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 27
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 27
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 27
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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 General Howe, November 27, 1775, states the number of horses, cattle and sheep, as follows : Light dragoons, 234 horses ; generals and officers, 160 horses; royal artillery, 200 horses ; deputy quartermaster-general, 80 horses ; 100 cattle ; 400 sheep. Total - 674 horses, 100 cattle, 400 sheep. An account, Dec. 2d, says :- " Ships, &c., at Boston, - Boyne, 70 guns ; Preston, 50 ; Phoenix, 40 ; Lively, 20; Scarborough, 20; Empress of Rus- sia, 20, - for the lighthouse ; Raven, 16 ; Scimetar, 14; Viper, 10; George, 10; Spitfire, 8 ; Cruizer, 8 ; Hope, (schooner,) 6 ; three small tenders, 4 guns each ; Custom-house schooner, 4; Job Williams, (a Tory,) master."
279
ENLISTMENT OF LOYALISTS.
attached to government." In consequence of "rebel priva- teers infesting the bay," he suggested that in future supplies should be sent out "in ships-of-war, without their lower deck guns, or in sufficient force to defend themselves against these pirates."
At this period General Howe endeavored to enlist the loyal- ists in the service of the army. In this he was successful. A general order (November 17) alludes to three companies, as follows: "" Many of his majesty's loyal American subjects residing in Boston, with their adherents, having offered their service for the defence of the place, the commander-in-chief has ordered them to be armed, and formed into three compa- nies, under the command of the Honorable Brigadier-general Timothy Ruggles, to be called the Loyal American Associators. They will be distinguished by a white sash round the left arm. Honorable Timothy Ruggles commandant." Another order (December 7th) states, that "Some Irish merchants residing in town, with their adherents, having offered their service for the defence of the place," they were armed, and formed into a company called " Loyal Irish Volunteers," and distinguished by a white cockade. James Forrest was appointed the cap- tain, and their duty was to mount guard every evening. Another order (December 9th) names the Royal Fencible Americans, -Colonel Gorham's corps. A letter from him states, that "he had already got three hundred, most of whom were Europeans, who have deserted from the corps of rifle- men." Many deserters from the Americans were riflemen, but this must have been an exaggerated statement. I have met with no account as to the number of the loyalists of Bos- ton who joined the British ranks.
In consequence of the scarcity of provisions, things began to wear a sombre aspect in Boston. A proclamation issued by General Howe (November 6th) indicates his apprehensions, and the distress of the citizens even in November. It com- menced as follows: "Whereas the present and approaching distresses of many of the inhabitants in the town of Boston, from the scarcity and high prices of provisions, fuel, and other necessary articles of life, can only be avoided by permit- ting them to go where they may hope to procure easier means
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THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.
of subsistence." Inhabitants who wished to leave town were requested to leave their names with the town major before twelve o'clock, on the ninth instant. During this montli several regiments in Boston struck their tents, and went into the houses allotted to them. Some of the meeting-houses were converted into barracks.
The army in December1 suffered much for want of the necessaries of life, food, clothing, and fuel. A few store-ships from England got in, but furnished but a small portion of the supplies that were needed and were expected. To add to the distress, the winter set in uncommonly severe. Before the barracks were ready on Bunker Hill, for the winter garrison, the troops encountered cutting winds and driving snows. These troops, at length, (11th and 12th,) struck their tents. Lieutenant-col. Agnew, with seven hundred men, was left in " the three redoubts erected on the heights." General Clin- ton, with the remainder, moved into Boston. There are long descriptions of the sufferings of the troops and inhabitants at this period. One account (December 14) says: "The dis- tress of the troops and inhabitants in Boston is great beyond all possible description. Neither vegetables, flour, nor pulse for the inhabitants ; and the king's stores so very short, none can be spared from them; no fuel, and the winter set in remarkably severe. The troops and inhabitants absolutely and literally starving for want of provisions and fire. Even salt provision is fifteen pence sterling per pound." The small-pox broke out, and spread alarm through the army, which was generally inoculated. The British commanders considered this disease alone as a sufficient protection against an assault from their antagonists.2
1 On the 5th the Boyne sailed for England, with General Burgoyne on board. A London paper, Dec. 30, says : " Yesterday morning the Generals Gage and Burgoyne, the Earl Dartmouth, and Lord George Germaine, went to the queen's house, and had a conference with his majesty for upwards of two hours, on which account his majesty did not ride out to take the air."
