USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Celebration of the centennial anniversary of the evacuation of Boston by the British Army, March 17th, 1776 > Part 6
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state of remnants of wasting property. We read the household endearments in pet epithets and the breathings of piety; the announcement that this one has died, and the question if that one is alive; the homely report of the state of the wardrobe of man, woman or child; lamenta- tions over the empty pantry, the cold hearths, or the cost of the poorest food. There is a constrained reticence about certain matters in these letters, which is itself richly sug- gestive. But there is the sternest reality in them all, of consuming anxiety, the dreary detail of sleeplessness, grief, unsolaced love, apprehensions and alarms of all pos- sible miseries not yet actual, and summaries of the work of poverty, pestilence, and military rule. One of the in- habitants, holding large property, for the protection of which he had remained in town, in writing to a friend in Philadelphia about the scarcity of food and fuel, grimly adds, that it is almost impossible for the bereaved to procure boards for the "underground tenements of their departed friends."
The British commander, besides using one of the meet- ing-houses for a riding-school, one for a stable, and two for the storage of provender, and removing the steeple of another on the charge that it had been used for signalling, had ordered the destruction of the Old North Meeting- house - a solid timber structure, hardened by a century -and of a hundred wooden dwellings, for fuel. The soldiers had made away with the sills of wharves, with fences, orchards and trees, including, as a special spite, the Liberty Tree. The officers had taken possession of the best private houses of the town, and their considera- tion as gentlemen preserved such buildings and their
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contents from violence and pillage. On the approach of winter many of the troops had been sheltered in deserted dwellings and warehouses, which had been emptied of the effects belonging to absent citizens. The furniture and goods were mostly lost to the owners. The Common was burrowed over with pits by the soldiers, while small- pox, dysentery, scurvy, and other ailments induced a large mortality among them. The dead were buried in trenches at the foot of the Common, which thus gave a new place to the town for interments. Letters from officers and soldiers, written to friends in England, are equally sug- gestive in the communications made by them during the discomforts of their inglorious garrison life.
It is fairly supposable, under conditions that may be readily defined, that the siege of Boston might have been conducted to a result securing the capitulation of the whole British force of men and ships. They might have been cut off' from supplies through the only channel open to them, if the harbor could have been closed by a few sunken obstructions, and batteries well served could have been planted on opposite points and headlands. Plans, indeed, were proposed for seizing and destroying the Castle, and securing that result. Mr. Quincy, of Brain- tree, and others pressed upon Washington their schemes for effecting it. The provincials had done many daring feats on the islands and harbor promontories, which they had stripped and desolated under the guns of the war- vessels. They would have done their part in shutting up the harbor; but Washington had not the heavy ordnance and powder which the enterprise demanded, nor could he weaken his force and batteries on the main. Feasible as
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the undertaking seemed, the means and resources were lacking. Nor would the capitulation of that British army, shut in and starved, astounding as the report of it would have been, have had a decisive influence on the struggle. When, more than a year and a half afterwards, Burgoyne surrendered an army originally nearly as large as that in Boston, and our foreign alliances were by that event secured, Britain resolved to try still once more.
Yet during the latter part of the siege, while Congress was still temporizing, it seems to have been thought that the whole struggle, so far as open warfare was concerned, might be concentrated and terminated here. The ord- nance brought by Knox, with such immense toil, over frozen lakes and through forests, from Ticonderoga and Crown Point, with shells from the king's stores in New York, and other spoils from the prizes, had given actual strength and inspiration of high courage and hopefulness to the provincials. They felt sure that they had the enemy where they could keep him, unless he chose to float away.
