May 1775 in the American Colonies

The Colonies Prepare for the War to Expand

May 1 — It was reported that several of General Thomas Gage’s letters had been intercepted in New York. The letters indicated he intended to capture members of Congress and send them to England.

May 1 — Philadelphia Associators

Philadelphia — The Pennsylvania Packet reported that the wards in Philadelphia were making preparations for war.

“On Saturday last, a meeting of the military associators was held in Philadelphia, when it was determined that each Ward should be formed into one or more companies; the officers to be chosen in the respective wards. Two troops of light-horse are now raising there. Two companies of expert riflemen and two companies of artillerymen are forming. They have six pieces of brass artillery and several light iron ones. Their provincial arms, powder, and equipments, are all secured. Three provincial magazines are forming. In short, Mars has established his empire in that city; and it is not doubted but they will have in a few weeks from this date, four thousand men well equipped for their own defence, or for the assistance of their neighbors.

Several gentlemen who measured the ground on which the people stood at the meeting on Saturday, are of the opinion that their number amounted to eight thousand.”

• John Dunlap (1746–1812) — An Irish-born printer, Dunlap was the publisher of the Pennsylvania Packet, or General Advertiser. He is famous for printing the first copies of the Declaration of Independence, known as the “Dunlap Broadsides.” He also served in the Continental Army and was involved in the Battle of Trenton (December 26, 1776) and the Battle of Princeton (January 3, 1777). Dunlap also printed and published the first copies of the United States Constitution.
• Philadelphia Associators — Militia units organized in Philadelphia.
• Mars — The Roman god of war.

May 2 — The Virginia Gunpowder Incident Continues

Williamsburg — After John Murray, Lord Dunmore, the Governor of Virginia, removed military supplies from the storehouse in Williamsburg, Colonel Patrick Henry directed militia forces to march on the town. Henry called for Dunmore to return the powder or to reimburse the colony £330. On May 3, Dunmore issued a proclamation, ordering all militia units marching on Williamsburg to stop. The next day, May 4, Henry received a payment of £330 for the gunpowder, but the barrels remained in Dunmore’s possession (see Virginia Gunpowder Incident).

• Patrick Henry (1736–1799) — Henry was a Founding Father, member of the Continental Congress, and five-time Governor of Virginia.

May 2 — Gaine’s Mercury printed a letter from Paris, France, that suggested America would be praised if it persevered, and reviled if it submitted to Great Britain: 

“I find the French are extremely attentive to our American politics, and to a man, strongly in favor of us. Whether mostly from ill will to Britain, or friendship to the colonies, may be matter of doubt; but they profess it to be upon a principle of humanity, and a regard to the natural rights of mankind. They say that the Americans will be either revered or detested by all Europe, according to their conduct at the approaching crisis. They will have no middle character; for in proportion as their virtue and perseverance will render them a glorious, their tame submission will make them a despicable people.”

• Hugh Gaine (c. 1726–1807) — A New York printer who published the New York Mercury and the New York Royal Gazette. He held a neutral view of the American Revolution, which created conflicts with Loyalists and Patriots. In November 1775, the New York Sons of Liberty threatened to destroy his print shop. During the war, Gaine’s position shifted, depending on who was perceived to be winning the war.

May 3 — Benedict Arnold convinced the Massachusetts Committee of Safety to allow him to organize an expedition to capture Fort Ticonderoga. Arnold was made a Colonel in the Massachusetts Militia and authorized to raise 400 volunteers.

• Benedict Arnold (1741–1801) — Arnold was a General in the Continental Army. He was instrumental in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga at the beginning of the American Revolution and contributed to the Invasion of Quebec (1775) and the Saratoga Campaign (1777). However, personal grievances led him to betray his country..

May 4 — The Post Office

Holt’s Journal printed an article regarding the disruption of mail service in the colonies, indicating a plan was in motion for Congress to establish a new Post Office.

“The post having been interrupted, the postmaster, who has hitherto without legal authority been appointed from home, and as a conveniency, permitted here unquestioned, has discharged the riders, the expense of which he has no longer a fund to support. An office for this necessary business will doubtless be put under proper regulations by the Continental Congress, and no more be permitted to return to the rapacious hands of unauthorized intruders; since it would be the most contemptible pusillanimity to suffer a revenue to be raised from our property, to defray the expense of cutting our throats. It is said, Mr. William Goddard, who has been a great sufferer, with many others, by the mal-practices of an illegal holder of this office, is now on a journey, in order to put the business under proper regulations to be laid before the Congress.”

