STORY OF : C OLON EL N ATHAN MITCHELL’ S ND COUNTY B AGA DUCE EXPEDITION 1 7 79 BY N ATHAN GOOLD HISTORIAN MAIN E SO C IETY S ON S OF THE N R V A E CA E O UT ON . M RI " " L I C O L O N E L JO N A T H A N M I T C H E L L ’S C M E RL A N D C O N RE M E N T U B U T Y G I . B A GA D U CE XP N 1 7 7 9 . E EDITIO , B Y N ATH AN GO OL D , Re a d b e o r e th e M a in e H is tori c a l S o c i et O to b er 27 1 89 8 . f y , c , TH E a Am e ric an s expedition org nized by the in June , 1 9 77 , to dislodge the British who had occupied the th e o f point where is now town Castine , Maine , as a o f base supplies and a naval station , has been known in a s B a adu c e history the g expedition , but at that time ” was cal led The Expedition to the Penobscot . The arm of the sea now called Bagadu c e River was in former Mat c h e b i u at u s times called g , an Indian name meaning at a place where there is no safe harbor . At the time o f it - k -B a adu c e the Revolution was nown as Maj a g , which was contracted into B agadu c e and hence the name o f the expedition . The fact that the campaign was a disastrous fail ure has probably deterred historians from the prep aration o f a full history of the affair but as it was one ’ o fthe most prominent events in Maine s Revolutionary history , it seems proper that the service , with the com pany rolls of the men who composed the regiments, re s o n should be recorded . The men were in no wise p fo r sible the results , and no doubt acted as well as they could under the circumstances in which they found themselves placed . 2 E SONS O F THE AM RICAN REVOLUTION . It is not the intention to give a complete history o f e the expedition , but it will be necessary to giv some facts to Show the magnitude o f the undertaking which the government o f Massachusetts did not then i real ze . 24 1 7 9 Ge n . Po wn al b o June , 7 , Charles Cushing , of r u t th e o gh , sent a let er to Massachusetts General Court advisin g an immediate expedition to d islodge the British before they had time to entrench themselves . They had already given consideration to the subj ect , and June 25 gave the Board of War directions to engage all state or national armed vessels that could b e prepared to sail in six days . They were also directed to charter or impress all private armed vessels avail a o f f able , with promise to the owners a air compensa tion for all losses and damages they might sustain , and o f the wages the men were to, be the same as paid Th t o in the Continental service . e Board was also pro t cure the necessary ou fit and supplies, and the follow ing were said to have been furnished Nine tons o f o f f o f: r flour and bread , ten tons salt bee , ten tons ice , h o f o f six undred gallons rum , six hundred gallons of f u molasses , five hundred stands arms , fi ty tho sand o f rounds musket cartridges with balls , two eighteen d o f pounders with two hundred roun s ammunition , three nine - pounders with three hundred rounds of ammu n itio n fi e l d- Of , four pieces , six barrels gun powder, with ffi s a su cient quantity of axes , spades, tents and utensil o f all kinds . The fleet when ready consisted o f n ineteen armed an d - f s vessels twenty our transport , all carrying three ’ O L L COL NE JONATHAN MITCHE L S REGIMENT . 3 f - f fla - hundred and orty our guns . The g ship was the - f Warren , a new thirty two gun Continental rigate . The fleet was under the command o f Dudley Saltonstall o f N e w H aven , Connecticut, whose obstinacy out s w eighed his ability a a commander Of a fleet . On w f board , beside the sailors , ere between three and our n Mas s ac hu hundred marines , also about one hu dred - o f . setts artillery men under the command Lieut Col . Paul Re v ere o f Boston . o f Gen . Cushing Lincoln County , and Gen . Samuel Thompson o f Cumberland were each ordered to detach f fo r six hundred men rom the militia two regiments, and Gen . John Frost was to detail three hundred o f the York county militia to complete a s u fli c ie n t number o f men fo r the service to be performed . This would have a o f n made a tot l fiftee hundred men , but in reality there were furnished less than one thousand or about 1 the number of the enemy . The resolve provided that such men as had been previously ordered to be raised in th e above named ’ a s t o f ao f counties , a par the state s quot the Conti n e n t al e o f army , should be consider d part the said detachment and in case the expedition was carried ff fo r into e ect, the counties were to be exempted nine mo nths from raising men fo r the Continental service . It was a Massachusetts undertaking , and a draft was made on the state treasury fo r to defray the o f N expenses . The merchants ewburyport and Salem supplied six of the fleet with provisions for t w o m onths . 1 T her e are indic ati o n s th at m o r e m e n jo in e d t h e e xp e diti o n fro m L inco ln C o unty a fte r t h e arr iva l o f t h e fl e e t in t h e P e no b s co t . 4 O F R R L SONS THE AME ICAN EVO UTION . Th e commander o f the land forces was Solomon 1 o f o f Lovell , Weymouth , a brigadier general the f wa s o f Su folk County militia . He a man courage , f but with no experience in actual war are . The next W in command was General Peleg adsworth , of D ux at th e o f bury, who had seen service seige Boston and f h in Rhode Isl and . A ter the war e settled in Portland f d . where he was a most use ul and honore citizen He , w ithout doubt w a s the best officer o f the expedition . - At that time he was thirty o n e years o f age . He f wa s o f . the grandfather the poet , Henry W Long ellow . Th e militia fo r the expeditio n was collected wi th considerable difficulty . The reason given was that there w as a misunderstanding O f the me aning O f the f . o f orders among the O ficers Parson Smith, Falmouth , d o f 30 1 779 : records un er date June , People every where in this state spiritedly appearing in the present d intended expe ition to Penobscot, in pursuit of the British fleet and army there . Adj t . Gen . Jeremiah " Hill t estified at the investiga tion that the troops were collected with the greatest reluctance so that I r d . S k ecommen ed martial law . om e were ta en and f f brought by orce , some were rightened and j oined " voluntarily , and some skulked and kept themselves l concealed . So upon the whole I co lected by return four hundred and thirty- three rank r and file . Adj t . Gen . Hill eported to Gen . ' T hompson the situation in C umberland County an d If I in reply , he said , they will not go will make the ” m county too hot for them . Brigade Maj or Willia 1 Fo r th e o r a of e r a o o m o L o e w a s o f h is e s e e j u n l Gen l S l n v ll , ith ketch lif , — W e m o . o l I 1 . s S o c Vo . a 4 1 1 6 y uth Hi t C ll , , p ge ’ L T COLONE JONA HAN MITCHELL S REGIMENT . 5 t 1 4 Todd said hat he marched to Casco Bay , July , with one hundred and thirty York County men , sev ” o f h f eral which were brought wit orce of arms . He F m h arrived at al outh the seventeent , and found the transports waiting , and he testified at the investiga tion that there were " too many boys and aged among the soldiers .