USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Concord > History of the siege of Boston, and of the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. Also an account of the Bunker Hill Monument. With illustrative documents > Part 26
USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the siege of Boston, and of the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. Also an account of the Bunker Hill Monument. With illustrative documents > Part 26
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lexington > History of the siege of Boston, and of the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. Also an account of the Bunker Hill Monument. With illustrative documents > Part 26
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
1 The following order shows that it was intended the new army should be in uniform : - " October 28. It is recommended to the non-commissioned officers and soldiers, whose pay will be drawn in consequence of last Thurs- day's orders, (especially to those whose attachment to the glorious cause in which they are engaged, and which will induce them to continue in the service another year,) to lay out their money in shirts, shoes, stockings, and a good pair of leather breeches, and not in coats and waistcoats, as it is intended that the new army shall be clothed in uniform. To effect which, the Con- gress will lay in goods upon the best terms they can be bought anywhere for ready money, and will sell them to the soldiers without any profit ; by which means, a uniform coat and waistcoat will come cheaper to them than any other clothing of the like kind can be bought. A number of tailors will be immediately set to work to make regimentals for those brave men who are willing at all hazards to defend their invaluable rights and privileges."
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THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.
writes Washington, "did them honor, to which Colonel Pat- terson's regiment, and some others, were equally entitled." He praised them in the general orders the next day. He noticed, in the order, the conduct of some, -names unknown, -- who manifested backwardness in crossing, and reprimanded the officers for the manner in which the arms of several of the regiments appeared. Colonel Clark, British, acted under the immediate eye of General Clinton, who was so well satisfied with his conduct that he praised it in the general orders. The affair, somewhat highly colored for the press, was viewed with exultation in the colonies. Washington regarded this manœuvre of the enemy only as the prelude to a general attack on his lines.1
On the night of the 22d of November, a strong detachment of the army, under General Putnam, broke ground at Cobble Hill, (McLean Asylum,) without the least annoyance from the enemy. The fatigue men worked until the break of day, when the whole party retired. On the following night another detachment, under General Heath, was ordered to complete the works. It was expected that the British would sally out of Boston and attack the intrenching party, and Colonel Bridge, with his regiment, was ordered to the foot of the hill, and to patrol towards the bay and neck during the night. Colonel Bond's regiment, and the picket guard on Prospect Hill, were ordered to be ready to support General Heath. But the enemy continued inactive. Two British sentinels came off in the night to the detachment. The forti- fication was finished without receiving a single shot. "It is
1 Lieutenant Carter, in a letter dated " Charlestown Heights, November 13, 1775," gave the following account of this affair : " On the 9th instant, six companies of light infantry, and a hundred grenadiers, embarked in flat-boats, and landed on Phipps' Farm, (the Cerberus frigate covering the descent,) a piece of land which, at high tide, is an island ; it lies directly under Mount Pisgah, where the enemy have a very strong redoubt ; they threw several shot at our people, who brought off some cattle, and returned to camp without having a man hurt. Immediately on the embarkation of our troops, the enemy came on to the farm in great numbers, and boldly fired with small arms after the boats ; the Cerberus threw some shot amongst them, which, by the information of deserters since come in, killed seven and wounded eleven."
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THE NANCY STORE SHIP.
allowed," the Essex Gazette states, "to be the most perfect piece of fortification that the American army has constructed during the present campaign, and on the day of its coniple- tion was named Putnam's impregnable fortress." Washing- ton could account for the inactivity of the enemy only by supposing that he was meditating some important enter- prise.1
The commander-in-chief regarded his position, at this time, as extremely critical. "Our situation," he writes, November 28, "is truly alarming; and of this General Howe is well apprized, it being the common topic of conversation when the people left Boston last Friday. No doubt, when he is rein- forced, he will avail himself of the information." Washing- ton made the best disposition he was able for a defence. He described the additional works thrown up this month as fol- lows : "I have caused two half-moon batteries to be thrown up for occasional use, between Lechmere's Point and the mouth of Cambridge River, and another work at the causey going to Lechmere's Point, to command that pass, and rake the little rivulet that runs by it to Patterson's Fort. Besides these, I have been and marked out three places between Sew- all's Point and our lines on Roxbury Neck, for works to be thrown up, and occasionally manned, in case of a sortie when the bay gets froze."
