change street, but one ; all on both sides of Middle street as far west as School street, except Sheriff Tyng's, on the corner of the street that goes into Clay cove, Theopliilus Bradbury's on the corner of Willow street? and Thomas Smith's house on
1 This was Reuben Clough, who lived on the corner of Plum and Fore streets.
2Messrs. Tyng's and Bradbury's houses are still standing ; Mr. Bradbury's was several times set on fire, but saved by the inhabitants. Mrs. Greele, who kept a tavern at what is now the corner of Congress and Hampshire streets, saved her house, which was repeatedly set on fire, by remaining in it at great peril and ex- tinguishing the fire whenever it caught. Mr. Tyng's house is said to have been purposely spared, but I think it may better be said that it was not purposely destroyed.
from the ships. The confusion in the streets was very great, women and chil- dren screaming and endeavoring to escape, children separated from their pa_ rents, and not knowing where to go for safety. Many balls reached beyond Main street above the head of Park street.
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521
DESTRUCTION OF THE TOWN.
the corner of Essex street; every house in India street and Turkey lane, now Sumner street, and scattered houses in Franklin and Congress streets, amounting to one hundred and thirty-six dwelling-houses, beside a handsome new court-house, the Episcopalian church, the town-house, the custom-house, a fire engine, nearly new, together with barns and almost every store and warehouse in town, all the wharves but one or two short ones, and all the vessels in the harbor but two, which the enemy took away with them, were burnt.1 The meeting-house of the first parish, which was then unprotected by other build- ings, was perforated by several balls and grape shot, some of which were found in the ceiling and other parts when it was taken down in 1826.2 A cannon ball passed through the house of Deacon Codman, which stood on the corner of Middle and Temple streets ; the house having a commanding view of the harbor, was exposed to the fire of the enemy and considerably shattered, the front fence standing on Middle street was often set on fire and extinguished by the people ; many others were injured in a similar manner. A great quantity of personal property was unavoidably destroyed, from the scarcity of teams and the confusion and alarm of the occasion. Many articles were thrown into the streets and there left to perish.3 An im- mense quantity of furniture and other property was piled up indiscriminately as it was plucked out of the fire, in the field opposite the head of High street, where much of it was de-
1 The number of buildings, exclusive of dwelling-houses, destroyed, was two hundred and seventy-eight, ( Essex Gazette, October 26,) which with one hundred and thirty-six houses makes the total number of buildings burnt four hundred and fourteen.
2 Three persons after dark attempted to set fire to the meeting-house, but were interrupted and compelled to retreat. The chandelier, formerly in the present stone church, was suspended from a cannon ball which made a deep wound in the venerable structure. It still remains in the ceiling.
3 Not more than half the movables were saved ont of the buildings which were burnt .- Report of Selectmen. Freeman, vol ii. p. 252. About one hundred and sixty families were turned out of doors .- Dwight's Travels, vol. ii. p. 172. 34
522
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
stroyed by the rain of the next day, and much stolen or irre- coverably scattered.1
All the compact part of the town was destroyed, containing a large proportion of the most valuable buildings. One hund- red dwelling-houses only were left standing, many of which were damaged by balls and bursting of bombs. The last house that was burnt was the Rev. Mr. Smith's which stood directly fronting India street; it caught just before dark from Capt. Sandford's, which stood on the north-west corner of India street, and was the only house burnt on that side of Congress street.2
On the 20th of October, Pearson Jones was dispatched to the headquarters of the army with information of the ca- lamity, and an express was also forwarded to the continental Congress. This was received in Philadelphia, November 1, and Congress ordered a copy to be transmitted "by the dele- gates to their respective assemblies, conventions, and commit- tees of safety."
The situation of the inhabitants after the fire was one of great suffering and distress ; many families who before that event were in comfortable circumstances, had lost all their property and were turned houseless, at the commencement of winter, upon the hand of charity; while on every quarter, pov- erty and desolation met the unhappy sufferers. On the 26th of October the town held a meeting and raised a committee to
1 The day the town was destroyed was clear and pleasant; the next morning it began to rain and continued raining for three days.
2 For a list of the houses which survived the conflagration, and are now stand- ing, see Appendix XVII. Capt. Mowatt died suddenly on board of his ship in Hampton Roads, March, 1797. He commenced service on the American coast in 1759 and continued through the war of the revolution. He was in Nova Scotia in 1796, December 16, when the Governor issued to him a press warrant to supply his ship with men .- Hal. vol. i. p. 273. In Rodd's catalogue of books published in London in 1843, is this notice. "Mowatt, Capt. Henry, R. N. Relation of the services in which he was engaged in America from 1759 to the close of the American war, 1783, fol." He was with Gov. Pownal in his expedi- tion to the Penobscot to select a site for the fort, in the spring of 1759.
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523
SUFFERING OF THE PEOPLE.
procure subscriptions for the relief of the distressed poor of the town.1 On the 10th of November the provincial Congress, on the petition of Samuel Freeman, then a member from this town, granted two hundred and fifty pounds to the sufferers, and ordered fifteen bushels of corn to be distributed to each family whose loss deprived them of the means of purchasing any .? In 1776 one half of the taxes on the town for 1775 were abated, and in 1779, on the petition of Enoch Freeman and others, a grant was made of two thousand pounds to purchase bread and other necessaries of life for the poor of the town, to be dis- tributed under the direction of the selectmen.3
In August, 1776, a committee was appointed to petition the continental Congress for some remuneration for the losses sus- tained by the people in the cause of American liberty; the petition was presented by Samuel Freeman.4 The application was not successful ; having been rejected on the ground that all the towns on the coast being liable to similar visitations, it would be unsafe to establish a precedent which might embar- rass the future operations of government. At the same meet- ing a committee consisting of Joseph Noyes, Enoch Moody, Daniel Ilsley, and Richard Codman, together with the select- men of the town, was raised, to adjust and liquidate the ac-
1 The committee consisted of B. Titcomb, R. Pagan, R. Codman, William Mclellan, Stephen Waite, Benjamin Winslow, and Nathaniel Carle.
2 Letters were sent to the Congress by Enoch Moody, chairman of a commit- tee, and by Rev. Samuel Deane, which were committed with the petition, and the following report was made : "Whereas, by the late unparalled inhumanity of the British forces in burning the greatest part of Falmouth, many of the in- habitants of that town are reduced to great distress and want, and stand in need of immediate relief, therefore resolved that there be allowed," etc. two hundred and fifty pounds, etc.
3 This apparently large amount was really small, being in paper exceedingly depreciated. In an appeal from the town "to all friends of humanity in Europe" in 1783, it is said that "not less than one thousand persons, including our wives and children, were instantly reduced to a state of unspeakable distress."
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