2 The following is from the newspaper printed in Boston : - " Boston, December 14, 1775. Last Thursday a piratical brig, with ten carriage-guns and seventy-five men, fitted out at Plymouth, and commanded by one Mar- tingale, was taken by the Foway man-of-war and brought in here. The prisoners we have are to be sent to England in the Tartar, which sails this
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SUFFERING IN BOSTON.
Plundering, also, -if the numerous cases of discipline of this period be a fair criterion to judge from, -kept pace with the increase of suffering, and seemed almost to bid defiance to the efforts made to stop it. General Howe had every motive to check licentiousness, to respect private property, and to preserve order ; and he dealt with merciless severity with cases of robbery by house-breaking. Some of the offenders were hung; some were sentenced to receive four hundred, some six hundred, some one thousand, lashes on the bare back with a cat-o'-nine-tails. This discipline was extended to receivers of stolen goods. In one case, the wife of one of the privates, convicted of this offence, was sentenced "to receive one hundred lashes on her bare back, with a cat-o'-nine-tails, at the cart's tail, in different portions of the most conspicuous parts of the town, and to be imprisoned three months." The instances of discipline, while they confirm the contemporary relations of robbery and licentiousness, prove that they are unjust in ascribing them to the disposition or to the policy of the British commander.
The want most easily supplied was that of fuel, and this was obtained by demolishing the poorest of the buildings. The "useless houses" in Charlestown-so an order terms the few that escaped the general conflagration - were the first that were authorized to be pulled down. They were divided into lots, and portions were assigned to each regiment. In Boston,
day. Several other ships, likewise, sail this day for England, two of which carry the officers of the 18th and 59th regiments.
" It is currently reported that the Continental Congress have declared the colonies in a state of independency.
" We are informed that there is now getting up at the theatre, and will be performed in the course of a fortnight, a new farce, called the Blockade of Boston."
In copying this, an American editor remarks : " It is more probable, before that time, the poor wretches will be presented with a tragedy called the Bombardment of Boston."
In the London Chronicle of Dec. 2 is the following : "General Burgoyne has opened a theatrical campaign, of which himself is sole manager, being determined to act with the provincials on the defensive only. Tom Thumb has been already represented, while, on the other hand, the provincials are preparing to exhibit early in the spring Measure for Measure."
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THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.
so scanty was the supply dealt out, that the soldiers, notwith- standing severe prohibitions; demolished houses and fences, without waiting for orders. The evil became so great, that General Howe (December 5th) directed " the provost to go his rounds, attended by the executioner, with orders to hang up on the spot the first man he should detect in the fact. without waiting for further proof for trial." No supply hav- ing arrived, an order was issued (14th) authorizing working parties to take down the Old North Church and one hundred old wooden houses.
Boston, at this period, presented its most deplorable aspect. Hostile cannon were planted on its hills and lawns, and an insolent soldiery sat around its hearth-stones, or used its buildings for fuel, or wantoned in its temples of worship. Its Faneuil Hall was a play-house, where the efforts of the sons of liberty were turned into ridicule. Its patriot popula- tion, exposed to the ill-treatment of the army and to the espionage of its adherents, in want of the necessaries of life, and cut off from relief which friends would gladly have extended, were obliged to endure the severest trials. The pursuits of commerce and of the mechanic arts, the freedom of the press, of speech and of public meetings, the courts, the churches and the schools, were all interrupted. Even the air was filled with unwelcome noise, as the morning and evening guns sounded from Beacon Hill, or as the relief guards marched with their music to perform their stated duties. In a word, Boston under rigid martial law was like a prison, and it is not strange that the inhabitants who sided with the patriots longed to leave a place so filled with hated sights and sounds, and to breathe, although in poverty and exile, the free air of the surrounding hills. Necessity obliged General Howe to promote their departure, and hundreds were permitted to go in boats to Point Shirly, whence they dis- persed into the country.1
1 Watertown, Nov. 27. " On Friday last General Howe sent three hundred men, women, and children, poor of the town of Boston, over to Chelsea, without anything to subsist on, at this inclement season of the year, having, it is reported, only six cattle left in the town for Shubael Hewes, butcher. master-general, to kill."-Newspaper.