In November, the American armed vessels, which had caused Washington much perplexity, met with various suc- cess. The Fowey man-of-war captured the Washington, Captain Martindale. On the other hand, several British ves- sels were brought into Salem and Beverly, and the month closed amid great exultations at the capture of the British ordnance brig Nancy, by Captain Manly, commander of the Lee. She was carried into Cape Ann. So complete was the assortment of military stores on board of her, that Washing- ton, on receiving the intelligence, (November 30,) was appre- hensive that the British general would make a bold move- ment to recover the ship. "I instantly," he wrote, "upon
1 Essex Gazette ; Heath's Memoirs ; Sparks' Washington ; Reed's Life, vol. 1., p 129.
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receiving the account, ordered four companies down to protect the stores, teams to be impressed to remove them without delay, and Colonel Glover to assemble the minute-men in the neighborhood of Cape Ann, to secure the removal to places of safety." Among the articles of this truly fortunate capture, were two thousand muskets; one hundred thousand flints ; thirty thousand round shot, for one, six, and twelve pounders ; over thirty tons of musket shot ; eleven mortar beds. Among the trophies was a thirteen inch brass mortar, weighing 2700 pounds. A letter of Colonel Moylan describes the joy of the camp when the stores arrived. He says: "Such universal joy ran through the whole camp as if each grasped victory in his hand ; to crown the glorious scene, there intervened one truly ludicrous, which was Old PUT (General Putnam) mount- ed on the large mortar, which was fixed in its bed for the occasion, with a bottle of rum in his hand, standing parson to christen, while god-father Mifflin gave it the name of Con- gress. The huzzas on the occasion, I dare say, were heard through all the territories of our most gracious sovereign in this province." 1
Washington, in December, in spite of a severe spell of cold weather, and a heavy fall of snow, built strong works at Lech- mere's Point. He commenced planting a bomb-battery here on the night of Nov. 29th, and the next day the party came off without being interrupted. This work was prosecuted several days, without a gun being fired by the enemy. Washington says, Dec. 15, that he was " unable, upon any principle what- ever, to account for their silence, unless it be to lull us into a fatal security, to favor some attempt they may have in view about the time the great cliange they expect will take place the last of this month. If this be their drift, they deceive themselves, for, if possible, it has increased my vigilance, and induced me to fortify all the avenues to our camps, to guard against any approaches upon the ice." At no time during
1 A British account, after mentioning the capture of the Nancy, says : "Several other vessels have been surprised by their insignificant bomb-boats. I trust it will not last, and that they will pay dear for all in the spring. Indeed, I make no doubt of it, if the force intended arrives early enough to act."
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LECHMERE'S POINT FORTIFIED.
the siege, perhaps, was the expectation more generally enter- tained in the army of an assault from the enemy than during the progress of this work. "Not an officer in the army," wrote Washington, "but looks for an attack." On the 12th he commenced a causeway over the marsh leading to Lech- mere's Point, and carried a covered way (16th) nearly to the top of the hill. Then a detachment of three hundred men, under General Putnam, (17th,) broke ground near the water side, within half a mile of a British man-of-war. The morn- ing was foggy, and the party at work was not discovered until about noon, when the ship began to cannonade with round and grape shot, and a battery at Barton's Point, with twenty-four-pounders and mortars. A soldier was wounded, and the party was driven from the works. On the next morn- ing Captain Smith, of the artillery, played an eighteen-pounder from Cobble Hill upon the vessel with such effect that she weighed anchor and dropped down below the ferry ; and Gen- eral Heath, being ordered to prosecute the work begun by General Putnam, went on to the hill with another detachment. Notwithstanding a renewed cannonade from the enemy's batteries, he continued to labor with efficiency and success. Shells fell, burst, and covered the party with dirt, and one broke in the air about seventy feet above it. The men in the works were ordered, when sentinels cried "A shot," to settle down, and not leave their places. The British could see this manœuvre from their batteries. One of the command- ers of the artillery is said to have told the general that the fire did no good, and advised its discontinuance, as it only inured the Americans to danger. The fire ceased in the afternoon, when Washington, and other officers, visited the hill. The works, during several successive days, continued to be pros- ecuted, though under a severe discharge of shot and shells from the enemy, -some of which were fired from Bunker Hill. Two redoubts were thrown up, one of them intended for a mortar ; and a covered line of communication was built along the causeway, quite up to the redoubts.1 This position
1 Heath's Memoirs ; Letters of 1775. This battery much annoyed the British. Their letters have much to say about it. One, Dec. 31, says : " If the rebels can complete the new battery which they are raising, this 23*
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was regarded as highly important in case of an attack on the British. "It will be possible," wrote Colonel Moylan, " to bombard Boston from Lechmere's Point. Give us powder and authority, (for that, you know, we want, as well as the other,) I say give us these, and Boston can be set in flames."
