Program

DAR Revolutionary America

Subject

Event, Site

Location

7 Water St, Stonington, CT 06378, USA

Lat/Long

41.328517, -71.905761

Grant Recipient

NSDAR - Treasurer General

On August 30, 1775, Captain James Wallace arrived in Stonington Harbor on the Rose a 24-gun Royal Navy frigate. Wallace dispatched a small boat ashore demanding cattle and threatening the local residents with severe reprisals if they didn’t cooperate. They refused. Wallace then sent one of his tenders into the harbor to seize the cattle and any other provisions they could find. Word of the action spread and soon the militia, led by Captain Oliver Smith, marched to the wharf. The colonist forced the British landing party back and was able to repel further attempts to land. Captain Wallace then anchored the Rose and proceeded to cannonade the village. Virtually every home was hit. However, the attack was unsuccessful and the Rose departed the harbor. The attack on Stonington, CT was likely the first attack by the British Navy on the Continental shores of America that was successfully repulsed by the Americans. (Colonel Jonathan Palmer’s War Diary: Stonington, Connecticut, 1774-1775, compiled by Norman F. Boas, 1992)