The Raid on Chester occurred 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 Revolu ...
when the US
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 ...
, Captain
Noah Stoddard 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 ...
, and four other privateer vessels attacked the British settlement at
Chester, Nova Scotia
Chester is a village on the Chester Peninsula, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada. The nearby waters of Mahone Bay and its numerous islands are well known for yachting and have made the Chester Yacht Club into a cruising destination. A provi ...
on 30 June 1782. The town was defended by Captain
Jonathan Prescott
Dr. Jonathan Prescott was a British officer who fought at the Siege of Louisbourg (1745), became the Captain of the militia at Chester, Nova Scotia and later was involved with the Raid on Chester, Nova Scotia (1782). He was the father of Char ...
and Captain
Jacob Millett.
Background
During the American Revolution,
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native En ...
was invaded regularly by American Revolutionary forces by land and sea. Throughout the war, 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 ...
s devastated the maritime economy by raiding many of the coastal communities. There were constant attacks by privateers, which began seven years earlier with the
raid on St. John and included raids on all the major outposts in Nova Scotia. The first raid on Chester occurred in 1779 and the second three years later.
Raid on Chester
On June 30, the day before the
raid on Lunenburg, Stoddard and two other privateers descended on
Chester, Nova Scotia
Chester is a village on the Chester Peninsula, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada. The nearby waters of Mahone Bay and its numerous islands are well known for yachting and have made the Chester Yacht Club into a cruising destination. A provi ...
firing cannon from their vessels. Captain of the militia
Jonathan Prescott
Dr. Jonathan Prescott was a British officer who fought at the Siege of Louisbourg (1745), became the Captain of the militia at Chester, Nova Scotia and later was involved with the Raid on Chester, Nova Scotia (1782). He was the father of Char ...
fired cannon from the blockhouse. (The cannon Prescott used are now located on the grounds of the Chester Legion.) Prescott's cannon fire struck one of the privateers. As a result, the privateers retreated behind Nass' Point. The crews went ashore and requested of Prescott to bury their dead. Prescott indicated that if they disarmed themselves, they would be assisted. Eventually, Prescott invited Stoddard and the two other captains to tea. Realizing the community was still vulnerable to attack, Prescott and his son lied to the privateers that Commander Creighton at Lunenburg had sent 100 soldiers to be billeted at Chester that evening. Upon the privateers' retreat to their vessels, Captain Jacob Millett led women and children marching in red colours, pretending to be British soldiers from Lunenburg. The privateers left Chester to raid Lunenburg the following day.
Aftermath
The day after the raid on Chester, the American privateers redirected their
attack on Lunenburg, presumably believing the Lunenburg militia had left the town to defend Chester.
Jonathan Prescott was suspected of being an American Patriot sympathizer given that, after the initial hostile engagement, he reportedly allowed Captain
Noah Stoddard to bury his dead and then had tea with him the day before Stoddard orchestrated the raid on Lunenburg. People were also suspicious of Prescott's allegiance, because a number of Dr. Prescott's family were Patriots in the American Revolution; his nephew Samuel had ridden with
Paul Revere
Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, Sons of Liberty member, and Patriot and Founding Father. He is best known for his midnight ride to al ...
. Samuel eventually was taken prisoner to Halifax where he is reported to have died during the war. Jonathan named one of his sons after Samuel and he is buried at the
Old Burying Ground in Halifax. Jonathan's son Joseph joined the Continental Army, fought at
Fort Ticonderoga
Fort Ticonderoga (), formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century star fort built by the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain, in northern New York, in the United States. It was constructed by Canadian-born French mi ...
, and was a founding member of the
Society of the Cincinnati
The Society of the Cincinnati is a fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of military officers wh ...
. Another of Dr. Prescott's sons John fought in the
Battle of Lexington
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Conc ...
. His other son was
Charles Ramage Prescott.
After the war, Jonathan Prescott was given the blockhouse, the modern-day Wisteria Cottage House, and used it as his home.
History of the County of Lunenburg, p. 263
/ref>
See also
*
* Colonial American military history
* Military history of Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia (also known as Mi'kma'ki and Acadia) is a Canadian province located in Canada's Maritimes. The region was initially occupied by Mi'kmaq. The colonial history of Nova Scotia includes the present-day Canadian Maritime provinces and ...
References
Bibliography
A Naval History of the American Revolution
DesBrisay, Mather Byles (1895). ''History of the County of Lunenburg'', pp. 62–68
Eastman, Ralph M. (1928) "Captain Noah Stoddard" in ''Some Famous Privateers of New England''. pp. 61–63
* Gwyn, Julian (2003)
''Frigates and Foremasts: The North American Squadron in Nova Scotia Waters, 1745–1815''
University of British Columbia Press. .
* MacMechan, Archibald (1923), "The Sack of Lunenburg" in ''Sagas of the Sea''. The Temple Press, pp. 57–72.
A History of American Privateers
Massachusetts Privateers, p. 176
Agnes Creighton, "An Unforeclosed Mortgage," Acadiensis, October, 1905
; Primary documents
* ''The Boston Gazette'', and the ''Country Journal'', Monday, July 15, 1782.
* ''The Massachusetts Spy: Or, American Oracle of Liberty'' orcester Thursday, July 25, 1782.
* ''The Continental Journal'', Boston, Thursday, July 18, 1782.
Joseph Pernette to Franklin, letter, dated at LaHave, July 3, 1782, reprinted in DesBrisay, Mather Byles, ''History of the County of Lunenburg'', Toronto: Wesley Briggs, 1895, pp. 65–67.
Leonard Rudolf's account in ''Invasion of Lunenburg in Acadie and the Acadians''
Further reading
* Howe, Octavius Thorndike (1922). ''Beverly Privateers in the Revolution'', p. 361.
* Bell, Winthrop Pickard (1961). ''The "Foreign Protestants" and the Settlement of Nova Scotia''.
* Faibisy, John Dewa
''Privateering and piracy: the effects of New England raiding upon Nova Scotia during the American Revolution, 1775–1783''
External links
Sacking of Lunenburg – Primary Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chester, Nova Scotia (1782), Raid on
Conflicts in Nova Scotia
Military history of Nova Scotia
Conflicts in 1782
1782 in Nova Scotia
Military raids
Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...