PORTLAND, Maine — On Oct. 18, 1775, four British ships sailed into Casco Bay harbor and set fire to Falmouth, Massachusetts. Today, we know it as Portland.

The fleet was led by Captain Henry Mowat. Mowat had been ordered to burn any coastal town north of Boston supporting Patriot activities. Tiffany Link, a Revolutionary War expert and collections curator at the Maine Historical Society, said initially the town was relieved to see Mowat because the people there had a good relationship with him. Mowat had been captured in Falmouth five months before, but the town made amends with the captain, and he blamed the Brunswick militia for what had happened.

"He acknowledged that it was not Falmouth's fault that that had happened to him and said that he forgave them," Link said. "Their relief sud

See Full Page