After the bloody events at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, the New England militia began to encircle Boston, placing the British garrison under siege. Before the American Revolution, troops in Boston relied heavily on local farmers for fresh provisions. General Thomas Gage would be forced to depend upon a long and tenuous supply line to Nova Scotia and England if these local supply sources were disrupted. Massachusetts leaders understood that it was unlikely that they could entirely cut off the flow of supplies to the British army. Still, if they could significantly cut into it, they might starve the British out of Boston.

The Massachusetts Committee of Safety ordered militia forces stationed in the seaport town of Chelsea “to take effectual methods to prevent any Provisions being carried into the Town of Boston” from farms on islands in Boston Harbor.¹ However, the troops were slow to move, and Gage continued sending foraging parties to collect supplies.

Determined to disrupt the British foraging efforts, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety ordered soldiers to remove all livestock and hay on Noddles and Hog Islands, located just north of Boston.² On May 26, a combined force of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire militiamen, under the command of General Israel Putnam, embarked on this mission.

The colonial militia quickly seized or destroyed large amounts of hay and cattle before their British counterparts knew what was transpiring. As militiaman Amos Farnsworth recalled, he and his companions were able to “[set] one Hous and Barn on fiar Kil’d Some hoses and Cattel Brought of[f] two or three Cows one horse.”³ However, British officials quickly learned of the provincial mission and alerted Gage. The Royal Navy dispatched HMS Diana to intercept the provincials.

The Diana landed troops on the islands, and a fierce battle ensued. Farnsworth noted, “Before we got from Noddle’s Island to Hog Island we was fired upon by a Schooner. But we crossed the river and about fifteen of us squatted down in a ditch on the marsh and stood our ground. And 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 … the bullets flew very thick … the balls sung like bees round our heads.”⁴ Another Massachusetts soldier, James Stevens, recalled, “the regerlers saw our men thay fired on them then the firing Begun on boath sides & fired very worm.”⁵

Disaster struck at the height of the battle as the sloop Diana ran aground. Militiamen peppered the ship with musket fire, forcing Royal Navy sailors to abandon the boat. New Englanders raided the ship, removed cannons, gunpowder, and supplies, and set it on fire.

The following days saw further skirmishes as the provincials continued to clear the islands of supplies. While the British retaliated with bombardments, they ultimately failed to prevent the destruction of their resources.

The Battle of Chelsea Creek was a crucial early victory for the colonial forces. It showcased their growing military cohesion and willingness to take the offensive, setting the stage for the more significant battles that would soon follow.

NOTES:

1 Minutes of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety 1775, in American Archives: Fourth Series, 6 vols., comp. Clarke M. St. Clair and Peter Force (Washington: U.S. Congress, 1837–46), 2:753. 2 Noddle and Hog Islands were filled in and built over in the early part of the 20th Century. Both islands are now part of the City of Revere, Massachusetts and Logan International Airport. 3 Amos Farnsworth, “Diary Kept by Lieut. Amos Farnsworth of Groton, Mass., during Part of the Revolutionary War, April 1775–May 1779,” in vol. 32 of The Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, ed. Samuel A. Green (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1897–99), p. 81. 4 Ibid. 5 James Stevens, “The Revolutionary Journal of James Stevens of Andover, Mass. [1775–76],” Essex Institute Historical Collections, vol. 48 (Salem: Essex Institute, 1912), pp. 40-41.