283
THE AMERICAN ARMY.
CHAPTER XII.
The American Army. Knowlton's Expedition. The British receive Sup- plies. Dorchester Heights occupied. Boston evacuated.
THE first day of the memorable year of seventeen hundred and seventy-six was the day which gave being to the new continental army. On this occasion the UNION FLAG OF THE THIRTEEN STRIPES was hoisted in compliment to the THIRTEEN UNITED COLONIES.1 On this day the king's speech at the open-
1 It has been stated (p. 103) that the New England troops marched to the field under their colony flags, and that (p. 262) the pine-tree flag of Massachu- setts was on the floating batteries, and was carried by the colonial vessels. Another flag is alluded to in 1775, called " The Union Flag." The notice in the text is the first time I have met with it in the camp. British observers in Boston occasionally mention the colors of the flags in the American camp ; sometimes they describe them to be " wholly red," sometimes to be " blue streamers," sometimes as having on them the motto " An appeal to Heaven." Washington (Jan. 4) states the fact in the text, and that it was raised in compliment to the United Colonies. Also, that without knowing or intending it, it gave great joy to the enemy, as it was regarded as a response to the king's speech. The Annual Register (1776) says the Americans, so great was their rage and indignation, burnt the speech, and " changed their colors from a plain red ground, which they had hitherto used, to a flag with thirteen stripes, as a symbol of the number and union of the colonies." Lieut. Carter, how- ever, is a still better authority for the device on the union flag. He was on Charlestown Heights, and says, January 26 : "The king's speech was sent by a flag to them on the 1st instant. In a short time after they received it, they hoisted an union flag (above the continental with the thirteen stripes) at Mount Pisgah ; their citadel fired thirteen guns, and gave the like number of cheers." This union flag also was hoisted at Philadelphia in February, when the American fleet sailed under Admiral Hopkins. A letter says it sailed " amidst the acclamations of thousands assembled on the joyful occa- sion, under the display of a union flag, with thirteen stripes in the field, emblematical of the thirteen united colonies."
There was, in 1775, another flag, at the south, the device of which is described as being "a snake with thirteen rattles, the fourteenth budding, described in the attitude of going to strike, with the motto 'Don't tread on me.' " This is said to have been the flag raised by the Alfred, and to have
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THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.
ing of Parliament was received in the camp. It declared that the "rebellious war" was "manifestly carried on for the purpose of establishing an independent empire." It announced that the spirit of the British nation was too high, and its resources were too numerous, to give up so many colonies, which it had planted with great industry, nursed with great tenderness, and protected with "much expense of blood and treasure." It-had become the part of wisdom and clemency to put a speedy end to the disorders in America by the most decisive exertions. Hence the navy had been increased, the land forces had been augmented, and negotiations had been commenced for forcign aid.
The king's language was rather calculated to nurture the idca of independence than to crush it. " He breathes revenge, and threatens us with destruction," wrote General Greene. " America must raise an empire of permanent duration, sup- ported upon the grand pillars of truth, freedom, and religion, based upon justice, and defended by her own patriotic sons." " Permit me," he says to a member of Congress, (January 4,) "to recommend, from the sincerity of my heart, ready at all times to bleed in my country's cause, a declaration of inde- pendence ; and call upon the world, and the great God who governs it, to witness the necessity, propriety, and rectitude thereof." Such were the sentiments, and such was the spirit, that continued to pervade the American camp. Such was American resolution, when it was proclaimed that the Cossack and the Hessian were to be hired to crush American liberty.
The army, on this day, was weaker than it was at any time during the siege. The changes that took place in it necessarily caused great confusion. Thousands of the old regiments were hurrying home, and many with open feelings
been carried by the Alliance, under Paul Jones, when she dashed through a British fleet of twenty-one sail, and made her escape. Some accounts repre- sent this to have been the flag of the American fleet in 1776. Probably this device was confined to a colony.
