How the British Invasion of Maine During the War of 1812 Led to Statehood-- Part 1

From the March 9, 2020, TV 13 CBS News by Bill Trotter.

The War of 1812 came to Maine in 1814 in a big way.  That's when the powerful British Navy descended upon the towns of Eastport, Machias and Castine.  What is today Maine, was at the time a part of Massachusetts.

The British controlled much of the Maine coast between Penobscot and Cobscook bays for most of a year, raiding towns along the Penobscot River and attacking Hampden and Bangor before returning to Castine.

The war had been going on for two years already, but divided support in the United States as well as the British being more involved with Napoleon had kept the fighting away from Maine.  That is, other than a sea battle between the USS Enterprise and the HMS Boxer which the American ship won.

Initial support for the war was weakest in New England, where the Federalist Party favored strong ties with England and merchants conducted significant trade with the British colony of Canada.  The New Englanders went so far as to almost have secession, something they opposed when the Southern states did so some fifty years later.

--Brock-Perry

USS Adams

From Wikipedia.

In the last post about the second HMS Pictou, I mentioned that it had taken part in a British expedition in Maine to capture or destroy the frigate USS Adams. I was unfamiliar with the ship, so did some more research.

The Adams was commissioned in 1799 as a 28-gun frigate and took part in the Quasi War With France recapturing the brig Zylpha and working with the USS Insurgent on several occasions. It was also in the First Barbary War.

In the War of 1812, it was completely rebuilt and rerated as a sloop of war mounting 26 18-pdr. guns at the Washington Navy Yard. It was blockaded there until able to slip out to sea 18 January 1814 under the command of Captain Charles Morris, who had been executive officer under Isaac Hull on the USS Constitution during its battle with the HMS Guerriere.

It then cruised the U.S. eastern seaboard and over to Africa, capturing five British merchant vessels. It returned to Savannah, Georgia, in April 1814.

Its next voyage was to the Newfoundland Banks and over to the British Isles where it took five more ships and chased two into the Shannon River. After escaping a large British warship, it captured the Woolbridge before having to give it up when the HMS Dannemark and HMS Albacore arrived on the scene.

Homeward, it ran aground at the Isle au Haut and only skillful seamanship and rising tide enabled the heavily damaged Adams to refloat. It escaped to the Penobscot River and went up as far as Hampden, Massachusetts (now Maine) where it was scuttled and set on fire to prevent capture during the Battle of Hampden.

--Brock-Perry