The British General wrote to Lord Dartmouth that Boston was "the most disadvantageous place for all operations; " and Washington wrote to Congress that " the siege was as close a one as any on earth can be." That was another of the few points in which both parties were in accord, Admiral Schuldam came into the harbor on New Year's day to take the place of Graves, there having been altercations between the latter and the Gen- eral, arising from complaints, at the lack of support and supplies, which the army had raised against the fleet. Schuldam brought with him copies of the king's " gra-
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cious speech," full of obstinate resolution. A mass of these precious documents were sent out to be dispersed through the patriot army, where they were received with contempt and ridicule. Washington wrote to Joseph Reed that before the papers came he "had hoisted the Union flag, in compliment to the United Colonies," and its appearance was rashly interpreted in Boston as a token of submission and delight at the aforesaid "gracious speech." The flag, as you see it among the decorations of this hall, showed, without as yet any spangling of stars, thirteen stripes of red on a white field, with the united red and white crosses of St. George and St. Andrew on a blue ground in the corner.
The long-drawn issue between the besiegers and the besieged was to have its close in a compromise, as con- cerned the belligerents, yet in a triumph, the joy and satisfaction of which human language would be weak to express, for the families of Boston. It has often been regarded as among the fatuities which characterized so much of the conduct of the war here by the British ministry and army, - alike in its efforts and in its over- sights, - that its commanders had not learned to improve, on the heights on the south side of Boston, the lesson taught them by those on the north side. Why had they not possessed themselves of the elevations nearest them - in Dorchester? But the query admits of two answers, as the reasons for action or neglect were balanced. The British seem to have given over an attempt to rush out into the country in any direction, as, if they got out, it would only be to hold one hill against a hundred others.
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THE HEIGHTS OF DORCHESTER.
A week after Washington took command, a Council of War had decided not to attempt to get possession of these heights, nor to oppose the enemy if they should occupy them. But the commander had from the first kept his eye and thought upon them as entering largely into the decision of the result. IIe had resolved, too, that a resolute effort should be made in one direction or another to drive off the enemy before the expected rein- forcements, known to be on the ocean, should arrive. Ilis measures may or may not have been quickened by rumors of the design of a movement on the part of the enemy.
It is to be remembered that, though all through the siege the combatants were supposed to obtain a general, and even minute, knowledge of each other's condition, situation and plans, through such adventurous persons as could evade the guards, or such as were allowed to leave or enter the town, all such information was to be received with large allowances for exaggeration or deception. On February 13 about 500 men under Colonel Leslie, with grenadiers and light infantry under Colonel Musgrave, had crossed to Dorchester Neck, destroyed some scattered buildings there, and taken prisoners the guard of six, getting away before they could be interfered with. There were three elevations in that part of Dorchester now known as South Boston which were involved in the plans of Washington. The old works upon them, re- newed in the war of 1812, have disappeared, and the original features of the site have been almost wholly
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obliterated by the hand of improvement. Crossing from Roxbury on the edge of the tide-water marshes by Dor- chester Neck, two summits, near the present reservoir and the Blind Asylum, offered sites which commanded a part of Boston and of the harbor. Below these, and closer to the water, nearest to Boston at Roxbury Neck, was another elevation, then called Nook's Hill, the site, at present, of the Lawrence School-house. The plans and preparations of Washington for possessing these heights were so deliberate and thorough, so carefully studied in the minutest detail, so conditioned upon alter- native and co-operating movements of his own, and upon the action of the enemy, as to prove with what patient and brooding study. he had wrought them out. There was in them no instigation of a surprise, no occasions of hurry and afterthought, no lack of any provision needful for success. Cheerfully, heartily, and without any with- holding of needful aid, were his plans and their details advanced by all on whom he relied. Many elemental influences which were baffling to the enemy favored him. Ilis chief difficulty lay in the fact that the ground on the heights was frozen to the depth of eighteen inches, and the next was the exposure of Dorchester Neck, over which his men and means must pass. The utmost dili- gence had been previously used by Colonel Mifflin and others to provide these means - three or four hundred ox-teams and carts, large quantities of fascines, chan- deliers, bundles of screwed hay to protect the Neck and to aid in the construction of the defences, with barrels fastened together and filled with stones, sand and gravel, for rolling down from the declivities to break the ranks of
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the assailants. On the evening of Monday, March 4, a covering and a working party, making 2,000 men, under General Thomas, started on the enterprise, as quietly as possible, the direction of the wind also favoring the secrecy of their motions. It was also a part of the plan to engage the attention of the enemy by a vigorous cannonade on the other side of Boston. By ten o'clock at night the men had raised a fort, proof against small arms and grape-shot, on each of the two farthest eleva- tions, menacing respectively the town, and the Castle and vessels.