• John Holt (1721–1784) — Holt was a prominent newspaper publisher from Williamsburg, Virginia. His most famous publication was the New York Journal or General Advertiser, or Holt’s Journal. Holt was a member of the New York Sons of Liberty, who helped support his printing operation. He fled New York City when British forces approached it in 1776. He resumed printing operations in Kingston until British forces attacked and burned the town during Clinton’s Hudson Highlands Expedition (1777). He resumed publication at Poughkeepsie and died in 1784.
• William Goddard (1740–1817) — Goddard was a publisher and postal inspector who supported the Patriot Cause and was a member of the Sons of Liberty in Providence, Rhode Island.

May 4 — James Rivington Defends Freedom of the Press

New York City — Publisher James Rivington apologized for some of the publications he printed in his shop, but argued he was simply doing his duty as a printer dedicated to “liberty of the press:”

“As many publications have appeared from my press which have given great offence to the colonies, and particularly to many of my fellow citizens, I am therefore led by a most sincere regard for their favorable opinion, to declare to the public, that nothing which I have ever done, has proceeded from any sentiments in the least unfriendly to the liberties of this continent, but altogether from the ideas I entertained of the liberty of the press, and of my duty as a printer. I am led to make this free and public declaration to my fellow-citizens, which I hope they will consider as a sufficient pledge of my resolution for the future to conduct my press upon such principles as shall not give offence to the inhabitants of the colonies in general, and of this city in particular, to which I am connected by the tenderest of all human ties, and in the welfare of which I shall consider my own as inseparably involved.”

• James Rivington (1724–1802)  — Rivington was the publisher of a Loyalist newspaper called Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer, or simply Rivington’s Gazette. This made him a target for the New York Sons of Liberty, who forced him to cease publication in 1783. Despite his public support for Britain, historians have speculated that he had ties to the Culper Spy Ring and provided intelligence to General George Washington.

May 5 — Naval Engagement at Martha’s Vineyard

Martha’s Vineyard — The 16-gun British sloop HMS Falcon, commanded by Captain John Linzee, captured an American sloop near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Linzee anchored near the town of Dartmouth and seized another sloop. The townspeople responded by sailing two sloops out to attack the Falcon. After a brief engagement, the Americans recaptured the ships and took more than a dozen British crewmen as prisoners. The Falcon escaped.

May 5 — Benjamin Franklin arrived in Philadelphia. The next day, he was appointed a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. Franklin had been in London, working as the Colonial Agent for Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

• Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) — Widely recognized as the most famous American at the time, Franklin was a Founding Father, member of the Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and signer of the United States Constitution.

May 5 — A meeting was held in Williamsburg, Virginia, to discuss the outbreak of hostilities in Massachusetts:

“…there was a meeting at Williamsburg, Virginia, of the committee and part of the militia of King William county, when the contents of the second express from the northward was communicated. It had such an effect on the minds of the people, that near two hundred pounds was immediately subscribed for the use of our brethren now fighting in the common cause. Most of the principal gentlemen subscribed ten pounds each, and as not half the country were present, there is no doubt it will be nearly doubled.”

This was reported by the Virginia Gazette on May 6.

• Virginia Gazette — Three different newspapers called The Virginia Gazette were published between 1736 and 1780 in Williamsburg, Virginia.

May 6 — Congressional Delegates Arrive in New York City

New York City — Rivington’s Gazette reported:

“This afternoon, arrived at New York from the eastward, on their way for Philadelphia, to attend the Continental Congress, the Hon. John Hancock and Thomas Cushing, Esqs.; Samuel Adams and Robert Treat Paine, Esqs., delegates for the province of Massachusetts Bay; and the Hon. Eliphalet Dyer, Roger Sherman, Esq., and Silas Deane, Esq., delegates for the colony of Connecticut. They were met a few miles out of town by a great number of principal gentlemen of that place, in carriages and on horseback, and escorted into the city by near a thousand men under arms. The roads were lined with a greater number of people than were ever known on any occasion before. Their arrival was announced by the ringing of bells, and other demonstrations of joy. They have double sentries placed at the doors of their lodging.”

May 8 — Benedict Arnold Joins Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys

Castleton — Colonel Ethan Allen and roughly 100 Green Mountain Boys left Castleton, Vermont, intending to seize the cannon and stores held at Fort Ticonderoga. When Benedict Arnold learned about the mission, he rushed to join them, intending to take command and enroll them in his company. The Green Mountain Boys refused to follow Arnold. However, since Arnold had an official commission from Massachusetts, they agreed to let Arnold join the expedition.

• Ethan Allen (1738–1789) — Allen was a Revolutionary War hero and one of the leaders of the Green Mountain Boys. He was also a key figure in the push for independence and statehood for Vermont.
• Green Mountain Boys — A militia group that Ethan Allen and others formed to defend New Hampshire Grants settlers from New York authorities.

