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 4^th, 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.

The post Saltonstall at Penobscot (cont. from 25 JUL) appeared first on Today in Naval History.

                                         19 JULY-17 AUGUST 1779

                                        PENOBSCOT EXPEDITION

The land stretching northeast from the Kennebec River in modern Maine (location of Augusta) to New Brunswick was contested by France and England for a century.  Then with the British victory in the French and Indian War in 1763, British control of the area was secured.  But the land lay as an unorganized territory for a decade, indeed, the American Revolutionary War overtook any efforts of King George III to organize a Maine province.  And, after the British evacuation of Boston in March 1776, their attention shifted further south to the New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania theaters.  British interest in Maine revived in 1779.  Loyalist Americans petitioned for the establishment of a new colony in the Maine territory–both as a haven for Loyalists exiles and as a base for military operations.  In an effort to establish this “New Ireland” colony, on 30 May 1779 an eight-ship British squadron landed 640 troops at Castine, on a peninsula where the Bagaduce River meets the Penobscot River.  The 74^th and 82^nd Regiments of Foot set about constructing an earthwork fort on the nearest high ground, to be named Fort George.

Although Castine was 50 miles beyond the northeast border of the Massachusetts colony, the Massachusetts General Court became alarmed.  No British incursions near Massachusetts could be tolerated, and the Court authorized a 3000-man Colonial militia expedition to crush this new enemy endeavor.  BGEN Solomon Lovell was appointed to command the ground forces, LCOL Paul Revere commanded the accompanying artillery unit.  The militia embarked on a 44-ship naval force under the supremely cautious Continental Navy Commodore Dudley Saltonstall.  Nineteen American warships comprised the combat arm, including the Continental frigate WARREN, 32; the sloop PROVIDENCE, 12; the brig DILIGENT, 12; the Massachusetts Navy 14-gun brigs TYRANNICIDE; ACTIVE; and HAZARD; and the New Hampshire Navy’s HAMPDEN, 20.  In all, the flotilla carried 344 guns.  Attempts at secrecy proved worthless, and the American arrival on July 25^th was no surprise to the British.  In a move that would prove key, Royal Navy commander CAPT Henry Mowat had detached HMS NAUTILUS, 18, NORTH, 14, and ALBANY, 14, to remain at the mouth of the Bagaduce to protect activities ashore.

The overpowering American force arrived this day, but strong winds obviated Lovell’s assault plan.  Instead, 150 Marines from WARREN landed on nearby Nautilus Island to overwhelm an outlying British position.  The main attack came three days later under bombarding fire from Nautilus Island and from Saltonstall’s armada.  US Marines and colonial militia were landed at Dyce Head behind Fort George, where the 1000-yard-wide Witherle Woods blocked the fort’s view of the landing.  Unfortunately the “beach” was a 50-foot sheer cliff–up which the Americans clawed and clamored on the morning of the 28^th.

Continued 28 July…

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:  Many of the original 13 States commissioned their own State navies.  Though these disparate naval forces were variable in their strength and proficiency, several State navy ships continue to be remembered today for notable actions during this era.

The post Penobscot Expedition appeared first on Today in Naval History.