Over the past few episodes, we’ve seen how Massachusetts troops drove the British back from Concord and Lexington to Boston, then created elaborate siege lines that kept the redcoats bottled up in the city, while the Americans controlled the surrounding countryside. 250 years ago this week, the focus of the war shifted from land to sea, with the British leveraging the immense tactical advantage that their navy gave them in projecting power on the ocean and along the coast. To try to offset the hardship of the American siege, the British used their naval power to find food in the Boston Harbor Islands, first on Grape Island, near today’s Weymouth and Hingham, then at Noddles and Hog Islands, which form most of today’s East Boston. At Grape Island, the Americans put up a spirited but largely ineffective defense, but the skirmish we remember as the battle of Chelsea Creek became an important turning point for the Americans. This was the first operation where soldiers from different colonies worked together in a coordinated effort; the first time the rebellious New Englanders used artillery in battle; and the first time Americans engaged and actually captured a British warship.
Boston’s Forage War
- Our header image is a detail from this 1775 map of Boston.
- A series of panoramic views from the top of Beacon Hill that were painted by a British officer during the siege of Boston. Noddle Island is at 4, Hog Island is at 5, and the Winnisimmet ferry is at 3.
- This Documentary History of Chelsea includes excerpts from Amos Farnsworth’s diary.
- The Naval Documents of the American Revolution (vol 1) is an incredibly exhaustive collection of primary sources.
- Abigail Adams reports on the “battle” of Grape Island.
- Lt John Barker of the King’s own regiment kept a diary that covers both Grape Island and Chelsea Creek.
- The Committee of Safety orders all livestock off of Hog and Noddle Islands.
- A georeferenced 1776 map of Boston Harbor showing how the islands and Chelsea all fit together. Zoom in and out, then use the slider to adjust the opacity of the historic map to see the modern map below.
- We relied heavily on the account of the battle compiled in this 2011 report and a related 2009 article. A series of maps can help you understand how the battle unfolded.
- HMS Diana grounded on the ferry way at Winnisimmet. What is a ferry way?
- Why do we keep calling it “the engagement that’s now remembered as the Battle of Chelsea Creek”? Because Chelsea Creek didn’t really exist at the time, as JL Bell tells us.
Automatic Shownotes
Chapters
| 0:13 | Introduction to Boston’s History |
| 3:31 | The Forage War Begins |
| 12:51 | British Actions Intensify |
| 20:09 | The American Response |
| 26:15 | A Battle of Wits |
| 32:30 | The Fate of HMS Diana |
| 35:07 | The Aftermath of the Forage War |
| 39:37 | Listener Feedback and Reflections |
Transcript
Jake:
Welcome to Hub History, where we go far beyond the freedom trail to share our favorite stories from the history of Boston, the hub of the universe.
Introduction to Boston’s History
Jake:
This is episode 327, a new front in the war for Boston. Hi, I’m Jake. Over the past few episodes, we’ve seen how Massachusetts troops drove the British back from Concord and Lexington to Boston, then created elaborate siege lines that kept the redcoats bottled up in the city, while the Americans controlled the surrounding countryside. By the time May of 1775 rolled around, the siege had become a stalemate, with neither side gaining ground, neither side suffering huge numbers of casualties, and neither side willing to give up an inch. 250 years ago this week, the focus of the war shifted from land to sea, with the British leveraging an immense tactical advantage that their navy gave them in projecting power on the ocean and all along the coast. To try to offset the hardship of the American siege, the British used this naval power to find food in the Boston Harbor Islands, first on Grape Island, near today’s Weymouth and Hingham, then at Noddles and Hog Islands, which form most of today’s East Boston.
Jake:
At Grape Island, the Americans put up a spirited but mostly ineffective defense, but the skirmish that we remember now as the Battle of Chelsea Creek became an important turning point for the Americans. This was the first operation where soldiers from different colonies worked together in a coordinated effort. The first time the rebellious New Englanders used artillery in battle, and the first time that the Americans engaged and actually captured a British warship.
Jake:
But before we talk about Boston’s forage war, I just want to pause and say thank you to the listener supporters who make it possible for me to make Hub History.
Jake:
One of the best things about podcasts is that they’re free to listen to. I know I have a list of about two dozen shows that I’ll never miss an episode of, and you probably do too. Unfortunately, while podcasts are free to listen to, they’re not free to create. I’m a completely independent podcaster, so I don’t have to worry about paying anyone to help with researching or editing the show, but unfortunately that means I have to do all the work myself, and I don’t have the resources of a museum or a historical society to fall back on. For expenses like web hosting and security, podcast media hosting, research databases, automated transcriptions, and our audio mastering, I rely on you, the listener. Our core group of listener supporters commits to paying $2, $5, or even $20 or more each month on Patreon to offset the ongoing costs of making the show. While unexpected or incidental costs, like a bad XLR cable or an out-of-print book that I need, are supported by the listeners who use PayPal for one-time payments. No matter how you support the show, thank you. And if you’re not yet supporting the show and you’d like to start, it’s easy. Just go to patreon.com slash hubhistory, or visit hubhistory.com and click on the Support Us link. And thanks again to all our new and returning sponsors.