It was a mild, clear night for the season; warm work neutralized the chill air. A full moon overhead was ac- companied by a haze settling over the town and lowlands, and veiling the enterprise from the sentries of the enemy. A relief party came on at three o'clock in the morning, of Tuesday. Not till some time after daybreak were the works disclosed to the British, and when Gen. Howe gazed at the spectacle, he is said to have declared, in his amazement, that the rebels had done more in a night than his whole army would have accomplished in months. HIe was at once warned by the Admiral that the completion of the forts would require him to withdraw his vessels from the inner harbor. Of course the rebels must be dislodged, or he must evacuate the town. The day was the now historic fifth of March, and as it was expected that it would repeat some of the scenes acted on Bunker's Hill, the word passed from Washington as a rallying ery, bidding the provincials remember the day of the " bloody massacre." Peter Thatcher duly delivered the oration at Watertown. Every movement of the enemy was rigidly watched, and
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the system of signalling arranged by Washington com- municated information and directions through his whole lines. Ilis arrangement was that if enough of the British left Boston to storm the new works, as would warrant the venture, 4,000 men would embark at the mouth of the Charles, in two divisions, under Sullivan and Greene, the whole commanded by Putnam. Sullivan's división was to have landed at the Powder-house, to take Beacon Hill, and Mt. Horam; while Greene's, landing near Barton's Point, should take that, and then joining the other division should force the enemy's line inside at the Neck, and let in a detachment from Roxbury. A strong fleet of floating batteries was to have preceded the other boats. Washing- ton seems to have been disappointed that the thwarting course adopted by the enemy had not brought his scheme to the trial.
Gen. Howe, after a council of war, decided to make an immediate attempt to dislodge the provincials. The ex- citement and stir in the town were plainly visible to those who were so interested in watching every movement. The testimony of trustworthy observers then in the town, as afterwards given to their friends, was, that it was with sunken spirits, without alacrity or enthusiasm, and with the memory of the slaughter on the heights of Charles- town, that the red-coats, in force amounting to 2,400, under Lord Percy, marched to the wharves to take boats for embarking on the transports. The provincials eagerly awaited the movement, supposing the enemy would sweep up behind the heights and at once commence the assault. This, however, was not the design. The enemy dropped down to the Castle, intending to make the assault on
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Wednesday, the 6th. The freshening of the wind drove three of the transports on shore on Governor's Island, and a violent tempest, with rain, beginning at night and con- tinuing through the next day, frustrated the purpose. In the meanwhile the provincials, in spite of the storm, continued to strengthen their works, so as to assure the enemy of the hopelessness of attempting to carry them. The militia of the neighboring towns, called out for a few days to ensure the enterprise, performed all the needful incidental work. Ilowe, after another council of war, on the 6th, decided to evacuate the town; at the same time he received despatches approving of his own suggestion that he should remain till he was reinforced. Congress, in December, had given Washington authority to destroy Boston if the enemy could in no other way be dislodged. The President, Hancock, in transmitting this vote, gave his own approval, though he would be a chief sufferer in loss of property.
THE EVACUATION.
