From an Order in Council, Boston, dated September 6th, 1779:<strong>The</strong>refore Ordered that Lieutenant Colonel Paul Revere be and he hereby is directed Immediately to Resign <strong>the</strong> Command <strong>of</strong> Castle Island and<strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r <strong>Fort</strong>resses in <strong>the</strong> Harbor <strong>of</strong> Boston to Captain Perez Cushing, and remove himself from <strong>the</strong> Castle and <strong>Fort</strong>resses aforesaid and repairto his dwelling house in Boston and <strong>the</strong>re continue untill <strong>the</strong> matter complained <strong>of</strong> can be duly inquired into. . . .From a Petition <strong>of</strong> Richard Sykes to <strong>the</strong> Massachusetts House <strong>of</strong> Representatives, September 28th, 1779:Your Petitioner was . . . a Sergeant <strong>of</strong> Marines on board <strong>the</strong> Ship General Putnam when an attack was made on one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Redoubts . . . yourPetitioner was made a Prisoner and was carried from Penobscot to New York in <strong>the</strong> Reasonable Man <strong>of</strong> <strong>War</strong> was stript <strong>of</strong> almost all his Clothing . .. Your Petitioner prays your Honors would allow him Pay for <strong>the</strong> cloathing he lost . . . viz 2 Linnen Shirts 3 Pair Stockings 1 pair Buck SkinBreeches 1 pair Cloth Breeches 1 Hat I Knapsack 1 Handkerchief 1 pair Shoes.
Historical Note<strong>The</strong> Penobscot Expedition <strong>of</strong> July and August 1779 is an actual event and I have tried, within <strong>the</strong> constraints <strong>of</strong> fiction, to describe what happened. <strong>The</strong>occupation <strong>of</strong> Majabigwaduce was intended to establish a British province that would be called New Ireland and would serve as a naval base and as ashelter for loyalists fleeing rebel persecution. <strong>The</strong> government <strong>of</strong> Massachusetts decided to "captivate, kill, or destroy" <strong>the</strong> invaders and so launched <strong>the</strong>expedition which is <strong>of</strong>ten described as <strong>the</strong> worst naval disaster in United States history before Pearl Harbor. <strong>The</strong> fleet which sailed to <strong>the</strong> Penobscot Riverwas <strong>the</strong> largest assembled by <strong>the</strong> rebels during <strong>the</strong> <strong>War</strong> <strong>of</strong> Independence. <strong>The</strong> lists <strong>of</strong> ships in <strong>the</strong> various sources differ in detail, and I assume that two orthree transport ships must have left before Sir George Collier's arrival, but <strong>the</strong> bulk <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> fleet was present, which made it a terrible disaster both for <strong>the</strong>Continental Navy and for Massachusetts. <strong>The</strong> fourteen-gun brig Pallas had been sent to patrol beyond <strong>the</strong> mouth <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Penobscot River and so wasabsent when Sir George Collier's relief ships arrived, and she alone survived <strong>the</strong> debacle. Two American ships, <strong>the</strong> Hunter and <strong>the</strong> Hampden, werecaptured (some sources add <strong>the</strong> schooner Nancy and nine o<strong>the</strong>r transports), and <strong>the</strong> remaining ships were burned. Doctor John Calef, in his <strong>of</strong>ficialposition as <strong>the</strong> Clerk <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Penobscot Council (appointed by <strong>the</strong> British), listed thirty-seven rebel ships as taken or burned, and that seems broadlycorrect.<strong>The</strong> blame for <strong>the</strong> disaster has been almost universally placed on <strong>the</strong> shoulders <strong>of</strong> Commodore Dudley Saltonstall. Saltonstall was no hero atPenobscot, and he appears to have been an awkward, unsociable man, but he certainly does not bear <strong>the</strong> full responsibility for <strong>the</strong> expedition's failure.Saltonstall was court-martialed (though no record <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> trial exists, so it might never have convened) and dismissed from <strong>the</strong> Continental Navy. <strong>The</strong> onlyo<strong>the</strong>r man to be court-martialed for his conduct at Majabigwaduce was Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Revere.It is an extraordinary coincidence that two men present at Majabigwaduce in <strong>the</strong> summer <strong>of</strong> 1779 were to be <strong>the</strong> subjects <strong>of</strong> famous poems. PaulRevere was celebrated by Henry Longfellow, and it is Revere's presence at Majabigwaduce that gives <strong>the</strong> expedition much <strong>of</strong> its interest. Few men areso honored as a hero <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> American Revolution. <strong>The</strong>re is a handsome equestrian statue to Revere in Boston and, in New England at least, he isregarded as <strong>the</strong> region's paramount patriot and revolutionary hero, yet he does not owe his extraordinary fame to his actions at Majabigwaduce, nor evento his midnight ride, but to Henry Longfellow's poem, which was published in <strong>The</strong> Atlantic Monthly magazine in 1861.Listen, my children, and you shall hearOf <strong>the</strong> midnight