Houses were painted a variety of colors: red, white, green, yellow, blue, some with picket fences. Fences kept out the many animals in town. Behind the houses were vegetable gardens, fruit trees. Many had outbuildings, sheds and barns for cows, horses, chickens and wagon.
On the waterfront of this commercial and industrial center were about a dozen wharfs. Some reached out to deeper water beyond the mud and grass. Merchants were prospering from trade with England and the other colonies. Oxen hauled carts along the streets to and from ships at the wharfs. The streets would ordinarily be lively with trade among the sail lofts, chair makers, cabinet makers, tannery, brickyard, pine tar mill, tailors, weavers, in this economically vital town.
Recent historical research shows the town to have had many more dwellings and commercial buildings than previously thought, with a population that may have been as many as 5,000 people. The residents were generally involved with lumber exporting, masting, shipbuilding or maritime trade. The largest eastern New England port, in 1768 Falmouth exported four million board feet of pine boards, about ten times that of Portsmouth, Kittery and Boston combined. It was one of the British Empire's most valued ports.
A stranger coming upon this place in the fall of 1775, seeing British warships in the harbor, then watching as they opened fire on the town, would have to wonder at this.
The roots of the incident that fall of 1775 went back at least a decade to increasingly aggressive British revenue policies. In January of 1766 citizens got hold of the paper revenue stamps and burned them before an approving crowd. Challenges to revenue agents followed. Similar incidents were occurring in other colonies.
Although there was no newspaper, news traveled fast; not surprising, faster than the mail. Falmouth had no post office until 1791. At that time a letter took two weeks to get to New York and three days to Boston. The latter record is still pretty much in tact.
These events of resistance clearly illustrated the political position of some people of the town. But the turning point for Falmouth was Thompson's War, in the spring of 1775. It revolved around the refusal of the town to allow a mast agent Thomas Coulson, to unload a shipment of English rigging for a mast ship he was having built. Members of the committee of inspection voted to not allow the unloading of Coulson's cargo, for it would violate a compact of the colonies called the "American Association," a patriotic society with a large colonial membership.
Coulson took his case to the admiral in Boston. The admiral sent Captain Henry Mowatt aboard the warship HMS Canceaux to oversee the unloading and rigging for Coulson. On returning, Coulson could not get anyone in Falmouth to help unload the cargo.
All this might not have amounted to much if Colonel Samuel Thompson of Brunswick had not heard of the British man-of-war at Falmouth. Descriptions of Thompson range from bold, determined, patriot to loose cannon terrorist. Thompson and about 50 men sailed down the bay to Falmouth the first week of May intending to attack the Canceaux. They landed in Back Cove on the back side of Falmouth Neck. After a couple of days hiding out in thick woods there, a chance circumstance altered Thompson's plan. While on a casual walk in the woods with two ministers, Mowatt stumbled upon Thompson's men. He was captured and carried to Marston's Tavern.
At Marston's, Mowatt went from being a kingpin to bargaining a chip. A range of social events were held at taverns at the time. They were places for political meetings, the exchange of news, and of course drink; they were also where rebel leaders would meet. Alice Greele's tavern, well-known as a meeting place for politics, government and rebel leaders was at what is now Congress and Hampshire Streets.
Mowatt watched as Thompson's men let the liquor flow and no doubt listened to grim options for his fate discussed. The Brunswick officers met with the officers of the Neck militia and voted to destroy the Canceaux. A committee was appointed to consider how to do it. But, by the forceful efforts of some people of Falmouth, including British loyalists, the rebel militia were prevented from doing it.
Mowatt's lieutenant had almost immediately threatened to fire on the town if Mowatt were not released. The short, stout and rough Thompson, unphased by the threat, barked back with a threat to Mowatt's safety. But his means were too radical for some and the continued pressure led him to agree to let Mowatt board his ship, a mistake many would recognize too late. The opponents of active resistance sent a letter of apology to Mowatt before he left the harbor. A few days later Mowatt's ship set sail.
The question of whether to resist and how to resist was debated before and after things came to a head in Falmouth in May, 1775. The artisans and farmers lead the way for active opposition. The merchants, profiting most directly from the prevailing arrangements with England, wanted less active or no resistance at all. Revenue policy was the most widely disdained.
Four months after leaving Falmouth, Mowatt returned with a squadron of five ships. The Canceaux of sixteen guns, the ship Cat of twenty guns , a schooner of twelve guns, a bomb sloop and a schooner loaded with supplies. On October 16 the ships kedged their way up the harbor and formed a line out of range from shore. The armed vessels anchored off what is now India Street to a position off Union wharf.
The people of Falmouth were terror-struck, but some were put at ease when they learned Mowatt was aboard. They may have hoped he would remember being released at the urging of some townspeople and that that letter to him may still be tucked in his coat pocket.
What they didn't know was that England's colonial policy had evolved from coercive legislation to forced suppression. They also were unlikely to have known that the Admiralty, in recent months, had put nine coastal towns on a list for being bombarded and burned. The aggressive plan was the work of Lord John Montague, the 2nd Earl of Sandwich. Montague is also credited with the invention of the sandwich, which by contrast, demonstrates where his real skills resided.
