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 45
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4 The committee was Theophilus Bradbury, John Waite, and Joseph Noyes.
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524
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
counts of the losses sustained by the fire. The committee, after a careful investigation, ascertained the losses to amount to fifty-four thousand five hundred and twenty-seven pounds thirteen shillings.1 The town did not sit down quietly un- der these losses ; they applied repeatedly to the national Con- gress, and the State Legislature, and at length sought abroad for relief which in the embarrassed state of the country they could not obtain at home. After hostilities were over, they sent earnest appeals to the people of England, Ireland, and France, in 1783, and employed the services of Dr. Franklin and Gov. Pownal to give them effect ; but all in vain, we have no evidence that anything was ever realized from those applica- tions.2 At length however, in 1791, after having long and in various ways besieged the hearts of the members of the Gen- eral Court, they obtained a grant of two townships of land, each six miles square, situated in the county of Somerset, and now called Freeman and New Portland.3
The intimation that was given in Mowatt's letter, that his orders did not confine him to the destruction of this town alone, produced great alarm in all the seaports on this coast, and their inhabitants immediately proceeded to construct such for-
1 This is the amount stated in the petition to Congress; the following is the language of the committee : "They take leave further to inform your honors that an exact estimate has been taken of their loss, which they verily believe is mod- erate and just, the accounts of individuals having been examined and liquidated by an impartial committee appointed for that purpose, it amounts to the sum of fifty-four thousand five hundred and twenty-seven pounds and thirteen shillings." Some additions were afterward made; for a statement of the whole, with the names of the sufferers, see Appendix XVIII. This was "lawful money," which had not then begun to depreciate and was equal to two hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred and thirty-nine dollars in silver.
2 It may be interesting to preserve the evidence of these facts, I have therefore placed in Appendix No. XIX. the appeal to the Irish, with a letter from Gov. Bowdoin and Gov. Pownal.
3 For further particulars relating to these townships, we must refer to Appen- dix XX.
525
MEASURES OF DEFENSE.
tifications as it was in their power to throw up. Some desert- ers from the fleet had reported that it was the intention of the British to take possession of the Neck and improve the harbor for the king's ships during winter. This information caused alarm in the surrounding country, and petitions were presented to the provincial Congress by Jeremiah Powell of North Yar- mouth, and Isaac Parsons of New Gloucester, referring to this rumor and requesting protection. The arrival of the ship Cerberus on the first of November, created new fears, and our people sent an express to the neighboring towns to summon volunteers, who arrived in numbers sufficient to protect the remains of Falmouth. The commander of the ship, John Symons, sent on shore to forbid the people throwing up any intrenchments ; but they, entirely disregarding his threats, pro- ceeded with the greatest alacrity to construct breast-works and batteries on Munjoy's hill, working all day Sunday to complete them. All the artillery they had was two six-pounders, which they fitted in a battery, and with which they made preparations to attack the Cerberus ; but she did not tarry to give them an opportunity to try their skill.' Enoch Moody, chairman of the town committee, wrote to Gen. Washington, under date Novem- ber 2, 1775, informing him of the arrival of the Cerberus with four hundred men, and the expectation of the people that he in- tended to land and take possession of the town. He says, "We have only two half-barrels of powder in stock and we almost fear to make an opposition. We are in great want of some person of a martial spirit to conduct the few tories we already have." Enoch Moody died in February, 1777, an honored and worthy man. He came from Newbury.
The government, on the representation of the designs of the enemy, voted that four hundred men should be raised for the
l The soldiers who crowded into town, took possession of some of the best houses which remained; Capt. Pride's company occupied Dr. Deane's, which was then two stories, and nearly new. The same house modernized is owned by the heirs of the late Samuel Chadwick, and stands next above the stone church.
526
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
defense of Maine, to be stationed at Falmouth, and that the militia should be mustered in case of invasion. The troops arrived the latter part of November; Gen. Joseph Frye, to whom the command of the station was assigned, came here November 25.1 Many persons who had been driven from town, returned under protection of the troops, and the few houses which were standing were over crowded, and could ill accom- modate the additional number of persons whom the state of things brought upon the Neck. Mr. Smith, who had retired to Windham, came to town to preach November 25, but was obliged to return, not having been able to get lodgings.2 In the latter part of 1775, the distressed situation of the people, particularly in Maine, was laid before the provincial Congress, and one thousand two hundred pounds were granted from the treasury for their relief.