The legislature of Massachusetts, April 29, 1776, ordered the naval flag of the colony to be a white flag, with a green pine-tree, and an inscription, " Appeal to Heaven."
The present national colors were adopted by Congress in 1777.
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RESOLVE OF CONGRESS.
of discontent. A large number had brought into the field their own fire-arms. Owing to the scarcity of this article, they were ordered to be prized by inspectors, paid for accord- ingly, and retained for service. Some of the soldiers, dissatis- fied with the value affixed to their property, regarded this measure as unjust and tyrannical, and hence, though neces- sary, it occasioned great difficulty. From these circumstances, and from others, this season was one of keen anxiety to the commander-in-chief. He alluded with great force to his posi- tion, in a long and eloquent general order of this date, and urged on the troops a strict attention to discipline. "When everything dear to freemen was at stake," he enjoined them to acquire the knowledge and conduct necessary in war. "An army without order, regularity, or discipline," he re- marked, "is no better than a commissioned mob." At length this critical period was successfully passed. "Search the vol- umes of history through," -- he wrote, January 4th, - " and I much question whether a case similar to ours is to be found; namely, to maintain a post against the flower of the British troops for six months together, without powder, and then to have one army disbanded, and another to be raised, within the same distance of a reinforced army. It is too much to attempt." General Greene, the same day, wrote : " We have just experienced the inconveniences of disbanding an army within cannon-shot of the enemy, and forming a new one in its stead. An instance never before known. Had the enemy been fully acquainted with our condition. I cannot pretend to say what might have been the consequence."
And yet, weak as the army was, scantily supplied as it was with arms, with powder, and even with the necessary com- forts of life, the country was looking to see it expel the British forces from Boston. It was in the midst of the confusion of the new year that Washington received a resolution of Con- gress, passed December 22, after long and serious debate, authorizing him to make an assault upon the troops "in any manner he might think expedient, notwithstanding the town, and property in it, might be destroyed." It was in communi- cating this resolve that President Hancock, who had a large property in Boston, wrote : "May God crown your attempt
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THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.
with success. I most heartily wish it, though I may be the greatest sufferer." Anxious to meet the expectations of Con- gress, and of the country,' Washington, January 16, again submitted the question of an attack to a council of war, with the declaration, that, in his judgment, it was " indispensably necessary to make a bold attempt to conquer the ministerial troops in Boston before they could be reinforced in the spring, if the means should be provided, and a favorable opportunity should offer." Hon. John Adams and Hon. James Warren took part in this council, and it was unanimously agreed that a vigorous attempt ought to be made on Boston as soon as it was practicable. The present force, however, was inadequate to such an enterprise ; and the council advised Washington to make a requisition on Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, for thirteen regiments of militia, to be at Cam- bridge by the first of February, and to remain until the last of March. Congress approved of this measure of calling out the militia, and resolved that Washington, in doing it, exhib- ited " a further manifestation of his commendable zeal for the good of his country." In writing to that body on the 24th, he remarked : "No man upon earth wishes more ardently to destroy the nest in Boston than I do; no person would be willing to go greater lengths than I shall to accomplish it, if it shall be thought advisable. But if we have neither powder to bombard with, nor ice to pass on, we shall be in no better situation than we have been in all the year; we shall be worse, because their works are stronger."
1 Washington, Jan. 14, wrote : "The reflection upon my situation, and that of this army, produces many an uneasy hour, when all around me are wrapped in sleep. Few people know the predicament we are in, on a thou- sand accounts ; fewer still will believe, if any disaster happens to these lines, from what cause it flows. I have often thought how much happier I should have been, if, instead of accepting of a command under such circumstances, I had taken my musket upon my shoulder and entered the ranks ; or, if I could have justified the measure to posterity and my own conscience, had retired to the back country, and lived in a wigwam. If I shall be able to rise supe- rior to these, and many other difficulties which might be enumerated, I shall most religiously believe that the finger of Providence is in it, to blind the eyes of our enemies ; for surely, if we get well through this month, it must be for want of their knowing the disadvantages we labor under."
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KNOWLTON'S ENTERPRISE.
