Last updated: February 13, 2026
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Boston Light Raids, 1775
Boston Public Library
As the home to Boston Light, Little Brewster Island held strategic importance for both the British navy and colonial forces during the Siege of Boston (1775-1776). The British relied on the light station to help their ships navigate the treacherous harbor, bringing essential food and supplies to their soldiers and citizens trapped in Boston. In order to force the British out of Boston, the colonists believed they needed to strip them of this asset.
On July 2, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress determined "to remove and secure, if practicable, the lamps and oil from the light house at the entrance of Boston harbor."[1] This prompted not one, but two raids on Little Brewster/Boston Light later that month.
On July 20, Major Joseph Vose led a group of colonial troops to Little Brewster Island via whaleboats. While under fire from British ships nearby, they burned the wooden part of Boston Light and stole some gunpowder, oil, barley, hay, lamps, and furniture.[2] An eyewitness claimed to see "the flames of the Light-House ascending up to Heaven like grateful incense."[3]
Boston Public Library, found in "Naval Documents of the American Revolution," volume 1.
Within days of the first attack on Boston Light, British Admiral Samuel Graves sent a British work party to begin rebuilding the lighthouse. A contingent of British marines joined them to provide increased protection.[4]
The colonial forces responded just as swiftly. In the early morning of July 31, Major Benjamin Tupper sent about 300 colonial troops to stop progress on the lighthouse. They overwhelmed the British marines, killing several and capturing dozens. The colonial militia destroyed the lighthouse once more and set the island on fire.[5]
However, the tide prevented them from having a quick escape, which resulted in a brief engagement with British reinforcements. Colonial cannon from nearby Hull destroyed a British ship, causing the British to retreat and the colonial troops to make their escape. In all, colonial forces only suffered casualties of one soldier killed and a couple more wounded.[6]
The second raid on Boston Light received praise from George Washington himself:
"The General thanks Major Tupper, and the Officers and Soldiers under his Command, for their gallant and soldierlike behaviour in possessing themselves of the enemy’s post at the Light House, and for the Number of Prisoners they took there, and doubts not, but the Continental Army, will be as famous for their mercy as for their valour."[7]
These raids did lasting damage to Little Brewster Island and Boston Light. The lighthouse remained in ruin for the rest of the Siege of Boston, with the British exploding its remnants during their final departure from the harbor in June 1776.[8]
Footnotes
[1] "Minutes of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, July 2, 1775," in Lincoln, William (Ed.). The Journals of each Provincial Congress of Massachusetts in 1774 and 1775, and of the Committee of Safety, with an Appendix, Containing the Proceedings of the County Conventions—Narratives of the Events of the Nineteenth of April, 1775—Papers Relating to Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and other Documents, Illustrative of the Early History of the American Revolution (Boston: Dutton and Wentworth, 1838) 442.
[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), 226-227.
[3] "Extract of a letter from the camp at Cambridge, July 24 [1775]" in Clark, William Bell (Ed.) Naval Documents of the American Revolution, vol. 1. (Washington: Naval History Division, Dept. of the Navy, 1964) 956.
[4] "Vice Admiral Samuel Graves to Captain Thomas Bishop, HMS Lively, July 22, 1775" in Clark, William Bell (Ed.) Naval Documents of the American Revolution, vol. 1. (Washington: Naval History Division, Dept. of the Navy, 1964) 951.
[5] Frothingham, History of the Siege of Boston, and of the Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill, 230-231; "George Washington to John Hancock, 4–5 August 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. 223–239.]
[6] Frothingham, 230-231; "George Washington to John Hancock, 4–5 August 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. 223–239.]
[7] "General Orders, 1 August 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. 205–208.]
[8] Frothingham, 314-315.