April 3, 1779
If the world weren't already awash in irony, I'd venture a sardonic smile at the
notion that two hundred years ago, my home town made a mark on
history by
setting it's arms against America's staunchest ally of today.
Strange but true,
and made vividly real when I took my kids down to Surf Drive on a sunny Spring
afternoon to watch an amazing full scale reenactment of the Battle of
Falmouth.
It was April 1779, and the British were having a hard time keeping their army
fed1. They were a long way from home and the locals had proven to be more
resolute on the battlefield and less accommodating as hosts than their
commanders had anticipated. Cape Cod was normally easy pickins for a
quick
raid to gather up supplies prior to making more important forays on targets to
the north. The Cape was, after all, 40 miles out to sea, lightly defended
and exposed to attack. During the course of the Revolutionary War, the
Cape's ports were blockaded, crops and livestock were seized, and, as Falmouth
was soon to find out, her towns were attacked.
On the night of April 2, 1779, Colonel Joseph Dimmick was awaked by a
lanky, breathless lad. He was the son of John Slocum, the innkeeper at
Tarpaulin
Cove on Naushon Island1. Slocum was a Tory and he
struggled to walk the thin line
between his honest opinion that the fledgling colonies needed the support of Britain to survive, and a sympathy for the views of his fellows who were tired
of the abuse and arrogance of the distant and demanding England.
Unfortunately for the British, their soldiers were uncommonly rude and
abusive to Slocum's family that evening1, and when he heard them crafting a plan
to burn the town of Falmouth the next day, he'd had all he could stand.
So, in an act of enduring patriotism, he dispatched his son to warn the
Falmouth Militia. This was no small matter, and one can easily imagine
the feelings young Slocum must have had as he approached the task. It was
dark, and late, and the fate of the town was riding on his shoulders. The story
of Paul Revere's historic ride was known throughout the colonies and it's easy
to imagine the boy recalling it as he saddled the family horse in preparation
for his journey.
Tarpaulin Cove is some ten miles of rough horseback riding from the east end
of Naushon Island. Even today, the trail is rough and at night, riding
fast, with a load on your mind and the weight of history on your shoulders, it must have been exciting. When he
arrived at the Sheep Pen cove on the east end, he tied up the horse and
manhandled the family's dory down to the water. The distance across
Woods
Hole Passage is only a half mile, but it represents some of the most
treacherous, malevolent water on earth. During the race of a full tide,
the current can run as much as eight knots in places, way faster than most people
can row. In the middle of the pass, the water surges and boils over Red
Ledge, a nasty reef that has sucked many a ship into its spiny maw over the
years. Beyond, lies the more subtle hazard of Grassy Island, unmarked but for
the slight change in the wave pattern as the mass of water rolls over it, or
maybe the bark of a grouchy harbor seal disturbed from his sleep.
Having applied his wit and wile to overcoming the Woods Hole Passage, the boy
was now confronted with the task of beaching the dory, finding a horse and
galloping the final ten miles to arrive sweating, breathless and overwrought at the
door of Colonel Demmick Demmick was a veteran commander of the
Falmouth Militia,
having been appointed in 1775 to drill them into a fighting force capable of
defending the town against British attack. There had been minor skirmishes
before but, listening to the boy's story, Demmick decided that this could be the
real thing.
There had been an skirmish the previous day; a British landing party came
ashore bent on stealing a few of Falmouth's prized cattle and whatever
provisions they could easily lay their hands on2. The
Militia had arrived
quickly on the scene and deprived them of their booty. Apparently, the British fleet was now
bent on revenge as well as supplies. Colonel Demmick
summoned the Falmouth Militia and the men quickly and quietly dug entrenchments
along the beach in preparation for the attack2.
In the early morning of April 3, 1779, two British schooners and eight
smaller sloops appeared off the coast and at eleven o'clock proceeded to bombard
the town center of Falmouth with cannon-balls, double-headed shot and grape
shot. A landing party of
about 220 English soldiers attempted to make their way to shore, but were
repulsed repeatedly by the 50 militiamen commanded by Colonel Demmick. In the
afternoon, Demmick sent for reinforcements and men from the neighboring town of
Sandwich joined the fight. Militia from Barnstable also responded but were
met along the way and informed that the situation was well in hand and their help
wouldn't be needed. The battle had been won.
In the following days, Demmick pressed his advantage1. A Falmouth
schooner full of corn had recently been captured by the British and he decided
to get it back. In a bold move, Demmick lead three boats of Falmouth
militiamen down Vineyard Sound to the stolen schooner under the cover of
darkness. As they approached, they could see the British fleet anchored in
close proximity. The element of surprise was on their side, and despite
being discovered and fired upon by the Brits, they were able to board the high jacked
schooner without suffering any causalities. The militiamen
returned fire as the schooner was made ready to sail free, but amidst the fog of war, the ship was run aground on the fine white sand of
Tarpaulin Cove. For many hours, the undaunted militiamen fended off the
British fleet in a pitched battle while they
waited for the rising tide to free the ship. Once the vessel floated free,
they backed the sails in a clever feat of seamanship and sailed their boat full
of food home to Woods Hole.
In a final display of audacity, Demmick organized a troop of twenty five
militiamen to travel to Marthas Vineyard and confront the British
stronghold in Vineyard Haven Harbor. In the middle of the night, they swarmed aboard the
British ship General Leslie, overpowered the ship's crew and sailed their trophy
back to Hyannis along with a complement of captured British prisoners.
This moment in history
was brought to you by
The Everything2 Support Your Local Library Quest
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Footnotes
1 Sheedy & Coogan (1999)
2 Smith (1986)
Sources
Sheedy, J & Coogan, J. (1999) Cape Cod Companion, MA: Harvest Home
Books
Smith, M. (Ed) (1986) The Book of Falmouth, MA: Falmouth Historical
Society
These are not sources, but they have some great pictures of the 1999
reenactment...
http://www.columbiamaryland.com/falmouth.htm
http://members.aol.com/bkeaf/