The Forage War Begins
Jake:
And now it’s time for this week’s main topic.
Jake:
Students of the American Revolution know the Forage War as a campaign that unfolded in the winter of 1777, during the early months of the year, when both armies were starving on the New Jersey side of the river outside Manhattan. The Americans were based out of Morristown, New Jersey, while the British stayed closer to the banks of the Hudson.
Jake:
Between the two armies, there were far more soldiers than there was food, leading to almost 60 battles and skirmishes between January and April of 1777. Both sides were trying to find adequate food for themselves and for their horses, while simultaneously denying produce, livestock, hay, and grain to the other side. Without retracing too much of the ground that we’ve covered in the last few episodes, that’s the exact situation that Boston found itself in in May 1775. We don’t usually call the campaign that unfolded on Boston Harbor a forage war, but that’s what it was. After the siege began, the Americans threw up earthworks at the foot of Boston Neck in Roxbury and at Prospect Hill in today’s Somerville, making the prospect of marching out of Boston too costly in casualties for the British to seriously entertain. Thanks to the Navy, the Redcoats weren’t quite starving, but life wasn’t exactly comfortable thanks to the disagreeable necessity of living on salt provisions, as British ensign Henry D. Bernier wrote.
Jake:
Once spring was in full bloom, General Gage and his redcoats leaned into the strength of the navy in an attempt to get some fresher food that came from a source a bit closer than London. The 34 islands in Boston Harbor had been used by farmers since the earliest days of English colonization. After they were mostly deforested by Boston’s appetite for firewood, these islands became perfect farm fields. The salt grasses that grew wild made excellent hay, and if you wanted to pasture sheep or cattle on an island, you didn’t even have to build a fence to contain them.
Jake:
This week, I’m going to replay a segment from a May 2020 episode to reintroduce what I’m going to keep calling the Forage War to mark its 250th anniversary this May. As early as May 10th, the British were scooping up livestock and feed on the islands and peninsulas surrounding the harbor, sometimes by paying and sometimes by stealing, but always with the threat of force to back them up. That threat came true, first on Grape Island on May 21st, and then on May 27th, when a Massachusetts private named Amos Farnsworth came face-to-face with the might of the British Empire.
Jake of the Past:
Less than a month after he first marched to Lexington, Groton Minuteman Amos Farnsworth found himself squatting in a ditch in a swamp, waiting for the Royal Marines to attack him. His diary entry from May 27, 1775 said, We crossed the river, and about 15 of us squatted down in a ditch on the marsh and stood our ground. That ditch was in today’s East Boston, roughly where Constitution Beach is now. Amos and his company of Colonel Ephraim Doolittle’s Minuteman Regiment were the rear guard covering the withdrawal after a provincial raid. A detachment of about 30 soldiers was waiting from Noddles Island, across a marsh, to Hog Island, where they’d join about 200 or 300 Massachusetts militia under Colonel John Nixon and 300 members of Colonel John Stark’s 1st New Hampshire Regiment. Together, they planned to retreat across Belle Isle Marsh to the mainland. A large party of Royal Marines marched after the retreating patriots and soon stumbled across Amos Farnsworth and his friends. Amos wrote, There came a company of regulars on the marsh on the other side of the river, and the schooner, and we had a hot fire until the regulars were treated. But notwithstanding the bullets flew very thick, yet there was not a man of us killed. Surely God has a favor towards us.
Jake of the Past:
The exchange of fire that somehow miraculously missed the Patriots killed three of the Marines and wounded another. With the British advance slowed, the Patriots withdrew to Hog Island, where they faced a new challenge. An armed British schooner sailing so close to shore it was practically on land tried to cut off their retreat to the mainland, Chelsea, and safety. It was shaping up to be an interesting day. Writing in 2009 about the engagement that we now remember as the Battle of Chelsea Creek, Craig Brown of UMass Boston noted that it had several notable firsts for the Revolution.
Jake of the Past:
1. The Battle of Chelsea Creek was the first planned offensive by the provincial forces in the Revolutionary War that resulted in an engagement. 2. The Battle of Chelsea Creek was the first instance of military cooperation by parties from different colonies in defense of their constitutional rights. Number three, the Battle of Chelsea Creek was the first naval engagement of the Revolutionary War. Number four, the Battle of Chelsea Creek was the first time the Provincials captured a British ship of war during the Revolution. And number five, the Battle of Chelsea Creek saw the first use of artillery by the provincials and the revolutionary cause.
Jake of the Past:
It all started with the battles at Lexington and Concord the month before. From the moment the British column retreated back to Boston, the patriot militias who quickly surrounded the city controlled the land. The occupying British would have no trade or commerce to supply cattle and pigs for meat, no milk, butter, or other dairy, no hay for the horses. When it started to get cold, there would be no straw for bedding and insulation, and no firewood to keep the redcoats warm.
