Brigadier-General Solomon Lovell (June 1, 1732 – September 9, 1801) was an American military officer and politician who served in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. He is best known for leading the land forces during the 1779

Penobscot Expedition The Penobscot Expedition was a 44-ship American naval armada during the Revolutionary War assembled by the Provincial Congress of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The flotilla of 19 warships and 25 support vessels sailed from Boston on July ...

, a disastrous attempt by Massachusetts to dislodge a British force from a settlement on a peninsula in

Penobscot Bay Penobscot Bay () is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine and Atlantic Ocean in south central Maine, a stretch known as Midcoast Maine, in a broader Atlantic region known as Down East. The bay originates from the mouth of Maine's Penobscot River, ...

, present-day

Castine, Maine Castine ( ) is a town in Hancock County in eastern Maine, United States.; John Faragher. ''Great and Nobel Scheme''. 2005. p. 68. The population was 1,320 at the 2020 census. Castine is the home of Maine Maritime Academy, a four-year institut ...

Early life

Solomon Lovell was born in

Abington, Massachusetts Abington is a New England town, town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, southeast of Boston. The population was 17,062 at the 2020 census. History Before the Europeans made their claim to the area, the local Native Americans r ...

on June 1, 1732, to David and Mary (née Torrey) Lovell. His father was a

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

graduate, teacher, an preacher. He died when Solomon was quite young, and the boy was raised first by his grandfather Enoch Lovell, and after his death by his stepfather, Samuel Kingman. Kingman, a military man, may have influenced the young Solomon to develop an interest in the military. Lovell's military service during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

(1754–1760) is not known in detail; he is known to have served as a first lieutenant in a militia company at Lake George, New York during the 1756 campaign. In 1758 he married Lydia Holbrook, the daughter of a neighbor. The couple had two children; the first died in infancy, and Lydia died during the birth of the second in 1761. The following year Lovell remarried, to Hannah Pittey, a woman who had originally spurned his proposal to her before his first marriage. With Hannah he settled into her house in Weymouth; they had seven children, three of whom survived to adulthood. He was active in town affairs, and began serving in the provincial assembly in 1771. He was also active in the local militia, rising to the rank of major in July 1771 and colonel in 1775.

American Revolutionary War

With the outbreak of the

with the

Battles of Lexington and Concord The Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 were the first major military actions of the American Revolutionary War between the Kingdom of Great Britain and Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot militias from America's Thirteen Co ...

in April 1775, Lovell's military activity increased. He was commissioned a colonel of the

2nd Massachusetts Regiment The 2nd Massachusetts Regiment, also known as Thomas' Regiment and Bailey's Regiment, was a unit of the Massachusetts Line in the 1777 establishment of the Continental Army. It was a successor to a number of Massachusetts provincial regiments f ...

in February 1776, and his troops were among those that occupied the heights south of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, prompting the British to withdraw the city. He continued to be active in the defense of eastern Massachusetts, and was promoted to brigadier general of the Suffolk County militia on June 24, 1777. Lovell led Massachusetts troops in the 1778

Battle of Rhode Island The Battle of Rhode Island (also known as the Battle of Quaker Hill) took place on August 29, 1778. Continental Army and Militia forces under the command of Major General John Sullivan had been besieging the British forces in Newport, Rhode Is ...

, where Lovell was one of several officers who "distinguished themselves by their coolness and courage." In 1779 the British sent a force to occupy the Bagaduce peninsula in

, in order to establish a settlement they called New Ireland. This territory, now part of the state of

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

, was then part of Massachusetts, and the state mobilized a large fleet and its militia to dislodge the British. Lovell was given command of the land forces, and the naval fleet was under the command of

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

native

Dudley Saltonstall Commodore Dudley Saltonstall (September 8, 1738 – 1796) was an American naval officer, privateer, merchant and slave trader who served in the American Revolutionary War. He is best known as the commander of the naval forces of the 1779 Penobsco ...

. Both men were ordered to cooperate with one another, but neither was given a clear authority over the other; this was a major contributing factor to the disastrous

that followed. During the entire course of the expedition, Lovell frequently complained (in his writings, and reportedly in war councils) of Saltonstall's unwillingness to take any sort of risks with the fleet in support of attacks on the British fortifications. The expedition dissolved in confusion with the arrival of a Royal Navy fleet; the entire Massachusetts fleet was captured or destroyed, and the land forces that escaped were forced to make an arduous journey overland. Lovell did not return to Boston until September 20, after making arrangements for defenses in the

Kennebec River The Kennebec River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Kinəpékʷihtəkʷ'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 30, 2011 natural river within the U.S. state of Ma ...

valley. The board of inquiry established by the state completely exonerated Lovell, and severely chastised Commodore Saltonstall for his failures. Saltonstall was court-martialed and cashiered out of the

Continental Navy The Continental Navy was the navy of the United Colonies and United States from 1775 to 1785. It was founded on October 13, 1775 by the Continental Congress to fight against British forces and their allies as part of the American Revolutionary ...

Later life

Lovell had, during the war, periodically served as a representative to the state legislature. He continued to do so after the war, also occasionally serving as town selectman. When Norfolk County was separated from Suffolk County, Lovell was given the task of petitioning the legislature to keep Weymouth a part of Suffolk County. He was unsuccessful in this effort; Weymouth is now in Norfolk County. Lovell died in Weymouth on September 9, 1801, having outlived his wife by six years. He is buried in the Pittey family tomb in Weymouth.

Early life

American Revolutionary War

Later life

References

Further reading