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On This Day 7/19/1779
7/19/2011 4:58:30 PM

Massachusetts begins ill-fated Penobscot expedition

Massachusetts, without consulting either Continental political or military authorities, launches a four thousand man Naval expedition commanded by Commodore Dudley Saltonstall, Adjutant General Peleg Wadsworth Brigadier General Solomon Lovell, and Lieutenant Colonel Paul Revere.

The expedition consisted of nineteen warships, twenty-four transport ships and more than one thousand militiamen. The objective was to capture a seven hundred fifty manned British Garrison at Castine on the Penobscot Penninsula, in what would later become Maine.

The expedition arrived on July 25, 1779 and proceeded to launch a series of inconclusive land attacks, leaving Patriot Naval troops under-utilized and allowing the British plenty of time to send for reinforcements. The land commander, Brigadier General Lovell, began to retreat at the arrival of Sir George Collier's seven British warships, expecting Naval Commander Saltonstall to engage in a Naval battle.

Naval Commander Saltonstall however, did not fight for long. The Naval engagement concluded in total disaster on August 14, 1779 when Naval Commander Saltonstall surprised both American Patriots and British Commanders by fleeing upriver and burning his own ships.

The American Patriots lost in excess of four hundred seventy men, as well as numerous Continental Navy and Massachusetts ships that were burned during the retreat. The British achieved their victory at a cost of only thirteen men. Naval Commander Saltonstall and Lieutent Colonel Revere later faced court martial because of the fiasco.

Naval Commander Saltonstall lost his commission, but Lieutenant Colonel Revere won acquittal. By contrast, Adjutant General Wadsworth, who served as Lieutenant Colonel Revere's Second-in-Command, won acclaim for his performance in the engagement. He had organized the retreat, which was the only well-executed aspect of the mission.

Adjutant General Wadsworth's family continued to play a celebrated role in American history. Adjutant General Wadsworth's grandson was the famed poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The failed Penobscot expedition was considered the worst Naval disaster in American history until the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in 1941, more than one hundred sixty years later.

(K) (HST)

Dudley Saltonstall American Naval Commander
Peleg Wadsworth, American Adjutant General
Solomon Lovell American Brigadier General
Paul Revere American Lieutenant Colonel
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow American Poet
Grandson of Peleg Wadsworth

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