They Tore Down the King’s Colours – Treason at Fort William and Mary by Dr. Cynthia D. Hatch, Ph.D.

After the historic Boston Tea Party, the British Parliament retaliated against the Colonies by enacting the Coercive Acts, which were famously labeled as the Intolerable Acts by many Americans. As tensions continued to simmer, rumors about significant military movements began to circulate. An edition of the New Hampshire Gazette on December 8, 1774, detailed reports from sources claiming that the formidable Royal Navy was mobilizing with ships and Royal Marines. Their mission was to intercept and seize crucial ammunition from multiple military installations scattered along the eastern seaboard of the American Colonies. The Royal Navy's clear objective was to assert its authority and prevent the ammunition from falling into the hands of the Colonists by any means necessary. This included strategically securing ammunition at Fort William and Mary in New Hampshire. As news of the impending arrival of the Royal Navy spread, action was quickly taken, setting the scene for a dramatic capture of Fort William and Mary just days later. John Gerry, a Massachusetts Committee of Correspondence member, wrote an urgent letter dated December 12, 1774, to Samuel Cutts, a member of the New Hampshire Committee of Correspondence. In it, Gerry alerted Cutts of British movements and a course of action to protect the ammunition locally at Fort William and Mary. Paul Revere of the famous “Midnight Ride” was tasked with delivering the Gerry Letter to Samuel Cutts in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Months before Revere’s now infamous ride, he faced frigid temperatures in the middle of December traversing, through the heavily wooded terrain and snow, all while maintaining a low profile from British Regulars who were heavily present, especially in and around Boston. Revere arrived in Portsmouth with the Gerry Letter in hand. The recommendations to remove the military stores from the fort were met with great alarm and immediately spurred the men into action. Samuel Cutts, Chairman of the Committee of Forty-Five, and John Langdon, a Portsmouth Patriot leader, assisted in deciphering three critical points in the Gerry letter. First, Britain aimed to stop the flow of military supplies to the colonies. By cutting off supplies, the British made sure the Colonists knew they had no replenishment of goods and were subject to the will of the Crown. Without supplies, the Colonists were no match for the Royal Marines headed their way. Secondly, the Colony of Rhode Island had already moved its guns and ammunition to a safer location inland. Working together with those in the neighboring colony, this information strengthened the resolve to act quickly against the British movements and protect what they could of the ammunitions at the fort. Lastly, and most importantly, the sense of urgency was the catalyst for taking Fort William and Mary’s ammunition. The Royal Navy, a formidable force, was headed to do the same thing: take the ammunitions. The hours after Revere’s arrival were met with great anticipation by the people of Portsmouth. Royal Governor Wentworth later stated that about Revere’s arrival, “news was brought to me that a drum was beating about the town to collect the populace together.” Suspicions were high, knowing Revere had entered Portsmouth from Boston with skullduggery sure to follow. Wentworth rightfully suspected something was going on. By the following day, the secrecy and covert moves were shed, and a plan was underway to act against Wentworth and the Crown holdings at the fort. By this time, Cutts secured the number needed for a quorum to wage an attack on the fort. A forthcoming attack required a battle plan since Wentworth was already suspicious of trouble and warned Captain Cochran, the officer in charge of Fort William and Mary, to be on the lookout for suspicious activity. As the men schemed how to gain entrance to the fortified “Castle,” one idea was to have John Langdon and Captain Pickering “take a glass of wine with Captain Cochran” in hopes of concealing their true motive. The men eventually decided they needed something more than the niceties of a shared bottle of wine with a man neither of them spoke to regularly to gain entry into the fort. They decided on a direct approach, a forward assault described by a Loyalist bystander as “the drum… beat to raise Volunteers to go and take the King’s fort.” It was nothing short of an open rebellion against King George III. Treason took shape as the men positioned themselves along the wharf, and the drum beats became a full-blown cry to defy the royal government. The harbor bustled with activity to ready the gondolas for departure from Portsmouth to make their way off the coast to Fort William and Mary. Chief Justice Theodore Atkinson and the private secretary to Royal Governor Wentworth, Mr. McDonogh, gave the most pressing warning to those they saw at the wharf. Atkinson warned the men they would be charged with the “highest Act of Treason and Rebellion” against the Crown. The men were not dissuaded by the warnings from the Chief Justice; rather, they continued preparing for launch under dire warnings. Everyone knew a guilty verdict of treason was punishable by death. With every drum beat and every movement to ready their boats, the men were guilty of treason against the King. There was no going back since the identities of everyone who participated were known.

