Battle of Shelling of Stonington

British naval vessels under Captain James Wallace bombarded the town of Stonington, Connecticut on August 30, 1775, demanding that colonists not interfere with British foraging and supply operations in Long Island Sound. The town refused to comply and the British opened fire.

The bombardment damaged several buildings but the townspeople refused to be intimidated. Local militia returned fire with whatever weapons were available, and the British eventually withdrew without having achieved their objective of cowing the town into submission. Stonington's resistance was celebrated in Connecticut as an example of Patriot determination.

The episode was one of many British attempts to use naval gunfire to coerce New England coastal communities into cooperating with British supply operations. The consistent failure of these attempts — communities absorbed the bombardments and refused to submit — demonstrated the depth of popular resistance to British authority throughout New England and the limits of naval power to compel compliance without ground forces.