page_title: Penobscot Expedition
section_title: American reaction
hierarchical_section_title: Penobscot Expedition / American reaction
caption_attribution_description: English: Fracis McLean Plaque, St Pauls Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia
context_page_description: The Penobscot Expedition was a 44-ship American naval armada during the Revolutionary War assembled by the Provincial Congress of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The flotilla of 19 warships and 25 support vessels sailed from Boston on July 19, 1779 for the upper Penobscot Bay in the District of Maine carrying an expeditionary force of more than 1,000 American 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 mid-coast Maine from the British who had captured it a month earlier, naming the newly British territory New Ireland. It was the largest American naval expedition of the war. The fighting took place on land and at sea around the mouth of the Penobscot and Bagaduce Rivers at Castine, Maine over a period of three weeks in July and August. The Expedition was the United States' worst naval defeat until Pearl Harbor 162 years later, in 1941.
context_section_description: When news reached the American authorities at Boston, they hurriedly made plans to drive the British from the area. The Penobscot River was the gateway to lands controlled by the Penobscot Indians who generally favored the British, and Congress feared that they would lose any chance of enlisting the Penobscots as allies if a fort were successfully constructed at the mouth of the river. Massachusetts was also motivated by the fear of losing their claim over the territory in any post-war settlement.
  To spearhead the expedition, Massachusetts petitioned Congress for the use of three Continental Navy warships: the 12-gun sloop Providence, 14-gun brig Diligent, and 32-gun frigate Warren. The rest of more than 40 vessels were made up of ships of the Massachusetts State Navy and private vessels under the command of Commodore Dudley Saltonstall. The Massachusetts authorities mobilized more than 1,000 militia, acquired six small field cannons, and placed Brigadier General Solomon Lovell in command of the land forces. The expedition departed from Boston harbor on July 19 and arrived off Penobscot on the afternoon of July 25.
caption: Francis McLean Plaque, St. Paul's Church (Halifax), Nova Scotia
exif: {"Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPhone 4", "Image Orientation": "Rotated 90 CW", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "6.1.3", "Image DateTime": "2013:09:27 12:10:40", "Image ExifOffset": "192", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[44, 1943/50, 0]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[63, 862/25, 0]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "39917/518", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[15, 10, 4010]", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "T", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "55477/223", "Image GPSInfo": "582", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/15", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "320", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:09:27 12:10:40", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:09:27 12:10:40", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "4889/1250", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4281/1441", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "751/1162", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "77/20", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[1027, 760, 484, 484]", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1296", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "968", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "35", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}