Storming Fort William and Mary, 14–15 Dec.

Sometimes local boosters have claimed that the Boston Massacre was the first battle of the Revolutionary War.

Or maybe the “Battle of Golden Hill” a few weeks before that—a series of New York street fights in which, contrary to early reports, no one died.

Other folks point to the Battle of Alamance on 16 May 1771, the final confrontation between western North Carolina’s Regulators and the provincial authorities.

Or the Battle of Point Pleasant/Kanawha on 10 Oct 1774, the big fight of Dunmore’s War.

Or “Leslie’s Retreat” on 26 Feb 1775, when redcoats supposedly drew the “first blood of the Revolutionary War” as they poked locals with bayonets.

Or the Westminster Massacre on 13 Mar 1775, in what would become Vermont. Two men died in a confrontation over New York and New Hampshire property grants.

I don’t think any of those qualify as a Revolutionary War battle. Even a small battle must involve two opposing military forces, whether regular troops or militia, and not soldiers against civilians or civil authorities against rioters.

And to be part of the Revolutionary War, those forces must represent the Crown and colonial anti-tax activists. Theirs wasn’t the only conflict in North America at the time; some of these other confrontations were over different issues, with different alignments.

And ideally the outcome of a battle should be significant—control of territory or resources changing hands. (Of course, death and injury are also significant.)

By those criteria, I think the first battle of the Revolutionary War was the New Hampshire militia raid on Fort William and Mary in Portsmouth harbor on 14 Dec 1774, followed by a second incursion the next day. The captain of the small British army contingent inside the fort reported firing cannon. No one was wounded or killed, but that was good fortune.

This weekend the confrontation at Fort William and Mary will be commemorated and reenacted at the Strawbery Banke Museum and what is now Fort Constitution. Events for visitors begin each day at 9:00 A.M. See the full schedule here.

Here are some recorded interviews about the raids on Fort William and Mary:

• In Emerging Revolutionary War’s RevWar Revelry series, Rob Orrison talked with Dr. Cynthia Hatch.
• On the Revolution 250 podcast, Bob Allison interviewed Sarah Vedrani.

Now of course the Battle of Lexington and Concord was a much bigger fight, and the Battle of Bunker Hill bigger still. Those confrontations produced many more casualties. But colonial militiamen and redcoat soldiers had already shot at each other in another part of New England.