Letters from an American — October 17, 2025

Host: Heather Cox Richardson
Release Date: October 18, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Heather Cox Richardson narrates the historical background and repercussions of the Burning of Falmouth (modern-day Portland, Maine) on October 18, 1775. She contextualizes the attack within the escalating tensions of the American Revolution and illustrates how violent British reprisals steeled colonial resistance, catalyzing the movement toward independence.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Prelude to the Burning: Escalating Tensions

• Background:

  • Since the arrival of the Stamp Act in 1765, Falmouth’s residents, alongside other colonists, actively protested British policies and began raiding British ships in retribution.
  • In the spring of 1775, the colonies agreed to boycott British goods, ratcheting up pressure on Parliament.

• Confrontation in Falmouth:

  • In March 1775, Patriots allowed for ship repairs but demanded a Loyalist supply ship ultimately leave port.
  • Captain Henry Mowat arrived with the HMS Canso to protect Loyalist interests and facilitate cargo unloading.
  • News of Lexington and Concord sparked further colonial militancy — Brunswick militia captured Mowat ashore in May, leading to tense negotiations and his eventual release (01:56).

2. Colonial Escalation and British Retaliation

• Spread of Privateering:

  • Inspired by early successes, American privateers spent summer 1775 harassing British shipping along the coast (04:18).

• British Response: "Chastise" the Towns:

  • Vice Admiral Samuel Graves, commander of the British North Atlantic Fleet, ordered Captain Mowat in October 1775 to “lay waste, burn and destroy such seaport towns as are accessible to His Majesty’s ships” (05:10).

    "My design is to chastise Marblehead, Salem, Newburyport, Cape Ann Harbor, Portsmouth, Ipswich, Saco, Falmouth and Casco Bay, and particularly Machias..."
    — Samuel Graves (read by Richardson at 05:17)

  • Mowat chose to attack Falmouth, viewing the towns closer to Boston as too well-defended.

3. The Burning of Falmouth

• Ultimatum and Violence:

  • On October 17, “he warned them to remove without delay the human species out of the said town and gave them two hours to clear out” (06:15).

  • Attempts at negotiation failed; Mowat demanded hostages and all weapons (06:32).

  • On October 18 at 9:40 AM, Mowat’s ships began a relentless bombardment. Four hundred buildings were destroyed; the town was nearly leveled.

    “In a few minutes, the whole town was involved in smoke and combustion... the heavy thunder of the cann threw the elements into frightful noise and commotion and occasioned the very foundations of surrounding nature to quake and tremble.” (07:05)
    — Eyewitness account, read by Richardson

• Aftermath:

  • When fire failed to spread, British sailors landed to ignite additional flames (07:35).

4. Consequences and Larger Impact

• Colonial Resolve:

  • Far from subduing the colonists, the attack “steeled their resolve.”

  • George Washington wrote to John Hancock condemning the “outrage, exceeding in barbarity and cruelty every hostile act practiced among civilized nations” (08:00).

    “The burning of Falmouth was an outrage exceeding in barbarity and cruelty every hostile act practiced among civilized nations.”
    — George Washington (quoted by Richardson at 08:00)

  • Continental Congress responded by authorizing American ships to capture British vessels (08:12).

  • Towns fortified their defenses; the attack was seen as proof of governmental betrayal and became an accelerant for independence (08:30).

• Unifying Effect on Colonists:

  • Letter from William Whipple of Portsmouth, NH, captured the effect (08:40):

    "The unheard of cruelties of the enemy have so effectually unified us that I believe there are not four persons now in Portsmouth who do not oppose the tyranny of Great Britain."
    — William Whipple (read by Richardson at 08:45)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On British Orders of Reprisal:

  • “You are to go to all or to as many of the above named places as you can and make the most vigorous efforts to burn the towns and destroy the shipping in the harbors.”
    — Vice Admiral Samuel Graves [05:22]

• Eyewitness to Destruction:

  • “The crackling of the flames, the falling of the houses, the bursting of the shells, the heavy thunder of the cann threw the elements into frightful noise and commotion and occasioned the very foundations of surrounding nature to quake and tremble.”
    — Eyewitness account [07:10]

• Impact on Unity:

  • “The unheard of cruelties of the enemy have so effectually unified us…”
    — William Whipple [08:45]

Important Timestamps

• 01:56 — Capture of Captain Mowat by Brunswick militia
• 04:18 — Surge in colonial privateering after Lexington and Concord
• 05:10–05:22 — Admiral Graves’ punitive orders to Mowat
• 06:15 — Mowat’s ultimatum to Falmouth residents
• 07:05–07:35 — Bombardment, eyewitness accounts, landing parties setting additional fires
• 08:00 — George Washington’s condemnation
• 08:12–08:45 — Congressional response and colonists’ unified determination

Summary

Heather Cox Richardson’s episode expertly narrates how British attempts at intimidation, embodied in the burning of Falmouth, hardened colonial opposition and knitted together what would become a revolutionary movement. Through contemporary letters and vivid historical details, she demonstrates how British brutality led directly to the consolidation of colonial unity and, ultimately, the Declaration of Independence.