I have received a number of queries about what was happening here during the Revolutionary War since the Ken Burns documentary dropped. Apparently, I am not alone in my obsession with this fascinating series. Here is how we fit in.

Episode 2

News of the first shots fired at Lexington and Concord reached Arundel April 22, 1775, three days after the battle. Benjamin Durrell, John Hovey, John Whitten and Joshua Nason, were named a committee to furnish citizens with ammunition.

Noah Cluff, Nathaniel Davis Sr. and Jr. of Arundel were at the Battle of Bunker Hill on April 19, 1775. Historian Charles Bradbury wrote about Revolutionary War military service of some of our citizens. See pictures.

General Gage was holding Boston Harbor when Arundel-owned coasting sloop Polly, on her way home from a trading voyage to Plymouth, was captured by General Gage’s forces on May 15, 1775. To escape the clutches of the British Navy, the captain of the Polly pretended loyalty to the crown, agreeing to sail to Nova Scotia to deliver arms and pick up supplies for the forces at Boston. He slipped out of Boston Harbor in the dark of night, ostensibly for Nova Scotia but instead he set a course for Cape Porpoise Harbor with two supercargo loyalists and a cargo of British firearms. Upon their arrival at Cape Porpoise, the confused loyalists, their papers and their arms were turned over to the Arundel Committee to the Massachusetts Congress.

Episode 6

The Naval Battle of Cape Porpoise, about which I have written in both my SoME Old News column in the Star and for Throwback Thursday, occurred on Aug 8, 1782. Most of the fighting had ceased by then. In fact, the first transport of American Prisoners was already on their way home. You can read more about the Battle of Cape Porpoise on my antique web page at https://www.mykennebunks.com/revolution.htm.

Clarice Nickerson’s extensive cemetery research indicate there are only 20 gravestones markers honoring Revolutionary War service in Kennebunkport though we know there are at least 49 buried somewhere in town, 32 who died while in service.