06/13/2026
A quick history lesson for our area and a potential tourist attraction they are slacking on......
Dartmouth, as this area was known at the time from Westport to Fairhaven, was attacked, specifically Bedford village ( today known as New Bedford, along with Padanaram, Acushnet and Fairhaven. Over 4,000 British troops landed at Clark's Cove In September 1778, in New Bedford's southend, to avoid the cannons of Fort Phoenix. ●Yet, no monument, marks the spot where they landed. Or at least saying, they landed in this area, which is believed to be where a large bolt ramp is today, at the foot of Coral Street, where it meet West Rodney French. The history books have a small section about this called Grey's raid.
The marched to County st( County rd then) and split, sending a force to burn Padanaram, while the rest marched to Union st. ( Then King st.) Where they would burn the center of town along with its ships, ( one building remains there that actually survived the burning of the town at the foot of Union and Front street, it's a tattoo place now, there is no memorial or plaque that mentions this)with the fires so intense, it could be seen miles away in Newport Rhode Island. No plaques or memorials our dedicated to this entire event on Union street, which would be a huge tourist attraction, and history lesson, because i'm sure most of you did not know this even happened.
They met some resistance on County street around the areas of North and Mill street. The british were fired upon, by two men, wh then fled into the woods. Soon after a group of three men found themselves in the middle of the british lines by accident, and we're instantly shot and bayonetted. All three died. ●There is actually a memorial to this in one of the front yards and between those two streets, but it 's hard to see. That is one of the pictures i've posted here.
They moved on by marching to the head of the river, what is now known today as Tarkiln Hill road at the small bridge in Acushnet. There they met a small resistance force led by lieutenant Metcalf where he was shot and killed at that bridge on the New Bedford/Acushnet line, with several of his men wounded. ●There is a memorial plaque there, which is awesome. Most people don't see it unless they are on foot though.
They proceeded on through town into Fairhaven, where they made it to Fort Phoenix.
There, they blew up the powder magazine where one British soldier was killed due to premature detonation. They spiked the cannons, and destroyed most of the fort. For some reason, they came back later on and were met by Major Fearing and his men, from Wareham where they put up a stiff resistance, scare, in the british thinking.There was hundreds upon hundreds of militia in the woods, they retreated back to their boats and went on to plunder Martha's Vineyard. A total of 4 men were killed, several wounded throughout the entire engagement. And a fifth later died, trying to retrieve some cannons in the bottom of the Acushnet river from a sunken ship, the last cannon drowned him.
We need more history plaques about this time period... it is very historical and bothers me that the city does not care about this timeframe in history that literally built America. I have talked to people on the historical side, and they say something is in the works.But i'm just surprised we have not done much to make this happen already.
