Raid on Yarmouth, Nova Scotia (1775)

1775 military operation

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Raid on Yarmouth (1775)

Part of the American Revolutionary War
| Date| December 5, 1775

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Location|

Yarmouth, Nova Scotia

Result|  American victory
Belligerents
Massachusetts Bay Privateers|   Great Britain
Strength
2 armed schooners (80 men each)|  Local militia

* v
* t
* e

Northern coastal theater

* Ridgefield
* Sag Harbor
* 2nd Machias
* Setauket
* Mount Hope Bay
* Newport
* Grey's raid
* Chestnut Neck
* Little Egg Harbor
* Tryon's raid (Norwalk, Fairfield)
* Penobscot Expedition
* Cape Split
* Fort St. George
* Annapolis Royal
* Cape Ann
* Groton Heights
* Fort Slongo
* Lunenburg
* Cedar Bridge

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* t
* e

American Revolution Nova Scotia theatre

* Saint John
* Charlottetown
* Yarmouth 1st
* Canso
* Maugerville Rebellion
* Fort Cumberland
* Yarmouth 2nd
* St. John River
* Capture of USS Hancock
* Liverpool
* Raid on Miramichi
* 1st Halifax
* Blomindon
* Cape Breton
* Annapolis Royal
* Blonde Rock
* 2nd Halifax
* Chester
* Lunenburg

The Raid on Yarmouth took place on 5 December 1775 during the American Revolutionary War. The raid involved American Privateers from Salem, Massachusetts attacking Yarmouth, Nova Scotia at Cape Forchu. The privateers intended to stop the export of supplies being sent from Nova Scotia to the loyalists in Boston.[1][2]

## Background

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During the American Revolution, Americans regularly attacked Nova Scotia by land and sea. American privateers devastated the maritime economy by raiding many of the coastal communities,[3] such as the numerous raids on Liverpool and on Annapolis Royal.[4] Sent to join Captain Jeremiah O'Brien in the Bay of Fundy, five vessels left Salem for Nova Scotia. The schooners took four prizes in the Bay of Fundy and sent three to Salem. Two of the schooners went to Yarmouth. One of these schooners had prisoner Acting-Governor Phillips Callbeck, having been captured in the Raid on Charlottetown (1775).[5]

## Battle

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On December 5, 1775 at 10:00 in the morning two American Privateers (80 men each) from Salem, each armed with eight Carriage guns and 16 swivels, landed at Yarmouth.[6] The crew had fire locks, pistols and cutlasses. They overwhelmed the local militia and imprisoned all the officers. Under threat of death, the inhabitants of the town watched as the privateers pillaged their town. As a result, 82 inhabitants of Yarmouth signed a petition to Governor Legge to either withdraw to Halifax or New England or be able to remain neutral in the conflict, which was quickly rejected by Richard Bulkeley.[7][8]

## Aftermath

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American privateers remained a threat to Nova Scotian ports for the rest of the war. The attacks put an end to the trade relations between Nova Scotia and New England.[9] For example, after a failed attempt to raid Chester, Nova Scotia, American privateers struck again in the Raid on Lunenburg in 1782.

## See also

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* American Revolution - Nova Scotia theatre
* Military history of Nova Scotia

## References

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1. ^ Naval Documents of the American Revolution, Vol. 3, p. 109
2. ^ p.1281
3. ^ Benjamin Franklin also engaged France in the war, which meant that many of the privateers were also from France.
4. ^ Roger Marsters (2004). Bold Privateers: Terror, Plunder and Profit on Canada's Atlantic Coast, p. 87-89
5. ^ p. 109, note 2
6. ^ Naval Records of the American Revolution, Vol. 3, p. 3
7. ^ Naval Records of the American Revolution, Vol. 3, p. 121
8. ^ Poole, Edmund Duval (1899). Annals of Yarmouth and Barrington (Nova Scotia) in the Revolutionary War; compiled from original manuscripts, etc., contained in the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth, State House, Boston, Mass. J. Murray Lawson. p. 8.
9. ^ p. 5

43°48′25″N 66°09′29″W﻿ / ﻿43.807°N 66.158°W﻿ / 43.807; -66.158
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