May 8 — Holt’s Journal reported that “…the delegates from the eastward, together with Philip Livingston, James Duane, John Alsop, and Francis Lewis, delegates for New York city; Colonel William Floyd for Suffolk, and Simon Boerum for Kings County, in New York, set out for Philadelphia attended by a great train, to the North River ferry, where two or three sloops and a number of other vessels were provided. It is said about five hundred gentlemen crossed the ferry with them, among whom were two hundred militia under arms.”

May 8 — The South Carolina Assembly responded to the news of the Battles of Lexington and Concord by authorizing the recruitment of two infantry regiments and a contingent of rangers.

May 9 — Thompson’s War

Portland, Maine — An incident known as “Thompson’s War” occurred in Portland, District of Maine (present-day Falmouth, Massachusetts). Militia forces led by Samuel Thompson captured Lieutenant Henry Mowat, commander of the HMS Canceaux. A standoff ensued when the Canceaux threatened to bombard the town, and more militiamen arrived. The townspeople negotiated Mowat’s release and allowed him to return to the ship. However, when he demanded Thompson’s arrest, he was refused and forced to leave on May 15. Mowat returned in October and bombarded the town (see Burning of Falmouth).

May 9 — As American forces prepared to attack Fort Ticonderoga, a contingent was sent to capture ships from the small town of Skenesboro, New York.

May 9 — Bucks County Prepares for War

Bucks County — The Pennsylvania Packet reported that county leaders asked the inhabitants to form military companies. During the meeting, a Loyalist was harassed and threatened.

“The committee of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, met yesterday and recommended the people to asssociate into companies, and learn the military exercise of arms. Some townships have already begun, and many others, animated with the same zeal for the welfare of their country, readily fall in with the plan, a knowledge of which, we have great reason to fear, we shall be soon called upon to give a proof of. The unanimity, prudence, spirit and firmness, which appeared in the deliberations of yesterday, do honor to Bucks county, and will, we hope, in some measure, wipe off those aspersions they too deservedly lay under. A large number of the inhabitants assembled, and the resolves of the day being made public, testified their highest approbation of the conduct of the committee, and unanimously voted them the thanks of the county. A disciple of that species of creatures called tories being formally introduced to a tar-barrel, of which he was repeatedly pressed to smell, thought prudent to take leave abruptly, lest a more intimate acquaintance with it should take place.”

May 10 — Capture of Fort Ticonderoga

Fort Ticonderoga, New York — Colonel Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold led roughly 83 Green Mountain Boys in a surprise attack on Fort Ticonderoga. Allen demanded the fort’s surrender. Captain William De La Place complied, giving America its first victory in the American Revolutionary War. Afterward, Allen sent his cousin, Seth Warner, to capture a second fort nearby at Crown Point.

• Seth Warner (1743–1784) — Warner replaced Allen as the leader of the Green Mountain Boys after they joined the Continental Army. He led his men during the Canada Campaign and fought in the Battle of Hubbardton (July 7, 1777) and the Battle of Bennington (August 16, 1777), which led to the surrender of the British army at Saratoga.

May 10 — British Prisoners

Boston — The Pennsylvania Journal reported that British soldiers taken as prisoners on April 19 were allowed to return to Boston or find work somewhere in the countryside. Fifteen of the men chose to abandon the British army.

“The commanding officer at Cambridge has given leave to the regulars who were taken prisoners, either to go to Boston and join their respective regiments, or have liberty to work in the country for those who will employ them. In consequence of which, those who were confined in Worcester, Massachusetts, fifteen in number, heartily requested to be employed by the people, not choosing to return to their regiments to fight against their American brethren, though some of them expressed their willingness to spill their blood in defence of their king in a righteous cause.”

May 10 — Dr. Myles Cooper escaped from an angry mob in New York City. Cooper was a Loyalist and the President of King’s College (present-day Columbia University). It is believed he may have been aided by Alexander Hamilton.

• Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804) — Hamilton was a Founding Father of our nation and the first Secretary of the Treasury. He led calls for the Philadelphia Convention and co-authored the Federalist Papers.
• Myles Cooper (1735–1785) — An Anglican priest, he was the second President of King’s College. Cooper and other Anglican priests wrote pamphlets arguing that resistance to the Crown was treason.

