thorough but could have used more maps to illustrate ship and troop movements, As the largest American naval fleet assembled during the Revolutionary War, the vessels comprising the Penobscot expedition were expected to swiftly defeat the British at Fort George on Maine's Penobscot Bay.
During the ensuing battle, however, the armada took a dramatic turn toward the disastrous and some forty ships were lost, The result was a defeat the magnitude of which would not be seen again until Pearl Harbor, Blame was placed on the suspected cowardice of Commodore
Dudley Saltonstall,
During the ensuing battle, however, the armada took a dramatic turn toward the disastrous and some forty ships were lost, The result was a defeat the magnitude of which would not be seen again until Pearl Harbor, Blame was placed on the suspected cowardice of Commodore
Dudley Saltonstall,
But was Saltonstall to blame In his defense George Buker bypasses historical speculation and gives a detailed analysis of concrete factors that may have caused the defeat, including the limitations of squarerigged ships in restricted waters, geography, and the British defensive alignment.
In the only such study to date, his conclusions are startling: There was a Massachusetts conspiracy against the commodore and the Massachusetts committee of inquiry and general court interfered with the proper proceedings of Saltonstall's courtmartial.
Buker is both thorough in his research and convincing in his arguments, making this a work of historical significance as well as a true and compelling mystery,