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 30
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 30
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 30
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The small-pox prevailed in some parts of the town, and Washington was obliged to adopt stringent measures to pre- serve the health of the troops. He positively forbade, on the
twenty-four-pounders. They did not return a single shot. It was lucky for the inhabitants now left in Boston they did not ; for I am informed every- thing was prepared to set the town in a blaze, had they fired one cannon. The dragoons are under orders to sail to-morrow for Halifax, - a cursed cold, wintry place, even yet ; nothing to eat, less to drink. Bad times, my dear friend. The displeasure I feel from the very small share I have in our present insignificancy is so great, that I do not know the thing so desperate I would not undertake, in order to change our situation."
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EVACUATION OF BOSTON.
19th, all officers, soldiers, and others, from entering Boston without a pass, or without being sent on duty. The orders of this day say : " As soon as the selectmen report the town to be cleansed from infection, liberty will be given to those who have business there to go in. The inhabitants belonging to the town will be permitted to return to their habitations, proper persons being appointed at the Neck, and at Charles- town Ferry, to grant them passes."
On the next day (20th) the main body of the army marched into Boston. "While marching through the streets," Thatcher writes, " the inhabitants appeared at their doors and windows ; though they manifested a lively joy at being liberated from their long confinement, they were not altogether free from a melancholy gloom which ten tedious months' siege has spread over their countenances."
On the 21st Washington issued a proclamation calculated to maintain amity between the troops and the citizens. It called upon the inhabitants to make known to the quartermaster- general "all stores belonging to the ministerial army" that might be secreted in the town ; and it enjoined on the officers of the army "to assist the civil magistrates in the execution of their duty, and to promote peace and good order."
On the 22d a concourse of people, full of friendly solicitude, crowded into town. "It is truly interesting," writes Thatcher, " to witness the tender interviews and fond embraces of those who have been long separated, under circumstances so pecu- liarly distressing."
General Howe's effective force, including seamen, was about eleven thousand men. More than a thousand refugees left Boston with the army, as follows : - members of the council, commissioners, custom-house officers, and other persons who had been in some official station, one hundred and two; clergy, eighteen ; persons from the country, one hundred and five ; merchants and other inhabitants of Boston, two hundred and thirteen ; farmers, traders and mechanics, three hundred and eighty-two; total, nine hundred and twenty-four. All these returned their names on their arrival at Halifax. About two hundred others did not return their names. The fleet dropped down to Nantasket Road, where it lingered ten days. During
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THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.
this period the enemy burnt the block-house and barracks, and demolished the fortifications on Castle William. On the 27th of March the greater part of the fleet sailed for Halifax.1
Washington, on the 18th, ordered five regiments, and a por- tion of artillery, under General Heath, to march for New York. He felt much embarrassed by the stay of the fleet at Nantasket. On learning its departure, he ordered the whole army to the south, with the exception of five regiments left for the protection of Boston, under General Ward. On the 27th, a brigade, under General Sullivan, marched ; on the 1st of April, another division ; and on the 4th, General Spencer, with the last brigade. On this day Washington also left Cambridge for New York.
The British left a few vessels at Nantasket, where they continued to lay for over two months, to the great annoyance of the people. The fleet consisted of a fifty-gun ship, Com- modore Banks, the Milford, the Yankee Hero, (captured by the Milford,) an armed brig, and two schooners. They were subsequently joined by seven transports filled with High- landers.
The five regiments left under the command of General Ward were stationed by Washington as follows : two in Bos- ton, one at Dorchester Heights, one at Charlestown, and one at Beverly. Such (April 16) continued to be their position.
1 While laying in the harbor the officers wrote many letters descriptive of their feelings. One writes, March 26 : " Expect no more letters from Bos- ton. We have quitted that place. Washington played on the town for sev- eral days. A shell, which burst while we were preparing to embark, did very great damage. Our men have suffered. We have one consolation left. You know the proverbial expression, ' neither Hell, Hull, nor Halifax,' can afford worse shelter than Boston. To fresh provision I have, for many months, been an utter stranger. An egg was a rarity. Yet I submit. A soldier may mention grievances, though he should scorn to repine when he suffers them. The next letter from Halifax."
