Last updated: February 13, 2026
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Island Raids in Boston Harbor, 1775
Boston Public Library
At the beginning of the Siege of Boston (April 1775), British and colonial leaders saw Boston Harbor and its islands as critical to their success. While hunkered down in Boston, British forces relied on their navy to control the harbor. This control provided them access to goods via shipping routes, as well as resources available on the Boston Harbor Islands. Due to British reliance on these islands, colonial leaders knew they needed to control them and limit the resources the British could acquire from them.
In May 1775, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety ordered militia to raid a number of the harbor islands. According to the May 23 meeting minutes:
"Whereas, our enemies make frequent excursions to the islands and sea coasts, from whence they plunder hay, cattle, and sheep; which not only greatly injures many individuals, but also the public, and strengthens the hands of our enemies; therefore, Resolved, that it be recommended to the honorable Congress, to take some effectual measure to secure the stock on the islands and sea coasts, to prevent its falling into the hands of our enemies."[1]
Around this time, the first documented skirmishes on the Boston Harbor Islands occurred with the Battles of Grape Island and Chelsea Creek. These battles foreshadowed a summer filled with water encounters and clashes that took place across the harbor and on various islands.
Please visit The Battle of Grape Island and The Battle of Chelsea Creek to learn more about these early harbor clashes.
British Library
Noddle’s Island Raids
Noddle’s Island first saw action during the Battle of Chelsea Creek (May 27-28, 1775). Over the next couple of weeks, the island remained a target for both colonial and British forces.
On May 30, colonial militia landed on Noddle’s Island and raided the home of resident Henry Howell Williams. They also burned his mansion and took his livestock.[2] Colonial Captain Nathan Fuller had received orders to "Collect all the Cattle horses Excepted and Sheep brought off from Noddle Island...and proceed with them to head Quarters..."[3] Fuller and his soldiers successfully transported the livestock to the headquarters of colonial forces in Cambridge.
Throughout the beginning of June, witnesses documented more landings by British and colonial troops. The British forces aimed to collect hay and other supplies from the island, while colonial militia tried to either take these supplies for themselves or destroy the supplies to prevent them getting into British hands. British Admiral Samuel Graves wrote of the colonists’ success:
"The Rebels landed...upon Noddles Island, drove off the Sheep and Cattle and entirely destroyed all the Dwellings and Outhouses, Barns, Stables and Hay on the Island; We have saved great part of the Kings Stores, but some are unavoidably lost..."[4]
Peddocks and Deer Islands Raids
During this same time, brief raids also occurred on Peddocks Island (May 31) and Deer Island (June 2). In both cases, colonial militia took sheep and cattle from the islands.[5] Writing Abigail Adams, Eunice Paine shared her surprise and joy of the success of the Deer Island raid:
"Not a Gun fire’d, 500 sheep recover’d, nine Prisoners taken. Amazing. I am lost in Admiration! Also thirteen regulars taken in a Boat up Cambridge River, tamely Surrender’d. I cant Express the Language of my heart but hope to gain Courage from these instances of the Divine favor."[6]
Boston Public Library
Long Island Raid
On the evening of July 11, colonial militia set their sights on raiding Long Island. Several hundred New England militia rowed whaleboats to the island, where they stole some hay and livestock, as well as captured Loyalist residents and hay mowers employed by the British Army. Boston Selectman Timothy Newell wrote of the events in his journal:
Two men of war made a heavy fire on Long Island. The Provincials last night in 65 whale boats and 500 men went over to Long Island and took off 31 head of cattle, with a number of Sheep and quantity of hay and likewise seized on and brought off fourteen of the Kings Mowers with the family belonging to the Island.[7]
The next day, another detachment of colonial forces returned to Long Island to set fire to buildings and hay. This time, British ships nearby surrounded the island and fired upon the colonists. Although this attack did not stop the colonial troops onshore, it did result in at least one soldier killed and another wounded.[8]
Days later, President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress James Warren applauded the soldiers’ efforts, writing to John Adams that the raid "was certainly a Bold, Intrepid Maneuvre, and as such Astonished our Enemies."[9]
Boston Public Library, found in "Naval Documents of the American Revolution," volume 1.
