United Colonies John Stark Samuel Graves The Battle of Chelsea Creek was the second military engagement of the Boston campaign of the American Revolutionary War.

The American colonists met their goal of strengthening the siege of Boston by removing livestock and hay on those islands from the reach of the British regulars.

The Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, drew thousands of militia forces from throughout New England to the towns surrounding Boston.

These men remained in the area and their numbers grew, placing the British forces in Boston under siege when they blocked all land access to the peninsula.

[7] Colonial forces could do little to stop these shipments due to the naval supremacy of the British fleet and the complete absence of a Continental Navy in the spring of 1775.

Farmers to the east of the city in coastal areas and on the Boston Harbor islands found themselves vulnerable once the siege began because they were exposed to British influence from the sea.

They found no British troops there, but did spot countless livestock and fields abandoned by farmers who had chosen to flee inland.

[10] Graves had, in addition to hay and livestock, hired storage on Noddle's Island for a variety of important naval supplies which he felt were too valuable to keep in Patriot-leaning Boston, owing to the "almost impossibility of replacing them at this Juncture.

Vice-Admiral Graves on his flagship, HMS Preston, saw smoke from the burning hay at about 2 pm and signaled for the guard marines to land on Noddle's Island, which they did, engaging Stark's scattered forces.

[11] Eventually, a combined force of roughly 400 marines was landed, formed ranks, and began to systematically drive Stark's men back to the east.

[7] A pitched battle followed, in which the colonists "Squat[t]ed down in a Ditch on the ma[r]sh" and engaged in "a hot fiar until the Regulars retreated".

[7] American forces boarded Diana and rapidly removed everything of value, including guns, rigging, sails, clothing, and money.

They laid hay under the stern to serve as kindling, and the vessel was set on fire at about 3:00 am to prevent it from falling back into British hands.

They suffered no fatalities, with only a small number of wounded, and their morale was greatly boosted by the successful capture and destruction of Diana.

While occasional attempts have been made to locate the remains of the Diana in Chelsea Creek, which has been extensively dredged and industrialized in the years since the battle, no wrecks found in that body have been identified as hers.