Episode 051: The Portsmouth Alarm

American Revolution Podcast

Michael Troy

History, Education

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2018

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

By the end of 1774 Britain had banned all munitions imports to the colonies. After fearing that the British Navy might seize munitions at Fort William and Mary in New Hampshire. Paul Revere rides from Boston to alert the local militia. The militia attack the fort the following day. There is an exchange of gunfire, but no one is killed. The militia quickly capture the small garrison, remove the gunpowder, and then release their prisoners to take control of the fort again. The following day, more militia arrive and decide to take the fort a second time, this time to remove cannon. The garrison surrenders, under an agreement to release colonial property only. Once they take the fort, the militia take the cannon and just about anything else of military value that they can carry. Although the royal goverment knows the who led the attack on the King's fort, they are unable to make any arrests. Patriots have effectively taken control of the colony. Visit my site at https://blog.AmRevPodcast.com for more text, pictures, maps, and sources on this topic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an airwave media podcast. Hello and thank you for joining the American Revolution.
0:17.0	Today episode 51 the Portsmouth alarm.
0:22.0	As I've already discussed in past episodes, during the fall of 1774,
0:28.0	General Gage focused his efforts to collect as much arms and ammunition as possible from New Englanders.
0:35.0	His troops would need it and he wanted to deny it to the Patriots.
0:40.0	That is what sparked the powder alarm back in September 1774.
0:45.0	Over the winter, both sides attempted to collect whatever other arms and ammunition they could.
0:51.0	Last week, I mentioned that in October the Privy Council with the
0:55.7	King's approval banned all imports of arms and ammunition into the colonies. By
1:01.5	mid-December where do the band reach the colonies. By mid-December, word of the band reached the colonies, making everyone that much
1:06.3	more desperate to grab whatever existing stocks that they could. By that time, Gage had put most of his stored arms and ammunition in Castle William in Boston Harbor, where it was safe from attack.
1:20.0	The provincial Congress kept its munitions dispersed in various towns far enough away from Boston, where the regulars could not get to it easily.
1:30.0	During this same time, the Ministry ordered Admiral Graves to deploy four of his ships in Boston to sail along the New England coast and interdict any ships carrying munitions.
1:42.0	The Patriots learned of this deployment, but feared the Navy was headed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to secure the munitions at Fort William and Mary.
1:51.0	The fort there contained nearly 100 cannon as well as over 100
1:56.0	barrels of powder. It was one of the largest forts in New England. New Hampshire
2:01.9	however had never become a military flashpoint.
2:05.0	Over the years, the fort had fallen into disrepair, with many of its walls beginning to collapse.
2:11.0	It was defended, if you can call it that, by a garrison of six
2:16.6	soldiers, all of whom were on invalid duty. The Patriots feared the British Navy might
2:22.3	be moving to secure these weapons
2:24.1	ammunition before they fell into Patriot hands.
	...

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