On this day 250 years ago, Captain Henry Mowat, the British commander of the HMS Canceaux, HMS Halifax, and two other ships anchored in the harbor of Falmouth, Massachusetts (today’s Portland, Maine) sent Lieutenant Alexander Fraser onshore to deliver this warning:
After so many premeditated Attacks on the legal Prerogatives of the best of Sovereigns; After the repeated Instances [of] Britain’s long forbearance of the Rod of Correction; and the Merciful and Paternal extension of her Hands to embrace you, again and again, have been regarded as vain and nugatory And in place of a dutiful and grateful return to your King and Parent state; you have been guilty of the most unpardonable Rebellion … Having it in orders to execute a just Punishment on the Town of Falmouth … I warn you to remove without delay the Human Species out of the said town; for which purpose I give you the time of two hours.
That evening residents of Falmouth scrambled to save their possessions from the impending bombardment and militia from surrounding communities began to arrive to try and defend the town.
Sources: Gratwick at 79-80;
Also on that day in Norfolk, Royal Governor Lord Dunmore of Virginia ordered a British force of over 100 soldiers, sailors, and marines to embark in small boats and proceed up the eastern branch of the Elizabeth River. Newtown. The British raiders then marched three miles to Kemp’s Landing where they encountered no resistance from militia but did capture militia Captain Matthews and a delegate to the Virginia convention representing Princess Anne County, William Robinson, and seized from several warehouses “a good many small arms, musket locks, a little powder and ball, two drums, and a quantity of buckshot, all of which we either brought off or destroyed.”
Sources: https://allthingsliberty.com/2018/12/recognizing-the-skirmish-at-kemps-landing/; Selby at 62
On This Day In The Revolution 