Jake of the Past:
However, while the Patriots controlled the land, the power of the British Navy meant that they fully controlled the sea. Boston, as we may have mentioned before, was a city on a peninsula. Militia units from around New England streamed into Cambridge and Roxbury to keep the British regulars trapped in the peninsular town of Boston. Boston transformed itself from a tiny town on a peninsula to a sprawling city. It was a small, densely populated city on a tiny, mitten-shaped peninsula. The tiny Chalmett Peninsula that comprised Boston. Before Boston was expanded by filling the salt marshes that surrounded the Chalmett Peninsula. John Winthrop and his Puritan followers settled on the tiny peninsula they called Boston. Back when Boston was a tiny village on the Chalmett Peninsula. The only road leading off the peninsula of Boston. New England militias rushed to surround Boston and trapped the British regulars within the peninsular town. The tiny Shawmut Peninsula was surrounded by the islands of Boston Harbor. Until supplies could be transported from Britain, which could easily take months, the regulars would have to rely on the forests and farms of the Boston Harbor Islands.
Jake of the Past:
Both sides of the conflict realized very quickly that there were valuable supplies available on the islands, especially the large islands near the mainland, like Long, Grape, Thompson, or Paddick’s Island. Noddles Island and Hog Island would soon become a focus for both armies. Both are gone today. Noddles and Hog, along with Bird, Apple, and Governor’s Islands, were later connected to the mainland by landfill, forming East Boston and Logan Airport. Hog Island was the area that’s now Suffolk Downs and Orient Heights, and Noddles Island was a larger landmass encompassing today’s Jefferies Point, Maverick Square, and Eagle Hill.
Jake of the Past:
Foraging raids began almost immediately. On May 10th, three weeks after the war began, Elijah Shaw testified before the Committee of Safety that, The troops have robbed him of 11 cows, 3 calves, a yearling heifer, 48 sheep, 61 lambs, 4 hogs, and poultry, 5 tons of hay, and almost all is furniture. By May 12th, a Patriot supporter wrote this about William Harris, the manager of a farm on Hog Island that was owned by Oliver Wendell and Jonathan Jackson. Mr. Harris is very uneasy. The people from the men of war frequently go to the island to buy fresh provision, and his own safety obliges him to sell to them. On the other hand, the Committee of Safety have threatened if he sells anything to the Army or Navy, that they will take all the cattle from the island, and our folks tell him that they shall handle him very roughly. Just days after that was written, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, which organized the war effort during the early months before the Continental Army was created, resolved on May 14th that all the livestock be taken from Noddles Island, Hog Island, and Snake Island, and from that part of Chelsea near the seacoast, and be driven back.
British Actions Intensify
Jake of the Past:
Back, that is, away from the coast.
Jake of the Past:
Colonel Stark’s regiment from New Hampshire was tasked with providing security and support for this effort, but he was forced to admit that his men didn’t yet have sufficient supplies to take on the mission.
Jake of the Past:
While the Committee of Safety debated what to do next, the British acted. Early in the morning on May 21st, Abigail Adams awoke at her home in Braintree, now Quincy, to the sound of bells, drums, and signal cannons.
Jake of the Past:
When I rose about six o’clock, I was told that the drums had been some time beating, and that three alarm guns were fired, that the Weymouth bell had been ringing, and Mr. Welds was then ringing. I immediately sent off an express to know the occasion. and found the whole town in confusion. Three sloops and one cutter had come out and dropped anchor just below Great Hill. Great Hill was just a stone’s throw from her parents’ house in Weymouth, and rumors began flying that redcoats were burning the town of Weymouth. Her letter to John continues, describing the panic that spread across the countryside. It was difficult to tell their design. Some supposed they were coming to Germantown, others to Weymouth. People from the ironworks flocking down this way. Every woman and child above are from below my father’s. My father’s family flying, the doctors in great distress, as you may well imagine. For my aunt had her bed thrown into a cart, into which she got herself, and ordered the boy to drive her off to Bridgewater, which he did. The report was to them that 300 had landed and were upon their march into town. The alarm flew like lightning, and men from all parts came flocking down till 2,000 were collected. But it seems their expedition was to Grape Island for Levitt’s hay.
Jake of the Past:
Elijah Levitt was a Hingham loyalist who farmed on Grape Island, just off the point of land at the mouth of Back River, near today’s Hingham shipyard. It’s not clear whether he was planning to give the Redcoats his hay, or whether he was selling it to them. But his neighbors on the mainland weren’t too pleased. The militia began firing at the landing party, that was actually closer to 100 strong than 300, from a spit of land that’s today home to Webb Memorial State Park, as described in an article in the New England Chronicle. The people of Weymouth assembled on a point of land next to Grape Island. The distance from Weymouth shore to said island was too great for small arms to do execution. Nevertheless, our people frequently fired. The fire was returned from one of the vessels with swivel guns, but the shot passed over our heads and did no mischief. Matters continued in this state for several hours, the soldiers pulling the hay down to the water side, our people firing at the vessel, and they now and then discharging swivel guns. Abigail Adams adds, It was impossible to reach them for one of boats, but the sight of so many persons and the firing at them prevented their getting more than three ton of hay, though they had carted much more down to the water.
