Black Rock Harbor Maritime Activity In the Late Spring

Shipping activity continued to thrive in the spring of 1776. The wharves on Black Rock harbor hosted smaller intercoastal shipping vessels. These would have included single-masted sloops, double-masted schooners and whaleboats which relied on oarsmen for propulsion.

Ultimately, the harbor became a base and depot for privateers; privately owned ships authorized to attack British shipping. Whaleboats were the primary vessels for transporting people and supplies across Long Island Sound. Caleb Brewster used these vessels extensively for his spying activities.

Shipping and trading were primarily with other seaports located on Long Island Sound as well as nearby Atlantic ports. Agricultural, seafood, livestock, and forestry related goods were the major exports while imports included rum, molasses, tea, sugar and textiles.

On June 3, 1776, General George Washington sent a letter to Major General Israel Putnam from Connecticut advising that the Continental Congress had approved sending 6,000 militiamen to Canada to reinforce Continental Army troops. Congress had initially authorized up to 9,000 militiamen but decreased the number after the disastrous defeat at the Battle of the Cedars, which severely weakened the American hold on Montreal and forced their ultimate retreat from Canada.

Washington also instructed Putnam to seek out the materials and carpenters needed to begin construction and deployment of congressionally approved “sundry Gundaloes [shallow-draft barges] and fire rafts [floating vessels packed with combustibles, tar, and gunpowder] to prevent the men of War and Enemies Ships from coming into the New York Bay or Narrows.”

Closer to home, Connecticut patriot Nathan Hale, a 21-year-old Continental Army captain, wrote a letter to his brother noting his local company’s growth and mentioning that General George Washington had been called to Congress to “advise on matters of Consequence”.

Sources:

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-04-02-0343

https://www.facebook.com/NathanHaleHomestead

According to the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History, The Declaration of Independence was not written for King George III– after all, by 1776 he was well aware that the colonists wanted their independence. When the document was written it was quickly dispatched to King Carlos of Spain and King Louis XVI of France to gain their support.

Reflecting on the battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, Benjamin Franklin had written, “the Army had not 5 Rounds of Powder a Man. . . . The World wonder’d that we so seldom fir’d a Cannon. We could not afford it.” Even then, it was obvious that allies were going to be essential if the rebellious colonists had any hope of winning a war against Great Britain.

In the spring of 1776, the Continental Congress sent Silas Deane, a lawyer and one of the Connecticut delegates, on a secret mission to meet with Louis XVI, assess his willingness to help the colonists with materials, and secure an alliance.

Both Spain and France had an axe to grind with Britain – they had been badly beaten in the Seven Years’ War that ended in 1763, with Spain losing Florida and the Gulf area while France had ceded Canada to Britain. Both countries had quietly allowed trading in essential goods and arms to the colonists, but could they be convinced to join the fight wholeheartedly against their common enemy?

A formal treaty with France would not be signed until 1778, once the colonists won a few key battles. But Deane’s efforts in Paris, later joined by Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee, convinced France to sell more gunpowder and munitions to
the colonists, and to allow American privateers to prey on British ships from French ports in the Caribbean.

While Spain never formally signed a treaty, King Charles III did declare that Spain would not “lay down its arms until the independence [of the United States] is recognized by the King of Great Britain.” Britain now had to spread its forces thin to protect its assets in the Caribbean while battling the New England colonies.

Support from Spain and France was not only essential in the success of the rebellion, it turned what had essentially been a civil war into a world war.

In mid-May 1776, Boston Harbor was the site of two notable skirmishes between colonial privateers and the departing British fleet. These actions occurred two months after the British evacuation of Boston but while the Royal Navy still maintained a presence in the harbor’s outer waters.

The Capture of the Hope (May 17, 1776)
On May 17, Captain James Mugford of the colonial armed schooner Franklin captured the British transport ship Hope without a fight. The Hope had sailed from Ireland and was unaware that the British had abandoned Boston. It carried a highly valuable cargo, including roughly 1,500 barrels of gunpowder and an assortment of military stores desperately needed by the Continental Army.

The Battle of Shirley Gut (May 19, 1776)
Two days later, on May 19, the Franklin and another colonial vessel, the Lady Washington, became grounded in the tidal flats near Deer Island and Shirley Gut (between Winthrop and Point Shirley). British naval forces from a man-of-war ship anchored nearby launched an attack using 12 to 13 boats filled with armed men.

Despite being heavily outnumbered, the combined American crews repelled the British attack, sinking several of the enemy boats and killing a number of British sailors. However, Captain Mugford was mortally wounded during the hand-to-hand combat. His crew successfully defended the ships, and the Franklin floated free the next morning, carrying Mugford’s body back to Marblehead.

Source:nps.gov

On this date, the Fifth Virginia Revolutionary Convention met at the Capitol in Williamsburg and began debate on independence from the Crown. Although some delegates questioned whether the colonies should first secure foreign alliances before declaring independence, the growing demand for liberty and self-government will ultimately prevail. By formally directing its delegates to advocate for independence,

Meanwhile, with rumors of a growing loyalist plot taking hold in New York, Fairfield attorney, Connecticut House of Representatives member and patriot Jonathan Sturges sent a letter to George Washington warning that local militia had captured several men aboard a small sloop who confessed they were bound for Long Island to join British forces.