May 10 — The Second Continental Congress Begins

Philadelphia — The Second Continental Congress (1775–1781) convened in Philadelphia, where the delegates were divided over the key issues of independence and reconciliation with Britain. The Virginia Gazette reported:

“Today, the eastern delegates arrived at Philadelphia. They were met about six miles out by the officers of all the companies in the city, and by many other gentlemen on horseback, in all amounting to five hundred. When they came within two miles of the city, they were met by the company of riflemen, and a company of infantry, with a band of music, who conducted them through the most public streets of the city to their lodgings, amidst the acclamations of near fifteen thousand spectators.”

May 10 — The Siege of Boston

Reverend William Gordon wrote this account of the war’s opening and the effects of the Siege of Boston on May 10, 1775. It was published in Gaine’s Mercury on June 19, 1775.

“The proceedings of April nineteenth have united the colonies and continent, and brought in New York to act as vigorously as any other place whatsoever, and has raised an army in an instant, which are lodged in the several houses of the towns ‘round Boston, till their tents are finished, which will be soon.

All that is attended to, besides ploughing and planting, is making ready for fighting. The non-importations and non-exportations will now take place from necessity, and traffic give place to war.

We have a fine spring, prospects of great plenty; there was scarce ever known such a good fall of lambs; we are in no danger of starving, through the cruel acts against the New England governments; and the men who had been used to fishery, a hardy generation of people. Lord North has undesignedly kept in the country to give strength to our military operations, and to assist as occasion may require. Thanks to a superior wisdom for his blunders

The General is expecting reinforcements, but few have arrived as yet, the winds, contrary to the common run this season, instead of being easterly, have been mostly the reverse. When the reinforcement arrives, and is recovered of the voyage, the General will be obliged in honor to attempt dislodging the people, and penetrating the country. 

Both soldiers and inhabitants are in want of fresh provisions, and will be like to suffer much, should the provincial army be able to keep the town shut up on all sides, excepting by water, as at present.”

• Frederick North (1732–1792) —  The 2nd Earl of Guilford. Lord North served as British Prime Minister (1770–1782) for most of the American Revolutionary War. He supported measures like the Intolerable Acts, which intensified colonial resistance. 
• William Gordon (1730–1807) — Reverend William Gordon started documenting the war in mid-1775, including the Battles of Lexington and Concord. In 1783, Gordon completed The History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment, of the Independence of the United States of America, which was published in England.

May 11 — Patriot militia seized gunpowder from the storehouse in Savannah, Georgia.

May 12 — Seth Warner led a contingent of Green Mountain Boys to the British fort at Crown Point, near Ticonderoga. The attack was delayed by a day due to a storm on May 11. Warner and his men easily captured the fort and the small British garrison (nine soldiers and their families). Later, American forces used Crown Point as a staging point for the Invasion of Quebec. 

May 13 — General Artemas Ward marched part of the New England Army of Observation from Cambridge to Charlestown. When the British did not attack, General Israel Putnam decided to challenge the British. He led his men on a march to the Charlestown Peninsula in view of the British Army in Boston and the warships in Boston Harbor. The British did not respond to Putnam’s march.

May 14 — Battle off Fairhaven

Fairhaven, Massachusetts — The HMS Falcon seized two American ships. On May 14, a group of men from Fairhaven, Massachusetts, armed the sloop Success with two swivel guns and engaged the Falcon. The Americans recaptured one of the ships and then attacked the Falcon. The Falcon’s crew was overwhelmed and taken as prisoners. 

• AHC Note — The Battle off Fairhaven is considered the first naval engagement of the American Revolutionary War, despite claims that the Battle of Chelsea Creek (May 27, 1775) was the first, or the Battle of Machias (June 11–12, 1775).

May 14 — The American troops returned to Fort Ticonderoga from Skenesboro, having captured a schooner. Benedict Arnold gathered 50 men and set sail for Fort St. John.

May 15 — The Continental Congress advised all colonies to prepare for hostilities. Congress started to draw up plans to defend New York City, and Richard Henry Lee proposed the establishment of a “Congressional Army.” A committee was established to discuss the army, which included George Washington.

• Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794) — Lee was a Founding Father who is most well-known for introducing the Resolution for Independence to the Second Continental Congress on June 7, 1776.
• George Washington (1732–1799) — Washington led the Continental Army to victory over the British in the American Revolutionary War. He then served two terms as the first President of the United States under the Constitution.

May 17 — Benedict Arnold and his men arrived at Fort St. John. They surprised the small British garrison (10 soldiers) and captured a small sloop, George III, which was renamed Enterprise. Arnold destroyed some British bateaux (flat-bottomed boats), rescued American prisoners, and captured supplies. After Arnold departed, Ethan Allen arrived and tried to occupy the fort, but British troops from Fort Chambly arrived and attacked. Allen escaped, but some of his men were taken as prisoners. Allen and the others returned to Fort Ticonderoga.

