He returned again in October with five vessels under his command, two ships, two schooners and one sloop; they arrived and anchored in the lower harbour on the 16th and laid all night without any communication with the town, and the inhabitants were greatly terrified at the appearance of this hostile fleet, until it was ascertained that Captain Mowatt commanded the whole; on the morning of the 17th the fleet got under weigh in a calm and began to warp up toward the town with kedge anchors. About 8 oclock A.M. my master [Paul] Little came on horseback to the shop door, called me out, and told me he was going to Windham, and to be gone several days, and that he should send people to me with orders to pay for their labor &c. I then asked him if he knew the fleet was coming up, and that people in general were of opinion that it was coming with hostile intentions against the town; and he replied to me that Captain Mowatt had the command and there was no danger! He went to Windham and left me at 15 years of age with the care of both shops. The ships and vessels were until four o'clock P.M. before they got to their anchorage before the town, and the inhabitants generally were in a state of alarm, and many began to move out for safety. Mrs Little was very much frightened and began to think of moving, and sent me with two old looking glasses out to a place called Capiseack, when I had deposited the treasure, worth about five dollars!! and was about remounting my horse, a Windham man came by on a gallop, and told me the town was to be burned in two hours. I told him where Mr. Little was in Windham, and desired him to send him word, and he promised he would but did not. I rode into town with all speed, and found Mrs. Little with her children at the front door, ready to go; she delivered to me a bag with all her husbands money, books and papers, and with her children walked on to Mr Deering's farm. I then took all the money out of the shops, and all the gold and silver ware, and carried the whole and delivered it to her, and went into town with a charge to save all I could before Mr Little could get in: and with nobody to help me but the females I got every thing ready to load up carts, in expectation of Mr Littles arrival every minute; and at nearly midnight he had not arrived, and I was fortunate enough to get a man and horse to go after him at two oclock in the morning. This man found Mr Little in bed and asleep not knowing any thing of the distressed situation of the town.

When Mowatt had his fleet moved and ready to fire he sent his barge on shore with an officer under a flag of truce with a long letter to the committee that he had orders to set the town on fire immediately on his arrival; but he added, that from feelings of humanity he would take it upon himself so far to deviate from his orders as to allow two hours to remove the "human species." Immediately upon this official communication being read a respectable committee went on board the Canceaux and entered into a conference with Mowatt, and with much difficulty prevailed on him to defer his work of destruction till nine o'clock the next morning being the 18th day of October 1775. Mowatt having stated to the committee his only condition on which the town could be spared, and that was for the inhabitants to deliver up their arms and swear allegiance to his majesty King George the third; this condition being inadmissable the town was sacrificed to the cause of Liberty and Patriotism, as there was no other alternative.