Even with the warnings from Governor Wentworth, reinforcements were not present to protect the fort. Under the guise of coming “to retrieve the military stores taken previously in Providence, Rhode Island,” Stephen Batson and Henry Langmead, with their cunning and deceit, convinced Captain Cochran to let them into the fort to discuss the issues with the ammunition. Captain Cochran was “not suspecting them of evil Designs,” which allowed the men to linger by the fire and make small talk. At one point, Sarah Cochran, the Captain’s wife, realizes trickery is afoot. She whispered to her husband she thought they were being trapped and brought Captain Cochran’s loaded pistols. As the warning from Sarah took the visit from neighborly to a full-blown siege, the men from Portsmouth and surrounding areas kept coming to the fort. Captain Cochran was caught ill-prepared at every turn. Batson and Langmead were not at the fort to share a fireside story, nor were they there to check up on a friend under heightened circumstances. Sarah Cochran was possibly more prepared than her husband to root out the ill intentions of the insurrection. Captain Cochran’s deposition paints him as a naïve poor leader who believed everything at face value and realized his danger after inviting the men inside the fort. In a time of heightened tensions between Patriots and Loyalists, it was the wrong time to believe random neighbors who appeared at the fort gates only to want to say hello and share a fire. Shortly after Captain Cochran realized Fort William and Mary was under siege, he, too, found himself in a precarious position as the officer in charge. After further deliberation and realizing many men were at the fort, Captain Cochran let John Langdon and Robert White into the fort to discuss their intentions. Once admitted into the fort, Langdon and White informed Captain Cochran they intended to “carry away all the Gunpowder in the Magazine.” It was very matter-of-fact and to the point. As Langdon and White enlightened Captain Cochran on how the events would unfold, more men stormed the “Castle,” leading to an all-out seizure of Fort William and Mary. It was a multipronged assault. Men attacked from all sides and proceeded to scale the walls to gain entry to the fort. The handful of men left to defend the fort was not enough against several hundred angry Patriots who rowed through the icy Atlantic Ocean to take the military supplies. Captain Cochran attempted to defend his position upon pain of death. When the keys were demanded of him, he responded, “they might as well ask for my Life for I would soon part with the One as the other.” In a dramatic capture, Thomas Pickering “jumped from the wall on [Captain Cochran’s] shoulders and seized [him] by the throat… making [him] a prisoner.” Captain Cochran was confined with a guard for some time while the men emptied the fort of the ammunitions. The men of Portsmouth achieved their goal. Fort William and Mary was emptied of almost all of its ammunitions. Captain Cochran testified he was left with one barrel of powder. Still, one hundred barrels were absconded by Langdon and his men. In addition to the powder, small arms, cannons complete with King George III’s stamp, and other ammunitions were taken from the fort. As the men lay waste to the fort and held Captain Cochran prisoner, excitement was palpable with cheers of Huzzah as the King’s colours were torn down. Fort William and Mary’s seizure by the New Hampshire Patriots in December 1774 demonstrated a military coup and high treason at their peak. Paul Revere’s ride to Portsmouth set in motion the capture of the King’s fort and ammunition that set the Crown aghast. As the Revolutionary War became official with the Battle of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the seizure of Fort William and Mary would play an integral role in securing liberty for the Americans. The same powder stolen from Fort William and Mary would be “dealt out to our troops… prior to the Battle of Bunker Hill.” Though a British victory, the Battle of Bunker Hill helped signify, along with the seizure of Fort William and Mary and the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the war was nowhere near being over. With the quantity of ammunition gained during the raid at the fort, the Patriots positioned themselves to fight back. Today, Fort William and Mary is known as Fort Constitution. Refurbishments are underway for the 250th commemoration in December 2024.