Jake of the Past:
After a few hours of ineffective fire on both sides, the tide turned, and with it, the tide of battle, as chronicled in the New England Chronicle. The tide was now come in, and several lighters which were aground were got afloat, upon which our people who were ardent for battle got on board, hoisted sail, and board directly down on the nearest point of the island. The soldiers and sailors immediately left the barn and made for their boats, and put off from one end of the island, whilst our people landed on the other. The sloops hoisted sail with all possible expedition, whilst our people set fire to the barn and burnt 70 or 80 tons of hay, then fired several tons which had been pulled down to the waterside, and brought off the cattle. In his diary, British Lieutenant John Barker of the King’s Own Regiment said what was on everyone’s mind. It was surely the most ridiculous expedition that was ever planned, for there were not a tenth part boats enough, even if there had been men enough, and the sloop which carried the party mounted twelve guns, but they were taken out to make room. Whereas if one or two had been left, it would have effectually kept off the rebels.
Jake of the Past:
British regulars and American militia did exchange fire, but with no injuries on either side, so calling what happened on Grape Island a battle would be a stretch. It was, however, a wake-up call to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety. On the 24th, they passed a resolution that essentially said that they would stop waiting for the farmers on Noddles and Hog Islands to do the right thing, and instead, they’d send militia to clear the islands. General Israel Putnam was elected to plan the raid, and he recorded over a decade after the fact that, It was unanimously agreed among the general officers that it was absolutely necessary to remove the stock and effects from said island, in order to prevent the enemy receiving any supplies of provisions. And accordingly, a party of troops were detached for the above purpose and put under my command. Old Putt was a veteran of the Seven Years’ War and Pontiac’s Rebellion, having served with Rogers Rangers in both wars. When the Revolutionary War began, he was 57 years old, but as soon as word of the Concord fight reached his Connecticut farm, he walked away from his plow and rode straight to Cambridge, leaving word for his regiment to follow as soon as they were able. Now he would assemble a raiding party and send them on their way, but he wouldn’t personally join the fray until it was clear they needed help.
Jake of the Past:
Unfortunately, secrecy was not exactly the rebels’ forte at that point. So the day after the resolution passed, British General Howe, who commanded the British ground forces, wrote to Vice Admiral Graves, who was in charge of the fleet on Boston Harbor. He issued this warning. Sir, I have this moment received information that the rebels intend this night to destroy and carry off all the stock on Noddles Island. For no reason but because the owners having sold them for the king’s use. I therefore give you this intelligence that you may please to order the guard boats to be particularly attentive, and to take such other measures as you may think necessary for this night. Admiral Graves wasn’t about to take orders from an army officer, so he immediately responded, Sir, the guard boats have orders to keep the strictest lookout, and I will direct an additional one to row tonight as high up as possible between Nottles Island and the main to alarm in case any attempt is made by the rebels to go over. But I beg leave to observe to Your Excellency that, in my opinion, a guard upon the island is the most probable means of preserving the hay from being destroyed. In other words, if you want to guard Nottles Island, you’d better send some of your own troops.
Jake of the Past:
Lieutenant Barker reported that, 50 men ordered last night did not go on account of the tide not serving.
The American Response
Jake of the Past:
Luckily for the Americans, the British had the wrong date for the attack. The Patriots began putting their plan in motion a day later. On the evening of May 26th, Colonel John Nixon of Massachusetts marched his detachment of two or three hundred men out of the main provincial camp in Cambridge to Malden. There, they met up with Colonel John Stark and 300 members of the New Hampshire Militia. Together, the 600 militia soldiers marched to Chelsea and stopped for breakfast near Chelsea Meeting House at about 7 a.m. on May 27. After breakfast, the detachment made its final approach. Moving as quietly as 600 men can, they used farm lanes to move through the marshy pastures of Belle Isle Marsh until they reached the water. Then they took cover and waited for low tide. Finally, at about 11 a.m., the order was given, and the men waited across the shallows to Hog Island, where they began rounding up the livestock. Amos Farnsworth’s journal records, Saturday, May the 27th, went on Hog Island and brought off six horses, 27 horned cattle, and 411 sheep.
Jake of the Past:
Farnsworth was also among a small party that was ordered to cross the shallow creek or strait between Hogg and Noddles Island in the mid-afternoon. Along with some farm buildings and livestock, Noddles Island also held a warehouse owned by the Navy and guarded by a company of Royal Marines. As soon as the provincials showed themselves to begin rounding up cattle and horses, they drew the attention of the Marines. General Putnam’s account reveals that the Americans expected to be discovered and had a backup plan ready. And upon our entering upon the island for the purpose aforesaid, the enemy discovering us made such a continual fire from their shipping that it was impossible to remove the grain, provisions, liquors, and other stores that were in the houses and cellars next to the enemy’s ships. And it was agreed among the general officers that if the stocks and provisions could not be got off the said island without great hazard and loss of the American troops, that in that case it would be expedient to destroy or consume the farm, which was accordingly done by burning the houses and provisions.
