| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 90.1

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 90.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

The Penobscot Expedition: Commodore Saltonstall and the Massachusetts Conspiracy of 1779. By George E. Buker. (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2002. xii, 204 pp. $32.95, ISBN 1-55750-212-9.)

The Penobscot expedition is an obscure military campaign of the American Revolution. Intended to drive the British from a post they had taken in Maine (then part of Massachusetts), it became one of the biggest blunders committed by the Americans. George E. Buker's workmanlike study largely fills the need for a book on it.	1
As part of the British plan to establish refuges for American Loyalists, the Bagaduce Peninsula of Maine (to be renamed New Ire-land) by Penobscot Bay was fortified in 1779. The British general Francis McLean was in command, with Capt. Henry Mowat supervising the few warships left at the base. Although some Patriots fled, most of the inhabitants helped the British build their defenses and some worked for pay. In sharp contrast, the Penobscot Indians resisted British blandishments and did everything they could against them.	2
Seeking to regain the territory, Massachusetts summoned militia to be led by Gen. Solomon Lovell, but the Maine militia served reluctantly. Those who did appear were usually too old or too young to be good soldiers, dooming the expedition. The Continental captain Dudley Saltonstall (called commodore while commanding a fleet) headed an armada of eighteen vessels. Lovell and Saltonstall shared command, a foolish arrangement.	. . .

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