Raid of Nassau

The raid of Nassau on March 3–4, 1776, was a naval operation and amphibious assault by American forces against the British port of Nassau, Bahamas, during the American Revolutionary War. The raid, designed to resolve the issue of gunpowder shortages, resulted in the seizure of two forts and large quantities of military supplies before the raiders drew back to New England.

During the American Revolutionary War, the Patriot forces suffered from a shortage of gunpowder. In response to such shortages, the Second Continental Congress ordered an American fleet under the command of Esek Hopkins to patrol the Virginia and Carolina coastlines; secret orders were possibly given to Hopkins instructing him to raid Nassau, where stocks of gunpowder removed from Virginia had been sent.

The fleet departed Cape Henlopen, Delaware, on February 17, 1776, arriving at the Bahamas on March 1. Two days later, 200 Continental Marines came ashore, seizing Fort Montagu but not advancing upon the town, where the gunpowder was stored. Governor Montfort Browne had most of Nassau's gunpowder loaded aboard ships sailing for St. Augustine. On March 4, the Marines captured Nassau. Occupying Nassau for two weeks, the Americans seized any remaining military supplies they found before departing.

When the American Revolutionary War broke out in 1775, Lord Dunmore, the colonial governor of Virginia, ordered Royal Navy sailors under his command to remove the gunpowder from the Williamsburg gunpowder magazine to the island of New Providence in the British colony of the Bahamas, in order to keep it from falling into the hands of Patriot militia. The colonial governor of the Bahamas, Montfort Browne, was alerted by British General Thomas Gage in August 1775 that the Americans might make attempts to seize the gunpowder stored in the Bahamas.

The desperate shortage of gunpowder available to the Continental Army led the Second Continental Congress to organize a naval expedition, with the intention of seizing military supplies stored at Nassau. While the official orders issued by the Congress to Esek Hopkins, the naval officer selected to lead the expedition, included only instructions for patrolling the Virginia and Carolina coastlines and raiding British naval targets, additional instructions may have been given to Hopkins in secret meetings held by the Congress naval committee. The instructions that Hopkins issued to his fleet's captains before it set sail from Cape Henlopen, Delaware, on February 17, 1776, included instructions to rendezvous at the Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas.

Hopkins' fleet consisted of Alfred, Hornet, Wasp, Fly, Andrew Doria, Cabot, Providence, and Columbus. In addition to ships' crews, the fleet carried 200 Continental Marines under the command of Samuel Nicholas. In spite of gale force winds, the fleet remained together for two days, when Fly and Hornet became separated from the fleet. Hornet was forced to return to port for repairs, and Fly eventually rejoined the main fleet at Nassau, after the raid took place. Hopkins did not let the apparent loss of the two ships dissuade him; he had intelligence that much of the British fleet was in port due to high winds.

Browne received further intelligence in late February that an American fleet was assembling off the Delaware coast, but apparently he took no significant actions to prepare a defense. New Providence's harbor had two primary defenses, Fort Nassau and Fort Montagu. Fort Nassau was located in Nassau but was poorly equipped to defend the port against amphibious attacks, as its walls were not strong enough to support the action of the fort's 46 cannons. As a result, Fort Montagu had been constructed in 1742 on the eastern end of the harbor, overlooking its entrance. At the time of the raid, Fort Montagu was equipped with 17 cannons, although most of the gunpowder and ordnance was located at Fort Nassau.

Hopkins' fleet arrived at Great Abaco Island on March 1, 1776. The fleet captured two Loyalist-owned sloops, one of which was captained by Loyalist Gideon Lowe of Green Turtle Cay, and pressed their owners to serve as pilots. George Dorsett, a local ship's captain, travelled from Abaco to Nassau and alerted Browne to the presence of the American fleet. The Marine landing force was transferred to the two captured sloops and Providence the next day, and plans were formulated for the assault on Nassau. While the main fleet held back, the three ships carrying the landing force were to enter Nassau's port at daybreak on March 3, and gain control of the town before alarm could be raised.