Notwithstanding the narrow circumstances in which the in- habitants of the Neck were now placed, deprived of their com- merce, cut short of the ordinary supplies,3 they abated nothing of the spirit with which they engaged in the great cause of freedom. In December a committee was chosen to join other towns in convention, to consider measures for the general safety of the county of Cumberland and this town in particu- lar.4 In February, the town voted to recommend to the com-
1 Gen. Frye moved to Fryeburg after the war, and died there in 1794, aged eighty-three. By his wife, a daughter of Gen. Poor, he had children, Joseph, Nathaniel, Samuel, and Richard, who lived at Fryeburg and Conway.
2 Rev. P. T. Smith of Windham, preached here for his father, December 10th, 1775, from this striking passage, "When he saw the city, he wept over it." In discoursing over the ruins of his native town, we may suppose him to have been pathetic and interesting.
3 April 14, 1776, Mr. Smith says, "No lodging, eating, nor horsekeeping at Falmouth."(Neck.)
4 The following letter from James Sullivan, afterward governor of Massachu- setts, may be interesting ; it was addressed to Samuel Freeman at Watertown. Mr. Sullivan was then commissary of the troops stationed here :
"FALMOUTH, 31st January, 1776.
SIR-Since I wrote you last, I received a resolve of court, wherein I find I am
527
MEASURES OF DEFENSE
mittee of safety to encourage the manufacture of saltpeter, in the same month thirty of our people enlisted in the continental army. May 21, a committee was chosen to repair the forts on the Neck,' and on the same day the following vote was passed, which shows that the people here had made up their minds in advance on the great question which was agitating the conti- nent : "Voted unanimously as the determination of this town that if the honorable American Congress should, for the safety of the united colonies, declare them independent of the king- dom of Great Britain, the inhabitants of this town, in meeting now assembled, will solemnly engage with their lives and for- tunes to support the Congress in the measure."2
In June the General Court made provision for stationing a company of fifty soldiers here, for which they sent ten cannon.
1 One was on Munjoy hill, another on the hill in Free street, where Mr. Ander- son's house stands.
2 The General Assembly, on the 10th of May, passed an order recommending the several towns in the province to instruct their representatives on the subject of independence. This early movement anticipated the action of the continen- tal Congress.
directed to assist in raising two hundred and thirty-eight men in the county of York. I shall obey the orders, and do my best, and make no doubt but the men may be had, which will leave the sea-coast of the county entirely without fire- arms, for our arms were taken from our people on the last of December, by or- der of Congress ; an enlistment for Cambridge will strip us of men for this winter, and if our guns are again stopped, we shall be in the spring without fire-arms. I venture to affirm as a fact, that more than half the men of Biddeford and Pep- perelborough are now in camp at Cambridge. The four hundred men at Fal- mouth can never be raised, as every one who can leave home is gone or going to Cambridge. The officers appointed here have no commissions, nor has Gen. Frye any orders or instructions. You might have sent the commissions before now, if you had attended to the safety of your own county ; and hope you will send them by the first conveyance. If the General Court should order another reinforcement, they must draw upon this part of the province for women instead of men, and for knives and forks instead of arms, otherwise they cannot be obeyed.
I am your humble Serv't. JAMES SULLIVAN."
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
The company was enlisted in this neighborhood to serve un- til December, and the command given to Capt. John Preble.1 Capt. Joseph Noyes was appointed to muster the company. William Frost was commissary of the forces stationed in and near Falmouth this year, for the defense of the sea-coast. In November another company of fifty men was stationed at Cape Elizabeth for the defense of the harbor, and with the one on the Neck was continued in service until March ; at the same time all the other soldiers here were ordered to be dismissed .? This year the militia of the county were reorganized, and in De- cember the General Court appointed the following officers to the first regiment in Cumberland, viz., Peter Noyes, Colonel, Nathaniel Jordan, Lt. Colonel, James Merrill, 1st Major, and James Johnson, 2d Major ; these persons all lived in Falmouth; in the same month every fourth man of the militia was ordered to be drafted to supply the army.
