Peleg Wadsworth

Peleg Wadsworth(May 6, 1748 – November 12, 1829) was an AmericanPatriotofficer during theAmerican Revolutionary Warand aCongressmanfromMassachusettsrepresenting theDistrict of Maine.He was also grandfather of noted American poetHenry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Peleg Wadsworth
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts
In office March 4, 1793 – March 3, 1807 Serving withHenry DearbornandGeorge Thatcher(4th District-GT)
Preceded by	Theodore Sedgwick
Succeeded by	Daniel Ilsley
Constituency	4th district(1793–95) 13th district(1795–1803) 15th district(1803–07)
Personal details
Born	(1748-05-06)May 6, 1748 Duxbury,Massachusetts,British America
Died	November 12, 1829(1829-11-12)(aged 81) Hiram,Maine,U.S.
Political party	Federalist
Relations	Henry Wadsworth Longfellow(grandson)
Children	at least ten,including Zilpha Wadsworth, Henry Wadsworth,Alexander Scammel Wadsworth
Alma mater	Harvard College
Occupation	Merchant
Military service
Allegiance	Massachusetts United States
Branch/service	Massachusetts Militia Continental Army
Rank	Brigadier general
Battles/wars	American Revolutionary War Battle of Long Island Penobscot Expedition

Early life

Wadsworth was born inDuxburyin theProvince of Massachusetts Bay(nowDuxbury, Massachusetts) to Peleg and Susanna (Sampson) Wadsworth. He graduated fromHarvard Collegewith an A.B. (1769) and an A.M. (1772), and taught school for several years inPlymouth, Massachusetts,with his former classmateAlexander Scammel.There he met Elizabeth Bartlett (1753 – 1825), whom he married in 1772.

American Revolutionary War

The Wadsworths lived inKingston,until 1775, when Wadsworth recruited a company ofminutemen,of which he was chosencaptain.His company mustered in response to the alarms generated by theBattle of Le xing ton and Concordon April 19, 1775. He was fifth in descendant to Christopher Wadsworth, who came from England to the Americas in 1632.ThePlymouth Countybattalion, commanded by Col.Theophilus Cottonmarched toMarshfieldto attack a garrison of British troops there. The attack was delayed for two days, allowing the British time to escape Marshfield by sea. During that time, Capt. Wadsworth, frustrated with the delay, advanced his company to within firing range of the British encampment, nearly instigating combat.

Wadsworth served as aide to Gen.Artemas Wardin March 1776, and as an engineer under Gen.John Thomasin 1776, assisting in laying out the defenses ofRoxbury, Massachusetts.He was present at theBattle of Long Islandon August 1, 1776. He was made brigadier general ofmilitiain 1777 and Adjutant General of Massachusetts in 1778.

Wadsworth's finest military engagement was in one of the worst American military defeats of the war. In the summer of 1779 he served as second in command to GeneralSolomon Lovellover the land forces sent to make acombined armsattack onFort GeorgeatCastine,in the so-calledPenobscot Expedition.CommodoreDudley Saltonstallwas in command of the naval forces. Lt. ColonelPaul Reverealso served in this expedition as commander of artillery. While General Lovell remained aboard the Commodore's vessel, Wadsworth and Revere landed with the infantry and artillery and laid siege to the fort for about two weeks. Due to the reluctance of the Commodore to launch a naval attack in support of the ground forces, the British garrison held out until ships of theRoyal Navyarrived fromNew York Cityand drove the American Navy up the Penobscot River where all 43 American warships were sunk or were scuttled and burned, comprising most of the American fleet, making it the worst American naval disaster prior to the Japaneseattack on Pearl Harborin 1941. Wadsworth, still with the forces on shore, organized and led a successful overland retreat through the Maine frontier. Colonel Revere and Commodore Saltonstall werecourt-martialedfor their roles in the debacle (Revere was acquitted, Saltonstall was "dismissed the service" ).

In March 1780, Wadsworth was given command of all the troops raised for the defense of theProvince of Maine.On February 17, 1781, a party of 25Loyalistsoverran his headquarters inThomaston;this was in revenge for Wadsworth ordering thecourt-martialand execution of a guide who had assisted Loyalists traveling from Falmouth (now Portland) to Fort George. Wadsworth was captured and imprisoned in Fort George at Bagaduce (Castine) (the same fort he had led the attack against in the summer of 1779), but he and fellow prisoner Maj. Benjamin Burton eventually escaped on June 15, 1781 by cutting a hole in the ceiling of their jail and crawling out along the joists. Wadsworth then returned to his family in Plymouth, where he remained until the war's end.

After war years

In April 1784 Wadsworth returned to Maine, purchased 1.5 acres (6,000 m²) of land on Back Street (now Congress Street inPortland), engaged in surveying, and opened a store in early 1785. There he also built a house, now the historicWadsworth-Longfellow House.He headed the committee that organized the first convention to discuss independence for Maine from Massachusetts, held in January 1786. He and his wife had eleven children: Alexander Scammell (9 May 1774 – 28 August 1775); Charles Lee (26 January 1776 – 29 September 1848); Zilpah (6 January 1778 – 12 March 1851); Elizabeth (21 September 1779 – 1 August 1802); John (1 September 1781 – 22 January 1860); Lucia (12 June 1783 – 17 October 1864); Henry (21 June 1785 – 4 September 1804); George (6 January 1788 – 8 April 1816); Alexander Scammell (7 May 1790 – 5 April 1851); Samuel Bartlett (1 September 1791 – 2 October 1874); and Peleg (10 October 1793 – 17 January 1875). Zilpah became the mother of poetHenry Wadsworth Longfellow.Although Wadsworth continued to live in Portland, in 1790 he purchased 7,800 acres (30 km²) from the Commonwealth in what became the town ofHiram,settled his son Charles there in 1795, and also in 1795 began buildingWadsworth Hallfor his retirement.

In 1792 Wadsworth was chosen a presidential elector and a member of the Massachusetts Senate, and from 1793 to 1807 was the first representative in Congress from the region of Massachusetts that later became Maine. In January 1807 he moved to Hiram where he incorporated the township (February 27, 1807) and served as selectman, treasurer and magistrate. For the remainder of his life he devoted himself to farming and local concerns. He died in Hiram on November 12, 1829, and is buried in the family cemetery at Wadsworth Hall.

Legacy

Wadsworth's Portland house was declared aNational Historic Landmarkfor its association with him and with his grandson, poetHenry Wadsworth Longfellow.The house at Portland was gifted to the Maine Historical Society by his granddaughter Anne Longfellow Pierce upon her death in 1901. She was the last family member to live in the home.Wadsworth Hall, Peleg Wadsworth's home in Hiram, is also listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.

Further reading

• Cornwell, Bernard (2010).The Fort.New York: HarperCollins.ISBN9780007331727.RetrievedSeptember 1,2018.A historical novel depicting the Penobscot Expedition, with a non-fiction "Historical Note" (pp. 451–468) on sources and key details.
• Maine Historical Society."The Wadsworths: Peleg and Elizabeth."Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [online resource], Maine Historical Society, Accessed June 6, 2019.

• United States Congress."Peleg Wadsworth (id: W000014)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans
• Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century
• Massachusetts Soldiers & Sailors in the War of the Revolution
• Rolde, Neil (1990).Maine: A Narrative History.Gardiner, Me: Harpswell Press. p. 129.ISBN0-88448-069-0.