Another writes, March 25 : " We were cannonaded fourteen days by the provincial army, and at last, after many losses, embarked on board several vessels, and are got thus far. The provincials fired eighteen-pounders, and threw an innumerable quantity of shells, into the town. We do not know when we are going, but are in great distress. The spectacle is truly terrible. I wish I was with you. The provincials, after we left Boston, marched into it, with drums beating and colors flying."
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CAPTAIN MUGFORD. 313
Great apprehensions were entertained of a return of the Brit- ish fleet, and great dissatisfaction at the delay in completing fortifications for the defence of the harbor. The inhabitants volunteered to build a fort at Noddle's Island. A large num- ber, among them several of the clergy, worked on it in the beginning of May until it was completed.
General Ward employed the troops left under his command also in throwing up works. He wrote to Washington (May 4) that the forts on Fort Hill, Boston, at Charlestown Point, and Castle Point, were almost completed, with a number of heavy cannon mounted in each ; that a work was in good forwardness on Noddle's Island; and that a detachment of the army was at work at Castle Island, repairing the batteries there. These works were carried on under the immediate superintendence of Colonel Gridley.
In May there was a valuable prize taken within sight of the British fleet, which led to a sharp naval combat in the harbor. Captain James Mugford, of the schooner Franklin, one of the continental cruisers, (May 17,) fell in with the transport ship Hope, bound for Boston. He captured her without opposition. Captain Mugford determined on bringing his prize into Bos- ton, but she ran ashore at Pulling Point. Her cargo was brought to town in a large number of boats. It contained a fine assortment of military stores; and as there were fifteen hundred whole barrels of powder, it was pronounced the most valuable prize that had been taken. On the 19th (Sunday) Captain Mugford, in the Franklin, fell down the harbor to sail on a cruise, but, in the evening, got aground at Point Shirley. A small privateer, the Lady Washington, also an- chored near the Franklin. About midnight thirteen boats from the men-of-war at Nantasket attacked the two armed schooners. The crews of both fought their assailants with the greatest intrepidity. Captain Mugford sunk two of the boats. But while fighting bravely, he received a mortal wound. He still continued to animate his men, exclaiming, "Do not give up the ship, -you will beat them off !" In a few minutes he died. His men beat off the enemy's boats. No other Ameri- can was killed. The remains of Captain Mugford were car- ried to Marblehead for interment.
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THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.
Much impatience was felt by the people to have the British fleet driven from the harbor. It consisted (June) of eight ships, two snows, two brigs, and one schooner. They had several hundred Highlanders on board. General Benjamin Lincoln planned an expedition to drive the fleet to sea. The Council of Massachusetts ordered him to carry it into execu- tion, and authorized him (June 11) to call out the militia for this purpose. On the 13th the people of Boston were notified, by beat of drum, that an enterprise was to be undertaken against the British at Nantasket, and to build fortifications in the lower harbor. General Ward ordered a part of the conti- nental troops to aid in this work. Detachments from Colonels Marshall's and Whitney's regiments, and a battalion of the train under Lieut .- colonel Crafts, embarked at Long Wharf, and sailed for Pettick's Island and Hull. Here they were joined by additional troops and companies from the sea-coast. About six hundred men were gathered at each place. About the same number of militia from the towns about the harbor, and a detachment of artillery, took post on Moon Island, at Hoff's Neck, and at Point Alderton. A detachment of the army, under Colonel Whitcomb, with two eighteen-pounders and a thirteen-inch mortar, took post at Long Island. The whole were under Colonel Whitcomb.1 Owing to a calm, the troops did not gain their stations until the morning of the
1 General Ward's Letter, June 16, 1775 ; Gordon's History, II., p. 88 ; American Archives, vol. vI., p. 915 ; Life of General Lincoln.
In an account of this expedition a journal remarks : " It is worthy of spec- ial notice that the 14th of June, 1774, was the last day allowed for trading vessels to leave or enter the port of Boston, through the cruelty of a British act of Parliament ; and that the 14th of June, 1776, through the blessing of God upon the operations of a much injured and oppressed people, was the last day allowed for British men-of-war or ministerial vessels to remain, or enter within the said port but as American prizes. Thus has Providence retaliated."
