Battle of Gloucester (1775)

Battle of Gloucester
Part of the American Revolutionary War
Detail from a 1775 map showing Boston, Cape Ann and Gloucester harbor. Gloucester Harbor is labelled "Cape Ann Harbour".
Date August 8 or 9, 1775[1] Location Cape Ann, Massachusetts 42°36′23.12″N 70°39′49.39″W / 42.6064222°N 70.6637194°W / 42.6064222; -70.6637194 Result Massachusetts Bay victory
Belligerents
Massachusetts Bay	Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
Joseph Foster Bradbury Saunders	John Linzee
Strength
Land: unknown militia Sea: 2 unarmed schooners	1 sloop-of-war, 3 small boats
Casualties and losses
2 killed 1 wounded[2]	1 killed 4 wounded 24 captured 3 small boats captured 1 sloop-of-war damaged[3]
One of the two American schooners had been captured by the British and was freed during the battle. Ten colonists impressed for naval service were freed by the American militia during the battle.

The Battle of Gloucester was a skirmish fought early in the American Revolutionary War at Gloucester, Massachusetts on August 8 or 9, 1775.^[1] Royal Navy Captain John Linzee,^[4] commanding the sloop-of-war HMS Falcon, spotted two schooners that were returning from the West Indies. After capturing one schooner, Linzee chased the second one into Gloucester Harbor, where it was grounded. The townspeople called out their militia, captured British seamen sent to seize the grounded schooner, and recovered the captured ship as well.

The skirmish was one of a series of actions that prompted a retaliatory expedition by Royal Navy Captain Henry Mowat in October 1775. The major event of his cruise, the Burning of Falmouth, was cited by the Second Continental Congress when it established the Continental Navy.