• AHC Note — Arnold’s sloop Enterprise was the first American vessel to carry the name.

May 17 — In Boston Harbor, an American ship, the Franklin, led by Captain James Mungford, captured the HMS Hope, a British transport ship carrying military stores. The weapons and gunpowder were sent to the Army of Observation. Mungford was killed two days later when his ship was attacked by Loyalists who approached the Franklin in a small flotilla of boats. They claimed to be Patriots, so Mungford allowed them to board his ship, and then they attacked his crew. Another American vessel, the Lady Washington, was also attacked.

May 17 — John Brown Arrives in Philadelphia

Philadelphia — John Brown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, arrived in Philadelphia with news of the capture of Fort Ticonderoga. The Pennsylvania Journal reported:

“This evening arrived at Philadelphia, John Brown, Esq., from Ticonderoga, express to the General Congress, from whom we learn that on the beginning of this instant, a company of about fifty men from Connecticut, and the western part of Massachusetts, joined by upwards of one hundred from Bennington, in New York government, and the adjacent towns, proceeded to the eastern side of Lake Champlain, and on the night before the tenth current, crossed the lake with eighty-five men, not being able to obtain craft to transport the rest, and about day-break invested the fort, whose gate, contrary to expectation, they found shut, but the wicker open, through which, with the Indian warwhoop, all that could, entered one by one, others scaling the wall on both sides of the gate, and instantly secured and disarmed the sentries, and pressed into the parade, where they formed the hollow square; but immediately quitting that order, they rushed into the several barracks on three sides of the fort, and seized on the garrison, consisting of two officers, and upwards of forty privates, whom they brought out, disarmed, put under guard, and have since sent prisoners to Hartford in Connecticut. All this was performed in about ten minutes, without the loss of life, or a drop of blood on our side, and but very little on that of the king’s troops.

In the fort were found about thirty barrels of flour, a few barrels of pork, seventy odd chests of leaden ball, computed at three hundred tons, about ten barrels of powder in bad condition, near two hundred pieces of ordnances of all sizes, from eighteen-pounders downwards, at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, which last place, being held only by a corporal and eight men, falls of course into our hands.

By this sudden expedition, planned by some principal persons in the four neighbormg colonies, that important pass is now in the hands of the Americans, where, we trust, the wisdom of the grand Continental Congress will take effectual measures to secure it, as it may be depended on, that administration means to form an army in Canada, composed of British regulars, French, and Indians, to attack the colonies on that side.

Mr. Brown brought mtercepted letters from Lieutenant Malcom Fraser, to his friends in New England, from which it appears that General Carleton has almost unlimited powers, civil and military, and has issued orders for raising a Canadian regiment, in which, Mr. Fraser observes, the officers find difficulty, as the common people are by no means fond of the service. He likewise remarks, that all the king’s European subjects are disaffected at the partial preference given to the late converts to loyalty, as he phrases it, to their utter exclusion from all confidence, or even common civility. Matters are indeed in such a situation, that many, if not most of the merchants, talk of leaving the province.

Mr. Brown also relates that two regular officers of the 26th regiment, now in Canada, applied to two Indians, one a head warrior of the Caughanawaga tribe, to go out with them on a hunt to the south and east of the rivers St. Lawrence and Sorel, and pressing the Indians farther and farther on said course, they at length anived at Cohass [in Northern New Hampshire], where, the Indians say, they were stopped and interrogated by the inhabitants, to whom they pretended they were only on a hunt, which the inhabitants (as the Indians told Mr. Brown) replied must be false, as no hunters used silver (bright) barrelled guns.

However, the Cohass people dismissed them all, and when they returned into the woods, the Indian warrior insisted on knowing what their real intention was, and they told him that it was to reconnoitre the woods, to find a passage for an army to march to the assistance of the king’s friends at Boston. 

The Indian asked, where they would get the army? They answered, in Canada, and that the Indians in the upper castles would join them. The chief on this expressed resentment that he, being one of the head men of the Caughanawaga tribe, should never have been consulted in the affair. But Mr. Brown presumes the aversion of this honest fellow and his friends to their schemes, was the reason of their being kept from their knowledge.

The conductors of this grand expedition are to be Monsieur St. Luke le Corne, the villain who let loose the Indians on the prisoners at Fort William Henry, and one of his associates.

Oh George, what tools art thou obliged to make use of!”

May 18 — Peyton Randolph of Virginia was elected President of the Continental Congress. Charles Thomson was elected Secretary. News of the capture of Fort Ticonderoga was delivered, increasing the hope that Quebec would join the Patriot Cause as the 14th Colony.

