EVACUATION OF BOSTON BY THE BRITISH.
While the British parliament was indulging in oratorical debate, and political writers were dipping their pens in gall, the Americans had been actively engaged with the sword. During the winter, both the British army in Boston, and the blockading army of the Americans, by which that town was surrounded, had undergone many miseries. Washington, however, was active in keeping up the flagging spirits of his troops, and they were further revived by the constant arrival of provision-waggons, ammunition, artillery, and reinforcements. At length Washington was induced to commence offensive operations. Ploughed Hill, Cobble Hill, and Lechemeres Point were successively occupied during the month of December, and the approaches of the American troops were carried within half-a-mile of the British works on Bunker’s Hill. Congress recommended an immediate assault upon Boston; but Washington asked for more time, to complete his approaches and make his preparations. This was allowed him, and in the month of January a council of war was held in the camp—some of the members of congress being present—when it was resolved, that the British troops should be attacked before any reinforcements should arrive. At the same time it was resolved that thirteen regiments of militia should be required from Massachusets and the neighbouring colonies, that the attempt might be made with good prospect of success. These regiments were supplied early in February, but Washington was compelled to forego an immediate attack from the state of the weather. It was then exceedingly mild, and he wanted ice to enable him to pass the river. But this was not long wanting. About the middle of February the cold became intense, and the ice was sufficiently strong to bear the troops. Still the attack was delayed. Another council of war was held, and it was unanimously’ resolved, that the attempt was too hazardous. Soon after, however, Washington received intelligence that a part of the British troops in the town was expected at New York, and from various appearances among them he conceived that there was an intention of evacuating Boston. He now resolved to commence the attack. On the 2nd of March he began a heavy bombardment and cannonade on the town and on the British lines, which was continued for two days. On the night of the 4th of March Washington took a more decisive step. The heights of Dorchester commanded the shipping in the harbour and nearly the whole town, and yet Lord Howe had taken no more care to occupy this hill than General Gage had taken to occupy Bunker’s Hill. In the midst of the roar of artillery, therefore, Washington dispatched General Thomas, with 2000 troops and 300 labourers, to take possession of the heights of Dorchester; and at the break of day the British beheld the hill occupied and strongly fortified. They had scarcely recovered from their surprise when Thomas began to cannonade the town and the ships of war, his labourers still working with ardour, in order to render his position still more formidable. General Howe saw that he must either dislodge Thomas, or evacuate Boston, and he sent Lord Percy with 3000 men to effect his dislodgement. Percy embarked in transports, and fell down to the castle in order to proceed up the river to a low strip of land at the foot of Dorchester Hill; but a storm arose, and he was compelled to return to the harbour. It was providential for the British troops that this storm arose; for the heights of Dorchester are almost perpendicular, and the force was hence insufficient to accomplish the enterprise. And the task was soon rendered more difficult. While Washington still kept up a terrible fire, more men were sent to the heights; and Thomas, on the advice of Colonel Mifflin, chained together a number of hogsheads filled with sand and stones, which were to be rolled down the hill, should General Howe renew the attempt, upon his advancing columns. The British commander, however, became sensible of the madness of such an attempt, and resolved to evacuate the town. An intimation was sent to Washington that Boston would be spared from the flames if the troops were suffered to embark without molestation. This notice determined Washington to refrain from hostilities, and in ten days, on the 17th of March, the British troops quitted the cradle of the revolution, and set sail for Halifax, in Nova Scotia. Before they departed the British troops destroyed Castle William, but they left their barracks uninjured, with a large quantity of cannon and ammunition, of which Washington was in want. This was a great blunder; for if they could not have been carried away they should have been destroyed. And this was not the only blunder committed. In sailing away, Howe left no cruizer in Boston Bay to warn the ships expected from England that the place was not in our possession; and a few days after, when Washington had taken up his quarters in the town, several of our store-ships sailed into the harbour, and fell into the hands of the Americans, before they discovered that Boston was lost to King George. Howe’s negligence was even still more disastrous in its consequences than this; for Lieutenant-colonel Archibald Campbell sailed into the harbour with seven hundred fresh troops from England, and he was taken, and became the subject for severe and brutal retaliation. The loyalists who remained in Boston became also the objects of vengeance; they were tried as the betrayers of their country, and their effects were confiscated, while the very estates of the emigrants were seized, and passed into the hands of the victors. It was a proud triumph for the Americans. Congress, elated by it, passed a vote of thanks to Washington and his army for their acquisition of Boston, and directed a gold medal to be struck in commemoration of the event.
GEORGE III. 1776-1777