20

BRITISH ATTACKS ON THE MAINE SEACOAST.

then began their attacks along the northern shores. On April 7, 1814, a body of 200 sailors and marines ascended the Connecticut, landed at Pettipaug (or Pautopaug) Point about six miles above Saybrook, and destroyed the shipping found there, as they did also at Brockway's Ferry, in spite of a body of militia. On this marauding expedition about $200,000 worth of shipping was destroyed.* By September all land east of the Penobscot had been conquered and formally annexed to New Brunswick. The first to go were Moose Island and the town of Eastport. On July 11 Sir Thomas Hardy appeared off Eastport with a fleet and a force of 1,200 men and sent an officer with a flag of truce on shore. The major in command at Fort Sullivan finally surrendered, and within an hour the British flag was raised and the British troops surrounded the town. A few days later a proclamation was issued to the people announcing that the islands in Passamaquoddy would be occupied by British forces and that the inhabitants of Moose Island and its dependencies must swear allegiance to Great Britain or leave the island within a week. About two-thirds of the inhabitants submitted to this indignity, but the expected advantages from this humiliation were not realized. Such as held

* Lossing, War of 1812, p. 888. McMaster, vol. iv., pp. 129-130.

out were conducted to the mainland or carried as prisoners to Halifax.*

The next to go was Nantucket. The blockade had worked especially hard on the people of the island, where by July famine seemed near. Permission was requested of Admiral Cochrane to bring fuel and provisions to the island. The admiral stated that if the people would surrender all public property and remain neutral during the war, they would be allowed to bring in food, clothes, and provisions,

but could catch neither fish nor whales. These terms being accepted, the promise was made.†

Castine suffered a similar fate. On August 26 Lieutenant-Colonel Sir J. C. Sherbrooke with a fleet carrying nearly 2,000 troops, set sail from Halifax, and arrived at the Penobscot on September 1. A flag of truce was sent on shore and the surrender of the fort demanded, five minutes being allowed for compliance. The commander immediately ordered the flag back to the ship, fired off his four guns as the fleet drew nearer, and blew up the fort.|| The British troops then took possession of Castine and promptly sent expeditions against Belfast and Hampden, where the 28-gun corvette

* Williamson, History of Maine, chap. xxvi.; Brackenridge, History of the Late War, p. 210; McMaster, vol. iv., pp. 130-131; Adams, United States, vol. viii., p. 94; Lorenzo Sabine, in His torical Magazine (April-May, 1870); Lossing, War of 1812, p. 890.

CAPTURE OF CASTINE AND OTHER PLACES.

Adams was undergoing repairs. A few days before Sherbrooke's arrival the Adams, under Captain Charles Morris, was brought into the Penobscot in a sinking condition. Repairs on the ship were far from finished when the British entered the Penobscot and sent a detachment of 700 men by land and 800 by sea to destroy the vessel.* Morris hastily arranged his 28 guns in three batteries, manned them with his crew and begged the militia to protect the rear and flanks, distributing the ship's muskets among them. Hidden from view by a dense fog, the British landed unseen, attacked and routed the militia, and took the batteries in rear and flank. Unable to hold out, Morris set fire to the Adams, spiked his guns and retreated. †

The British then passed up the river in four ships and seven barges, dropped anchor off Bangor, and demanded the surrender of the town. The people asked for terms, which were announced to be unconditional surrender, provisions for the troops, 40 horses and quarters in private families for the officers. The townspeople could do nothing but submit. The British burned such shipping as was at the wharves, seized all the powder

*

Maclay, History of the Navy, vol. ii., pp. 3-4. † Autobiography of Charles Morris, pp. 177– 179; McMaster, vol. iv., pp. 132-133; Adams, United States, vol. vii., pp. 95-96; Cooper, Naval History, vol. ii., p. 125; Roosevelt, Naval War of 1812, pp. 337-338; Lossing, War of 1812, pp. 899900; James, Military Occurrences, vol. ii., pp. 245-248, and app. liii-lxi.

21

and every arm in the village, and ordered the selectmen of the town to finish, launch and deliver those vessels on the stocks before October 30 or pay a ransom of $30,000.* At Bangor the British remained nearly a week, and, as Sherbrooke had no orders to occupy the country west of the Penobscot, the troops returned to Castine on September 9. Detachments were sent to occupy Belfast and Machias, so that the whole of Maine east of the Penobscot was in Sherbrooke's hands. Thus about 100 miles of Massachusetts seacoast passed quietly under the British yoke and so remained without the least resistance until restored by the treaty of peace. The male citizens took the oath of allegiance to the king and showed no unwillingness to remain British subjects.†

By this time all New England was in alarm. People hurried their goods and property into the woods, banks buried their specie, and every effort was made to prevent the British from capturing more than empty houses. Two men-of-war plundered, destroyed and laid the towns of Barnstable county under contribution. To save their salt works from destruction, Wellfleet paid $2,000, Brewster, $4,000, and Eastham, $1,200. When Hardy had finished his work at Moose Island, he sailed southward with part

22

ATTACK ON STONINGTON; MEASURES FOR DEFENCE.

of his squadron and on August 9 appeared off Stonington, Connecticut. Just before sunset the guns of the fleet opened and kept up a steady fire until midnight. The next day it was resumed and continued until noon, when the selectmen sent a flag to ask Hardy what he wished. He replied that he wished the people to give assurance that no torpedoes would be fitted out at Stonington and that they would send aboard the family of the late British consul at New London.* No reply being made to this demand, the ships again opened fire and continued it for another day, when they withdrew. By this time half the village was in ruins.t