• Peyton Randolph (1721–1775) — Randolph was a lawyer, politician, and planter from Virginia who rose to prominence during the American Revolution. Randolph served as Speaker of the House of Burgesses and the first President of the Continental Congress in 1774. His leadership was important to the Patriot Cause, earning him the nickname “The Father of Your Country.”

May 18 — Governor Josiah Martin of North Carolina wrote a letter to British officials in London. He informed them he was unable to stop people from enlisting in the Patriot militia or from establishing a new government.

May 18 — Resistance in Halifax

Halifax — Holt’s Journal reported: “We hear from Halifax, that the people have at last shown they have spirit. It seems the agents for procuring for the expected regiment of dragoons had taken without consent of the owner, and were shipping for Boston, a great quantity of hay, upon which the people set fire to, and wholly destroyed it; and when that work was finished, they attempted the like by the king’s magazines, which they several times fired, but they were extinguished by the people from the ships of war lying there, who made a brisk fire on the people, and prevented them from effecting their design. The fugitives from Boston are gone for Halifax, but the people say, no d____d Tories shall be allowed to breathe in their air, so that those d____Is can’t find a resting place there, which was the only place on the continent that they even dared to hope they might stay in.”

May 18 — Boston Fire

Boston — It was reported that there was a fire in Boston “…between King street and the market; it continued all night, and is not yet extinguished. What has really happened, is to us uncertain as yet.”

A week later, Rivington’s Gazette reported: “The fire began in the barracks, under the arch formerly improved by Benjamin Davis, about half after eight o’clock, 17th May. The soldiers were receiving some cartridges, by which means one took fire, and communicated to many more, which immediately set fire to the room.”

May 20 — The New Hampshire Congress decided to raise 2,000 troops and placed Nathaniel Folsom in command.

• Nathaniel Folsom (1726–1790) — Folsom was a delegate from New Hampshire to the First Continental Congress and signed the Articles of Association, which set up the Continental Association.

May 21 — The Situation in Boston

Boston — The Pennsylvania Journal printed a letter that explained the situation inside Boston, which remained under siege by the New England Army of Observation: 

“As to the inhabitants removing, they are suffered to go out under certain restrictions. This liberty was obtained after many town meetings and several conferences between their committee and General Gage. 

The terms mutually agreed to were: ‘That the inhabitants should deliver up all their arms to the selectmen.’ This was generally done, though it took up some days. On this condition, the inhabitants were to have had liberty to move out of town, with their effects, and during this to have free egress and regress. 

But mark the event. The arms being delivered, orders were issned by the general, that those who inclined to remove, must give in their names to the selectmen, to be by them returned to the military town major, who was then to write a pass for the person or family applying, to go through the lines or over the ferry. 

But all merchandise was forbidden; after a while, all provisions were forbid; and now, all merchandise, provisions, and medicine. Guards are appointed to examine all trunks, boxes, beds, and every thing else to be carried out; these have proceeded to such extremities, as to take from the poor people a single loaf of bread and half a pound of chocolate; so that no one is allowed to carry out a mouthful of provisions; but all is submitted to quietly. 

The anxiety indeed is so great to get out of town, that even were we obliged to go naked, it would not hinder us. But there are so many obstructions thrown in the way, that I do not think those who are most anxious, will be all out in less than two or three months. 

Vastly different from what was expected; for the general at first proposed, unasked, to procure the admiral’s boats to assist the inhabitants in the transportation of their effects, which is not done, and there are but two ferry boats allowed to cross. They have their designs in this, which you may easily guess at. We suffer much for want of fresh meat. The transports, with the marines, are all arrived.”

May 21 — Battle of Grape Island

Massachusetts — The British Garrison in Boston needed fresh provisions, so General Thomas Gage and Admiral Samuel Graves organized an expedition to gather livestock and supplies from the islands around Boston, including Grape Island. The island was owned by a Loyalist who agreed to provide hay and livestock for the Garrison.

On May 21, Admiral Graves sent some ships, carrying about 100 troops, to retrieve the supplies. After the ships anchored near Great Hill, rumors spread that the soldiers were burning Weymouth, Massachusetts, and American forces gathered. From his headquarters in Roxbury, Massachusetts, General John Thomas ordered men to go to Grape Island and stop the British from retrieving the supplies. 

When the Americans arrived, the British were in the process of removing hay. However, the water was too shallow to sail to the island, so the Americans moved as close as they could and opened fire. One of the British ships fired at the Americans but missed. The back-and-forth firing continued for a few hours until the tide came in.

This allowed the Americans to board small boats and sail to the island. When the British saw the Americans coming, they withdrew. The Americans then burned a barn and approximately 80 tons of hay and removed any surviving livestock.