This work was done at a fortunate time. In three days two British trans- ports, the George and the Annabella, were captured after a short and sharp action. Among the trophies were Colonel Archibald Campbell, and about three hundred Highlanders. Major Menzies, of this corps, was killed in the action, and was interred in Boston the next day, with military honors. Two other transports, with Highlanders on board, were captured about this time, - the Ann and the Lord Howe.
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THE BRITISH DRIVEN FROM THE HARBOR.
14th. Shot were first discharged at the fleet from Long Island. Commodore Banks returned the fire with spirit until a shot pierced the upper works of his ship, when he made signals for the fleet to get under way, and after blowing up the light-house, went to sea. Thus was Boston harbor cleared of an enemy.
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View of the lines on Boston Neck from the Post near Brown's House.
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THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.
CHAPTER XIII.
American Congratulations. British Comments. Condition of Boston. Conclusion.
THE intelligence of the evacuation of Boston occasioned great joy in the colonies. It was regarded as reflecting the highest honor on Washington and his army, and, indeed, as a glorious triumph. The result of this long siege was as encouraging to the friends of American liberty as it was dis- heartening to its enemies. Washington received congratula- tions from every quarter on his success.
The selectmen of Boston waited on the general, and pre- sented to him the following address : -
May it please your Excellency, -
The selectmen of Boston, in behalf of themselves and fel- low-citizens, with all grateful respect, congratulate your' excellency on the success of your military operations, in the recovery of this town from an enemy, collected from the once respected Britons, who, in this instance, are characterized by malice and fraud, rapine and plunder, in every trace left behind them.
Happy are we that this acquisition has been made with so little effusion of human blood, which, next to the Divine favor, permit us to ascribe to your excellency's wisdom, evi- denced in every part of the long besiegement.
If it be possible to enhance the noble feelings of that per- son, who, from the most affluent enjoyments, could throw himself into the hardships of a camp to save his country, uncertain of success, 't is then possible this victory will height- en your excellency's happiness, when you consider you have not only saved a large, elegant, and once populous city from total destruction, but relieved the few wretched inhabitants from all the horrors of a besieged town, from the insults and abuses of a disgraced and chagrined army, and restored many
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ADDRESSES OF MASSACHUSETTS.
inhabitants to their quiet habitations, who had fled for safety to the bosom of their country .-
May your excellency live to see the just rights of America settled on a firm basis, which felicity we sincerely wish you ; and, at a late period, may that felicity be changed into happi- ness eternal !
JOHN SCOLLAY, TIMO. NEWELL, THOS. MARSHALL, SAMUEL AUSTIN, OLIVER WENDELL, JOHN PITTS,
Selectmen of Boston.
To His Excellency GEORGE WASHINGTON, Esq.,
General of the United Forces in America.
General Washington made the following reply to this address : -
To the Selectmen and Citizens of Boston, --
Gentlemen, - Your congratulations on the success of the American arms give me the greatest pleasure.
I most sincerely rejoice with you on being once more in possession of your former habitations ; and, what greatly adds to my happiness, that this desirable event has been effected with so little effusion of human blood.
I am exceedingly obliged by the good opinion you are pleased to entertain of my conduct. Your virtuous efforts in the cause of freedom, and the unparalleled fortitude with which you have sustained the greatest of all human calamities, justly entitle you to the grateful remembrance of your American brethren ; and I heartily pray that the hand of tyranny may never more disturb your repose, and that every blessing of a kind Providence may give happiness and prosperity to the town of Boston.
GEO. WASHINGTON.
On the 29th of March a joint committee from the Coun- cil and House of Representatives of Massachusetts waited upon Washington with a long and flattering testimonial. It alluded to the early resistance of this colony to the tyran- nical policy, "impelled by self-preservation and the love of freedom ;" to the satisfaction at the appointment of Washing-
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THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.
ton to be the commander-in-chief; to the wisdom and pru- dence and success of his measures; and it concluded as follows : " May you still go on, approved by Heaven, revered by all good men, and dreaded by those tyrants who claim their fellow-men as their property. May the United Colonies be defended from slavery by your victorious arms. May they still see their enemies flying before you ; and (the deliverance of your country being effected) may you, in retirement, enjoy that peace and satisfaction of mind which always attend the good and great ; and may future generations, in the peaceable enjoyment of that freedom the exercise of which your sword shall have established, raise the richest and most lasting mon- uments to the naine of Washington." To this address the general returned a feeling reply. At this time the current was setting strong in favor of a declaration of independence, and hence the allusion with which this reply closes : "May this distressed colony and its capital, and every part of this wide extended continent, through His Divine favor, be restored to more than their former lustre and happy state, and have peace, liberty, and safety, secured upon a solid, permanent, and last- ing foundation."
