[Roxbury, July 12, 1775]
. . . in the forenoon, Col. [John] Greaton with 136 men, went on to Long-Island, and burnt the barns; the flames communicated to the house, and all were consumed. An armed schooner and several barges put off after the Americans, and some of the ships of war near the island, cannonaded them. The detachment made their way for the shore, and narrowly escaped being taken. One man on the shore who came to the assistance of the detachment was killed: it was supposed that several of the British were killed and wounded. The same day six transports, appearing to be full of men, arrived in Boston harbour.
1. William Abbatt, ed., Memoirs of Major-General William Heath By Himself (New York, 1901), 17. Hereafter cited as Abbatt, ed., Heath Memoirs.