An unsuccessful attempt was made on the 28th, at night, to surprise the British outposts on Charlestown Neck. The party attempted to cross on the ice from Cobble Hill, but, on reaching the channel of the river, one of the men slipped down, and his piece went off. This alarmed the British, and the detachment returned.1
During this month Capt. Manly made more captures, and his praise was in every mouth. One vessel was from Glas- gow, loaded with coals and dry goods. Colonel Moylan writes : "There were a vast number of letters, and what is really extraordinary, not one that does not breathe enmity, death, and destruction, to this fair land." Had all the cap- tains appointed by Washington been as successful as Manly in cruising near Boston, the consequences to the British must have been far more serious. Broughton and Selman, this month, returned from the St. Lawrence. They were unfor- tunate in their supply of provisions, and in the character of their warfare. Other captains were unfit for their duties. In consequence, the Americans, in the latter part of December and former part of January, heard of vessels constantly arriv-
town will be on fire about our ears a few hours after, - all our buildings being of wood, or a mixture of brick and woodwork. Had the rebels erected their battery on the other side of the town, at Dorchester, the admiral and all his booms would have made the first blaze, and the burning of the town would have followed. If we cannot destroy the rebel battery by our guns, we must march out and take it sword in hand."
1 Dec. 25. - " Some persons have been so curious as to note the number of men killed by the firings of the enemy on Cambridge side of the Ameri- can lines, and on the Roxbury, as also the number and nature of their firings. The account stands thus : From the burning of Charlestown to this day, the enemy have fired upwards of 2000 shot and shells, -an equal number of twenty-four-pounders with any other sort. They threw more than 300 bombs at Ploughed Hill, and 100 at Lechmere's Point. By the whole firing on Cambridge side they killed only seven, and on Roxbury side just a dozen." - Gordon's History, vol. I., p. 429.
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THE CONNECTICUT TROOPS.
ing at Boston, - some of which might have been intercepted. However, in a short time, the sea swarmed with public vessels and privateers from several of the colonies. They often made successful cruises, and British commerce suffered severely from their enterprise.
Washington suffered intense anxiety, during this month, on account of the threatened desertion of a large part of his com- mand. The Connecticut troops demanded a bounty, and because it was refused, they became mutinous; and, deaf to the entreaties of their officers, regardless of the contempt with which their own government threatened to treat them on their return, they resolved to quit the lines on the 6th of December. A convention, composed of a committee of the General Court and of officers of the army, assembled at head-quarters to devise measures to meet the crisis. It was determined to call in three thousand of the minute-men of Massachusetts, and two thousand from New Hampshire, to be in camp December 10th, when the time of most of the Connecticut troops would be out. This was communicated to these troops, and they were ordered to remain until this date. "Notwithstanding this," Washington wrote (Dec. 2) to Governor Trumbull, "yesterday morning most of them resolved to leave the camp; many went off, and the utmost vigilance and industry were used to apprehend them ; several got away with their arms and ammunition." This conduct called forth the severest condemnation in the army, and met with a prompt rebuke from the patriotic people of Connecticut.
Massachusetts met the call made upon it with its accus- tomed patriotism, and with uncommon promptness. General Sullivan, in a letter dated November 30, in urging upon the New Hampshire committee of safety an early compliance with the requisition of Washington, said : "I hope the eager speed with which the New Hampshire forces will march to take possession of and defend our lines will evince to the world their love of liberty and regard to their country. As you find the business requires much infinite haste, I must entreat you not to give sleep to your eyes nor slumber to your eyelids till the troops are on their march." The alacrity with which both of these colonies responded to this call, and
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the good conduct of the militia after their arrival in the camp, proved extremely gratifying to Washington. The number called for was nearly all at the lines at the appointed time. On the 18th of December General Greene wrote: "The Con- necticut troops are gone home; the militia from this province and New Hampshire are come in to take their places. Upon this occasion they have discovered a zeal that does them the highest honor. New Hampshire behaves nobly."
