Raid on Saint John | |||||||
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Part of the American Revolutionary War | |||||||
Fort Frederick (Saint John, New Brunswick) | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Great Britain | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Jeremiah O'Brien [1] [2] Stephen Smith (privateer) [3] [4] | Captain Frederick Sterling |
The Raid on Saint John took place on 27 August 1775 during the American Revolutionary War. The raid involved American privateers from Machias, [[Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bay|] attacking Saint John, Nova Scotia on the northeast shore of the Bay of Fundy(in present day New Brunswick). [5] [6] [7] [8] The privateers intended to stop the export of supplies being sent to the loyalists in Boston. This raid was the first hostile act committed against Nova Scotia and it resulted in raising the militia across the colony. [9]
During the American Revolution, Americans regularly attacked Nova Scotia, the coasts of modern day Nova Scotia and New Brunswick by sea and land. American privateers devastated these small maritime economies by raiding many of the coastal communities, [10] such as the numerous raids on Liverpool and on Annapolis Royal. [11]
Barely a month after Lexington & Concord, there was a great naval success by 30 American militia men in the sloop SUCCESS on 14 May 14 1775 who recaptured two ships and their Royal Navy crews, totaling 15. These vessels had been taken by HMS FALCON. This was on Buzzards Bay at the Battle off Fairhaven MA. A month later, 55 American militia men in two vessels had another naval victory on 12 June capturing the armed coastal patrol sloop HMS MARGARETTA and her crew of 40 at the Battle of Machias, actually happening 12 miles down the bay off Machiasport. In response to this defeat, in July 1775 the British sent two armed sloops, HMS DILIGENCE and HMS TATAMAGOUCHE from Halifax to punish the American rebels. On 12 July 1775, the British vessels confronted O'Brien in UNITY and PORTLAND PACKET on the Bay of Fundy, where the Americans captured the British ships. [12] The Machias Committee of Safety sent Captain Stephen Smith to capture the brig LOYAL BRITON at St. John, which was loading cattle and other supplies for the British Army at Boston. [13]
On 27 August 1775, Captain Stephen Smith, in a 4-gun American privateer from Machias, along with 40 militia men raided St. John and burned Fort Frederick and took the brig LOYAL BRITON under the command of Captain Frederick Sterling. The brig had 120 tonnes of sheep and oxen for the British forces in Boston. Sterling also took a corporal and two privates, with two women and five children prisoner. John Anderson Esq. was also on board the brig. [14] The brigantine was owned by John Sempill (Semple) and the navigator was David Ross, who both escaped. The prisoners were released at Boston and sent back to St. John. [15]
Captain Edward Le Cras of HMS SOMERSET and HMS TARTAR proceeded immediately to Annapolis Royal to protect the town on the southeast shore of the Bay of Funday. The Governor requested two sloops-of-war to patrol the Bay of Fundy. Admiral Samuel Graves assigned Captain William Duddingston of HMS SENEGAL to the task. Graves also sent Le Cras to protect Halifax for the winter. [16] Governor Legge of Nova Scotia also called up militias from across the colony to be stood up. [17]
In retaliation for the raid on St. John, the British executed the Burning of Falmouth, modern day Portland, Maine. American privateers remained a threat to Nova Scotian ports for the rest of the war.
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 19, 1779, for the upper Penobscot Bay in the District of Maine carrying an expeditionary force of more than 1,000 American colonial marines and militiamen. Also included was a 100-man artillery detachment under the command of Lt. Colonel Paul Revere.
The Battle of Fort Cumberland was an attempt by a small number of militia commanded by Jonathan Eddy to bring the American Revolutionary War to Nova Scotia in late 1776. With minimal logistical support from Massachusetts and four to five hundred volunteer militia and Natives, Eddy attempted to besiege and storm Fort Cumberland in central Nova Scotia in November 1776.
The 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants) was a British regiment in the American Revolutionary War that was raised to defend present day Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada from the constant land and sea attacks by American Revolutionaries. The 84th Regiment was also involved in offensive action in the Thirteen Colonies; including North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and what is now Maine, as well as raids upon Lake Champlain and the Mohawk Valley. The regiment consisted of 2,000 men in twenty companies. The 84th Regiment was raised from Scottish soldiers who had served in the Seven Years' War and stayed in North America. As a result, the 84th Regiment had one of the oldest and most experienced officer corps of any regiment in North America. The Scottish Highland regiments were a key element of the British Army in the American Revolution. The 84th Regiment was clothed, armed and accoutred the same as the Black Watch, with Lieutenant Colonel Allan Maclean commanding the first battalion and Major General John Small of Strathardle commanding the second. The two Battalions operated independently of each other and saw little action together.
The Massachusetts Naval Militia, was a naval militia active during the American Revolutionary War. It was founded December 29, 1775, to defend the interests of Massachusetts during the war.
Jonathan Eddy was a British-American soldier, who fought for the British in the French and Indian War and for the Americans in the American Revolution. After the French and Indian War, he settled in Nova Scotia as a New England Planter, becoming a member of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia. During the American Revolutionary War, he was strongly supportive of the rebellion against the Crown. He encouraged the residents of Nova Scotia to join in open revolt against King George III and England. He led a failed attempt to capture Fort Cumberland in 1776 and was forced to retreat to Massachusetts, the place of his birth. The following year, he led the defense of Machias, Maine during the Battle of Machias (1777). After the war, he established the community now known as Eddington, Maine in 1784, where he died.
