Saltonstall at Penobscot (cont. from 25 JUL)
19 JULY-17 AUGUST 1779
SALTONSTALL AT PENOBSCOT
Four hundred Continental and colonial Marines led the numerically superior American assault, clamoring up the cliff to within 600 yards of the fort. But here they came within range of the three small British sloops CAPT Mowat had left. Withering fire from these small sloops stopped the Marines. At this point, Lovell opted to entrench and begin construction of a battery. Meanwhile Lovell pleaded with Saltonstall to attack the three British sloops holding up the assault. But Saltonstall balked, not wishing to break off his cannonade of the fort. While the two commanders argued back and forth casualties mounted ashore. Hours stretched into days, dragging what should have been a quick, overpowering assault into a siege. Now junior officers ashore joined in Lovell’s entreaties to the Commodore. But Saltonstall continued to dally, maneuvering pointlessly in the Penobscot River, careful to stay out of range of British guns. For nine precious days the arguments between Saltonstall and Lovell hobbled the American advance. Despite an overwhelming American superiority of firepower, the three small British sloops managed to grind the American assault to a stalemate. The British used the time to reinforce the fort’s earthenworks. Then on August 4th, British reinforcements arrived from New York in the form of CDORE Sir George Collier in the 64-gun two-decker HMS RAISONABLE and six smaller warships.
Weeks of American indecisiveness had allowed the tables to turn. The assault troops were so demoralized that the very sight of Collier’s warships sent the Colonials scurrying for safety. Saltonstall, too, lost his nerve and signaled every captain for himself. Bedlam ensued as the troops ashore panicked to re-embark. In the ensuing chaos not a single American gun was fired. The Colonials fled up the Penobscot River where the shallowing and narrowing channel eventually blocked any further escape. With Collier hot on their tail, on 14-16 August the entire American flotilla was scuttled, burned, or fell to British capture. The defeat was total–at an overall cost of 474 American lives and a dear $7 million in ships and expenses. Not until Pearl Harbor did an American Navy suffer a more devastating blow. To avoid capture themselves, American warfighters had to hump overland to Boston.
As the survivors trickled into Boston, enraged townspeople railed for the censure of the involved officers. When Saltonstall’s timidity was disclosed he was dismissed from the Continental Navy in disgrace, never to hold military rank or public office again. Revere and Lovell both faced court-martial but were cleared of any culpability.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 3 AUG 23
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Fowler, William M., Jr. Rebels Under Sail: The American Navy during the Revolution. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1976, pp. 103-09.
Leamon. James S. Revolution Downeast: The War for American Independence in Maine. Amhearst, MA: Univ. of Massachusetts Press, 1993, pp. 104-34.
Miller, Nathan. Sea of Glory: A Naval History of the American Revolution. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1974, pp. 412-17.
Potter, E.B. and Chester W. Nimitz. Sea Power: A Naval History. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1960, pp. 71-72.
Site visits. Fort George Historical Site, Castine, ME, 21 August 2004, 22 July 2022.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: This action, and a similar event in the Hudson River, comprised serious double blows to American naval power late in the war. As a result, Continental Navy contributions from 1779 on were largely confined to commerce raiding and singular ship-to-ship engagements. CAPT Saltonstall had been the senior captain of the Continental Navy, and was the brother-in-law of Silas Deane, one of the three original members of the Continental Congress’ Naval Committee. Saltonstall’s name was enduringly tarnished.
The 12-gun sloop PROVIDENCE mentioned above was burned 14 August 1779 in the Penobscot River to prevent her capture. She was the last surviving vessel from the original eight-ship fleet the Continental Congress authorized on 2 November 1775.
The British remained on control of Fort George until the end of the war. The fort was rebuilt and briefly manned by US troops during 1814-15, but has not served as a military post since. The remnants of the fort are now a public park in Castine, ME, where a baseball field now occupies the fort’s interior.
