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The Battle of Chelsea Creek was the second military engagement of the Boston campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It is also known as the Battle of Noddle's Island, Battle of Hog Island and the Battle of the Chelsea Estuary. This battle was fought on May 27 and 28, 1775, on Chelsea Creek and on salt marshes, mudflats, and islands of Boston Harbor, northeast of the Boston peninsula.〔In 1775, unlike today, Boston was a peninsula. Much land was filled around the Boston peninsula, primarily in the 19th century. See the history of Boston for details.〕 Most of these areas have since been united with the mainland by land reclamation and are now part of East Boston, Chelsea, Winthrop, and Revere. The American colonists met their goal of strengthening the siege of Boston by removing livestock and hay on those islands from the reach of the British regulars. The British armed schooner ''Diana'' was also destroyed and its weaponry was appropriated by the Colonial side. This was the first naval capture of the war, and it was a significant boost to the morale of the Colonial forces. ==Background== The Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 drew thousands of militia forces from throughout New England to the towns surrounding Boston. These men remained in the area and their numbers grew, placing the British forces in Boston under siege when they blocked all land access to the peninsula. The British were still able to sail in supplies from Nova Scotia, Providence, and other places because the harbor side of the city remained under British naval control.〔McKay〕 Colonial forces could do little to stop these shipments due to the naval supremacy of the British fleet and the complete absence of a Continental Navy in the spring of 1775.〔Callo, pp. 22–23. Formal naval organization did not begin until Washington took command in June 1775.〕 However, there was one remaining local area that continued to supply the British forces in Boston after the war began. Farmers to the east of the city in coastal areas and on the Boston Harbor islands found themselves vulnerable once the siege began because they were exposed to British influence from the sea. If they continued to sell livestock to the regulars they would be viewed as Loyalists in the eyes of the Patriots, but if they refused to sell then the British would consider them rebels and raiding parties would simply take what they wanted.〔 On May 14, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety under Joseph Warren issued the following order: A few days before the battle, Warren and General Artemas Ward, commander of the besieging forces, inspected Noddle's Island and Hog Island, which lay to the northeast of Boston, and east of Charlestown. They found no British troops there but plenty of livestock. The animals in other coastal areas had been moved inland by their owners.〔 On May 21, the British had sailed troops to Grape Island in the outer harbor near Weymouth to get hay and livestock, and had been driven off by militia mustered from the nearby towns, which then removed the livestock and burned the hay on the island.〔Frothingham, p. 108〕 The British Navy around occupied Boston was under the command of Vice-Admiral Samuel Graves. The Royal Marines were under the command of Major John Pitcairn. The British forces as a whole were led by Governor General Thomas Gage.〔Beatson, p. 61〕 Graves had, in addition to hay and livestock, hired storage on Noddle's Island for a variety of important naval supplies, which he felt were important to preserve, owing to the "almost impossibility of replacing them at this Juncture."〔Nelson, p. 18〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Chelsea Creek」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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