The Battle of Machias was an early naval engagement of the American Revolutionary War, also known as the Battle of the Margaretta, fought around the port of Machias, Maine.
American colonial marines were various naval infantry units which served during the Revolutionary War on the Patriot side. After the conflict broke out in 1775, nine of the rebelling Thirteen Colonies established state navies to carry out naval operations. Accordingly, several marine units were raised to serve as an infantry component aboard the ships of these navies. The marines, along with the navies they served in, were intended initially as a stopgap measure to provide the Patriots with naval capabilities before the Continental Navy reached a significant level of strength. After its establishment, state navies, and the marines serving in them, participated in several operations alongside the Continental Navy and its marines.
The Raid on Lunenburg occurred during the American Revolution when the US privateer, Captain Noah Stoddard of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and four other privateer vessels attacked the British settlement at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia on July 1, 1782. The raid was the last major privateer attack on a Nova Scotia community during the war.
The Battle of Machias was an amphibious assault on the Massachusetts town of Machias by British forces during the American Revolutionary War. Local militia aided by Indian allies successfully prevented British troops from landing. The raid, led by Commodore Sir George Collier, was executed in an attempt to head off a planned second assault on Fort Cumberland, which had been besieged in November 1776. The British forces landed below Machias, seized a ship, and raided a storehouse.
The Battle off Halifax took place on 28 May 1782 during the American Revolutionary War. It involved the American privateer Jack and the 14-gun Royal Naval brig HMS Observer off Halifax, Nova Scotia. Captain David Ropes commanded Jack, and Lieutenant John Crymes commanded Observer. The battle was "a long and severe engagement" in which Captain David Ropes was killed.
The St. John River expedition was an attempt by a small number of militia commanded by John Allan to bring the American Revolutionary War to Nova Scotia in late 1777. With minimal logistical support from Massachusetts and approximately 100 volunteer militia and Natives, Allan's forces occupied the small settlement at the mouth of the Saint John River in June 1777.
The Battle of Blomidon took place on 21 May 1781 during the American Revolutionary War. The naval battle involved three armed U.S. privateer vessels against three Nova Scotian vessels off Cape Split, Nova Scotia. American Privateers caught two Nova Scotia Vessels. The first Nova Scotia vessel was re-captured by Lieut Benjamin Belcher. The second Nova Scotia vessel was overtaken by the captured crew under the command of Captain Bishop. The privateers were taken to Cornwallis and put on trial.
The Raid on Annapolis Royal took place on 29 August 1781 during the American Revolutionary War. The raid involved two American privateers - the Resolution and the Reprisal - attacking and pillaging Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia in revenge of the defeat of the Penobscot Expedition. The privateers took captive the commander of the militia John Ritchie, described as the "Governor of Annapolis." One historian described it as "one of the most daring and dramatic raids upon Nova Scotia."
The Raid on Charlottetown of 17–18 November 1775, early in the American Revolutionary War, involved two American privateers of the Marblehead Regiment attacking and pillaging Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, then known as St. John's Island. The raid motivated Nova Scotia Governor Francis Legge to declare martial law. Despite the raid's success, George Washington immediately freed senior colonial officials the privateers had brought back as prisoners to Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The Battle off Liverpool took place on 24 April 1778 during the American Revolutionary War. The raid involved the British vessel HMS Blonde and the French 24-gun frigate Duc de Choiseul.
The Raid on Yarmouth took place on 5 December 1775 during the American Revolutionary War. The raid involved American Privateers from Salem, Massachusetts attacking Yarmouth, Nova Scotia at Cape Forchu. The privateers intended to stop the export of supplies being sent from Nova Scotia to the loyalists in Boston.
The Battle off Yarmouth took place on 28 March 1777 during the American Revolutionary War off the coast of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The battle is the first American armed vessel to engage the British Navy. The British vessel HMS Milford forced the American USS Cabot aground and the American crew escaped among the inhabitants of Yarmouth.
The Province of Nova Scotia was heavily involved in the American Revolutionary War (1776–1783). At that time, Nova Scotia also included present-day New Brunswick until that colony was created in 1784. The Revolution had a significant impact on shaping Nova Scotia, "almost the 14th American Colony". At the beginning, there was ambivalence in Nova Scotia over whether the colony should join the Americans in the war against Britain. Largely as a result of American privateer raids on Nova Scotia villages, as the war continued, the population of Nova Scotia solidified their support for the British. Nova Scotians were also influenced to remain loyal to Britain by the presence of British military units, judicial prosecution by the Nova Scotia Governors, and the efforts of Reverend Henry Alline.
The American frigate USS Hancock was captured by the British Royal Navy in a 1777 naval battle during the American Revolutionary War. The two highest ranking naval officers of the war battled each other off the coast of Nova Scotia. HMS Rainbow, under the command of British Admiral George Collier, captured USS Hancock, under the command of Captain John Manley.
Captain Stephen Smith was a privateer and militia leader from Machias, Maine who fought in the Raid on St. John (1775). The following year Smith was appointed truck master to the Native Americans to ensure their support during the American Revolution. He also participated in the Battle of Machias (1777). Stephen Smith, after the revolution was appointed by President George Washington under Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in Machias as a Tax Collector.
Primary Sources