Washington, at this time, received intelligence of the re- verses in Canada, in the repulse and death of General Mont- gomery. A council (Jan. 16) considered the critical affairs in that quarter, and resolved that in the feeble state of the army before Boston it was not expedient to detach any force from these lines to Canada, but that three regiments of the thirteen called for should be directed to march with all possible expedition to reinforce General Schuyler. Of this requisition of thirteen regiments, seven were apportioned to Massachusetts, four to Connecticut, and two to New Hamp- shire, to serve until April 1, if required. In writing to these governments, (Jan. 16,) Washington urgently solicited their attention as to arms, ammunition, blankets, kettles, clothing, as "from his amazing deficiency" in the camp, it was not in his power to supply them.
No enterprise of importance took place this month, except a daring attempt on Charlestown. A few houses (fourteen) along the Main-street, in the neighborhood of the Bunker Hill tavern, or Mill-street, had escaped the general conflagration and the demolition for fuel, and were now used by the British. General Putnam detached (Jan. Sth) a party of about two hundred men, under the command of Major Knowlton, aided by Brigade-majors Henly and Cary, to destroy these houses, and bring off the guard stationed in them. About nine o'clock in the evening the party crossed the mill-dam from Cobble Hill. Major Cary was directed to proceed to the houses furthest from the dam, and set fire to them; while another party, under Major Henly, was ordered to wait until this was done, and then set fire to those nearest to it. But some of the party set fire to the latter first. The flames gave the alarm to the enemy on Bunker Hill. Guns were immediately dis- charged from every quarter of the fort, indicating the confu- sion of the defenders, and affording no little amusement to General Putnam and his staff, who were spectators of the affair from Cobble Hill. Nor was this the only alarm. The attack was made in the midst of the performance, in Boston, of the British play, entitled "The Blockade of Boston," in which the figure designed to burlesque Washington enters in an uncouth gait, with a large wig, a long rusty sword, attended
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THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.
by a country servant with a rusty gun. A sergeant suddenly appeared, and exclaimed, "The Yankees are attacking our works on Bunker Hill !" At first this was supposed by the audience to be a part of the diversion ; but when General Howe called out "Officers to your alarm posts!" the people dispersed, amidst fainting and shrieking among the females. Major Knowlton burnt eight of the houses, killed one man, who made resistance, and brought off five prisoners, without sustaining any damage. Majors Knowlton, Cary, and Henly, were much praised for their good conduct on this occasion, and were thanked in the general orders of the next day.'
This month several captures were made by the armed ves-
I January 9. - Parol, Knowlton ; Countersign, Charlestown. The gen- eral thanks Major Knowlton, and the officers and soldiers who were under his command last night, for the spirit, conduct, and secrecy, with which they burnt the houses near the enemy's works upon Bunker's Hill. The general was in a more particular manner pleased with the resolution the party dis- covered, in not firing a shot, as nothing betrays greater signs of fear, and less of the soldier, than to begin a loose, undirected, and unmeaning fire, from whence no good can result, nor any valuable purposes answered.
A British letter gives the following account of this affair : - " Boston, Jan. 29. - The rebels have been very quiet ever since I arrived. They gave a small alarm about a fortnight ago, which occasioned a little confusion, but was soon over. The officers have fitted up a play-house, and some of them had wrote a farce, called the Blockade of Boston. The first night it was to be acted the house was very full. The play being over, the curtain was hauled up for the entertainment to begin, when a sergeant came in and told the officers the alarm-guns were fired at Charlestown, which made no small stir in the house, every one endeavoring to get out as fast as possible ; and immediately we heard a pretty smart firing of small arms. It being dark, and the rascals making a great huzzaing, I did not know what to make of it at first ; but it was soon over, so that I went quietly to sleep about eleven o'clock, and next morning found all the mischief had been done was three or four men taken, who had been among the old ruins of Charlestown, a mill burnt down, and the company disappointed of their entertainment."
Another letter states that " The Busy Body " had been performed, and the play of the Blockade was about to be commenced, when a sergeant repre- sented the " burning of two or three old houses " as a general attack on Bos- ton. " But it is very evident the rebels possess a sufficiency of what Falstaff terms the better part of valor, to prevent their making an attempt that must inevitably end in their own destruction." This play was again announced, " with the tragedy of Tamerlane." Sometimes play-bills were sent out directed to Washington and the other general officers.
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