|
The Penobscot Expedition was a 44-ship American naval task force mounted during the Revolutionary War by the Provincial Congress of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The flotilla of 19 warships and 25 smaller support vessels sailed from Boston on July 19, 1779 for the upper Penobscot Bay in the District of Maine carrying a ground expeditionary force of more than 1,000 colonial Marines and militiamen. Also included was a 100-man artillery detachment under the command of Lt. Colonel Paul Revere. The Expedition's goal was to reclaim control of what is now mid-coast Maine from the British who had seized it a month earlier and renamed it New Ireland. It was the largest American naval expedition of the war. The fighting took place both on land and at sea in and around the mouth of the Penobscot and Majabigwaduce Rivers at what is today Castine, Maine over a period of three weeks in July and August of 1779. One of its greatest victories of the war for the British, the Expedition was also the United States' worst naval defeat until Pearl Harbor 162 years later in 1941.〔Bicheno, p.149〕 On June 17 of that year, British Army forces under the command of General Francis McLean landed and began to establish a series of fortifications centered on Fort George, located on the Majabigwaduce Peninsula in the upper Penobscot Bay, with the goals of establishing a military presence on that part of the coast and establishing the colony of New Ireland. In response, the Province of Massachusetts, with some support from the Continental Congress, raised an expedition to drive the British out. The Americans landed troops in late July and attempted to establish a siege of Fort George in a series of actions that were seriously hampered by disagreements over control of the expedition between land forces commander Brigadier General Solomon Lovell and the expedition's overall commander, Commodore Dudley Saltonstall, who was subsequently dismissed from the Navy for ineptness and failure to effectively prosecute the mission. For almost three weeks General McLean held off the assault until a British relief fleet under the command of Sir George Collier arrived from New York on August 13, driving the American fleet to total self-destruction up the Penobscot River. The survivors of the American expedition were forced to make an overland journey back to more populated parts of Massachusetts with minimal food and armament. ==Background== (詳細はpartially successful raid of Machias in 1777, as well as General John Burgoyne's failed Saratoga campaign, British war planners looked for other ways to gain control over the rebellious New England colonies, while most of their effort was directed at another campaign targeted at the southern colonies. Secretary of State for the Colonies Lord George Germain, the 1st Viscount Sackville, and his Under-Secretary, William Knox, as those responsible for the war effort wanted to establish a base on the coast of the District of Maine (which until achieving statehood in 1820 was a part of Massachusetts) that could be used to protect Nova Scotia's shipping and communities from American privateers and raiders.〔Alden, John R. ''A History of the American Revolution'' New York: Alfred A Knopf Inc. 1960, pp. 217-18〕〔Buker, pp. 4–5〕 Among the specific reasons for the British to undertake such an occupation were: to keep open the timber supply of the Maine coast for masts and spars for the Royal Navy; that the Maine coast down to the Penobscot was immediately adjacent to the Bay of Fundy which was easily approached from the large British naval base at Halifax, and; because Loyalist refugees in Castine had proposed the establishment of a new colony or province to be called New Ireland as a precursor to the establishment of Loyalist New Brunswick in 1784.〔Sloan, Robert W. ''New Ireland: Men in Pursuit of a Forlorn Hope, 1779 -1784'', Maine Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 19 (Fall 1979 ), pp. 73-90〕〔Faibisy, John D. ''Penobscot, 1779: The Eye of a Hurricane'' Maine Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 19 (Fall 1979 ), pp. 91-117.〕 That last reason was strongly supported by Sir Francis Bernard, the former Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony then living back in London, who said it would make "a resort for the persecuted loyalists of New England."〔Jones, E. Alfred, ''The Loyalists of Massachusetts, Their Memorials, Petitions and Claims'', London: Saint Catherine Press, 1930 pp. 70-71〕 In order to promote the idea of establishing a British military presence in Maine, in January 1778 Knox induced John Nutting, a Loyalist who had piloted Sir George Collier's expedition against Machias, to write to Lord Germain and later dispatched him to London to do so in person. In doing so Nutting described the Castine peninsula as having a harbor that "could hold the entire British Navy" and was so easily defendable that "1,000 men and two ships" could protect it against any Continental force. He also proposed that the strategic location of such a post would help carry the war to New England as well as offer protection for Nova Scotia from attack.〔Nutting to Germain, London, January 17, 1778, Public Records Office, London: Colonial Office Papers. CO. 5, ''America and West Indies, 1689-1819,'' vol. 155, no. 88, Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa〕 Although Admiral Collier asked Nutting a year later what could possibly have induced him to recommend a settlement there (which he then denied), in light of subsequent events Nutting's figures for defense at Castine proved to be amazingly accurate. 〔Collier to Clinton, Penobscot, August 24, 1779, ''British Headquarters (Sir Guy Carleton) Papers, 1747 (1777)-1783'', Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report on American Manuscripts in the Royal Institute of Great Britain (London: 1904-09), 2: 18-19〕 On September 2, 1778, Lord Germain drafted orders for Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton, commander-in-chief of British forces in North America (which the Colonial Office tasked Nutting to carry to New York) to assist with the establishment of "a province between the Penobscot and St. Croix rivers. Post to be taken on Penobscot River."〔Buker, p. 5〕 Germain's orders to Clinton read in part: "The distress of the King's loyal American subjects who have been driven from their habitations and deprived of their property by the rebels has been an object of attention with His Majesty and Parliament from the first appearance of the rebellion; and very considerable sums have been expended in furnishing them with a temporary support. But, as their number is daily increasing and is much to be apprehended (if a reconciliation does not soon take place) that scarcely any who retain their principles will be suffered to remain in the revolted provinces, it is judged proper in that event that a permanent provision should be made by which they may be enabled to support themselves and their families without being a continual burden upon the revenue of Great Britain. "The tract of country that lies between Penobscot River and the River St. Croix, the boundary of Nova Scotia on that side, offers itself for the reception of those meritorious but distressed people. And it is the King's intention to erect it into a province. As the first step toward making this establishment it is His Majesty's pleasure, if peace has not taken place and the season of the year is not too far advanced before you receive this, that you do send such a detachment of troops at Nova Scotia, or of the provincials under your immediate command, as you shall judge proper and sufficient to defend themselves against any attempt the rebels in those parts may be able to make during the winter to take post on Penobscot River, taking with them all necessary implements for erecting a fort, together with such ordnance and stores as may be proper for its defense, and a sufficient supply of provisions."〔Germain to Clinton, Whitehall, September 2, 1778, no. 11, ''American Manuscripts (Carleton Papers), 1775-1783'' (transcripts), Public Archives of Canada. Ottawa, vol. 7, no. 27, pp. 239-41〕 It was Knox's idea to call this province New Ireland.〔 Unfortunately for the British, Nutting's ship was captured by an American privateer, and he was forced to dump his dispatches, putting an end to execution of the idea in 1778.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Penobscot Expedition」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|