Today I had to code a web page for a tour my company is doing. While entering the copy I received I saw something that just couldn't be right and I wanted to check with you guys on it.
The text in question reads "Plum Island was the site of the first battle between British and colonial troops during the Revolutionary War".
Now I was always under the impression that Lexington and Concord was the first.
I tried to do some searching online and did find that 120 Revolutionary soldiers assaulted the island and with such a small number I wondered if this may only be considered a skirmish and not an actual "battle"
The only source I have been able to find with a date is the Wikipedia page which lists August 11, 1775 as the date but this entry is unsourced. If this is indeed the date it obviously puts it well after Lexington Concord which was April 1775.
I have seen a couple pages online that claim it as the first battle but nothing else that has any real information or date of its occurrence.
Have any of you ever even heard of this battle, have any more information on it, and know anything about the validity of their claims of it being the first battle in the Revolutionary war?
That text is probably a misquoting. Plum Island was the site of the first battle between British troops and Continental troops, but not the first battle of the Revolutionary War.
George Washington arrived in July of 1775 to take command of the army surrounding Boston. He'd basically been given authority to reorganize as he saw fit, and Congress had decided to adopt what was essentially an army composed of New England militia and adapt it as the regular army.
During the summer and fall of 1775 (before British troops evacuated in 1776), a series of skirmishes and battles were fought on the islands and farms surrounding Boston as the two armies foraged for food and supplies. Many of these involved only a handful of men on each side and very little loss of life. Others involved hundreds of men.
As for the size of the battle, 120 Continental soldiers is more than enough to make it a full battle by Revolutionary War standards. For example, the Battle of Waxhaws had only ~150 men on the British side and it's one of the key battles in the Southern campaign.