In consequence of this ardor in the cause, Washington began to feel, so far as men were concerned, under no apprehensions of an attack. The letters from camp are in a more cheerful vein. One, Dec. 13, says : "I have the satisfaction to tell you things wear a better complexion here than they have done for some time past. The army is filling up. The barracks go on well. Firewood comes in. The soldiers are made com- fortable and easy. Our privateers meet with success in bring- ing in vessels that were going to the relief of Boston." Gen- eral Greene writes, (18th,) " The army is filling up. I think the prospect is better than it has been. Recruits come in out . of the country plentifully, and the soldiers in the army begin to show a better disposition, and to recruit cheerfully." The army was much elated and encouraged also by news of the success of the Americans in Canada.
A visiter (Dec. 20) gave the following sketch of the Ameri- can camp : - " About two months ago I viewed the camps at Roxbury and Cambridge. The lines of both are impreg- nable; with forts (many of which are bomb-proof ) and re- doubts, supposing them to be all in a direction, are about twenty miles ; the breastworks of a proper height, and in many places seventeen feet in thickness; the trenches wide and deep in proportion, before which lay forked impediments ; and many of the forts, in every respect, are perfectly ready for battle. The whole, in a word, the admiration of every spectator ; for verily their fortifications appear to be the works of seven years, instead of about as many months. At these camps are about twenty thousand men. The generals and other officers, in all their military undertakings, solid, discreet, and courageous ; the men daily raving for action, and seem- ingly void of fear. There are many floating batteries, and
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THE AMERICAN CAMP.
bateaux in abundance ; besides this strength, ten thousand militia are ordered in that government, to appear on the first summons. Provisions and money there are very plenty, and the soldiers faithfully paid. The army in great order, and very healthy, and about six weeks ago lodged in comfortable barracks. Chaplains constantly attend the camps, morning and night ; prayers are often offered up for peace and recon- ciliation, and the soldiers very attentive. The roads at the time I viewed the camps were almost lined with spectators, and thousands with me can declare the above, respecting the camps, to be a just description."
The army was well supplied with provisions. A general order, December 24, 1775, directed the rations to be delivered in the following manner : -
Corned beef and pork, four days in a week.
Salt fish one day, and fresh beef two days.
As milk cannot be procured during the winter season, the men are to have one pound and a half of beef, or eighteen ounces of pork, per day.
Half pint of rice, or a pint of Indian meal, per week.
One quart of spruce beer per day, or nine gallons of molas- ses to one hundred men per week.
Six pounds of candles to one hundred men per week, for guards.
Six ounces of butter, or nine ounces of hog's lard, per week.
Three pints of peas or beans per man per week, or vege- tables equivalent, - allowing six shillings per bushel for beans or peas, two and eight-pence a busliel for onions, one and four-pence per bushel for potatoes and turnips.
One pound of flour per man each day; hard bread to be dealt out one day in the week, in lieu of flour.
The army, however, had suffered much for want of fire- wood and hay. The Massachusetts Assembly endeavored to relieve this suffering, by calling on the towns within twenty miles of Boston to furnish specific quantities at stated times, according to the population of each town, and its distance from camp. A committee was authorized also to procure wood from such woodlands as it thought proper, even without
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THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.
the consent of the owner, a reasonable price being paid for it. This energetic procedure, after a time, procured a sufficient supply. General Greene, December 31, wrote as follows : - " We have suffered prodigiously for want of wood. Many regiments have been obliged to eat their provision raw, for want of fuel to cook it; and notwithstanding we have burnt up all the fences, and cut down all the trees, for a mile round the camp, our sufferings have been inconceivable. The bar- ` racks have been greatly delayed for want of stuff. Many of the troops are yet in their tents, and will be for some time, especially the officers. The fatigues of the campaign, the suffering for want of food and clothing, have made a multi- tude of soldiers heartily sick of service." 1
In England, in the mean time, the intelligence from Boston, official and private, occasioned severe animadversions on the inactivity of the troops, and on the conduct of the ministry. The debates in Parliament, in October and November, abound with allusions to the army. "They" - (the Americans) exclaimed Burke, Nov. 1-coop it up, besiege it, destroy it, crush it. Your officers are swept off by their rifles, if they show their noses." "They burn even the light-house" - said Colonel Barre - "under the nose of the fleet, and carry off the men sent to repair it." Its alarming sickness, its want of fresh provisions, the insults heaped upon it by the daring enterprise of the Americans, were dwelt upon with no little effect. The ministers quailed under such heavy blows. To relieve themselves of the grave charge of neglect, they re- solved to send immense quantities of stores to Boston, and purchased, among other articles, five thousand oxen, fourteen thousand sheep, a vast number of hogs, ten thousand butts of beer, five thousand chaldrons of coal, and even fagots, for fuel. A few items show the enormous expense that was
1 Accounts of the weak state of the American army were frequently pub- lished in the British papers. One of them says: "The provincial troops before Boston are in want of clothing and firing to a degree scarcely to be credited, and must break up their camp before winter, but will probably attempt a coup de main. They have burnt all the fruit-trees and those planted for ornament in the environs of Cambridge, and are mutinous beyond measure."