Boston Light Raids
As the home to Boston Light, Little Brewster Island held particular strategic importance for both the British navy and colonial forces. The British relied on the light station to help ships navigate the treacherous harbor, which meant the colonists needed to strip them of this advantage.
In July 1775, Little Brewster/Boston Light saw not one, but two raids. On July 20, colonial troops landed on the island, stole goods, and set the lighthouse ablaze. When British workers and marines tried to make repairs, colonial forces returned days later to destroy their work on the lighthouse, killing and capturing British soldiers in the process.[10]
Please visit Boston Light Raids, 1775 to learn more about the events on Little Brewster Island in July 1775.
Governors Island Raid
After the Boston Light raids in July, there are a few vague mentions of movements on some of the harbor islands throughout the rest of the summer and early fall. However, surviving documentation does not provide enough information to provide a clearer picture of these events.
The last corroborated raid appeared to have occurred on Governors Island on September 27, 1775. Major Tupper led colonial forces to the island and "brought off 13 fat cattle, and two of the light horse...they also burnt all the buildings thereon, with a considerable quantity of hay."[11]
From the Water to the Land
As fall stretched into winter, both sides turned their focus landside as they hunkered down in and around Boston for the colder months.
While no significant action occurred on the islands for the rest of the siege, the strategic location of the islands remained in conversations among colonial leaders. Some, such as John Adams and Josiah Quincy, saw control of the islands as key to success. Quincy wrote to George Washington saying should colonial forces control the islands, "I am more than ever convinced, of the Practicability of not only securing the Harbour, but relieving the Town of Boston."[12]
But taking control of the islands proved too complicated and extensive. Washington instead chose to fortify Dorchester Heights, hills to the south of Boston and overlooking the harbor’s shipping channels. This shrewd move resulted in success, as the British saw no other option but to evacuate the town in March 1776.
Regardless, the summer island raids showed the expansive geography of the Siege of Boston, which extended beyond the town of Boston and its surrounding communities. They also demonstrated the key role Boston Harbor played in the early moments of the American Revolutionary War.
Footnotes
[1] "Minutes of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, May 23, 1775" in Lincoln, William (Ed.) The Journals of each Provincial Congress of Massachusetts in 1774 and 1775, and of the Committee of Safety (Boston: Dutton and Wentworth, 1838) Pg. 554.
[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) 110.
[3] "Orders to take cattle issued by Col. Ephraim Doolittle to Capt. Nathan Fuller (copy), 30 May 1775" Noddle’s Island Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.
[4] "Vice Admiral Graves to Philip Stephens, June 16, 1775," in Clark, William Bell (Ed.). Naval Documents of the American Revolution, vol. 1. (Washington: Naval History Division, Dept. of the Navy, 1964) 690.
[5] Frothingham, History of the Siege of Boston, and of the Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill, 110.
[6] "Eunice Paine to Abigail Adams, 4 June 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. 210–211.]
[7] Timothy Newell, “A Journal Kept During the Time that Boston was Shut Up in 1775 - 6,” Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, ser. 4 vol. 1. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1852: 264.
[8] "Narrative of Vice Admiral Samuel Graves, Boston, July 12, 1775," in Clark, William Bell (Ed.). Naval Documents of the American Revolution, vol. 1. (Washington: Naval History Division, Dept. of the Navy, 1964. Pg. 869; "George Washington to John Hancock, 14 July 1775," Founders Online, National Archives. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 1, 16 June 1775 – 15 September 1775, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1985, pp. 115–118.]
[9] "James Warren to John Adams, 20 July 1775," Founders Online, National Archives. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 3, May 1775 – January 1776, ed. Robert J. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979, pp. 82–85.]
[10] Frothingham, 230-231.
[11] Newport Mercury, October 2, 1775, in Clark, William Bell (Ed.). Naval Documents of the American Revolution, volume 2. (Washington: Naval History Division, Dept. of the Navy, 1966) 270.
[12] "Josiah Quincy to George Washington, October 31, 1775," in Clark, William Bell (Ed.). Naval Documents of the American Revolution, volume 2. (Washington: Naval History Division, Dept. of the Navy, 1966) 659-661.