Congress received the intelligence of the evacuation on the 25th of March, and immediately, on the motion of John Adanıs, passed a vote of thanks to Washington, and the offi- cers and soldiers under his command, for their wise and spirited conduct, and ordered a gold medal to be struck and presented to the general. Also appointed a committee, con- sisting of John Adams, John Jay, and Stephen Hopkins, to prepare a letter of thanks. This letter was reported to Con- gress and adopted April 2.
Philadelphia, April 2, 1776.
Sir, - It gives me the most sensible pleasure to convey to you, by order of Congress, the only tribute which a free people will ever consent to pay, - the tribute of thanks and grati- tude to their friends and benefactors.
The disinterested and patriotic principles which led you to the field have also led you to glory; and it affords no little consolation to your countrymen to reflect, that, as a peculiar greatness of mind induced you to decline any compensation
THE MEDAL. 319
for serving them, except the pleasure of promoting their hap- piness, they may, without your permission, bestow upon you the largest share of their affection and esteem.
Those pages in the annals of America will record your title to a conspicuous place in the temple of fame, which ;shall inform posterity that, under your directions, an undisciplined band of husbandmen, in the course of a few months, became soldiers ; and that the desolation meditated against the coun- try by a brave army of veterans, commanded by the most experienced generals, but employed by bad men, in the worst of causes, was, by the fortitude of your troops, and the address of their officers, next to the kind interposition of Providence, confined for near a year within such narrow lim- its as scarcely to admit more room than was necessary for the encampments and fortifications they lately abandoned.
Accept, therefore, sir, the thanks of the United Colonies, unanimously declared by their delegates to be due to you, and the brave officers and troops under your command ; and be pleased to communicate to then this distinguished mark of the approbation of their country.
The Congress have ordered a gold medal, adapted to the occasion, to be struck, and, when finished, to be presented to you.
I have the honor to be, with every sentiment of esteem, sir, your most obedient and very humble servant,
JOHN HANCOCK, President. To His Excellency GENERAL WASHINGTON.
The medal, which was struck in Paris, from a die cut by Duvivier, contains on the obverse a head of Washington in profile, exhibiting an excellent likeness, and around it the inscription :
GEORGIO WASHINGTON SVPREMO DVCI EXERCITEVVM ADSERTORI LIBERTATIS COMITIA AMERICANA.1
On the reverse is the town of Boston in the distance, with a fleet in view, under sail. Washington and his officers are on horseback in the foreground, and he is pointing to the ships as they depart from the harbor. The inscription is :
1 Sparks' Washington. The description in the text is by Mr. Sparks. 27*
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THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.
HOSTIBVS PRIMO FVGATIS BOSTONIVM RECUPERATVM, XVII. MAR- TIC, MDCCLXXVI.
The congratulations of individuals were more spirited than those of public bodies. An extract from one of the letters of this period will show their tone. "What an occurrence is this to be known in Europe !" writes Elbridge Gerry, March 26. " How are Parliamentary pretensions to be reconciled ? Eight or ten thousand British troops, it has been said, are suf- ficient to overrun America ; and yet that number of their vet- erans, posted in Boston, (a peninsula fortified by nature, defended by works the product of two years' industry, sur- rounded by navigable waters, supported by ships of war, and commanded by their best generals,) are driven off by about one-thirtieth of the power of America. Surely the invincible veterans labored under some great disadvantage from want of provisions or military stores, which the Americans were amply provided with ! Directly the reverse. They had provisions enough; ammunition, muskets and accoutrements, for every man, and a piece of ordnance for every fifteen; while the Americans were almost destitute of all these, and after twelve months' collection had only a sufficiency of powder to tune their cannon for six or eight days. I am at a loss to know how Great Britain will reconcile all this to her military glory."
