Taking the Fight to Sea: Machias and the First Sea Fight of the American Revolution

摘要

The day after the fighting erupted at Lexington and Concord, the Siege of Boston began. In less than twenty-four hours, the five thousand or so British troops and camp followers in Boston, as well as the civilian population, found themselves cut off from the rest of Massachusetts and the bounty of supplies that the colony had hitherto provided. "Very great Pains have been taken to starve the Troops and the Friends of Government in Boston," wrote General Thomas Gage, who was both the British commanding officer and the chief civil authority.