Jake of the Past:
British Lieutenant Barker described how the smoke now rising on Noddles Island quickly drew British attention and then British reinforcements. About 40 of the rebels came to Noddles Island, expecting to meet with Hay to destroy. They set two houses on fire and began killing the cows and horses, which, the admiral seeing, immediately dispatched the marines from the men of war to drive the rebels away, and at the same time sent some boats and an armed schooner around the island to intercept them. The Admiral Barker referred to was Vice Admiral Samuel Graves, the commander of all British naval forces in North America. When he got word of the rebel movements on Nottle’s Island, he decided to send marines, a dozen or so longboats, and the armed schooner HMS Diana. The Diana was still a new ship, having been built the year before and just purchased by the Navy in January 1775.
Jake of the Past:
Graves had praised the ship as so exceedingly well built that she is allowed to be the best vessel of the kind that has yet been in the king’s service. After purchasing it for the Navy, Graves had it fitted with four six-pounder cannons in the regular gunports, as well as a dozen or so lighter swivel guns mounted on deck. The Admiral then appointed Lieutenant Thomas Graves, previously the second-in-command on HMS Lively, to command the Diana. If that last name’s familiar, it’s because the lieutenant was the Admiral’s favorite nephew.
Jake of the Past:
Between 2 and 3 p.m. on May 27th, Admiral Graves ordered his ambitious nephew to pursue the Provincials, who were now withdrawing from Nottle’s Island, saying, Upon observing the rebels landed on Nottle’s Island, I ordered the Diana to sail immediately between it and the main, and get as high up as possible to prevent their escape. I also directed a party of Marines to be landed for the same purpose. There was no time to be lost, and assistance from the army could not immediately be had. To reach the main body of the Provincials, who were now on Hog Island, the Diana had to sail past the ancient Winnissimmet ferry landing. There it came under fire from a militia company tasked with watching for British raiders and infiltrators, but they did little damage to the ship as it cruised by. By about 4 p.m., the schooner had sighted the Provincials and opened fire, just as Amos Farnsworth and the advanced party were crossing the marsh from Noddles back to Hog Island. The shot whistled overhead without causing any damage, so Amos and half the advanced party, about 15 in all, squatted down in a ditch and waited for the Marines.
Jake of the Past:
The guards stationed on Noddles Island had now been reinforced by Marines from the HMS Somerset, Preston, Cerberus, and Glasgow, bringing their numbers to about 170. The idea was to send the Marines by land from Noddles to Hog Island, while the longboats and the Diana cut off the retreat across the creek to the mainland. Despite being outnumbered by over 10 to 1, Amos and the Minutemen waited in their ditch until the last minute, then rose and fired a single volley. Nobody actually said, don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes, but this was still a preview of the tactics that the Provincials would use with great effect at Bunker Hill just a few weeks later. The volley broke the British advance, leaving the Marines to gather their dead and wounded and retreat to their barges on Nottle’s Island. The pincer maneuver that might have cut off the Americans was defeated.
Jake of the Past:
When he heard about their brave stand against the Royal Marines, General Artemis Ward gave Amos Farnsworth and his unit a very tangible reward.
A Battle of Wits
Jake of the Past:
The General much approves of the vigilance and courage of the officers and soldiers under the command of Colonel Ephraim Doolittle in the late action at Chelsea, and has ordered two barrels of rum to be dealt out to them in equal portions for their service.
Jake of the Past:
Though the land attack by the Royal Marines had been turned back, they set up a strong point on top of Eagle Hill on Nottle Island. And HMS Diana, along with ten longboats, was still trying to cut off the provincial retreat to the mainland. The tide that day ran much higher than usual, allowing the Diana to maneuver far upstream in what’s now known as Chelsea Creek, up above the Winnesimit ferry landing and well behind Hog Island. In the end, the favorable tide just meant that Lieutenant Graves was able to get the Diana into deeper trouble. The schooner began taking fire from the troops under Colonels Stark and Nixon from the Hog Island side, and also from the militia acting as coastal guards from Chelsea, on the mainland side. Meanwhile, General Putnam was racing reinforcements in from Cambridge. Though he had been placed in overall command of the raid on Noddles Island, he had not personally directed the attack. Now, having heard the cannonade, and gotten a request for help by Express Rider, he moved a large column of troops toward Chelsea at the double-quick march, basically a jog.