ride <strong>of</strong> Paul Revere.And Americans have been hearing <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> midnight ride ever since, mostly oblivious that <strong>the</strong> poem plays merry-hell with <strong>the</strong> true facts and ascribes toRevere <strong>the</strong> heroics <strong>of</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r men. This was deliberate; Longfellow, writing at <strong>the</strong> outbreak <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> American Civil <strong>War</strong>, was striving to create a patrioticlegend, not tell an accurate history. Revere did indeed ride to warn Concord and Lexington that <strong>the</strong> British regulars were marching from Boston, but he didnot complete <strong>the</strong> mission. Many o<strong>the</strong>r men rode that night and have been forgotten while Paul Revere, solely thanks to Henry Longfellow, gallops intoposterity as <strong>the</strong> undying patriot and rebel. Before <strong>the</strong> poem was published Revere was remembered as a regional folk-hero, one among many who hadbeen active in <strong>the</strong> patriot cause, but in 1861 he entered legend. He was indeed a passionate patriot, and he was vigorous in his opposition to <strong>the</strong> Britishlong before <strong>the</strong> outbreak <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> revolution, but <strong>the</strong> only time Revere ever fought <strong>the</strong> British was at Majabigwaduce, and <strong>the</strong>re, in General Artemas <strong>War</strong>d'swords, he showed "unsoldierlike behaviour tending to cowardice." <strong>The</strong> general was quoting Marine Captain Thomas Carnes, who closely observedRevere during <strong>the</strong> expedition, and Carnes, like most o<strong>the</strong>rs in <strong>the</strong> expedition, believed Revere's behavior <strong>the</strong>re was disgraceful. Revere's presentreputation would have puzzled and, in many cases, disgusted his contemporaries.A second man at Majabigwaduce was to have a famous poem written about him. This man died at Corunna in Spain and <strong>the</strong> Irish poet Charles Wolfebegan his tribute thus:Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,As his corse to <strong>the</strong> rampart we hurried;Not a soldier discharged his farewell shotO'er <strong>the</strong> grave where our hero was buried.We buried him darkly at <strong>the</strong> dead <strong>of</strong> night,<strong>The</strong> sods with our bayonets turning . . .<strong>The</strong> poem, <strong>of</strong> course, is <strong>The</strong> Burial <strong>of</strong> Sir John Moore after Corunna . Lieutenant John Moore went on to revolutionize <strong>the</strong> British Army and is <strong>the</strong> manwho forged <strong>the</strong> famed Light Division, a weapon that Wellington used to such devastating effect against <strong>the</strong> French in <strong>the</strong> Napoleonic <strong>War</strong>s. Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore died in 1809 defeating Marshal Soult at Corunna, but Lieutenant John Moore's first action was fought on <strong>the</strong> fogbound coast <strong>of</strong>Massachusetts. Moore did leave a brief account <strong>of</strong> his service at Majabigwaduce, but I invented much for him. His extraordinary ability to load and fire amusket five times a minute is recorded, and he was in command <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> picquet closest to Dyce's Head on <strong>the</strong> morning <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> successful Americanassault. Lieutenant Moore, alone among <strong>the</strong> picquets' <strong>of</strong>ficers, attempted to stem <strong>the</strong> attack and lost a quarter <strong>of</strong> his men. I doubt that Moore did killCaptain Welch (though Moore was carrying a musket and must have been very close to Welch when <strong>the</strong> marine captain died), but it is certain that it wasMoore's bad luck to be faced by <strong>the</strong> American marines who were, by far, <strong>the</strong> most effective troops on <strong>the</strong> rebel side. Those first marines did wear greencoats and it is tempting, though unproven, to think that those uniforms influenced <strong>the</strong> adoption <strong>of</strong> green jackets for <strong>the</strong> 60th and 95th Rifles, regiments thatMoore nurtured and which served Britain so famously in <strong>the</strong> long wars against France. Welch's death on <strong>the</strong> heights was one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> strokes <strong>of</strong> ill-fortunethat beset <strong>the</strong> expedition. John Welch was an extraordinary man who had escaped from imprisonment in England and had made his way back across <strong>the</strong>Atlantic to rejoin <strong>the</strong> rebellion.Peleg Wadsworth, in his long statement to <strong>the</strong> <strong>of</strong>ficial Court <strong>of</strong> Inquiry, <strong>of</strong>fered three reasons for <strong>the</strong> disaster: "<strong>the</strong> Lateness <strong>of</strong> our Arival before <strong>the</strong>Enemy, <strong>the</strong> Smallness <strong>of</strong> our Land Forces, and <strong>the</strong> uniform Backwardness <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Commander <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Fleet." History has settled on <strong>the</strong> third reason