John Sullivan Commits the First Act of Armed Rebellion against the British Crown at Ft. William & Mary in New Hampshire in December 1774

New Hampshire native John Sullivan committed the first act of armed rebellion against the British Crown on December 14, 1774, when he and his men raided Fort William and Mary in Portsmouth, NH and seized an arsenal of gun powder and guns. The quickly planned raid came after Paul Revere rode up from Boston to alert Sullivan that two regiments of British soldiers were on their way up to occupy the fort.

"In an instant Sullivan made up his mind as to what it was his duty to do, and within less than two hours he had gathered his force and was ready for business," wrote Rev. Thomas Gregory in the New York American in 1907. "The party, sixteen in number, boarded an unwieldy, sloop-rigged old craft and darted off down the river to Portsmouth. It was a clear, cold moonlight night, and presently the crude masonry of old Fort William and Mary loomed up in the distance, reminding them of the fact that they were close on to their quarry. When within a rod or so of the shore their vessel grounded in the shallow water, and in silence they waded to land, mounted the fort, surprised the garrison and found themselves victorious without the loss of a man or even of a drop of blood."

Those same armaments would be used by the colonial troops at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775.

Born in Somersworth, NH on February 18, 1740, Sullivan was the third of five sons born to Owen Sullivan of Limerick and Margery Browne of Cork, both indentured servants from Ireland. He and his brothers were home-schooled by their father, who had been a teacher in Ireland. His brother James Sullivan was governor of Massachusetts.

At the time of the raid on Fort William and Mary, Sullivan served in the New Hampshire legislature, and had just been chosen as a member of the First Continental Congress in 1774.

Later, as the Revolutionary War escalated, Sullivan was selected as one of General George Washington’s eight Brigadier Generals in the Colonial Army.

On September 27, 1894, local officials in Durham, NH unveiled a monument to Sullivan in appreciation of his role in the American Revolution and as a leading citizen of the Granite State. Read about the Dedication here.

Sullivan and his brothers were just part of the Irish and Scots-Irish who were patriots in the American Revolutionary War. Read more here.

Research + Text, Michael Quinlin

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