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SUPPLIES FROM ENGLAND.
incurred to support, at such a distance, an unnatural war in a land of plenty. Twenty-two thousand pounds were paid for vegetables, casks and vinegar; nearly as much for hay, oats, and beans; half a million was paid for corn, flour, and salted provisions. So great was the demand for trans- ports that it raised the price of tonnage, which served to swell the cost. From various causes, the vessels chartered to freight these supplies delayed their day of sailing until late in the season. Then contrary winds detained them, tempests tossed them about, many foundered at sea, the British Channel was strewed with the floating carcasses of the dead animals, and a great portion of the vegetables fermented and perished. Of the transports that got clear of the coasts, some were driven to the West Indies, and others were taken by the American pri- vateers; so that, after all the vast labor and expense, but an inconsiderable portion of the supplies reached the place of destination.1
The representations made to the British ministry elicited instructions to General Howe to move to New York or to the south, unless an alteration for the better took place. There he might supply his troops with provisions, and by a sudden enterprise, if not subdue, at least strike terror to the rebellious colonies. " The situation of the troops,"-Lord Dartmouth wrote, September 5th, in a letter received November 9th, - "cooped up in a town, exposed to insult and annoyance, if not to surprise, from more places than one, deprived of the comforts
! Annual Register, 1775-6; Register of Debates ; London Chronicle. General Gage, on his return, had given the ministry information as to things in Boston more flattering than "exact." Thus the London Chronicle of Nov. 18, 1775, says : "The accounts given by General Gage of the army in Boston are much more favorable than were expected ; the utmost harmony subsists among all ranks of it. The numbers in the hospitals have been daily decreasing for these two months ; from which time fresh provisions have been very plenty there. On the other hand, the provincials become every day more dissatisfied, being much distressed for want of proper clothing to defend them from the inclemency of the season." It was stated that three hundred of the soldiers wounded at Bunker Hill had recovered and resumed their places in their respective regiments. There is much matter about Gage in the jour- nals. One says : "We hear that General Gage, on his arrival in England, is to be created Lord Lexington, Baron of Bunker Hill."
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THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.
and necessaries of life, wasting away by disease and desertion faster than we can recruit, and no longer either the objects of terror or cause of distress to the rebels, is truly alarming." The removal before winter, therefore, was regarded not only as advisable but as necessary. The British general, however, could not remove without hazard, nor remain without suffer- ing; and he was obliged to write, in reply, (November 26,) that his majesty's intentions could not be carried into execu- tion. He had not tonnage enough, were all the vessels in the port, by eleven thousand tons, to go at one embarkation, and he dared not weaken his army by division. Nor would his force allow him to undertake any enterprise of consequence to the service. On the 27th General Howe wrote another long letter describing the state of the army, and accompanied it with tables of statistics of the quantity of stores on hand, and the quantity that would be wanted for the spring campaign.1 At this time he began to entertain apprehensions of a serious deficiency of provisions; and after the capture of the Nancy, and of other store-ships, his advices betray his alarm. He apprized Lord Dartmouth (December 2d) of the state of his supplies, of some of the captures, and of the uncertainty of the arrival of the transports ordered to Boston. On the 13th, he sent by the Tartar intelligence of the capture of other ves- sels, loaded with every kind of woollen goods and articles necessary for clothing, and expressed "very alarming appre- hensions" respecting the supply of provision; "especially," he remarked, " as demands for this article are increased from the transports, provisions for seamen being expended from the pressing wants of useful persons, who must be supported for their services ; and of many others, who have ever been
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