After 1775 the town was not again visited by the enemy, and the harbor became a resort for privateers. . A number in the course of the war were built and fitted out here by mer- chants residing in other places, particularly in Salem.3 Our own people made a humble attempt in 1776, to make reprisals upon the enemy ; in the summer of that year a number of per- sons united and fitted out a sloop called the Retrieve, as a
1 Capt. Preble was the second son of Gen. Preble, he had served at Penobscot, and was an Indian interpreter. He was appointed truckmaster at Fort Pownal, 1770, and continued there until 1775.
2 In July, 1776, the General Court ordered a levy of every twenty-fifth man to fill up the army .- Brad. vol. ii. p. 174. Falmouth was exempted from this draft; thirty-nine were levied in the county.
3 John Archer, who had been a merchant in this town before the war, and moved to Salem, was largely concerned in these private expeditions ; he had several privateers, some of which he fitted out here; he was successful. He re- turned to this place after the war and built a house in Fore street, west of Union street. He became intemperate, and sunk from the condition of a respectable merchant to be a common lumper. The elder Woodbury Storer was his clerk before the war.
529
PRIVATEERING.
privateer : she mounted ten guns, and was commanded by Capt Joshua Stone of this town. She was not successful, and was soon taken and carried into Halifax.1 The next enterprise of the kind undertaken by our inhabitants, was fitting out the ship Fox by John Fox, Deacon Titcomb, and others ; she was poorly provided with the material of war; she had but four iron guns and no swords; they substituted scythes fitted into suitable handles for boarding pikes .? When out but eight days they fell in with a letter of marque of eighteen guns, a fine ship, with a valuable cargo, which they surprised and cap- tured and carried into Boston. This rich prize furnished them with all the arms and equipments necessary for a privateer, and remunerated the owners amply for their expenditure. She ,made several cruises during the war, but never with a success at all comparable with the first. In her subsequent cruises she was commanded by Capt. Stone. In 1778 the brig Union was fitted out here, mounting twelve guns, six of which were of wood : nothing brilliant or profitable attended her career.
In April, 1777, a company of eighty men was stationed on the Neck, the command of which was given to Abner Lowell, and another of forty men at Cape Elizabeth.3 The whole ef- fective population of Falmouth at the commencement of this year, was but about seven hundred and ten men ; upon which
1 Capt. Arthur Mclellan was an officer on board of her; after her capture, Capt. McLellan sailed from Salem as prize master on board a well appointed private armed ship of twenty-two guns. They captured two rich brigs at once, by running between them and firing a broadside into each ; one mounted sixteen guns.
2 She was pierced for twenty guns.
3 The pay of these troops was for a captain, six pounds per month ; 1st lieut. four pounds ; sergeants and gunners, two pounds and eight shillings ; privates, two pounds. In January a requisition was made on Massachusetts for five thou- sand blankets; the proportion of this county was one hundred and twenty-three, of which Falmouth's share was twenty-five, Cape Elizabeth, thirteen. Paper money had begun to depreciate, so that in April one hundred pounds in coin was worth one hundred and twelve pounds in paper. .
530
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
drafts were continually made for the army.1 In June an ex- pedition was planned against Nova Scotia to prevent the dep- redations of the enemy from that quarter; Col. John Waite of this town was appointed muster-master. But after considera- ble progress was made in raising men, it was abandoned as too burdensome for the finances of the country. The news of the capture of Burgoyne, which took place in October, was received here with the same extravagant joy that it met in every other part of the country. Mr. Smith says, our people are mad in their rejoicing. It is not to be wondered at, that in that dark day of our prospects, so brilliant a victory should have produced the most sincere and heart-felt joy ; it was a bright harbinger of future success, and inspired the public mind with confidence. In this celebration, Benjamin Tukey, . son of John Tukey, a young married man aged twenty-eight, was killed by the premature discharge of a gun.
1778.] This town was not wanting in spirit on any occasion, notwithstanding its impoverished means. So signally did they display their self-devotion that they received the special com- mendation of the General Court. In the resolve for raising two thousand men in April, 1778, the government mentioned the conduct of Falmouth "as highly commendable, manly, and patriotic in their glorious exertions to raise volunteers to rein- force the continental army." In April the town raised a com- pany of fifty volunteers for Gen. Washington's army, to each soldier of which they paid a bounty of sixty pounds, provided lie furnished himself with equipments and served in the army till the last of November. In December the town generously
1 By order of the General Court a return was made in January, 1777, of the males of sixteen years and upward, in each town in the county, as follows : Falmouth, seven hundred and eighty-six, including sixty-four Quakers, twelve negroes, and one mulatto ; Brunswick, one hundred and ninety-eight, including four belonging to Falmouth; Scarborough, four hundred and seventy-one, includ- ing six from Falmouth; North Yarmouth, four hundred and four, including two from Falmouth; Harpswell, one hundred and eighty-nine, including one from Falmouth ; Cape Elizabeth, three hundred and fifty .- General Court Files.
