Capture of Fort William and Mary
Capture of Fort William and Mary | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the American Revolutionary War | |||||||
Surrender of Fort William and Mary by Howard Pyle | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Militia of the Province of New Hampshire | Great Britain | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
John Langdon John Sullivan Alexander Scammell | Captain John Cochran | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
300+ | 6 |
The Capture of Fort William and Mary took place in
The incident is significant as one of the first overt acts of the American Revolutionary War[1] and the only battle to take place in the state of New Hampshire.[2]
Background
As tensions increased before the
The port at
Raid
On the morning of December 14, Patriots from the town of New Castle unsuccessfully attempted to take the gunpowder at Fort William and Mary by trickery. Meanwhile, John Langdon made his way through Portsmouth with a drummer, collecting a crowd to descend on the fort. Several hundred men responded to his call, setting out for the Castle by way of the Piscataqua River. Only one provincial officer, Captain John Cochran, and five provincial soldiers were stationed at Fort William and Mary. Despite the odds against them, they refused to capitulate to Patriot demands. When Langdon's men rushed the fort, the defenders opened fire with three cannons and a volley of musket shot.[7] Patriots stormed the walls and Cochran's men engaged in hand-to-hand fighting before being subdued by an overwhelming number of raiders. Langdon's volunteers not only broke open the powder house and absconded with about 100 barrels of gunpowder but, to three cheers, hauled down the fort's huge British flag. Several injuries but no deaths occurred in the engagement, and Cochran and his men were released after about an hour and a half of confinement.
The next day, additional rebel forces arrived in Portsmouth from across the colony, as well as from
Aftermath
In response to a call for aid from Boston by British Governor John Wentworth, the armed hydrographic survey sloop Canceaux arrived to keep the peace in New Hampshire on December 17,[9] followed by the twenty-gun frigate Scarborough on December 19, with numerous Royal Marines aboard. The Governor and his family were driven from their home in Portsmouth in the summer of 1775 and forced to take refuge in the fort, guarded by the guns of British warships. Britain finally gave up on the colony of New Hampshire in order to focus attention on the military situation in Massachusetts and abandoned the fort, removing its remaining equipment to Boston along with Governor Wentworth.
The supplies captured by Patriots in December 1774 were later used by New Hampshire's forces against the British military, including in the Siege of Boston and at the Battle of Bunker Hill.[10][11] Conversely, supplies (including numerous cannon) left in the fort by Patriots following the raids were subsequently put to use by the British forces. After the British abandoned the fort in the Revolution, the Patriots probably renamed it Fort Hancock.[12]
The plaque currently on the fort is dedicated "In commemoration of the first victory of the American Revolution. The capture, on this site of Fort William and Mary, 14–15 December 1774."[13]
References
- ^ Sign commemorates William & Mary Raids of 1774 against British fort in NH
- ^ When Paul Revere Rode to New Hampshire
- ^ Crout, Robert Rhodes, "Diplomacy of the American Revolution", in Encyclopedia of the American Revolution: Library of Military History. Ed. Harold E. Selesky. Vol. 1. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 318-321. U.S. History in Context.
- ^ J. Franklin Jameson, "St. Eustatius in the American Revolution", The American Historical Review, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Jul., 1903), p.687
- ^ Revolutionary New England, 1691-1776
- ^ The Midday Ride of Paul Revere
- ^ Cobbett's Parliamentary History of England, A letter directly from Captain Cochran describing the events.
- ^ Alexander Scammell, the Lovesick Revolutionary War Hero
- ^ Conforti, Joseph, Creating Portland: History and Place in Northern New England (2007) pp.55-58
- ^ Historic Powder Houses of New England: Arsenals of American Independence
- ^ POWDER FOR BUNKER HILL; HOW FORT WILLIAM AND MARY WAS CAPTURED. THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE SEIZURE AT NEW-CASTLE, N.H.--SOME GLARING MISSTATEMENTS CORRECTED.
- ^ Roberts, pp. 498-499
- ^ FORT CONSTITUTION HISTORIC SITE, see photo
Bibliography
- Roberts, Robert B. (1988). Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 0-02-926880-X.