andCommodore Dudley Saltonstall has been made to carry <strong>the</strong> whole blame. He was dismissed from <strong>the</strong> Continental Navy and it has even been suggested,without a shred <strong>of</strong> supporting evidence, that he was a traitor in British pay. He was no traitor, and it seems egregious to single out his performance as <strong>the</strong>primary reason for <strong>the</strong> expedition's failure. In 2002 <strong>the</strong> Naval Institute Press (Annapolis, Maryland) published George E. Buker's fine book <strong>The</strong> PenobscotExpedition. George Buker served as a naval <strong>of</strong>ficer and his book is a spirited defense <strong>of</strong> a fellow naval <strong>of</strong>ficer. <strong>The</strong> main accusation against <strong>the</strong>commodore was that he refused to take his ships into Majabigwaduce Harbor and so eliminate Captain Mowat's three sloops, and Saltonstall'sdescription <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> harbor, "that damned hole," is <strong>of</strong>ten quoted as <strong>the</strong> reason for his refusal. George Buker goes to great lengths to show <strong>the</strong> difficultiesSaltonstall faced. <strong>The</strong> British naval force might have been puny compared to <strong>the</strong> rebels' naval strength, but <strong>the</strong>y held a remarkably strong position, and anyattack past Dyce's Head would have taken <strong>the</strong> American ships into a cauldron <strong>of</strong> cannon-fire from which it would have been almost impossible to escapewithout <strong>the</strong> unlikely help <strong>of</strong> an easterly wind (which, <strong>of</strong> course, would have prevented <strong>the</strong>m from entering). George Buker is persuasive, except that Nelsonfaced a roughly similar situation at Aboukir Bay (and against an enemy stronger than himself) and he sailed into <strong>the</strong> bay and won, and John Paul Jones(who had served under Saltonstall and had no respect for <strong>the</strong> man) would certainly have sailed into <strong>the</strong> harbor to sink Mowat's sloops. It is grossly unfair tocondemn a man for not being a Nelson or a John Paul Jones, yet despite George Buker's arguments it is still hard to believe that any naval commander,given <strong>the</strong> vast preponderance <strong>of</strong> his fleet over <strong>the</strong> enemy, declined to engage that enemy. <strong>The</strong> thirty-two naval <strong>of</strong>ficers who signed <strong>the</strong> round-robin urging
- Page 2 and 3:
THEFORTA Novel of the Revolutionary
- Page 5 and 6:
A voice in the darkness, a knock at
- Page 7 and 8:
A Note on Names and TermsIn 1779 th
- Page 9:
Chapter OneThere was not much wind
- Page 12 and 13:
ecome a base for Britain's Royal Na
- Page 14 and 15:
"I bloody hope so," Moore said with
- Page 16 and 17:
Chapter TwoLieutenant-Colonel Paul
- Page 18 and 19:
magazines that would keep the ammun
- Page 20 and 21:
"So you will take the oath?" McLean
- Page 22 and 23:
Excerpts of a letter from the Selec
- Page 25 and 26:
inflate a company into a battalion
- Page 28 and 29:
"The world would be better without
- Page 30 and 31:
So now one less man would sail east
- Page 32 and 33:
Chapter FourThe fleet sailed eastwa
- Page 34:
"We were maltreated in Boston," Cal
- Page 37 and 38:
Tyrannicide had also confirmed that
- Page 39 and 40:
From the Oath demanded by Brigadier
- Page 41 and 42:
"Plug it!" Little shouted at the ma
- Page 43 and 44:
"You promoted me to general yesterd
- Page 45 and 46:
"Long as it takes."They had to wait
- Page 47 and 48:
Chapter SixThe daylight was fading.
- Page 49 and 50:
"He's a patriot!" Lovell said in a
- Page 51 and 52:
"What are you doing?" Revere again
- Page 53 and 54:
A rowboat banged against the Centur
- Page 55 and 56:
Chapter SevenThe first shots crashe
- Page 57 and 58:
sir," McClure shouted over the musk
- Page 59 and 60: Solomon Lovell's heart seemed to mi
- Page 61 and 62: From Brigadier-General Lovell's des
- Page 63 and 64: emembered the tall American in his
- Page 65 and 66: "We thought him indestructible," De
- Page 67 and 68: could conceal men from the guns of
- Page 69 and 70: Chapter Nine"Where the devil is Rev
- Page 71 and 72: "Then they will have something to f
- Page 73 and 74: They would attack the battery.In th
- Page 75 and 76: Hundreds? He wondered. Maybe two hu
- Page 77 and 78: Chapter TenThe sun had not risen wh
- Page 79 and 80: Praise the Lord, Wadsworth thought,
- Page 81 and 82: marsh. The rebels patrolled that gr
- Page 83 and 84: Letter from Brigadier-General Lovel
- Page 85 and 86: on their flank?" Easily, Wadsworth
- Page 87 and 88: Commodore Saltonstall declared he w
- Page 89 and 90: ecome mired in pessimism and it nee
- Page 91 and 92: Chapter TwelveAnd, suddenly, there
- Page 93 and 94: at their sterns. Away to port was C
- Page 95 and 96: need men willing to make that attac
- Page 97 and 98: timber splinter to drive cloth into
- Page 99 and 100: Chapter ThirteenA Royal Marine at t
- Page 101 and 102: The fifty men filed through the aba
- Page 103 and 104: dared to hope that the British woul
- Page 105 and 106: From a letter by General Artemas Wa
- Page 107 and 108: the powder charges were being carri
- Page 109: fire, of the sparks flying and fall
- Page 113 and 114: on which Carnes was expertly equipp
- Page 115 and 116: About the AuthorBERNARD CORNWELL, "
- Page 117 and 118: CopyrightT HE FORT. Copyright (c) 2