But the patriots were not compelled to desolate their own capital, neither did the enemy within it wish that its bombardment should include themselves. Washington would not harm the town if the enemy would leave it, but he did not mean that they should get out of it and then burn it behind them. He was still plying the enemy with vigorous blows, and his elaborate plans were so matured and threatening that the British forces would have suf- fered some extreme disaster, had not a compromise been availed of, which was acceptable to both parties, though deeply mortifying to the enemy. Through the aid of the selectmen of Boston in conference with British officers, an
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implied. covenant - though without signature or seal to ratify it - was effected at the Roxbury lines, by the tacit assent - unpledged, however, of Washington - that if the British could be allowed, unmolested, a reasonable time for packing and embarking, they would leave the town unharmed. The informal pledge was accepted, and substantially complied with. The provincials might rea- sonably have remonstrated and demanded remuneration for the enormous amount of plunder of every kind, furni- ture and goods taken from the houses and stores, which were broken into and pillaged by some of the troops and sailors and the meanest class of the tories. These outrages continued for a week, in spite of the proc- lamations of the General threatening instant death upon any one detected in plundering or firing a building. But on the last days of his stay he himself ordered all woollen and linen goods to be seized for the use of his army. The packing up was a hurried and critical operation, as, on the last day of the siege, Washington had succeeded in plant- ing effective works on Nook's Hill, the nearest elevation to Boston, from which he could rake Boston Neck inside and distress the enemy and their shipping. It was at this moment that the British General was made to realize what an incumbrance and nuisance he had to dispose of in the . tories, who now hung so despairingly on his hands. Al- most demented with dismay and fright, they implored to be put into the vessels first, with all their household goods and property. Washington wrote to his brother Augus- tine, that some of these had confessed that, "if they thought the most abject submission would have procured them peace, they never would have stirred from the town.
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By all accounts there never existed a more miserable set of beings than these wretched creatures are. They choose to commit themselves to the mercy of the waves, at a tempestuous season, rather than meet their offended countrymen."
But several of the shrewdest of these tories had, by money or favor, managed to secure a passage to England, or the West Indies, before the catastrophe came. Then there were large numbers of the sick and of women and children to be provided for. The king's property also, with all the accumulations of military supplies, camp equipage and stores, was, as far as possible, to be re- moved, or, at least, destroyed. The shipping was wholly insufficient, out of trim, without food and water, and the March gales were threatening. The wharves witnessed a hurried confusion, as boats with their human or other freight were passing to the vessels in the channel. Masses of valuables were destroyed, broken, burned, thrown overboard, while many unserviceable craft were scuttled. The Castle must be dismantled, but the harbor must be guarded to warn off the transports and reinforce- ments which were on their way to the town. Still the enemy were compelled to leave behind them ordnance, goods, and miscellaneous property, which were of great value, and which were put to excellent service by the provincials. Gen. Gage's chariot, tipped off of a wharf, was not especially of use. There was just enough of play from the provincial batteries to keep the enemy mindful of the value and speed of time. The streets were barricaded and the inhabitants were warned to keep quiet in their dwellings while critical operations were in
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progress. It would seem that only a contrary wind kept the enemy from leaving on Saturday; at any rate, there was leisure enough for the perpetrating of more mischief and outrage. They chose the Puritan Saturday evening, the midnight and the early hours of Sunday, for their departure. Keen-set eyes were watching for the moment when the guard should be withdrawn from the gates at the Neck. At sunrise the enemy were afloat in their dismantled and encumbered vessels, and those which carried the tories were the first to reach and leave the outer harbor. As keen eyes as were any on the land were also watching from Yankee decks between the Capes, to pick up any stragglers. Officers, men and marines, in number nearly nine thousand; women; and eleven hundred tories and their families, found their crowded quarters in seventy-eight ships and transports. But would they really sail away, or linger to send back their Parthian vengeance from their guus, or desolate the shore towns? And if they sailed away, whither would they go? Only after ten days was Washington relieved of a part of his anxiety by the final departure of the fleet, leaving only a guard. To reduce the rest of his anxiety he had already despatched a force to New York. The harbor was not wholly opened till the provincials, by works constructed on the shores and headlands, drove away the last sentinel ship in June, just two years after the Port Bill had closed it. Then our little navy had a revel in its prize-takings. 13
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BOSTON RECOVERED.