The British next determined to make a diversion somewhere on the southern coast in favor of the army on the Canadian frontier. On June 27 Major-General Robert Ross, who was chosen to make this diversion, sailed to Bermuda, where he arrived on July 24. The point of attack was to be decided by Cochrane, subject to the approval of Ross. Cochrane

decided in favor of the Chesapeake and on August 3 the expedition set sail from Bermuda for the Bay, passing the Capes and landing at the mouth of the Potomac on August 15. + At this time Washington was absolutely unprotected, save by old Fort Washington, and the little flotilla

* Lossing, War of 1812, pp. 893-895. McMaster, vol. iv., p. 134; James R. Durand, Life and Adventures (Rochester, 1820).

Adams, United States, vol. viii., pp. 124, 127.

under Joshua Barney, which consisted of the sloop Scorpion, two gunboats and nine barges. Barney had performed prodigious feats with his little fleet and had eluded capture by running up small creeks out of reach of the British guns.* But his flotilla was useless against a land expedition.

Armstrong seemed to think that since there was no strategy impelling the British to capture Washington, they would not make the attempt. Moreover, it was thought that the British would not venture, with any force at their command, upon so hazardous an expedition as that of assulting the capital of the United States. Nevertheless, aware of the threatened invasion, the President began to press Armstrong early in May to take precautionary measures. On June 23 and 24 Cabinet meetings were held at which the defence of Washington was considered. Requisitions were sent out to the District of Columbia for 2,000 men; to Maryland for 6,000 men; to Pennsylvania for 5,000 men; and to Virginia for 2,000 men; making a total of 15,000, of which it was expected that

For details see Cooper, Naval History, vol. ii., p. 134 et seq.; Roosevelt, Naval War of 1812, p. 317 et seq.

Edward D. Ingraham, A Sketch of the Events which Preceded the Capture of Washington, p. 4, quoting the National Intelligencer, also p. 48; Williams, Invasion and Capture of Washington, pp. 23-24, 32, 38-39, 60.

See Madison's letter to Armstrong, May 20, 1814, Madison's Works (Congress ed.), vol. iii., p. 399. See also Williams, Invasions and Capture of Washington, p. 40 et seq.

WINDER'S ACTIVITIES; THE BRITISH INVASION.

10,000 would take the field.* On July 2 the District of Columbia, Maryland, and part of Virginia were formed into a military district with a military head of its own, and to the command of which Madison appointed Brigadier-General William H. Winder. Winder entered upon his duties on July 5 and passed the next month scouring the country from Baltimore to Washington and points on the lower Potomac and Patuxent in search of spots on which to build defensive works. But difficulties of various kinds beset his path and on August 1, when he established his permanent headquarters at Washington, his labors had resulted in nothing more than the presence of 1,000 regulars and about 4,000 enrolled militia, of which the larger portion was yet to be collected. § On the day the ships

+

Lossing, War of 1812, p. 918; American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i., pp. 524, 539; Brackenridge, History of the Late War, p. 254. Ingraham (Events Preceding the Capture of Washington, p. 42) gives a detailed statement of the requisition.

† Ingraham, Events Preceeding the Capture of Washington, p. 8. For a review of the Proceedings of the Cabinet meeting of July 1, see Williams, Invasion and Capture of Washington, chap. ii.

Williams, Invasion and Capture of Washington, pp. 71-80; Babcock, Rise of American Nationality, pp. 136-137. See also American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i., p. 524. This was the same Winder captured on the Canadian frontier.

American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i., pp. 526, 546, 552; Ingraham, Events Preceding the Capture of Washington, p. 18.

§ Lossing, War of 1812, pp. 919-920; American State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. i., pp. 546548; Williams, Invasion and Capture of Wash

23

of Cochrane and Ross dropped anchor off the Potomac, no line of defence had been selected, not a ditch nor a breastwork had been marked out or suggested, no obstacles had been placed in the roads, nor had Winder any more men, arms or ideas than he had when he took office.* Furthermore, the call of the governor of Maryland for 3,000 militia produced only some 250.† The governor of Pennsylvania had no authority to draft men, and, as he could only appeal to the patriotism of the people, the requisition for troops met with indifferent success.‡

The British had not been inactive. When the transports arrived on August 17, the squadron moved 20 miles up the Bay to the mouth of the Patuxent, whence Cochrane wrote a note to Secretary Monroe saying that he had ordered the destruction of towns and districts along the coast in retaliation for the depredations in Upper Canada.|| When the army reached Benedict it was divided into three brigades numbering altogether, according to British accounts, 4,500.§

ington, pp. 90–92; Brackenridge, History of the Late War, p. 255; Ingraham, Events Preceding the Capture of Washington, pp. 21-23.

* Adams, United States, vol. viii., pp. 121-123; McMaster, vol. iv., p. 137; Ingersoll, History of the Second War, vol. ii., p. 164.

American State Papers, Military Affairs vol. i., pp. 526, 552, 554.

Ibid., vol. i., pp. 525-526; Lossing, War of 1812, p. 919.

|| American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii., p. 693.

§ Gleig, Campaigns of the British Army at Washington and New Orleans, pp. 94-95.

MARCH OF THE BRITISH TOWARD WASHINGTON.