Jake of the Past:
As the sun set at about 8 p.m. on the 27th, the wind dropped off, leaving the Diana unable to maneuver. The strong tidal flow in Chelsea Creek threatened to beach the schooner on the Chelsea side directly in the line of fire of the nearby militia. As the ship drifted, it was still taking fire from both sides. Desperate now, Lieutenant Graves ordered the sailors rowing the longboats to try to tow Diana out of danger. This effort drew withering fire from the provincials, and the sailors in the boats began taking casualties. Rowing only managed to move the schooner very slowly down the creek, and the provincials continued to fire at them as they tracked the ship from shore. By this time, General Putnam’s reinforcements had arrived at the Winnisemite Ferry, near the mouth of the creek. The Diana would have no choice but to pass them in order to reach open water. Putnam deployed his men behind stone walls and inside buildings, where they could fire from cover and remain relatively safe from the schooner’s swivel guns. The reinforcements included members of a Massachusetts field artillery unit under a Captain Foster and their two, small, three-pounder field cannons.
Jake of the Past:
As the Diana slowly came into view, pulled by the longboats, every gun opened up on them Two sailors in the longboats were killed by the heavy fire, and several more were wounded, With the cannons trained on them, these small, open boats had no choice but to drop the tow lines and row for open water out of range of the provincials. Drifting helplessly again, the tide deposited the Diana on the ferryways, mere feet away from Putnam’s entrenched forces, just after 10pm. Seeing the enemy’s helpless state, a contemporary account says that the general offered to accept their surrender. General Putnam went down and hailed the schooner, and told the people that if they would submit, they should have good quarter, which the schooner returned with two cannon shot. This was immediately answered with two cannon from the provincials. Upon this, a very heavy fire ensued from both sides, which lasted until eleven o’clock at night. Lieutenant Graves was in no mood to strike his collars, and his men continued to fight bravely, but as the tide went out from under the ship, it became a lost cause. One of Graves’ officers would later testify, Then we carried out a small anchor, the rebels keeping a constant fire with a cannon and small arms. We brought the hauser to the windlass and heaved with as many hands as the windlass would hold. And finding she did not move, the lieutenant gave orders for being shored immediately, which was done.
Jake of the Past:
By throwing out an anchor and attaching it to a windlass, the crew is attempting a technique called kedging, where a sailing ship that finds itself becalmed can essentially use the anchor winch to tow the vessel forward in shallow water. When that failed, Graves ordered the ship to be shored, or braced up, so when the tide receded from beneath it, it would remain upright. This measure was only briefly successful, as the testimony continues. We kept firing till the shore’s giving way she fell upon her beam ends, when we could no longer fire or stand upon the deck. When the bracing failed, the ship rolled over on its side. Its cannons were now pointed uselessly at the ground and at the sky. And at about 11pm, 12 hours after the battle commenced, it was time to go.
Jake of the Past:
Graves hailed HMS Britannia, a sloop that had been lingering nearby supporting the attack from the mouth of the creek. The crew of the Diana carried their wounded to the Britannia’s boats, and they all got on board the smaller ship. All accounts from the British side say that Lieutenant Graves planned to defend the ship through the night and then floater off when the tide came in the next day.
Jake of the Past:
Sometime after midnight, Graves and the others on the Britannia smelled smoke. After plundering the Diana of everything useful, including our cannons and swivel guns, rigging and sails, ammunition, money, and the sailors’ personal effects like clothing, a dozen provincials used the cover of darkness to pile a large quantity of hay and straw under the bow of the schooner and set it on fire. Graves jumped into one of the longboats and ordered a small party to row him ashore to try to put out the flames, but heavy enemy fire kept him from coming near the Diana. At about 3 a.m. on May 28th, the remainder of the schooner’s powder magazine blew up. The provincials had done the impossible. Lightly armed militia, firing and maneuvering from the shore, had destroyed one of His Majesty’s warships, albeit a small one.
The Fate of HMS Diana
Jake of the Past:
With the destruction of the Diana, the rebels were left in control of the field. They had not suffered any deaths, and there were only a handful of wounded. Amos Farnsworth described a man in his company who’d been shot through the mouth, with the ball going in one cheek and out the other. A modern account published in the MIT Press Journal describes the difficulty in estimating British casualties.
Jake of the Past:
Losses for the entire action were extremely light. Three provincials wounded, two British dead and several wounded. Although the American statistics are reliable, some tantalizing evidence suggests that the British under-reported their casualties. A main ship, en route from Falmouth to New York with a load of spars, was detained at Noddles Island during the 27th and 28th of May conflict. After the fighting stopped, the vessel’s captain related, the Britannia came in and tied up to the wharf. He was shocked to see the blood running out of the scuppers, and a number of dead and wounded lying on the deck. A denizen of Boston recorded, that ten regulars were buried there last Sunday evening, May 28th. who were killed in the engagement. But more had succumbed. Tis said they had about thirty killed in the hole, and a greater number wounded. The Provincials returned to Nottle Island to finish the job on May 29th, May 30th, June 3rd, and June 10th. When the raid on May 29th began, the Royal Marines still held the top of Eagle Hill, but they were quietly withdrawn as the raid commenced. During the subsequent raids, British ship lobbed a few shells at the Provincials, but made no other attempt to oppose them. Nottle Island would remain a sort of no-man’s land for the remainder of the siege, with neither side establishing a foothold.
