THE BURNING OF FALMOUTH

Royal Navy North American theater commander, VADM Samuel Graves, took a hardline against the rebellious activities of Patriots in New England’s coastal towns.  He ordered Royal Navy LT Henry Mowat in HMS CANCEAUX, 6, to, “lay waste, burn and destroy” the seaports of Marblehead, Salem, Newbury, Cape Ann, Portsmouth, Ipswich, Saco, and Falmouth—seaports that had been the sites of anti-British stirrings.  Mowat saw this as revenge for an embarrassment he suffered five months earlier when CANCEAUX had been forced to flee Falmouth (modern Portland, Maine) under threat of numerically superior rebel militia (see story of 9 May).  Falmouth became the first target for Mowat’s squadron comprised of CANCEAUX, HMS HALIFAX, 12, HMS SPITFIRE (bomb barge), HMS SYMMETRY, and the privateer CAT, 20.  From Falmouth’s outer harbor on 16 October, Mowat sent a LT ashore with word that in two hours Mowat would “execute a just punishment” against their town “guilty of the most unpardonable rebellion.”  Negotiations subsequently granted a delay if the townspeople would swear loyalty to King George III and surrender small arms and gun carriages.  No oath was forthcoming, and only a few small arms were handed over.  At 0900 on this day the deadline passed.

At 0940 Mowat ran up the Red Ensign to begin the bombardment.  For eight hours British ships hurled 3000 projectiles–solid shot, grape, shell, bombs, carcasses, and musket shot.  As evening fell, Royal Marines were sent ashore to torch what remained.  They encountered scant resistance.  The earlier pause had given many residents the chance to flee.  Only one citizen was killed and one wounded.  Falmouth’s 400 structures were laid utterly waste, leaving 1000 homeless as winter approached.  Fifteen small vessels in Falmouth harbor were burned or captured.  Mowat moved next to Boothbay but had to call off that attack as the decks of his ships proved too weak for the recoil of guns in a prolonged bombardment.  In the four months that followed, Graves similarly struck: Stonington, Connecticut; Bristol, Rhode Island; and on 1 January 1776, Norfolk, Virginia.

 International condemnation ensued as the Continental Congress authorized, on 30 October, the purchase of two additional warships.  The French Foreign Minister proclaimed, “I can hardly believe this absurd and barbaric procedure on the part of an enlightened and civilized nation.”  Even the British home office was alarmed at the brutality unleashed on those who were still British citizens.  VADM Graves was relieved two months later, in part from the backlash over this raid.  Mowat, too, was repeatedly passed over for promotion.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  21-22 OCT 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Leamon. James S.  Revolution Downeast: The War for American Independence in Maine.  Amherst, MA: Univ. of Massachusetts Press, 1993, pp. 70-74.

“Letter from Rev. Jacob Bailey.” IN: Clark, William Bell, (ed.), Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol 2  1775.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1966, p. 500.

“Master’s Log of H.M. Armed Vessel CANCEAUX.” IN: Clark, William Bell, (ed.), Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol 2  1775.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1966, pp. 501-02.

“Narrative of Daniel Tucker of Falmouth.” IN: Clark, William Bell, (ed.), Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol 2  1775.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1966, pp. 500-01.

Sweetman, Jack.  American Naval History:  An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 3^rd ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 2002, p. 1.

“Vice Admiral Samuel Graves to Lieutenant Henry Mowat, H.M. Armed Vessel, CANCEAUX.”  IN: Clark, William Bell, (ed.), Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol 2  1775.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1966, pp. 324-26.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  “Carcasses” are hollow balls filled with flammable material and holed so the firing from a howitzer would ignite the incendiary.  Upon impact the projectile shatters, spreading the flames.

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                                     THE PASSING OF FARRAGUT

It is hard to overstate the reverence our Navy holds for David Glasgow Farragut.  He entered our Navy at age 9 through the influence of his adoptive father, CAPT David Porter, in 1810.  He quickly saw action serving under his father in USS ESSEX, 32, in the War of 1812, aboard whom he was wounded in the engagement with HMS PHOEBE, 36.  He was the first Commandant of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in 1853 and went on to command the West Gulf Blockading Squadron of the Civil War.  The victor at New Orleans, Vicksburg, and Mobile Bay, he was our Navy’s first RADM in 1862, first VADM in 1864, and first ADM in 1866.  Following that war, he commanded the European Squadron and remained our Navy’s senior ranking officer.  Not until George Dewey, a generation later, was another officer so widely honored.

But Farragut’s later years were plagued by ill health.  When an invitation from the Commandant of the Portsmouth Navy Yard, NH, was received in 1870, the 69-year-old Farragut perceived a chance to breathe what was thought to be the healing New England air.  He made the journey aboard the sidewheel double-ender USS TALLAPOOSA, confined to bed for most of the voyage.  When TALLAPOOSA entered Portsmouth Harbor on Independence Day, she fired a gun salute to her embarked admiral, inspiring Farragut to arise, don his uniform, and climb to the quarterdeck.  There he was heard to comment, “It would be well if I died now, in harness…”  During his visit he went aboard the 30-year-old, 16-gun sailing sloop-of-war DALE–like Farragut, an aging veteran of the Mexican and Civil Wars.  Upon disembarking he remarked with affection to her caretaker, “This is the last time I shall ever tread on the deck of a man-of-war.”  His words were prescient.  Only days later he again took to bed, and two weeks later, on this day, ADM Farragut died.  It was a peaceful Sunday.  Eight bells had just tolled noon.  One humble man’s 60 years of service to the Flag had ended.  The cause of death was listed as apoplexic stroke.

On the 17^th the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, paused for a public funeral.  A flag-draped rosewood coffin preceded a mile-long procession of military officers and public officials.  The Admiral was laid to rest in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Brox. 

Five warships have remembered David G. Farragut, including our current Arleigh Burke-class destroyer DDG-99.  A respectful city of Washington DC apportioned Farragut Square, where, on 16 April 1872, the US Congress commissioned the statue that today centerpieces that square.  The bronze propeller of Farragut’s Civil War flagship, USS HARTFORD, was melted down and used to cast his likeness, whose understated inscription simply reads, “Farragut”.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  21 AUG 23

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 2 “C-F”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1977, pp. 394-96.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 7 “T-V”.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1981, pp. 23-24.

Lewis, Charles Lee.  David Glasgow Farragut:  Our First Admiral.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1943, pp. 366-78.

Sweetman, Jack.  American Naval History:  An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 3^rd ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 2002, p. 84.

ADDITIONAL NOTES: To die “in harness” is an old expression that means to die while working, or, when used in a military context, to die on Active Duty.  It alludes to the use of the word “harness” to describe the armor worn by soldiers of antiquity.  “Apoplexic stroke” is an outdated medical term for sudden cerebrovascular demise.  Alternatively, medical historians postulate today that Farragut’s death may have been the result of cardiac arrest after a prolonged decline in cardiovascular health.

The other US warships honoring Farragut are:  TB-11, DD-300, DD-348, and DLG-6.

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