8 minute read
The British In Belfast
by Brian Swartz
Cause for concern among locals
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Paul Revere never rode through Belfast crying, “The British are coming! The British are coming!”
He should have, however, since he encountered the Royal Army just across Penobscot Bay — and the British did come to Belfast. Revere wasn’t in town the first time they came through, though.
That occurred in the summer of 1775. Lexington and Concord were already memories, and Americans had already seized the Royal Navy cutter Margaretta in a short, sharp engagement off Machias. Sometime by midsummer, the British prisoners taken there were on their way to George Washington’s camp near Boston.
John Davidson, an early Belfast resident, recalled the initial moment when everyone learned that the British were coming. A panic-stricken neighbor, surnamed Durham, ran to Davidson’s house, claiming that he had seen “red coats and glistening guns ... approaching the road from the shore.”
While his wife bolted for the woods — a standard hiding place — Davidson waited to meet the oncoming soldiers. They proved to be twelve prisoners captured in Machias. Using an impromptu shuttle, Americans were funneling the soldiers along the coast to Massachusetts.
Three Americans had brought the prisoners to Belfast, where Davidson, John Durham Jr. — perhaps his frightened neighbor — and Samuel Mitchell placed the British soldiers in a boat and sailed them to Camden. Other Americans took the prisoners farther south.
Davidson never forgot that interesting excursion along the Midcoast. “We three — he and his companions — sat in the stern of the boat with our guns in good order and loaded,” he later wrote.
“No doubt the prisoners could have taken us, as they probably each had a knife, had they attempted it,” David recalled. “Some of them appeared cross and ill-natured, but they made no attempts to go from us or to harm us.”
Life along Penobscot Bay remained quiet until 1779 when the British moved
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in force to occupy the region. In June of 1779 Captain Henry Mowatt, the arsonist who burned Portland, — called Falmouth in those days — brought three sloops and some transports to Castine, or Bagaduce. After taking the town, the British started building Fort George atop the ridge overlooking Castine Harbor.
The Massachusetts Commonwealth reacted vigorously by dispatching forty-three ships — nineteen warships and twenty-four transports — to face down the British. Dudley Saltonstall commanded the naval forces, Solomon Lovell the infantry. Paul Revere went along as the artillery commander.
Belfast residents gathered on high ground to watch the opening maneuvers. “I saw the American fleet when it came up the bay, and the vessels attacking each other,” a woman wrote. “The sound of the guns was distinctly heard.”
The expedition ended in disaster. On August 13, 1779 seven English warships stood up the bay. The American campaign came apart at its seams. American ships fled upriver as far as Bangor. What the Royal Navy did not capture along the Penobscot River, the American crews burned. No Colonial vessel escaped. Soldiers and sailors, including Paul Revere, escaped through the woods to Massachusetts.
So, Belfast residents faced enemy troops across the bay. Some fleeing American troops passed through Belfast where they received food and clothing. With the British so near, most Belfast residents joined the flight. In a few days, the town was almost deserted.
There later occurred a tragic incident in which a British infantry patrol got lost in the fog in Belfast. The British blundered into Americans who took offense at their presence. A short exchange of gunfire killed Lt. Armstrong, a British officer. He was buried near where he fell, but the next day, British soldiers disinterred his body and buried him in Castine.
Peace returned after the Revolution ended, and no one in Belfast expected to see British troops again. But the United States and Great Britain fought the War of 1812, and the redcoats returned to Castine on September 1, 1814.
Warships and soldiers went upriver to win the Battle of Hampden and occupy Bangor and Brewer. Three other ships sailed into Belfast Harbor after an officer “convinced” Wiggins Merrill of Belfast to act as pilot. That evening the 29th Regiment of Foot disembarked in Belfast. The residents were quite impressed. After forming on the waterfront the seven hundred soldiers stepped out to the popular English tune, The British Grenadier, which was played by a band comprised of black (cont. on page 52)
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(cont. from page 51) musicians.
British troops spread through Belfast and occupied the larger buildings in town. Pickets watched the roads leading out of Belfast. No one interfered with the occupation.
Satisfied that the Americans would give them no trouble, the British left Belfast on September 7th. Not all British soldiers returned to Castine. At least one soldier successfully deserted. He got as far as Montville, where he settled down.
While the British occupied Belfast, Maine militiamen gathered in Belmont. They marched hither and yon — toward Hampden, then back to Belmont, into Belfast after the British evacuated that town, and finally toward Camden, the next town rumored to be on the Royal Army’s “hit list.” The militiamen did repulse an attempted landing at Northport, but whether or not shots were fired remains questionable.
The nine-month British occupation
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