Sources:

https://www.lva.virginia.gov/collections/educator-resources/online-classroom/stc/entries/fifth-virginia-revolutionary-convention-called-for-independence-may-15-1776

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/4568168/on-this-day-the-american-defense-is-stretched-thin/

https://www.fairfieldhistory.org/fairfield-museum-exhibitions-commemorating-the-250th-anniversary-of-the-declaration-of-independence/

The American invasion of Quebec from August 1775 to July 1776 was driven by colonial fears of the province as a cultural and military threat and a simultaneous belief that it should join a unified American nation.

General Richard Montgomery advanced from Fort Ticonderoga, capturing key positions including Fort St. John’s and Montreal; meanwhile, The newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, George Washington ordered Colonel Benedict Arnold to lead an overland expedition through Maine to Quebec City, where his reduced force joined Montgomery’s troops. Together, they attempted an assault on December 31, 1775, but the attack failed disastrously due to harsh winter conditions and strong defenses, resulting in Montgomery’s death, Arnold’s wounding, and heavy American losses.

On May 6, 1776, the American siege of Quebec collapsed once British reinforcements arrived, marking the end of the failed invasion of Canada. Simultaneously, British reinforcements arrived in Quebec, forcing American troops to retreat.

Meanwhile, in Virginia, the House of Burgesses in Williamsburg met for the last time, ending 157 years of legislative history, as colonial governance shifted toward revolutionary, independent conventions.

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/american-revolution-faqs

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/maps/arnolds-expedition-quebec-city-sep-11-dec-31-1775

https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/revolutionary-war/250-years-ago-day

https://archive.org/details/adiscoursedeliv00griggoog

Connecticut – The “Provisions State”

With the exception of the raids along the coast and some British incursions into the interior, Connecticut remained free of major battles and was never occupied by the British. That, along with its rich farmland, meant the colony became a major supplier of food for Washington’s army.

In 1775, Joseph Trumbull, son of the governor, was appointed commissary general and tasked with overseeing supplies to the troops. His effectiveness at carrying out his duties proved to be pivotal to the army’s success, as hunger was a constant problem. Encamped at Valley Forge during a notoriously brutal winter, Washington desperately appealed to Trumbull for cattle to feed his men. When that herd finally arrived, it was supposedly “devoured within five days.”

“For the war as a whole, Connecticut’s total contribution of supplies greatly surpassed what could be expected from a state of such small size and population and earned it the title of “the Provisions State.” – The Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution

Between the growing rebellion in the American colonies and in his holdings in the Caribbean and elsewhere, King George grows worried that his army will be stretched too thin. He initially asks Catherine the Great of Russia to lend him a few thousand fighting men, but she turned him down with the excuse that she wouldn’t want anyone to think he couldn’t handle his own rebellions. Instead, George turns to the various states of Germany, and thus approximately 30,000 Hessians, from Hesse-Cassel and Hesse-Hanau, join the British to fight the rebelling colonists.

Described as “barbarous strangers” by writer and activist Mercy Warren of Massachusetts, the Hessians were actually landless, impoverished peasants rented to Britain by their landgrave, Frederick II. These soldiers were paid well, with the British doling out more money for Hessians who were killed rather than those wounded or captured.

General George Washington issues a series of General Orders, one warning that British troops who had recently evacuated Boston could arrive in New York at any moment.

Washington urged engineers to speed up fortifications, with additional soldiers assigned to help complete defensive works as quickly as possible.

Also on this day, John Adams noted in his diary growing concern over reports of secret correspondence between the British government and Maryland’s royal governor, Robert Eden.

In response, the Continental Congress ordered officials to seize both the governor and his papers, fearing his actions could threaten American liberty. This underscores the mounting tensions and deepening mistrust as the colonies moved closer to independence.

In May 1776, the American Congress bid each colony to form new governments, since British rule had basically collapsed. Sitting in Philadelphia with the American Congress, John Adams received the letter written the previous month from his wife, Abigail, which would go on to be often-quoted over the years:

“I long to hear that you have declared an independency, and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors.” She cautioned him not to “put such unlimited power into the hands of Husbands…Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could.”

Less well known is what she added later: “If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies, we are determined to foment a Rebelilon, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”

If only we could have been there when she received John’s answer:
“As to your extraordinary Code of Laws, I cannot but laugh,” he wrote, adding that he blamed the British for inflaming everyone from Tories to Bigots, Canadians to Indians and Russians and “Roman Catholicks.” As well as women, he implied.

The Continental Congress opened its session in Philaselphia for the day and spent most of the morning attending to “war business”- referring a letter from General Washington to committee, payment for supplies, military matters, etc.

They then spent the remainder of this session establishing the rules of engagement for privateering and providing authority to the various leaders and committees of the colonies for the issuance of “letters of marque”.

Letters of marque were issued to commanders of boats providing them permission to attack British ships- both military and merchant. Rules were established for engagement and the distribution of valuable cargo seized at sea. This practice was a more civilized form of piracy, but with only an infant navy, this measure was deemed critical by the Continental Congress as war efforts intensified.

For Black Rock and other seaports along the coast, privateering became a common practice throughout the war. Among notable privateers who sailed out of Black Rock Harbor were Caleb Brewster and Samuel Smedley.

Once finished with this matter, Congress adjourned until 10:00 the next morning, April 4th, 1776.