What's more, the British hadn't quite gotten over being out-sailed and out-fought by the men of Machias when the warship Margaretta was taken there in June, 1775. Machias and Cape Ann, Massachusetts were prime targets on the list.
On the 17th Mowatt sent a message ashore that was read at the meeting house. It announced that the people had two hours to evacuate before the town would be bombed and burned. People continued to believe it could not happen there. A group met with Mowatt, postponing the bombardment until 8:00 the next morning in exchange for handing over all their guns. They sent out a small number to stall the attack.
The next 12 hours were spent frantically attempting to save as much of their personal belongings as possible. Women and children left town on foot. Those with horse and carriage took what ever they could to neighboring towns. Others carried their things to the far side of town out of range.
Overnight, companies of rural rebel militia arrived in town. Some of them were opposed to any compliance with British demands. The people worked through the night. But, when the sun rose on a pleasant 18th of October, the town was far from being evacuated. People were scurrying through the streets trying to save their belongings by any means available. It is not clear if citizens met the next morning on the final answer to Mowatt, but the people of Falmouth clearly refused to give up their arms. Committee attempts to stall for more time failed . At 9:40 that clear and bright autumn morning, a red flag was hauled as warned, to the Canceaux's masthead, signaling the commencement of an eight-hour naval bombardment.
There were still many people in town removing their things when the first rounds hit. The anxiety and confusion of the people became chaos and terror. Oxen used to haul cartloads of belongings, bolting at the cannon roar, ran their carts over obstacles, smashing the carts and scattering goods about the streets. The four British ships poured a horrible shower of balls, bombs, carcasses, live shells, grapeshot and musket balls from their howitzers, mortars and cannon. Carcasses, large iron balls filled with oil and flammable material, were ignited by the cannon blast. The iron ball burst on impact spreading fire. Alice Greele stayed at her tavern to save it. She would remove a hot cannon ball from the grass around her building and put out the fire it had started.
For hours the British ships pounded the buildings on the hill. They fired 3000 rounds of shot and many carcasses. In the early hours of the bombardment, because of the poor quality of the ammunition, wind direction and makeshift efforts of the few remaining inhabitants to extinguish the fires, the assault was not producing the desired result.
Mowatt, therefore, sent landing parties totaling thirty seamen and marines. They landed at 3:00 p.m. and set fire to a large number of buildings by throwing torches into doors and windows. A few of the militiamen in town came down from high ground firing at the landing parties to little effect. There was very little gunpowder and few cannon in town.
When they returned to their boats at 4:00 p.m., their torches, the continuous bombardment and a change in wind direction had set the town ablaze. Some saw Mowatt using the mandate to bomb as a means to get revenge for his being held captive. No doubt he was less than an honored guest of Thompson at Marston's tavern. The tavern escaped serious damage, but when it was moved sixty years later a cannonball from the bombardment was found in the chimney located at the center of the house.
Reverend Jacob Bailey wrote of the inferno: "The crackling of the flames, the falling of the houses, the bursting of the shells, the heavy thunder of the cannon threw the elements into frightful noise and commotionÉ. Now lengthening pyramids of fire ascended horribly bright from the dissolving structures and the inhabitations of pride, vanity, and affluence crumbled to ashes, while their late possessors beheld the shocking appearance with a mixture of astonishment and humble indignation."
Refugees straggled along the road out of town. Stunned, exhausted, bedraggled and many now impoverished, like all war victims they sought any means of escape. Many would huddle in the barns and sheds of whoever would have them in the surrounding areas.
The town was all aflame when the firing ended at sunset. Mowatt's ships weighed anchor leaving Falmouth a ruin. Three-fourths of Falmouth's buildings were destroyed. In this compact part of the town perhaps 300 dwellings and hundreds of commercial buildings, including warehouses, stores, sail lofts, shipyards, public buildings and churches were destroyed. In addition, when Mowatt arrived he had trapped at least a dozen ships with their cargoes in the harbor. Two were captured attempting to escape, the rest were destroyed in the bombardment. Mowatt ended the coastal expedition after the bombing of one of the nine towns. The many hours of cannon fire damaged one of his ships enough that he questioned its seaworthiness. He had also fired most of his ammunition on Falmouth.
At the height of its wealth and importance, this center of commerce, the home of a few thousand industrious and prosperous Americans was destroyed. Falmouth would not recover during the Revolution and in 1781 was still in ruins. In 1785 the town's name was changed to Portland. In his report Mowatt complained of the poor quality of the ammunition and regretted not being able to remove more of the arms, ammunition and livestock in Casco Bay. His admiral would declare the destruction of Falmouth a severe blow to the rebels.
However, the British Admiralty would soon discover they had shot themselves in the foot with the destruction of Falmouth. The attack got a lot of press throughout the colonies. It also destroyed a major source of mast pine for their navy and a large market for English products.
More than all of this, it helped unify the colonies in the move for independence. The Declaration of Independence contains a reference to the British king and the bombardment. "He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns and destroyed the lives of our people." George Washington described it as "the most cruel and savage war that ever a civilized nation engaged inÉ." Revolutionary General Nathaniel Green in response to the burning of Falmouth declared, "Fight or be slaves!"