531
SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE.
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voted to indemnify those persons who had or would supply the families of those soldiers who were engaged in the army ; many persons came forward, and furnished the supplies. The General Court had recommended a measure of this kind to encourage enlistments. In the course of the summer the small pox broke out here ; five young men were innoculated and got well ; a pest-house was built the same month and forty-one persons entered it for the first class ; the disorder was of a mild character. In the course of the year 1778, the French openly espoused our cause and rendered very effectual assistance to our arms. War was declared against her by England, which was carried on by both parties on this conti- nent and in our seas ; the result of the campaign was on the whole successful to the American cause.
1779.] The war had been carried on thus far at great sacri- fices and sufferings on the part of the colonies ; it had been sustained by issues of paper money which had enormously de- preciated.1 Many people who were needed to cultivate the
1 The whole amount of continental money issued from June 22, 1775, to No- vember, 1779, was two hundred and forty-one millions five hundred and fifty-two thousand seven hundred and eighty dollars. The depreciation was rapid ; by an Act of the General Court, the rate of depreciation on all contracts was as fol- lows : for every one hundred dollars in gold or silver, in January, 1777, one hund- red and five dollars in paper of the United States was to be received; in July one hundred and twenty-five dollars in paper ; in October, two hundred and seventy-five dollars; 1778, January, three hundred and twenty-five dollars ; April, four hundred dollars ; July, four hundred and twenty-five dollars; Octo- ber, five hundred dollars ; 1779, January, seven hundred and forty-five dollars ; April, eleven hundred and four dollars; July, fourteen hundred and seventy- seven dollars; October, two thousand and thirty dollars; 1780, January, two thousand nine hundred and thirty-four dollars; April, four thousand dollars ; from April 1, to the 20th, 1780, one Spanish dollar was equal to forty dollars in paper of the old emission ; May 25, it was equal to sixty dollars ; the paper de- preciated gradually until February 27, 1781, when one Spanish dollar was worth seventy-five dollars in paper. At that time a new emission was made of paper which was a little short of two dollars for one dollar of silver. This however continually depreciated until October 1, 1781, it stood at four dollars to one dol- lar.
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532
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
soil, had been drawn off to supply the waste of war, while the consumption of provisions had vastly increased. In addition to these unfavorable circumstances, the season of 1778 had been peculiarly unfortunate, one-half of the crops having been cut off by the severity of the drought. In the early part of this year provisions were extremely scarce and high ; in January, Mr. Smith observes, "it is wonderful how the people live here on the Neck for want of bread, there being little to be bought, and that so monstrous dear ;" and in April he says, "a griev-
The following were the prices of articles in Falmouth in 1779, which may be graduated by the foregoing scale ; January, wood, twenty dollars a cord; April, Indian meal, thirty dollars a bushel; May, corn, thirty-five dollars a bushel, and coffee, three dollars a pound ; June, molasses, sixteen dollars a gallon ; coffee, four dollars a pound, and sugar, three dollars. June 10, Mr. Smith says, "a man asked seventy-four dollars for a bushel of wheat meal." By the scale in June, one hundred silver dollars were worth one thousand three hundred and forty-two in paper, so that the molasses was about one dollar and twenty cents a gallon, in silver, coffee about thirty cents, and sugar about twenty-three cents, and the flour about five dollars and seventy-five cents a bushel. In November, 1788, Mr. Smith says, "Common laborers have four dollars a day, while minis- ters have but a dollar, and washer-women as much. It is a melancholy time on many accounts. Lawful money is worth no more than old tenor ; creditors don't receive an eighth part of their old debts nor ministers of their salary." In 1780, by a Resolve of Congress, a large amount of depreciated paper was taken out of circulation and a new emission of bills was made by the State of far less amount and to be considered equal to specie. This passed for a short time at par, but soon followed the fate of its predecessors, a natural consequence of the heavy debt and a want of confidence in the ability of government.
