SackofLunenburgByAJWrightNSARMno1979-147no64

Captain Noah Stoddard (1755–1850) of

Fairhaven, Massachusetts Fairhaven (Massachusett: ) is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the South Coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. The town shares a harbor wit ...

was an American

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

who distinguished himself during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

by leading the

Raid on Lunenburg (1782) 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 Lu ...

. In the raid, Stoddard led four other privateer vessels and attacked the British settlement at

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia Lunenburg is a port town on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, Canada. Founded in 1753, the town was one of the first British attempts to settle Protestants in Nova Scotia. The economy was traditionally based on the offshore fishery and today L ...

on July 1, 1782. In Nova Scotia, the assault on Lunenburg was the most spectacular raid of the war.Gwyn, p. 75

American Revolution

Stoddard was involved in the first naval engagement of the American Revolution,

Battle off Fairhaven The Battle off Fairhaven was the first naval engagement of the American Revolutionary War. It took place on May 14, 1775, in Buzzards Bay off Fairhaven, Massachusetts (formerly known as Dartmouth, Massachusetts) and resulted in Patriot militia re ...

, when patriots retrieved two vessels that had been captured by the British sloop of war, ''Falcon'', in

Buzzards Bay Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. Since ...

. On May 14, 1775, American Captain Daniel Egery and Capt. Nathaniel Pope of Fairhaven in the sloop ''Success'' (40 guns, 30 men) retrieved two vessels captured by the British crew of Captain John Linzee (Lindsey), Royal Navy commander of HMS ''Falcon'' (14 guns, 110 men). Stoddard and the others took the first naval prisoners of the war, 13 British crew, two were wounded and one died. He later captured the ship Fox. On 21 and 23 April 1780 ''Iris'', , and captured the American vessels ''Amazon'', ''General Wayne'', and ''Neptune''. The capture had taken place a few leagues from

Sandy Hook Sandy Hook is a barrier spit in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The barrier spit, approximately in length and varying from wide, is located at the north end of the Jersey Shore. It encloses the southern en ...

and ''Iris'' and ''Delaware'' brought them into New York on 1 May. ''Amazon'', of eight guns, had a crew of 30 men under the command of Captain Noah Stoddard. She was a Massachusetts letter of marque brigantine. Stoddard commissioned ''Scammell'' in April 1782. Soon after, he rescued the 60 American prisoners on board , which had wrecked on

Seal Island, Nova Scotia Seal Island (also known as Great Seal Island) is an island on the outermost extreme of Southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada, in the Municipality of the District of Argyle in Yarmouth County. It is approximately long and wide and is surrounded on i ...

. Stoddard allowed the British crew to return to Halifax in HMS ''Observer'' (which was involved in the Naval battle off Halifax en route).

Afterward

In 1785, Stoddard was detained while visiting Halifax and sued in Halifax Supreme Court by the Cochran brothers for the theft of rum. Stoddard also participated in founding the New Bedford Academy (later named the Fairhaven Academy) (1800). During the War of 1812, Stoddard captured a traitor at

Fort Phoenix Fort Phoenix is a former American Revolutionary War-era fort located at the entrance to the Fairhaven-New Bedford harbor, south of U.S. 6 in Fort Phoenix Park in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. The fort was originally built in 1775 without a name, and a ...

. Stoddard died in

New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...

, January 29, 1850, aged 95, and is buried at the Riverside Cemetery, Fairhaven.

Also see

Nova Scotia in the American Revolution The Province of Nova Scotia was heavily involved in the American Revolutionary War (1776–1783). At that time, Nova Scotia also included present-day New Brunswick until that colony was created in 1784. The Revolution had a significant impact on ...

References

Bibliography

* DesBrisay, Mather Byles (1895). ''History of the county of Lunenburg''.
Eastman, Ralph M. "Captain Noah Stoddard" in ''Some Famous Privateers of New England''. 1928. pp. 61–63
* * MacMechan, Archibald (1923), “The Sack of Lunenburg” in ''Sagas of the Sea''. The Temple Press, pp. 57–72.
Invasion of Lunenburg in Acadie and the Acadians

Links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoddard, Noah 1755 births 1850 deaths People from Fairhaven, Massachusetts American privateers United States Navy personnel of the American Revolution