DESTRUCTION OF FALMOUTH. 105 dered several to be equipped for like purpose, which were to be manned by hardy mariners, and commanded by able sea captains, actually serving in the army. One of these vessels was despatched, as soon as ready, to cruise between Cape Ann and Cape Cod. Two others were fitted out with all haste, and sent to cruise in the waters of the St. Lawrence, to intercept two unarmed brigantines which Congress had been informed had sailed from England for Quebec, with ammunition and military stores. Among the sturdy little New England seaports, which had become obnoxious to punishment by resistance to nautical exactions, was Falmouth (now Portland), in Maine. On the evening of the 11th of October, Lieutenant Mowat, of the royal navy, appeared before it with several armed vessels, and sent a letter on shore, apprising the inhabitants that he was come to execute a just punishment on them for their "premeditated attacks on the legal prerogatives of the best of sovereigns." Two hours were given them, "to remove the human species out of the town," at the period of which, a red pendant hoisted at the main-top-gallant masthead, and a gun, would be the signal for destruction. The letter brought a deputation of three persons on board. The lieutenant informed them verbally, that he had orders from Admiral Graves to set fire to all the seaport towns between Boston and Halifax; and he expected New York, at the present moment, was in ashes. With much difficulty, and on the surrendering of some arms, the committee obtained a respite until nine o'clock the next morning, and the inhabitants employed the interval in removing their families and effects. The next morning the committee returned on board before nine o'clock. The lieutenant now offered to spare the town on certain conditions, which were refused. About half-past nine o'clock the red pendant was run up to the masthead, and the signal gun fired. Within five minutes several houses were in flames, from a discharge of carcasses and bombshells, which continued throughout the day. The inhabitants, “standing on the heights, were spectators of the conflagration; which reduced many of them to penury and despair." One hundred and thirty-nine dwellinghouses, and two hundred and twenty-eight stores, are Isaid to have been burnt.* All the vessels in the harbor, likewise, were destroyed or carried away as prizes. Having satisfied his sense of justice with respect to Falmouth, the gallant lieutenant left it a smoking ruin, and made sail, as was said, for Boston, to supply himself with more ammunition, having the intention to destroy Portsmouth also.† The conflagration of Falmouth was as a bale-fire throughout the country. Lieutenant Mowat was said to have informed the committee at that place, that orders had come from England to burn all the seaport towns *Holmes' Annals, ii. 220. Letter of P. Jones. REIGN OF TERROR ON THE COAST. 107 that would not lay down and deliver up their arms, and give hostages for their good behavior.* Washington himself supposed such to be the case. "The desolation and misery," writes he, "which ministerial vengeance had planned, in contempt of every principle of humanity, and so lately brought on the town of Falmouth, I know not how sufficiently to commiserate, nor can my compassion for the general suffering be conceived beyond the true measure of my feelings." General Greene, too, in a letter to a friend, expresses himself with equal warmth. "O, could the Congress behold the distresses and wretched condition of the poor inhabitants driven from the seaport towns, it must, it would, kindle a blaze of indignation against the commissioned pirates and licensed robbers. People begin heartily to wish a declaration of independence.” † General Sullivan was sent to Portsmouth, where there was a fortification of some strength, to give the inhabitants his advice and assistance in warding off the menaced blow. Newport, also, was put on the alert, and recommended to fortify itself. "I expect every hour," writes Washington, "to hear that Newport has shared the same fate of unhappy Falmouth." Under the feeling roused by these reports, the General Court of Massachusetts, exercising a sovereign power, passed an act for encourag *Letter from Gen. Greene to Gov. Cooke. ing the fitting out of armed vessels to defend the seacoast of America, and for erecting a court to try and condemn all vessels that should be found infesting the same. This act, granting letters of marque and reprisal, anticipated any measure of the kind on the part of the General Government, and was pronounced by John Adams one of the most important documents in history.' 66 The British ministry have, in latter days, been exculpated from the charge of issuing such a desolating order as that said to have been reported by Lieutenant Mowat. The orders under which that officer acted, we are told, emanated from General Gage and Admiral Graves. The former intended merely the annoyance and destruction of rebel shipping, whether on the coast or in the harbors to the eastward of Boston; the burning of the town is surmised to have been an additional thought of Admiral Graves. Naval officers have a passion for bombardments. Whatever part General Gage may have had in this most ill-advised and discreditable measure, it was the last of his military government, and he did not remain long enough in the country to see it carried into effect. He sailed for England on the 10th of October. The tidings of the battle of Bunker's Hill had withered his laurels as a commander. Still he was not absolutely superseded, but called home, "in order," as it was considerately said, "to give His Majesty exact information * See Life of Gerry, p. 109. BOARD OF CONFERENCE. 109 of everything, and suggest such matters as his knowledge and experience of the service might enable him to furnish." During his absence, Major-general Howe would act as commander-in-chief of the colonies on the Atlantic Ocean, and Major-general Carleton of the British forces in Canada and on the frontiers. Gage fully expected to return and resume the command. In a letter written to the minister, Lord Dartmouth, the day before sailing, he urged the arrival, early in the spring, of reinforcements which had been ordered, anticipating great hazard at the opening of the campaign. In the meantime he trusted that two thousand troops, shortly expected from Ireland, would enable him "to distress the rebels by incursions along the coast,"-and-"he hoped Portsmouth in New Hampshire would feel the weight of His Majesty's arms." "Poor Gage," writes Horace Walpole, "is to be the scape-goat for what was a reason against employing him -incapacity." He never returned to America. On the 15th of October a Committee from Congress arrived in camp, sent to hold a Conference with Washington, and with delegates from the governments of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, on the subject of a new organization of the army. The committee consisted of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Lynch of Carolina, and Colonel Harrison of Virginia. It was just twenty years since Washington had met Franklin in Braddock's camp, aiding that unwary general by his sagacious counsels and prompt expedients. Frank |