Teacher Resources
Castine
Inquiry Question
When an organization fails, is the failure personal or systemic — and how do we tell the difference?
Primary Sources
What Teachers and Students Use
Proceedings of the Court Martial of Commodore Dudley Saltonstall, 1779
PRIMARY · Massachusetts State Archives / Continental Navy Records
5 analysis prompts
General Solomon Lovell's Report to the Massachusetts General Court, August 1779
PRIMARY · Massachusetts State Archives
5 analysis prompts
Massachusetts General Court: Penobscot Expedition Committee Reports, 1779-1782
PRIMARY · Massachusetts State Archives
5 analysis prompts
Wilson Museum: Penobscot Expedition Collections
INSTITUTIONAL · Wilson Museum, Castine ME / National Register of Historic Places
5 analysis prompts
Paul Revere's Deposition Regarding the Penobscot Expedition, 1779
PRIMARY · Massachusetts Historical Society
5 analysis prompts
Downloads
Ready to Print
Student packet, teacher guide with answer key, and quiz — each formatted for classroom printing.
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Lesson Plan
In the Classroom
Learning Objectives
- 1Students will reconstruct the chain of events in the Penobscot Expedition and identify the decision points where different choices might have changed the outcome
- 2Students will analyze how the dual-command structure of the expedition contributed to command paralysis
- 3Students will evaluate the court-martial proceedings and assess questions of individual vs. systemic responsibility
- 4Students will apply organizational design concepts from the Penobscot case to a contemporary context
Explore Further
Castine in the Knowledge Graph
The lesson packet draws from these pages. Use them to extend the lesson or give students primary source context.
Comparative Study
Connected Towns
The corroborate prompts in the student packet point to these towns. Teachers can assign cross-town comparisons.
Portland
SHARED EVENT
Portland (Falmouth) served as a staging area for the Penobscot Expedition, and both towns experienced the consequences of British maritime aggression on the Maine coast. The two towns anchor the Maine theater of the Revolution.
Boston
SHARED PERSON
Paul Revere, Boston's most famous Patriot, commanded the artillery in the Penobscot Expedition and was court-martialed for his conduct during the retreat. The expedition was a Massachusetts operation organized and funded by the Massachusetts General Court.
Boston
SHARED EVENT
The Penobscot Expedition was launched from Massachusetts.
Assessment
Castine in the American Revolution
Answer the following questions based on our study of Revolutionary history. · 5 questions · Answer key in Teacher Guide PDF
What makes Castine significant in Revolutionary history?
multiple choice
Primary sources are documents or objects created during the time period being studied.
true false
Name one event that occurred in Castine during the Revolutionary period and explain its significance.
short answer
+ 2 more in the full quiz PDF
Ready to Print?
All three documents below — student packet, teacher guide, and quiz — are formatted for letter-size classroom printing.