[437] A letter from H. Jackson to John Langdon, describing the preparations (Sept. 3, 1775) is in the Sparks MSS., xlix., vol. 2.
[438] Mahon, vi. 74.
[439] Sparks's Washington, iii. 129, 145, 520; Correspondence of the Rev., i. 70, 71; Genl. Mag., 1775; Bailey's letter, in Me. Hist. So. Coll., v. 437. Washington, Oct. 24, 1775, transmits a statement (Oct 16) of Pearson Jones. (N. Y. Archives in Sparks MSS. xxix.). A letter of William Whipple, Nov. 12, 1775, to Langdon, describing the burning, is among the Langdon Papers, and a copy in the Sparks MSS. (lii. vol. ii.). There is a rude copperplate engraving of the burning town, by Norman, in the Boston ed. of the Impartial Hist. of the War (1781), vol. ii. Cf. Williamson's Maine, ii. 422; William Goold's Portland in the Past (1886), ch. 10; Willis's Portland, with plans and views; Smith and Deane's Journal of Portland; Jos. Williamson's Belfast; Barry's Mass., ii. 56; N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., July, 1873, p. 256; Hist. Mag., Mar., 1869 (xv. 202); Old Times, vi. 823; N. H. Prov. Papers, vii. 633, 635. Hutchinson records (Life and Diaries, i. 583) that when the news reached London, Lord George Germain told him that "Graves had been put in mind of his remissness, and he imagined he would run to the other extreme." Cf. Mahon's England, vi. 75.
[440] Lynch, Franklin, and Harrison.
[441] Heath MSS., p. 3.
[442] Sparks's Washington, iii. 288, 297; Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., Dec., 1877, p. 390; Mem. Hist. Boston, iii. 147 and references.
[443] Fac-simile of handbill printed to send among the royal troops to induce desertion. It follows an original in a volume of Proclamations in the library of the Mass. Hist. Society. Cf. Evacuation Memorial.
[444] P. O. Hutchinson, 123.
[445] Sparks's Washington, iii. 141; Corresp. of the Rev., i. 73; Quincy's Life of J. Quincy, Jr., 412.
[446] Sparks's Washington, iii. 113. Gage had, as early as July 14, 1775, pronounced Boston a "disadvantageous place for all operations", and expressed a preference for New York as a base of operations. The government had advised (Sept. 5, 1775) Howe to abandon the town. Before Howe, perhaps, got this, Gage wrote to Dartmouth that "the possession of Boston occasions a considerable diversion of the enemy's force; but it is open to attacks on many sides, and requires a large body to defend it." In November Howe had made up his mind that he must winter, at least, in Boston. (Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., xiv. 353, 354, 356.) The Secretary of War, as early as Nov. 12, 1774, had urged that Boston was a place where the royal troops could do little good, and might do much harm. (Life of Barrington, 140.)