Raid on Lunenburg
- When
- 1782
- Where
- Chester, Nova Scotia; Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
- Episodes
- 3
On July 1, 1782, American privateers under Captain Noah Stoddard of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, commanding the Scammell with four other vessels, attacked the British settlement at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. About 170 privateers overwhelmed the militia defence, looted the town, burned Colonel John Creighton's home, and took three prisoners, including Creighton, who were later released from Boston without ransom.
Episodes
- Privateers Descend on Chester
Stoddard's commissioned Scammell and other privateers fired on Chester on June 30, then learned Lunenburg's defenders had left and moved to attack it.
- Plunder and Captives
The privateers plundered the town and took three prisoners, including Colonel Creighton, who were later released from Boston without any ransom paid.
- Assault on Lunenburg
On the morning of July 1, 1782, about 170 privateers in five heavily armed vessels overpowered the defence, capturing blockhouses and damaging the leaders' homes.
Background and detail
Background. Lunenburg, a port town on Nova Scotia's South Shore founded in 1753 as one of the first British Protestant settlement attempts, had repeatedly clashed with American privateers during the Revolution. In 1775 the 84th Regiment under Captain John MacDonald attacked an American privateer ship off Lunenburg, and Colonel John Creighton appealed to the government in 1778 over mischiefs done by New England privateers, prompting the armed vessel Loyal Nova Scotian to be ordered there.
Approach and Defence. Stoddard's Scammell was commissioned in April 1782, with the raid planned in Boston. On June 30, Stoddard and two other privateers descended on Chester, firing cannon from their vessels. Militia captain Jonathan Prescott told them the military forces had left Lunenburg for Chester, and the privateers departed to attack Lunenburg. The settlement was defended by militia leaders Colonel John Creighton and Major Dettlieb Christopher Jessen.
Aftermath. The raid was the last major privateer attack on a Nova Scotia community during the war, though American privateers remained active in the region afterward. On August 29, 1782, the privateer Wasp under Captain Thomas Thompson captured a vessel off Chester, and on September 3 Henry Vogle of the Lunenburg militia recaptured a shallop taken by American privateers.
People involved
- Noah Stoddard · American privateer captain from Fairhaven, Massachusetts, commander of the Scammell and leader of the raid
- John Creighton · Colonel and militia leader defending Lunenburg; his home was burned and he was taken prisoner
- Dettlieb Christopher Jessen · Major and militia leader defending Lunenburg; his house was riddled with bullet holes
- Jonathan Prescott · Captain of the militia who informed the privateers that Lunenburg's forces had gone to Chester
Sources
- Raid on Lunenburg, Nova Scotia (1782) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-16
- Lunenburg, Nova Scotia Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-26
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.