up the Penobscot River where all 43 American warships were sunk or were scuttled and burned, comprising most of the American fleet, making it the worst American naval disaster prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Wadsworth, still with the forces on shore, organized and led a successful overland retreat through the Maine frontier. Colonel Revere and Commodore Saltonstall were court-martialed for their roles in the debacle (Revere was acquitted, Saltonstall was "dismissed the service"). In March 1780, Wadsworth was given command of all the troops raised for the defense of the Province of Maine. On February 17, 1781, a party of 25 Loyalists overran his headquarters in Thomaston; this was in revenge for Wadsworth ordering the court-martial and execution of a guide who had assisted Loyalists traveling from Falmouth (now Portland) to Fort George. Wadsworth was captured and imprisoned in Fort George at Bagaduce (Castine) (the same fort he had led the attack against in the summer of 1779), but he and fellow prisoner Maj. Benjamin Burton eventually escaped on June 15, 1781 by cutting a hole in the ceiling of their jail and crawling out along the joists. Wadsworth then returned to his family in Plymouth, where he remained until the war's end. After war years In April 1784 Wadsworth returned to Maine, purchased 1.5 acres (6,000 m2) of land on Back Street (now Congress Street in Portland), engaged in surveying, and opened a store in early 1785. There he also built a house, now the historic Wadsworth-Longfellow House. He headed the committee that organized the first convention to discuss independence for Maine from Massachusetts, held in January 1786. He and his wife had eleven children: Alexander Scammell (9 May 1774 – 28 August 1775); Charles Lee (26 January 1776 – 29 September 1848); Zilpah (6 January 1778 – 12 March 1851); Elizabeth (21 September 1779 – 1 August 1802); John (1 September 1781 – 22 January 1860); Lucia (12 June 1783 – 17 October 1864); Henry (21 June 1785 – 4 September 1804); George (6 January 1788 – 8 April 1816); Alexander Scammell (7 May 1790 – 5 April 1851); Samuel Bartlett (1 September 1791 – 2 October 1874); and Peleg (10 October 1793 – 17 January 1875). Zilpah became the mother of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Although Wadsworth continued to live in Portland, in 1790 he purchased 7,800 acres (30 km2) from the