Garrison: 70 men 1 armed schooner (personnel unknown) The Meigs Raid (also known as the Battle of Sag Harbor) was a military raid by American Continental Army forces, under the command of Connecticut Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs, on a British Loyalist foraging party at Sag Harbor, New York on May 24, 1777, during the American Revolutionary War.

After being forced to abandon Boston, they captured New York City, but were unable to hold New Jersey when General George Washington surprised them at Trenton and Princeton.

[3] In the spring of 1777, Lieutenant General William Howe launched raiding expeditions against Continental Army and local militia storage depots near the city.

[4][5] This expedition, led by the former royal governor of New York, William Tryon, successfully reached Danbury from a landing point in Fairfield, Connecticut on April 26, and destroyed provisions and supplies.

The Connecticut militia had mobilized, and over the next two days skirmished with the British as they marched back to their ships, most notably on April 27 at Ridgefield.

Sag Harbor had been occupied by British troops after the August 1776 Battle of Long Island, and they had established a strong defensive position on Meeting House Hill, with earthwork fortifications and palisades.

[7] The town was well-situated for providing supplies to the Royal Navy, which used Gardiner's Bay as an anchorage while patrolling the eastern end of Long Island Sound.

In May 1779, nine Loyalists crossed the sound and captured Connecticut militia general Gold Selleck Silliman at his home, and took him back to Long Island.