Jake:
The British would keep staging foraging raids for several more months, at least until the weather turned cold again, but the later raids never approached the scale of their early efforts. Their most successful effort later in the year was probably a November raid on Leechmere’s Point in Cambridge, which is near the location of today’s Cambridgeside Galleria Mall. In that case, about 400 redcoats landed at a riverfront farm, but the continental response was quick and decisive. Killing two of the British troops and driving off the rest after they had rounded up a mere ten cows. For the most part, the American strategy of rounding up the livestock and carrying off the hay was successful. By the time that Winter returned to Boston, there were no cattle and there was
The Aftermath of the Forage War
Jake:
no hay along the seacoast. And that’s when the hard times in Boston truly began.
Jake:
Next week, we’ll take a little bit of a break from these 250th anniversary stories, but we’ll return to the revolution in episode 329 for the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill. To learn more about the Forage War on Boston Harbor, check out this week’s show notes at hubhistory.com slash 327. I’ll link to all the materials that I used in preparing the original episode, including the terrific collection of primary sources in Volume 1 of the Naval Documents of the American Revolution.
Jake:
There will also be a link to Abigail Adams’ account of the Grape Island fight and the documentary History of Chelsea, which includes Amos Farnsworth’s account of the battle. I’ll link to the National Park Service document about underwater archaeology at the battle site that was so incredibly helpful in putting together this episode, as well as another version of the same article that appeared in the MIT Press Journal. I’ll include historic maps of Boston Harbor and a panorama of the view from Beacon Hill that was created by a British officer in 1775, showing what the battlefield looked like from the British side. To see what the battlefield looks like today, you can join the commemorations in Chelsea on May 24th, 2025, where they’ll have a period schooner, a militia encampment, and artillery and musket firing demonstrations. Or, for a mere $5, you can enjoy a boat tour of Chelsea Creek, the Mystic River, and Boston Harbor that’ll leave from the Charlestown Navy Yard on May 26th. I’ll have links to both those events in the show notes this week as well.
Jake:
Before I let you go, I have listener feedback to share, for the first time in quite a few months. First up, we have our latest review on Apple Podcasts, where a user named Bex Forever says Because… Totally enjoy this podcast. I started listening to this podcast because I knew nothing about Boston till I started listening to this podcast. I love learning about our founding history and the characters therein. Plus, great narrating voice. Very soothing. Thank you for all your work.
Jake:
I have to say that soothing isn’t always my number one goal, but hey, I’ll take the compliment. I had a long email exchange with a listener named Scott about episode 322, the one where I interviewed Elena Palladino about the Quabbin Reservoir. I’m only going to read some snippets of it here, but he brought a different perspective on the Quabbin project than most Bostonians would. Hi, Jake. I’m a longtime listener of the show and really appreciated the recent Quabbin episode. I was raised in Springfield, and my family often did go to the Quabbin, really the park part. My mom liked to do picnics there, and my brother and me used to roll down the dike, although at that age I didn’t even understand what it was.
Jake:
Listening to the podcast, I rarely get something from when I was a kid, like some of the native Bostonian listeners do. Before I moved here, I’d only been four times, mostly in my early 20s, so I have no memory at all of Boston as a child. Skipping forward a little bit, Scott was left wondering about the same thing I was. How were the four towns of the Swift River Valley disincorporated, especially without the consent of the residents? He wrote, When I was in high school, I read a history of the Quabbin which really impacted the way I see the world. It seemed like a failure of democracy to me where the majority could destroy the minority completely. Towns feel like something to me which have a fundamental right to exist. I also don’t understand how these towns were ever disincorporated legally. For many years, I lived in East Boston and enjoyed Quabbin water myself. Between coastal flooding and high prices, I decided to go further north to Lynn, which gets its water from the Lynn Woods. It’s still pretty good, but not as good as Boston. I appreciate the sacrifice of the Swift River Valley, too, but I feel like there must have been another way without such a high price.
Jake:
In our next round of emails, Scott actually did me one better.
Listener Feedback and Reflections
Jake:
He reached out to the experts to try to get an answer to our shared question about how these towns were dissolved. I was curious too, so I asked the law library at the Statehouse about the Quabbin. The link below, which I’ll include in the show notes this week, goes to a page that links to the exact text of the law that created the MWRA in 1926. That doesn’t address it totally head-on, but it does say in the law that all the land can be acquired by eminent domain by the state. Scott goes on to cite three more laws. 1926, Chapter 375 This was the law in the email below that says that the land can be taken by eminent domain, but doesn’t talk about disincorporation. 1927, Chapter 321 This gets into a lot of detail, especially Section 13, about annexing Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott. Notably, it skips Dana, which wasn’t as submerged, which is why you can still visit its town common.
