The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, at its winter session, organized the militia of the province anew. John Hancock, James Warren, and Azor Orne were appointed major generals, and thirteen regiments were formed. A new emission of paper money, to a large amount, was authorized, and various measures were adopted to strengthen the Continental army. Early in February, ten of the militia regiments arrived in camp; large supplies of ammunition had been received; intense cold had bridged the waters with ice, and Washington was disposed to commence operations immediately and vigorously. He called a council February, 1776 war on 16th, to whom he communicated the intelligence, derived from careful returns, that the American army, including the militia, then amounted to a little more than seventeen thousand men, while that of the British did not much exceed five thousand fit for duty. Many of them were sick with various diseases, and the small-pox was making terrible havoc in the enemy's camp. *** Re-enforcements from Ireland, Halifax, and New York were daily expected by Howe, and the present appeared to be the proper moment to strike. But the council again decided against attempting an assault, on account of the supposed inadequacy of the undisciplined Americans for the task. They estimated the British forces at a much higher figure; considered the fact that they were double officered and possessed ample artillery, and that the ships in the harbor would do great execution upon an army on the ice, exposed to an enfilading fire. It was resolved, however, to bombard and cannonade the town as soon as a supply of ammunition should arrive, and that, in the mean time, Dorchester Heights and Noddle's Island (now East Boston) should be taken possession of and fortified. The commander-in-chief was disappointed at this decision, for he felt confident of success himself. "I can not help acknowledging," he said, in a letter February 18, 1776 to Congress, "that I have many disagreeable sensations on account of my situation; for, to have the eyes of the whole Continent fixed with anxious expectation of hearing of some great event, and to be restrained in every military operation for the want of the necessary means for carrying it on, is not very pleasing, especially as the means
* The Boyne, sixty-four guns; Preston, fifty guns; Scarborough, and another sloop, one of twenty and the other of sixteen guns, and the Mercury.
** From the burning of Charlestown to Christmas day, the enemy had fired more than two thousand shot and shells, one half of the former being twenty-four pounders. They hurled more than three hundred bombs at Plowed Hill, and one hundred at Lochraere's Point. By the whole firing on the Cambridge side they killed only seven men, and on the Roxbury side just a dozen!—Gordon, i., 418.
*** Quite a number of people, sick with this loathsome disease, were sent out of Boston; and General Howe was charged with the wicked design of attempting thus to infect the American army with the malady.
* Journals, iii., 194.
Condition of the British Troops in Boston.—A Farce and its Termination.—Bombardment of Boston.—Industry of the Patriots.
used to conceal my weakness from the enemy conceal it also from our friends, and add to their wonder." In the midst of these discouragements Washington prepared for a bombardment.
The British troops in Boston were beginning to be quite contented with their lot, and Howe felt almost as secure as if he was on the shores of Old England. He wrote to Dartmouth that he was under no apprehension of an attack from the rebels; and so confident were the Tories of the triumph of British arms, that Cecan Brush, a conceited and sycophantic Loyalist from New York, offered to raise a body of volunteers of three January 19, 1776 hundred men, to "occupy the main posts on the Connecticut River, and open a line of communication westward toward Lake Champlain," after "the subduction of the main body of the rebel force." * The enemy had also procured a plentiful supply of provisions, and the winter, up to the 1st of February, was tolerably mild. "The bay is open," wrote Colonel Moylan, from Roxbury. "Every thing thaws here except Old Put. He is still as hard as ever, crying out, 'Powder! powder! ye gods, give me powder!'" The British officers established a theater; balls were held, and a subscription had been opened for a masquerade, when Washington's operations suddenly dispelled their dream of security, and called them to lay aside the "sock and buskin," the domino, and the dancing-slipper, for the habiliments of real war. They had got up a farce called "Boston Blockaded they were now called to perform in the serio-comic drama of Boston bombarded, with appropriate costume and scenery.
The design of Washington to fortify Dorchester Heights was kept a profound secret, and, to divert the attention of Howe, the Americans opened a severe bombardment and cannonade, on the night of the 2d of March, from the several batteries at Lechmere's Point, Roxbury, Cobble and Plowed Hills, and Lamb's Dam. Several houses in the city were shattered, and six British soldiers killed. The fire was returned with spirit, but with out serious effect. In the course of the bombardment, the Americans burst the "Congress" thirteen inch mortar, another of the same size, and three ten inch mortars.
On Sunday and Monday nights a similar cannonade was opened upon the city. March 3,4, 1776 At seven o'clock on Monday evening, General Thomas, with two thousand men, and intrenching tools, proceeded to take possession of Dorchester Heights. A train of three hundred carts, laden with fascines and hay, followed the troops. Within an hour, marching in perfect silence, the detachment reached the heights. It was separated into two divisions, and upon the two eminences already mentioned they commenced throwing up breastworks. Bundles of hay were placed on the town side of Dorchester Neck to break the rumble of the carts passing to and fro, and as a defense against the guns of the enemy, if they should be brought to bear upon the troops passing the Neck. Notwithstanding the moon was shining brightly and the air was serene, the laborers were not observed by the British sentinels. Under the direction of the veteran Gridley, the engineer at Bunker Hill, they worked wisely and well. Never was more work done in so short a time, and at dawn two forts were raised sufficiently high to afford ample protection for the forces within. They presented a formidable aspect to the alarmed Britons. Howe, overwhelmed with astonishment, exclaimed, "I know not what I shall do. The rebels have done more in one night than my whole army would have done in a month." They had done more than merely raise embankments; cannons were placed upon them, and they now completely commanded the town, placing Britons and Tories in the utmost peril.