In January, 1777, such an amount of paper money had been issued and coin consequently had become so scarce, that prices began to feel the effects of the change. In a vain effort to remedy this evil, Massachusetts undertook to regu- late prices, and passed a law, by which they prohibited articles being sold higher than the statute regulation. The prices affixed were as follows, viz : Wheat, seven shillings and six pence a bushel; rye, five shillings; Indian meal and corn, four shillings ; beef, three pence a pound; W. I. rum seven shillings and eight pence a gallon ; N. E. rum, four shillings and six pence a gallon ; Muscovado su- gar, eight pence a pound by the one hundred weight; Molasses, four shillings a gallon ; potatoes, two shillings a bushel; oats, two shilling ; a bushel; coffee, one shilling and four pence a pound.
533
BAGADUCE EXPEDITION.
ous cry for bread." This combination of evils called upon the people for exercise of their utmost patience and fortitude. The government did all they could to'relieve the scarcity, they vot- ed two hundred thousand pounds, and appointed a committee to procure flour and grain from the south. Fortunately tlie season of 1779 was wonderfully forward and productive, and saved the country from the horrors of a famine. Mr. Smith remarks at different periods of its progress, "never was the corn so forward," "a wonder of a potatoe year, so many, so large and so good," and at the close, October 24, he exclaims, "never such a fine season."
In the midst of this summer, the arrival of an English fleet in Penobscot bay, and the capture of Bagaduce Point, upon which Castine is situated, in June, produced a strong sensation throughout the States. The united feeling of government and people was to drive the enemy from the soil and preserve the integrity of our territory. The government immediately organ- ized a force to consist of fifteen hundred men, wholly from Mas- sachusetts ; and a fleet consisting of nineteen armed vessels, and twenty-four transports, was put in requisition for the occasion. The fleet was commanded by Commodore Saltonstall, and the land forces by Gen. Solomon Lovell ; Gen. Peleg Wadsworth, at that time Adjutant General of the militia of Massachusetts, being the second in command. One regiment under the com- mand of Col. Mitchell of North Yarmouth, was raised in this neighborhood, to which Falmouth and Cape Elizabeth contrib- uted two companies ; Capt. Joseph McLellan of this town was commissary of supplies. The expedition was popular, and the people engaged with alacrity and zeal in it; the company which was formed on the Neck consisted of volunteers from the families of the most respectable inhabitants.1 Our soldiers
1 Peter Warren was captain, Daniel Mussey, lieutenant, John Dole, first ser- geant, Richard Codman, Daniel Cobb, William Moody, Stephen Tukey, Hugh McLellan, Micah Sampson, and Zachariah Baker were privates.
534
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
sailed on the 18th of July in a transport sloop from this town, commanded by Capt. William McLellan, for Townsend, now Boothbay, the place of rendezvous, where they remained a few days for the other forces. But notwithstanding the spirit with which the people engaged in this enterprise, and the ardent hopes entertained of its success, the result was very disastrous. The expedition was hastily got up and measures were concerted without sufficient prudence and caution. To increase the diffi- culties, on the arrival of the forces in the Penobscot, the com- manders of the fleet and army disagreed in their plan of attack. It was, however, determined to make an assault upon the garrison and take it if possible by storm ; for this purpose the ยท troops were landed on the north side of the promontory at sunrise, where they climbed a precipitous bluff amidst a heavy fire from the enemy's battery on the hight. Capt. Warren's company from this town was the first that ascended the cliff and formed, when the enemy fled to their intrenchments.' They were closely pursued through a wood which covered this part of the hill ; our troops were eager to follow them to their in- trenchments, but were ordered by the general to stop, and were moved back to the edge of the wood, where they threw up breastworks and made preparation for a regular siege. It was believed that had our soldiers not been checked in their first onset, they would have been able from their superior force to have entered and dislodged the enemy from their unfinished works; such is believed to have been the opinion of General Wadsworth, whose conduct in the whole course of the expedition merited unqualified approbation; he was in the midst of every danger and suffering ; and our soldiers said if the chief command had been intrusted to him, success would have crowned our arms. Nothing of consequence toward re- ducing the place was accomplished after the first day ; the enemy labored assiduously to strengthen their fortifications, and at the end of a fortnight, on the approach of a large rein-
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