Raid on Lunenburg, Nova Scotia (1782)

Not to be confused with Raid on Lunenburg, Nova Scotia (1756).
Raid on Lunenburg
Part of the American Revolution

Brigantine MA Hope (Herbert Woodbury) and Schooner MA Scammell (Noah Stoddard),
Raid on Lunenburg (1782) by A.J. Wright
DateJuly 1, 1782
Location
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Result American victory
Belligerents
 Great Britain  United States
Commanders and leaders
John Creighton (POW)
Dettlieb Christopher Jessen
Joseph Pernette
Johann Gottlob Schmeisser[1][2]		 Noah Stoddard
George Wait Babcock
Gregory Powers[3][4][5]
Herbert Woodbury
John Tibbets[6]
Strength
Unknown 5 vessels
170 crew members
Casualties and losses
1 killed; 3 prisoners 4 wounded[7][8]

The Raid on Lunenburg (also known as the Sack of Lunenburg) occurred during the American Revolution when the US privateer, Captain Noah Stoddard of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and four other privateer vessels attacked the British settlement at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia on July 1, 1782.[9][10][11] The raid was the last major privateer attack on a Nova Scotia community during the war.

Lunenburg was defended by militia leaders Colonel John Creighton and Major Dettlieb Christopher Jessen. In Nova Scotia, the assault on Lunenburg was the most spectacular raid of the war.[12] On the morning of July 1, Stoddard led approximately 170 US privateers in four heavily armed vessels and overpowered Lunenburg’s defence, capturing the blockhouses, burning Creighton's home, and filling Jessen's house with bullet holes. The privateers then looted the settlement and kept the militia at bay with the threat of destroying the entire town. The American privateers plundered the town and took three prisoners, including Creighton, who were later released from Boston without a ransom having been paid.[12][13][14]

  1. ^ Author of The Holy Communion: A Relic of the Past and an Instructor of the Present: Being a Sermon Written in the Year A.D. 1797
  2. ^ p. 338
  3. ^ "Gregory Powers (1738–1833)".
  4. ^ p. 100
  5. ^ pp. 118–119
  6. ^ Capt. John Tibbets' (1748–1786)[usurped]
  7. ^ Casualties taken from Boston Gazette, July 15 and August 5, 1782; Massachusetts Spy, August 8, 1782
  8. ^ Allen. Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution. Massachusetts Historical Society
  9. ^ Eastman, pp. 61–63
  10. ^ Captain Noah Stoddard, died in New Bedford, January 29, 1850, aged 95 ; a soldier of the Revolution.
  11. ^ "p.7" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-09. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
  12. ^ a b Gwyn, p. 75
  13. ^ DesBraisay, p. 68
  14. ^ Beamish Murdoch, History of Nova Scotia. Vol. 3, p. 6