Meigs' Raid American Revolutionary War
Guilford, South Central Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut
Marker Inscription
From Sachem's Head Harbor on May 23, 1777, 170 men under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs rowed across Long Island Sound to raid and destroy a British supply depot at Sag Harbor, New York. During this engagement with the enemy, not… transcription continues on the marker
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The Story
In the anxious second year of the Revolution, Continental forces sought ways to strike at British supply lines. On May 23, 1777, Lieutenant-Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs led about 170 men in whaleboats from Sachem's Head Harbor across Long Island Sound to Sag Harbor, New York, where they destroyed a British supply depot and took prisoners in a swift, well-executed raid. The daring operation became one of the war's celebrated small victories.
Why it matters
Meigs' Raid proved that American forces could carry the fight to the enemy's rear, lifting morale during a difficult stretch of the Revolution.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the spring of 1777, the American Revolution was in a tense and uncertain phase. The Declaration of Independence was not yet a year old, the war's outcome was far from settled, and the British held powerful positions — including on Long Island, across the water from the Connecticut shore.
Long Island Sound became a kind of contested frontier. British forces used Long Island to gather and store supplies, and the Connecticut coast opposite it offered the Americans a launching point for quick strikes back across the water. Control of that stretch of coast and sound mattered to both sides.
It was against this backdrop that a bold small-scale operation set out from the Connecticut shore — the kind of daring, low-cost raid that could hurt the enemy's supplies and, just as importantly, lift American spirits during a difficult time.
People & events
On May 23, 1777, Lieutenant-Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs led about 170 men from Sachem's Head Harbor and rowed across Long Island Sound. Their target was a British supply depot at Sag Harbor, on the far side of the water in New York.
Crossing open water in small boats to strike an enemy position took nerve and careful planning. The raiders reached Sag Harbor, attacked the depot, and destroyed the British supplies gathered there — precisely the sort of blow that disrupted the enemy's ability to sustain its forces in the region.
What made the operation so celebrated was its precision and its low cost to the American side. A well-led, swiftly executed raid of this kind stood in sharp contrast to the larger, bloodier setbacks of the war, and it made Meigs' name as a capable and daring officer.
Its place in the American story
Meigs' Raid proved something that mattered far beyond the supplies destroyed that day: that American forces could carry the war to the enemy's own strongholds and rear areas, not merely defend against them. In a conflict where morale could be as decisive as manpower, that lesson was worth a great deal.
Small, well-executed operations like this one showed that the Revolution would not be won by grand battles alone. Raids, coastal strikes, and mobile actions all wore at British strength and confidence, and they demonstrated the resourcefulness that helped an outmatched American cause endure.
That the raid is remembered on the Connecticut shore, at its launching point, is fitting. It reminds us that the Revolution was fought not only at famous battlefields but along the coasts and waterways where determined men set out in small boats to strike a blow for independence.
If you visit
Come to this memorial and then turn your eyes toward the water. The story is really about that crossing — 170 men in boats, setting out over Long Island Sound toward an enemy shore you can imagine just beyond the horizon. Standing where they launched brings the audacity of it home.
The marker sits on the Connecticut coast near where the expedition began, so let the setting do its work. Feel the openness of the Sound, and picture the quiet, tense hours of rowing that a raid like this demanded before the first shot was ever fired.
It makes a rewarding stop on a drive along this stretch of the Connecticut shoreline, adding a jolt of Revolutionary daring to a coastal route. Bring a sense of the water's role in the war, and you'll see this shore not just as scenery but as a frontier where the fight for independence was actively carried to the enemy.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Return Jonathan Meigs
Related events
- · Meigs' Raid on Sag Harbor
Themes & tags
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