Jake:
1938 Chapter 240. This establishes that as an 11-year-old emergency that, oops, they really did mean to annex Dana too in 1927. So there was no vote taken by anyone. It was all accomplished by laws at the legislature. If you read these laws, especially the 1927 one, they scream government overreach to me. I think there’s a more fundamental question here about what is the legal status of a town. Is a state the fundamental unit which then chooses to divide up its land into towns, or do towns band together to make a state? In some states, they have unincorporated areas in county land, but that’s very uncommon in New England. Vermont and Maine have gores, which are generally not inhabited, so they’re not towns, and have no government, but I think they get treated like towns in some respects.
Jake:
I’ve also heard of towns that are set up oddly where a town surrounds and coexists with a city like Groton, Connecticut or Barrie, Vermont. My guess would be that states are fundamental and can tell towns what to do, including not to exist anymore. I’ll include links to all the legal resources that Scott turned up in this week’s show notes. I’m incredibly grateful to have listeners like Scott who go the extra mile in solving our history mysteries. I’ll include links to all the legal resources that Scott turned up in this week’s show notes, and I’m incredibly grateful to have active, engaged listeners like Scott who’ll go the extra mile in solving our history mysteries. I also got a long and thoughtful email from a listener named Rob, reflecting on episode 314, which was about the 1998 murder of Rita Hester in Alston. I’ve edited this one down a bit too, but it was reassuring to get this feedback on an episode that I really struggled to strike the right tone with.
Jake:
Jake. Long-time listener, second-time emailer. I’m sitting here, trying to put down my toddler son, avoiding the national news for my own mental health, and fretting over the world he, and the clump of cells we just found out will be his younger sibling. We’re still a few months away from telling family, but the news keeps threatening to burst out of me. We’ll inherit. Sidebar. Congrats, Robin family. I’m also catching up on the podcast. I just started the Remembering Rita episode and wanted to thank you for a few things. I’m a cis man and a public high school teacher, and your earnestness around the topic of dignity and language put words to something that I’ve always struggled with. Something to the effect of the old Red Green show saying, I’m a man, and I can change. If I have to. I guess. Another side note I’d never heard of Red Green but apparently it was a Canadian sketch comedy show that ran in the 90s and closed every show with this man’s prayer.
Jake:
Rob’s email continues, I’ve had several trans students come through my classroom over the years. I’m withholding some details here that somebody in his school might be able to use to single somebody out, but he talks about the challenges of supporting high school students who struggle with their identities.
Jake:
Again, Rob continues, I have friends and people whose media productions I enjoy who can be absolutist in their sense of righteousness, wherein there’s always a correct course of action that’s always possible, and any less is an indictment of one’s character. I feel like their take would be one of bluntness. Just ask them. To have someone whose podcast has brought me such joy and deepen my knowledge of the place I’ve called home nearly every day of my life, be so honest about the fact that, try as you might and care as you do, the potential for unintentionally offensive imperfection is a fact of life. Was a refreshing moment of humanity in a sea of hyperpolarity. For all of that, thank you. I try to patronize podcasts with the most need, and yours is the only one that I’ve never second-guessed. I hope your year is starting well. Rob I really appreciated that email from Rob, because I do always want to treat people respectfully, I want to address people as they prefer to be addressed, but I’m a middle-aged white guy in Hyde Park, so I’m sure that I get it wrong sometimes. From Rob’s message and from the lack of notes saying that I had insulted Rita’s memory, I guess I got this one more or less right, and I remain very glad that listeners are willing to give me the benefit of the doubt on this.
Jake:
I’ll close this feedback segment with an email from Wells. Wells wrote to pitch me on an interview that really had nothing to do with Boston history, but I’ll take the compliment that he paid me just the same. Reacting to episode 321 about the British spies who surveyed the Boston suburbs before Lexington and Concord, Wells wrote, I recently listened to your fascinating episode on General Thomas Gage and the brave patriot counterintelligence. Your ability to weave detailed narratives around historical events is truly impressive.
Jake:
I’m sorry that the interview didn’t work out, but I’ll take the flattery. We love getting listener feedback, whether you’ve done extensive legal research to answer a question I couldn’t address in the show, or if you just want to puff up my ego with compliments. I’m happy to hear your episode suggestions, factual corrections, and alternate sources that I missed. If you want to leave me some feedback on this episode or any other, you can email podcast at hubhistory.com. I still have profiles for Hub History on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, but lately, I mostly post and interact with listeners over on Blue Sky, where you can find me by searching for hubhistory.com. I haven’t been as active on Mastodon, but if you’re on there, you can find me as at hubhistory at better.boston. The simplest way to get in touch with me is just to visit hubhistory.com and click on the Contact Us link. While you’re on the site, hit the subscribe link and be sure that you never miss an episode. If you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, please consider writing us a brief review. If you do, drop me a line. I’ll send you a Hub History sticker as a token of appreciation. That’s all for now. Stay safe out there, listeners.