The old town was again in the hands of its citizens and protectors. This was a glorious day, a hundred years ago, but it had its deep shadows and its dark fears. There was no parade of pomp, or procession, or festivity, or light glee, nor much public show of joy, at its first repossession. Charlestown was a complete desolation of mournful chimney-stacks, while some Quaker sentries stood mock- ingly in its abandoned fortifications. There were foul in- fections left in Boston, which even the raw air of the spring could not drive away, and disease long continued its ravages here. Impediments and torture traps were set in the way of those who should first rush in. The town was serrated with military works. Many of its homes were emptied, defaced and polluted, and its warehouses had been rifled. There was a general aspect of devastation, though the hand of violence had not wrought so complete a wreck as had been feared. The remnant of its liberty- loving people showed, by their pinched and haggard coun- tenances and their wasted frames, what they had been enduring from alarms and frights, from sleeplessness, from cold and hunger. Cowering here and there were indi- viduals or groups, whose sympathies or service had been with the retiring foe, and who were either too poor and mean to be taken away with them, or who hoped to make their peace by some excuse or subserviency. These were soon taken in hand, a part for pity and slow forgive- ness, while the worst of them changed places with the last tenants of the jail. The gates were unbarred at Roxbury Neck, by Col. Learned, on Sunday morning, and a body of
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five hundred soldiers came in there, while Putnam brought over as many from Cambridge to the foot of the Common - care having been taken to select such as had had the small-pox. Washington, on the next day, came over for a brief visit, in a boat from Dorchester, with James Bowdoin, Jr., who took the chief to dine with him at his Grandfather Erving's. It is recorded that the greatest luxury which the town afforded for their banquet was " a piece of salted beef."
On the 19th, the day after this visit, Washington wrote to Hancock, at the Congress, informing him of the evacua- tion, and of the condition of his own house and furniture as little injured. It had been occupied by General Clinton. The chief received and returned the congratulations of the General Court, and issued, on the 21st, a proclamation providing for order, the protection of property, and a due regard for magistracy. A large body of troops came in on the 20th, who demolished the enemy's works which menaced inwards, and constructed strong works on Fort Hill and other seaward points, and in Charlestown, to overawe the still lingering foe. Washington attended the revived Thursday Lecture on the 28th, as a Thanksgiving, and left the camp for New York on April 5th.
Even the exiled inhabitants of Boston do not seem, as a body, to have made great haste to return to it. It was still a place of peril from a vengeful enemy, from disease, and from possible lawlessness. Many came to look upon the scene, and deferred for a season the reoccupation of their homes. The inevitable town-meeting was held on March 29th, for the election of officers and attention to the most pressing business. Slowly and cautiously were
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the dwellings and warehouses restored to their wonted uses. The scenes described, of reunited families mingling the joy of meeting with the griefs of mourning over outraged homes and wrecked fortunes, deeply engage the sympa- thies of those who read the relations. Not till after the century closed were the signs of havoc, with the remnants of the military works, obliterated, and the scenes of full prosperity revived. And now, by a fair disposal, that portion of the surrounding territory which most firmly griped the besieged enemy and compelled him to depart is embraced in our municipality. New England was to be no more the scene of war, and in her participation in it thus far, less than two hundred of her soldiers had fallen on her soil.
In recognizing gratefully the gift of the medal from Con- gress, Washington generously turned the praise from him- self to his army. He said, " They were indeed, at first, an army of undisciplined husbandmen; but it is, under God, to their bravery and attention to duty that I am indebted for that success which has procured me the only reward I wish to receive, the affection and esteem of my country- men."
Those of you who are seated nearest to this reading- desk may have noted that it bears to-day a decoration not familiar to the eyes of all of you, as it was to your fathers. When the Declaration of Independence was first publicly read in this town, on July 18th, with demonstrations of pat- riotism and joy, some of the people, not with the riot and vio- lence of a mob, but in a somewhat orderly way, proceeded to remove all the outside tokens and symbols of kingly au- thority, crowns, carvings, signs and emblems, from public
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