On this day 250 years ago in Massachusetts, Gen. Artemas Ward ordered Colonel John Stark and the 300 men of his 1st New Hampshire Regiment to remove or destroy livestock, hay and provisions on Noddle and Hog Islands in Boston Harbor in order to deprive British troops in Boston from using them. Stark’s men succeed in removing to the mainland over a hundred cattle, sheep and horses from Hog Island. The British were alerted when Stark and 30 of his men are burning hay and barns on Noddle Island directly across the harbor from Boston. The Royal Navy dispatched the HMS Diana and 850 marines to chase the Americans off the islands. The Americans destroyed many livestock and burned much of the hay before being driven off Noddle Island by the British troops. The Americans began firing on the British marines after crossing the narrow channel to Hog Island while the Diana moved into Chelsea Creek in an attempt to cut off Stark’s men before they could retreat to the mainland. However the Diana ran aground in Chelsea Creek after sunset within musket range of the shore. More troops and two cannon under the command of Col. Israel Putnam joined Stark’s men so that nearly a thousand Patriots began firing on the Diana and the British rowboats sent to tow her away. The fight would continue past midnight and into the next day.

Sources: https://www.nps.gov/places/chelsea-creek.htm; https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/may-1775/

Also on this day in Boonesborough, now in Kentucky but then in the erstwhile fourteenth colony of Transylvania, the constitution of Transylvania was adopted as a compact between the Proprietors who founded the colony and the Transylvania legislature. The compact called for annual election of delegates to the legislature, that judges “be answerable for their malconduct” to the People, and “That there be perfect religious freedom and general toleration.” Two of the four men who signed this compact — John Luttrell and Nathaniel Hart — would die in battle fighting for America.

Source: https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.html/document/csr09-0431#p9-1276