21. Being Sunday about eight o clock we were alarmed we heard that the
regulars were a landing at Dorchester Point and that there was two
Lighters gone to Weymoth Loaded with the Kings troops but it was a
false alarm and their was nothing done.[114]
[Footnote 114: On Sunday morning, the 21st of May,
the British commander sent two sloops and an armed
schooner to take off a quantity of hay from Grape
island. They were opposed by the people who
gathered on the point nearest the island. These
finally got two vessels afloat, went to the island,
drove the British off, burnt eighty tons of hay,
and brought off many cattle. There was some severe
fighting during the affair. Mrs. John Adams,
writing to her husband, said: "You inquire who were
at the engagement at Grape island. I may say with
truth, all of Weymouth, Braintree, and Hingham, who
were able to bear arms.... Both your brothers were
there; your younger brother with his company, who
gained honor by their good order that day. He was
one of the first to venture on board a schooner, to
land upon the island." Mr. Adams was then in the
Continental Congress, at Philadelphia.]