The situation of Washington was dreadful. He could not reveal his weakness; for that would invite attack, and sure destruction. It was loudly proclaimed that he had twenty thousand men, well armed, well disciplined, behind impregnable ramparts, and abundantly supplied with the munitions of war. These representations alarmed the British, and saved him from assaults which he could not repel. But the country clamored loudly, “Why did he not then advance upon the foe?” To his friend, Mr. Reed, he wrote:
“I know the unhappy predicament I stand in. I know that I cannot be justified to the world, without exposing my weakness. In short my situation has been such that I have been obliged to use art to conceal it from my own officers.”[117]
At length Colonel Knox arrived, from Ticonderoga, with his long train of sledges, bringing more than fifty cannon, mortars, and howitzers, with other supplies. Powder was also brought to the camp from several quarters, and ten regiments of militia came in.
On Monday night, the 4th of March, Washington commenced, from several points, a heavy cannonading of the British breastworks. The fire was tremendous. Mrs. Adams, describing the scene to her husband, wrote:
“I could no more sleep than if I had been in the engagement. The rattling of the windows, the jar of the house, the continual roar of twenty-four-pounders, and the bursting of shells, gave us such ideas, and realized a scene to us, of which we could scarcely form any conception.”
Under cover of this fierce bombardment, a working party, of about two thousand men, with intrenching tools and a train of three hundred wagons, in silent and rapid march reached, unseen, the eminences of Dorchester Heights, which commanded the harbor. It was eight o’clock in the evening. They knew well how to use the spade, and vigorously commenced fortifying their position. They worked with a will. Skilful engineers guided every movement. Not a moment was lost. Not a spadeful of earth was wasted. They had brought with them a large supply of fascines and bundles of screwed hay.
Before the morning dawned a very formidable fortress frowned along the heights. Howe gazed, appalled, upon the spectacle. He saw, at a glance, that the Americans must be dislodged, or his doom was sealed. He exclaimed, in his astonishment:
“The rebels have done more in one night, than my whole army would have done in one month.”
Another British officer wrote, “This morning, at daybreak, we discovered two redoubts on Dorchester Point, and two smaller ones on their flanks. They were all raised, during the last night, with an expedition equal to that of the genii belonging to Aladdin’s wonderful lamp. From these hills they command the whole town, so that we must drive them from their place or desert the post.”
Washington was watching, with intense anxiety, the effect which the discovery of the operation would have upon the British. The commotion, in the city, was very visible. Instantly the shipping in the harbor, and every battery which could be brought to bear upon the works, commenced the fiercest bombardment. All the hills around were covered with spectators, witnessing the sublime and appalling spectacle. The patriot soldiers were now familiar with cannon-shot, and paid little heed to balls and shells, as they stood behind their ramparts, every hour adding to their strength. Washington was in the midst of his troops, encouraging them; and he was greeted with loud cheers as he moved from point to point.