Peleg Wadsworth

Peleg Wadsworth (May 6 1748 - July 18 1829) was a U.S. army officer during the American Revolution. He was also grandfather of noted American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Related Topics:
May 6 - 1748 - July 18 - 1829 - U.S. - Officer - American Revolution - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wadsworth was born in Duxbury, Massachusetts to Peleg and Susanna (Sampson) Wadsworth, graduated from Harvard College with A.B. (1769) and A.M. (1772), and taught school for several years in Plymouth, Massachusetts with classmate Alexander Scammell. There he met Elizabeth Bartlett (1753 to 1825) whom he married in 1772. The Wadsworths lived in Kingston, Massachusetts until 1775, when Wadsworth recruited a company of minutemen, of which he was chosen captain. His company marched to battle April 20 1775, in response to the alarm of April 19 1775 and the Battle of Lexington and Concord on that day.

Related Topics:
Duxbury, Massachusetts - Harvard College - Plymouth, Massachusetts - Alexander Scammell - Kingston, Massachusetts - Minutemen - April 20 - 1775 - April 19 - Battle of Lexington and Concord

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wadsworth served as aide to Gen. Artemas Ward in March, 1776, and as an engineer under General Thomas in 1776, assisting in laying out the defenses of Roxbury, Massachusetts and present at the Battle of Long Island on August 1 1776. He was made Brigadier General of militia in 1777 and Adjutant General of Massachusetts in 1778.

Related Topics:
Artemas Ward - Roxbury, Massachusetts - Battle of Long Island - August 1 - 1776

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wadsworth's finest military engagement was in one of the worst American military defeats of the war. In 1779 he served as second in command to Paul Revere over a force sent to attack the British at Castine, Maine in the so-called Penobscot Expedition. This engagement resulted in the destruction of most of the American vessels involved. Wadsworth organized and led the only "successful" part of the expedition -- the retreat. Revere and Commodore Dudley Saltonstall, Commander of the Fleet, faced court-martial charges for their roles in the debacle.

Related Topics:
Paul Revere - Castine, Maine - Penobscot Expedition - Dudley Saltonstall

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In March 1780, Peleg was given command of all the troops raised for the defense of the Province of Maine. On February 17 1781, British soldiers overran his headquarters in Thomaston, Maine. Wadsworth was captured and imprisoned in Fort George at Bagaduce (Castine), but he and fellow prisoner Major Benjamin Burton eventually escaped 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 war's end.

Related Topics:
February 17 - 1781

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In April 1784 Wadsworth returned to Maine, purchased 1.5 acres (6,000 m²) of land on Back Street (now Congress Street in Portland, Maine), engaged in surveying, and opened a store in early 1785. There he also built a house, now the historic Wadsworth-Longfellow House. He and his wife had ten children, one of whom later gave birth to poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Although he continued to live in Portland, in 1790 he received 7500 acres (30 km²) from the state in what became the town of Hiram, Maine, settled his son Charles there in 1795, and in 1800 built Wadsworth Hall there for his retirement.

Related Topics:
Portland, Maine - Wadsworth-Longfellow House - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - Hiram, Maine

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1792 Wadsworth was chosen a Presidential Elector and a member of the Massachusetts Senate, and from 1793-1807 was the first representative in Congress from the region of Massachusetts that later became Maine. In January 1807 he moved to Hiram where incorporated the township (February 27 1807) and served as selectman, treasurer and magistrate. For the remainder of his life devoted himself to farming and local concerns. He died in Hiram on July 18 1829 and is buried in the family cemetery at Wadsworth Hall.

Related Topics:
February 27 - 1807 - July 18 - 1829

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~