This engagement, the Battle of Grape Island, started the “Provision War” that was part of the Siege of Boston. Afterward, the Americans started removing cattle, sheep, and hay from the islands around Boston.

A report on the battle appeared in Rivington’s Gazette on May 28:

“Last Sabbath [June 21 ] about ten o’clock A. M., an express arrived at General Thomas’s quarters at Roxbury, Massachusetts, informing him that four sloops, two of them armed, had sailed from Boston to the south shore of the bay, and that a number of soldiers were landing at Weymouth.

General Thomas ordered three companies to march to the support of the inhabitants. When they arrived, they found the soldiers had not attempted to land at Weymouth, but had landed on Grape Island, from whence they were carrying off hay on board the sloops. 

The people of Weymouth assembled on a point of land next to Grape Island, but the distance from Weymouth shore to said island was too great for small arms to do much 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 poling the hay down to the waterside, our people firing at the vessel, and they now and then discharging swivel guns.

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 bore directly down upon 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 seventy or eighty tons of hay, then fired several tons which had been poled down to the water side, and brought off the cattle.

As the vessels passed Horse-Neck, a sort of promontory which extends into Germantown, they fired their swivels and small arms at our people very briskly, but without effect, though one of the bullets from their small arms, which passed over our people, struck against a stone with such force, as to take off a large part of the bullet.

Whether any of the enemy were wounded, is uncertain, though it is reported three of them were. It is thought that they did not carry off more than one or two tons of hay.”

May 24 — Loyalists Disarmed in Worcester

Worcester, Massachusetts — Loyalists living in Worcester were forced to turn in their weapons and ammunition and confined to the town. The Pennsylvania Packet reported:

“It having been thought highly expedient, at this exigency of our public affairs, that every person among us who is known to be an enemy to the rights and privileges of this country, and has been aiding and abetting the cursed plans of a tyrannical ruler, and an abandoned ministry, should be disarmed and rendered as incapable as possible of doing further material mischief, the Tories in Worcester, Massachusetts, were notitied to appear with their arms and ammunitions on Monday last. They accordingly appeared, and after surrendering their arms to the committee of correspondence, and being strictly ordered not to leave the town, or to meet together without a permit, were dismissed.”

• AHC Note — In Worcester, a Patriot organization known as the American Political Society controlled much of the proceedings and was responsible for harassing Loyalists (see Worcester and the Battles of Lexington and Concord).

May 24 — Dr. Myles Cooper was forced to flee the city on the Exeter, which sailed for Bristol. Cooper spent the previous two weeks on the King Fisher “…where he thought fit to shelter himself from the resentment of a people who consider him as the writer of several pieces highly injurious to the liberties of America.”

May 24 — Holt’s Journal reported that Patriots in New Jersey “…have taken possession of the treasury of that province, in which was the amount of between twenty and thirty thousand pounds; which money is to be appropriated to the payment of the troops now raising in that province, for the defence of the liberties of America.”

May 24 — Peyton Randolph resigned as President of Congress and was replaced by John Hancock. Randolph returned to Virginia to carry out his duties as Speaker of the Virginia Legislature.

• John Hancock (1737–1793) — A leader of the Patriot Cause in Massachusetts, President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, and President of the Second Continental Congress. He was also aligned with the Sons of Liberty. Hancock is widely regarded as one of the wealthiest men in the colonies.

May 25 — British Reinforcements Arrive in Boston

Boston — British reinforcements arrived, including General William Howe, General Henry Clinton, and General John Burgoyne. Upon arrival, the strength of the Boston Garrison increased to 6,500 troops. Holt’s Journal reported: “The man-of-war Cerberus arrived at Boston, with the three generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne, together with about seven hundred marines and two hundred drafts.”

May 25 — Congress decided to fortify key locations in New York, including Kingsbridge, the Hudson Highlands, and Lake George, with at least 3,000 troops.

May 27–28 — Battle of Chelsea Creek

Boston — General Artemas Ward sent an expedition, led by Colonel John Stark of New Hampshire, to remove supplies from Noddle’s Island. The Americans successfully removed provisions and livestock from Noddle’s Island but drew attention when they set fire to hay on Hog Island. 

Admiral Samuel Graves sent some ships, including the HMS Diana, carrying Marines, to drive the Americans away. Stark and his men withdrew when the Diana approached, but the ship, commanded by Lieutenant Thomas Graves, the Admiral’s nephew, ran aground. 

After American reinforcements arrived, led by Israel Putnam and Joseph Warren, the Americans attacked the ship, forcing the crew to abandon it. After the British withdrew, the Americans looted and burned the Diana.

