"They Will Take All The Cattle From The Island" - The Forage Operations of May 1775

A year ago this week, the nerds of Historical Nerdery posted a pair of articles discussing American efforts to starve British forces out of Boston. Today we’d like to go into a little more detail about the forage operations of May, 1775.

Following the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Massachusetts Grand Army surrounded Boston and began to lay siege to it. The Massachusetts Committee of Safety quickly recognized that in order to drive the British army from Boston, it had to starve them out.

On May 7, 1775, the Committee passed a resolution ordering selectmen and Committee of Correspondence members for Chelsea "to take effectual methods for the prevention of any Provisions being carried into the Town of Boston."

The British military had a longstanding practice of supplementing troops’ rations with fresh meat and produce that it purchased from local farmers. If these supplies were cut off, Gage would be forced to depend upon a long and tenuous line of communication to British possessions in Nova Scotia and, ultimately, back to England. To complicate matters, Gage’s Atlantic supply lines would be exposed to the privateer wolf packs of Newburyport, Salem and Plymouth.

At first, Gage contemplated purchasing supplies from American farmers who lived on the islands in Boston Harbor. Unfortunately, many yeomen were reluctant to cooperate. As farm manager William Harris noted, he was “very uneasy, the people from the Men of War frequently go to the Island to Buy fresh Provision, his own safety obliges him to sell to them, on the other Hand the Committee of Safety have threatened if he sells anything to the Army or Navy, that they will take all the Cattle from the Island, & our folks tell him they shall handle him rufly.” Thus, Gage decided he would initiate operations to forcefully seize supplies.

On May 10, 1775, Elijah Shaw testified before the Massachusetts Committee of Safety. The farmer testified that a British detachment of fifty men visited his farm and seized a large number of animals and five tons of hay, He also reported that he had heard rumors “the Troops would soon make a push either towards Dorchester Neck or Chelsea.”

American commanders found themselves unprepared to respond to these foraging operations. Initially the Massachusetts Committee of Safety proposed ““that all the live-stock be taken from Noddle’s Island, Hog Island, and Snake Island, and from that part of Chelsea near the seacoast, and be driven back.” However, the Committee failed to secure troops from nearby communities to carry out the instructions. Afterwards, the Committee turned to a New Hampshire regiment to take up defensive posts on the various islands and prevent supplies from falling into British hands. The was the 1st New Hampshire Regiment under the command of John Stark. Unfortunately, Stark reported that his unit could not carry out the mission because it was too poorly equipped. After receiving this news, the Committee of Safety resumed debate on how to best undertake interdiction operations.

Gage took advantage of the American confusion and continued to send out foraging parties. On May 21st, he enlisted the support of Vice Admiral Samuel Graves, and dispatched an armed schooner, two sloops and a detachment of one hundred troops to Grape Island.

The island, incorporated within the town of Hingham, was owned by Elisha Leavitt, a wealthy loyalist who had previously offered or sold the supplies to Gage. The vessels’ approach alarmed the neighboring towns. General John Thomas, in command of the provincial militia at Roxbury, sent three companies to a point of land across from Grape Island. The militiamen opened fire on the island but, given the range, had little effect beyond drawing a response from the ships’ cannons. Eventually, the regulars had escaped, taking with them what they could.

In response, the militiamen torched Leavitt’s barn and eighty tons of hay still inside, and seized the remaining livestock. 

Provincial leaders scrambled to find a way to prevent further such raids and stop the flow of supplies into Boston. The Committee of Safety drafteda new resolution to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress on May 23, 1775. The Committee urged the Provincial Congress to use its authority to secure resources on the harbor islands and Massachusetts seacoast. The next day, the Committee issued a second resolution, stating "Resolved, That it be recommended to Congress immediately to take such order respecting the removal of the Sheep and Hay from Noddle’s Island, as they may judge proper, together with the stock on adjacent islands."

In compliance with the Committee of Safety resolutions, Major General Artemas Ward, commander-in-chief of the army surrounding Boston, convened a council of war to discuss removing or destroying all supplies on Noddle’s and Hog Islands. From this meeting a plan would be formulated regarding the removal of resources from some of the nearby Boston Harbor islands.

British spies quickly gathered intelligence and passed it on to Gage. In a note to Vice Admiral Graves dated the morning of May 25th, the British commander reported “I have this moment received Information that the Rebels [intend] this Night to destroy, and carry off all the Stock & on Noddles Island,for no reason but because the owners having sold them for the KingsUse: I therefore give you this Intelligence that you may please to

order the guard boats to be particularly Attentive and to take such Other Measures as you may think Necessary for this night.”

In response, Graves recommended landing “a Guard upon the Island [as] the Most probable Means of preserving the Hay from being destroyed.” That evening there was an attempt to send a detachment over to Noodle’s Island. However, as Lieutenant John Barker of the King’s Own Regiment noted “50 Men order’d last night; did not go on account of the tide not serving.”