Last updated: February 13, 2026
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The Battle of Grape Island
Cropped view of "A plan of the town and harbour or Boston." American Antiquarian Society.
When the Siege of Boston began in April 1775, both British and colonial forces viewed the islands in Boston Harbor as contested land. They proved important for military purposes as well as logistical ones – control of the islands meant control of the harbor and shipping routes, as well as access to essential resources on the islands, such as food, hay, and livestock. For these reasons, a series of raids and skirmishes took place over the spring and summer of 1775. One of the first of these clashes occurred on Grape Island.
As British forces began searching for resources on the islands, they found support in Loyalist Elisha Leavitt, who owned Grape Island in Hingham Bay.[1] On May 21, 1775, Leavitt offered the British access to his island so they could collect hay. In the History of the Siege of Boston, Richard Frothingham wrote,
"On the 21st, Sunday morning, two sloops and an armed schooner sailed from Boston to Grape Island, with a party of the troops, to take off a quantity of hay stored there. The troops landed on the island, and began to put the hay on board the sloops."[2]
This activity drew the attention of colonial militia in nearby Weymouth. Abigail Adams, living in the area, reported to husband John: "The allarm flew [like] lightning, and men from all parts came flocking down till 2000 were collected."[3] However, a low tide prevented the militia from doing more than firing some shots towards the sloops in the harbor, which the British returned.[4]
After a few hours, the tide finally came in to allow for some small boats to depart. As they arrived, the British departed with only some of the hay. Adams wrote, "Our people landed upon [the] Island, and in an instant set fire to the Hay which the Barn was soon consumed, about 80 ton tis said."[5]
At the end of the day, the Battle of Grape Island resulted in no casualties and only the destruction of property and hay. The British secured a fraction of the supplies they had hoped to acquire, with the colonial militia setting fire to the rest.
While not remembered as a significant battle, this moment foreshadowed the numerous more skirmishes that would take place over the following months on the Boston Harbor Islands as colonial forces sought to restrict British access to supplies. Today, a marker stands at Webb Memorial State Park to commemorate this moment of the Siege of Boston.
NPS Photo/ L. McDonough
Footnotes:
[1] "Skirmish at Grape Island," American Revolution in Massachusetts, Boston Public Library. Last Updated January 15, 2026.
[2] Richard Frothingham, History of the Siege of Boston, and of the Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851) 108-109.
[3] "Abigail Adams to John Adams, 24 May 1775," Founders Online, National Archives. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 1, December 1761 – May 1776, ed. Lyman H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963, pp. 204–206.]
[4] Frothingham, History of the Siege of Boston, and of the Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill, 108-109.
[5] "Abigail Adams to John Adams, 24 May 1775," Founders Online, National Archives.