The following account appeared in the Pennsylvania Journal (June 21) and the Virginia Gazette (June 24).

“Yesterday, a party of the American army at Cambridge, to the number of between two and three hundred men, had orders to drive off the livestock from Hog and Noddle’s islands. In attempting to carry out these orders, they were attacked by the king’s troops.

The combat began on Hog Island about five o’clock in the afternoon, and continued almost incessantly till midnight. The attack was made with cannon, swivels, and small arms, from an armed schooner, sloop, and eight or ten barges, upon our people, who had small arms only, but were very advantageously posted by Colonel Putnam, who got to them just in season to station and command them properly. He placed them in a ditch up to their waists in water, and covered by the bank, to their necks.

The schooner, sloop, and boats full of men came within twelve or fifteen rods of them and gave our people a fine opportunity to place their shot well. About midnight, the fire ceased a little, and our people retreated to the main laud, where they were soon after joined by Captain Foster with two field-pieces, which were planted on the way of Winnesimit Ferry.

At daylight this morning [May 28], the combat was renewed, and as the schooner passed the ferry way, she was briskly attacked by our people, with the field-pieces and small arms, which soon clearing her deck, she drifted on shore, where our people set fire to her, and she blew up, notwithstanding the utmost endeavors of the people in the boats to tow her off, and save her from destruction. In this, they exposed themselves much to our fire, and suffered greatly.

When they found the schooner was lost, they with difficulty towed off the sloop, much disabled, and retired to their den; and thus ended the combat. This afternoon, our people got out of the wreck twelve four-pounders, six swivels, and everything else that was valuable, without molestation; they afterwards destroyed or removed from both the islands all the stock, a large quantity of hay, and burned all the barns and houses.

All this was done in sight, and as we may say, under the noses of the whole fleet and army at Boston without molestation. The killed of the enemy (General Gage’s crew of enemies to the English Constitution) they themselves allow to be more than one hundred, besides wounded; others, who have good opportimity to know, say their killed and wounded exceed three hundred, and I believe they have suffered as much as in their precipitate flight from Lexington on the memorable 19th of April. Our killed, none! Wounded, three! Heaven apparently, and most evidently, fights for us, covers our heads in the day of battle, and shields our people from the assaults of our common enemies. What thanks can speak our gratitude!

These interpositions, and our determined resolutions, may perhaps make our haughty enemies glad to quit their unjust professions for a cooler and more calm retreat, in some distant quarter of the globe; and leave us peaceably to enjoy those rights and liberties which God in our nature has given us, as our inalienable right, and which they are most unjustly endeavoring to wrest from us by violence.”

May 28 — Origin of the Word “Yankee”

Multiple sources printed a brief explanation of the etymology of the word “Yankee.”

“When the New England colonies were first settled, the inhabitants were obliged to fight their way against many nations of Indians. They found but little difficulty in subduing them all, except one tribe who were known by the name of Yankoos, which signifies invincihle. After much waste of blood and treasure, the Yankoos were at last subdued by the New England men. The remains of this nation (agreeably to the Indian custom) transferred their name to their conquerors. For a while, they were called Yankoos, but from a corruption, common to names in all languages, they got through time the name of Yankees. A name which we hope will soon be equal to that of a Koman, or an ancient Englishman.”

May 30 — Another report on the Battle of Chelsea Creek was printed in the Pennsylvania Journal:

“A captain who was lately seized by Admiral Graves and taken into Boston has just come out; he says he was at the wharf at Noddle’s Island when the battle began. The master of the Diana schooner told him that guns were never better served than the Americans’; that not a shot missed him. One man was carried on board for dead, but the next morning he came to, and had not the least wound about him; others were frightened almost to death. There is an amazing difference in the looks and behavior of the enemy since the battle, from what there was before; before, there was nothing but noise and confusion, now all is still and quiet, insomuch that one can hardly perceive that there is any fleet or army there. From the general down to the common soldier, they seem to be in a great panic, and are afraid to go to bed for fear the Yankees will kill them before morning.”

May 31 — Congress voted to abandon Fort Ticonderoga. However, the decision was overturned after the delegates from New York and the New England Colonies protested. They pointed out that it would make the Hudson River Valley vulnerable to a British invasion from Canada.

May 31 — Mecklenburg Declarations

Charlotte, North Carolina — A committee met and drafted 20 resolutions for its Congressional delegates in Philadelphia. The resolutions included the suspension of Royal and Parliamentary authority and reaffirmed the supremacy of colonial legislatures. However, the “Mecklenburg Declarations” were never presented to Congress.

May 31 — Josiah Martin, Governor of North Carolina, fled New Bern and took refuge inside Fort Johnston.