The intelligence was received with astonishment in Eng- land. The ministry were again deeply mortified. A brief official announcement of the evacuation appeared in the Lon- don Gazette. It stated that General Howe, on the 7th of March, determined to remove from Boston, and that the "embarkation was effected the 17th of the same month, with the greatest order and regularity, and without the least inter- ruption." ' Again, they kept back full intelligence of the
1 The whole announcement was as follows : White-Hall, May 3. - Gen- eral Howe, commander-in-chief of his majesty's forces in North America, having taken a resolution on the seventh of March to remove from Boston to Halifax with the troops under his command, and such of the inhabitants, with their effects, as were desirous to continue under the protection of his majesty's forces ; the embarkation was effected the 17th of the same month, with the greatest order and regularity, and without the least interruption
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DEBATE IN PARLIAMENT.
transaction, and affected to be not the least disconcerted by the loss of Boston. Parliament was then in session, and the subject was called up on the 6th of May by Colonel Barre, who moved for an address to his majesty praying that copies of the despatches of General Howe and Admiral Shuldham might be laid before the House. His remarks were severe against the ministry. He had been informed there was a capitulation between Howe and Washington, through the intervention of the selectmen, by which General Howe was to leave his stores and not burn the town. But the Gazette did not mention it, nor did it give the public any reasons for Howe's quitting Boston. He trusted that the government would present more satisfactory information than that of the flimsy scrap of paper - the official account - which he held in his hand. Lord North, in reply, stated that the army was not compelled to abandon Boston; that the general did not come in to any compromise whatever ; that the troops em- barked with all possible coolness and regularity, and even perfectly at their ease ; that the evacuation of Boston was no loss of glory, no disgrace, it was only a change of place. Great Britain had the same men and the same ships, but only in another place. Lord John Cavendish said that the House had proceeded from the beginning on actual misinformation : that it was owned that the information was false, that the whole British empire had been lost at the national expense of twenty millions, in precisely eleven months from the date of the defeat at Lexington to the evacuation of Boston. Mr. Hartley insisted that General Howe was driven from Boston, and that nothing but a dread of having his whole army cut to pieces, or made prisoners, induced him to make so precip- itate and unexpected a retreat ; and that "the great chain which held both countries was now broken," and that he "feared America was forever lost." Mr. Burke declared that every measure which had been adopted or pursued was
from the rebels. When the packet came away the first division of transports was under sail, and the remainder were preparing to follow in a few days ; the admiral leaving behind as many men-of-war as could be spared from the convoy, for the security and protection of such vessels as might be bound to Boston.
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directed to impoverish England, and to emancipate America ; and though in twelve months nearly two hundred pounds a man had been spent for salt beef and sour-kroute, that the troops could not have remained ten days longer if the heavens had not rained down manna and quails. Mr. Ellis regarded the evacuation of Boston as a diminution of credit, and a great calamity, and as a measure that would give éclat to the American cause ; and that it was a reflection on General Howe to say it was anything else but a harsh necessity. General Conway affirmed that the British arms in this evacuation had been dishonored ; that British councils had fallen into con- tempt, and the honor of the nation deeply wounded. Lord George Germaine's (the minister's) explanation was feeble. He understood that General Howe never intended to begin operations from Boston, and asserted there was no agreement between the two commanders; General Washington had changed his position, which, no doubt, obliged General Howe to change his position.
Another debate took place in the House of Lords. On the 10th of May the Duke of Manchester, - who made a call for the despatches, - in a remarkable speech reviewing the gen- eral policy of the ministry and the military operations, used severe language on the loss of Boston. He alluded to the martial spirit displayed by the Americans at Bunker Hill, where "an apothecary's late 'prentice (Warren) led forth armies, displayed the warrior's skill and intrepidity, and met a death a Roman might have envied;" in Arnold's expedi- tion to Quebec - a march a Hannibal would have admired ; in the siege of the British army and in forcing it from Boston. Here, he said, " We are informed of this extraordinary event by a gazette, published by authority from government, in which it is related that General Howe had quitted Boston ; no circumstances mentioned to palliate the event, no veil but that of silence to cast over the disgrace. But, my lords, though government account is short and uncircumstantial, yet private intelligence, public report, on which, till it is with authen- ticity denied, I must rely, informs us that General Howe quit- ted not Boston of his own free will, but that a superior enemy, by repeated efforts, by extraordinary works, by fire of their
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