The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III, Part 15

Author: Jewett, Clarence F; Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897
Publication date: 1880-1881
Publisher: Boston : J.R. Osgood
Number of Pages: 770

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5 MS. despatch, preserved in the state-paper office, London.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

" It being ascertained that the enemy intended to take possession of Dorchester Height or Neck, a detachment was ordered from Castle William on the 13th of Feb- ruary under the command of Lient .- Colonel Leslie, and another of grenadiers and light infantry commanded by Major Musgrave, with directions to pass on ice, and destroy every house and every kind of cover on that peninsula, - which was executed, and six of the enemy's guard taken prisoners."

From this despatch it appears that the ice had at last formed, for which Washington had been waiting. He at once called a council of war, and urged an assault on the town by crossing over the ice from Cambridge and Roxbury; but his field-officers generally were unfavorable to the enter- prise, much to Washington's disgust and hardly concealed indignation, and he therefore reluctantly abandoned it. In its place he made immediate dispositions to seize Dorchester Heights and to take Noddle's Island, now known as East Boston. He asked the government of Massachusetts to call out the militia of the neighborhood. This was done, and ten regiments were called in. Washington himself says: "These men came in at the ap- pointed time, and manifested the greatest alertness and determined resolu- tion to act like men engaged in the cause of freedom."

Preparations were at once made by General Ward, at Roxbury, in col- lecting fascines, and what in the military language of that day were called " chandeliers," a kind of foundation for the fascines, with which were to be built the works on Dorchester Heights. The ground was supposed to be frozen too hard for entrenching. On Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights, March 2, 3, and 4, 1776, a cannonading was kept up from Cobble Hill, Lechmere's Point, and Lamb's Dam in Roxbury, to divert the attention of the English troops and drown the noise of carts crossing the frozen ground. As soon as the firing began on Monday evening, General Thomas moved from Roxbury to South Boston with twelve hundred men. To deaden the noise of the wagons the men strewed the road with straw, and wound wisps about the wheels. Before morning they had thrown up formidable works. The English of the fleet and of the army were entirely surprised when that morning broke, for a dense fog had favored the Americans at their work. On Tuesday evening, intending to storm the newly built works, Howe sent down three thousand men under Percy to the Castle, to attack on that side; but while his troops were embarking from the island a violent storm came up, which lasted till eight o'clock the next day and wholly broke up the design. Before night of the sixth, evacuation was determined on. Percy's letter to his father, of that date, says: " It is determined to evacuate this town. I believe Halifax is to be our destination." He then knew, and Howe had determined, that the works on Dorchester Heights were not to be stormed. "An officer of distinction," in Almon's Remem- brancer at the same date, says: "We are evacuating the town with the utmost expedition, and are leaving behind half our worldly goods. Adieu ! I hope to embark in a few hours."

From hour to hour, however, Thomas was strengthening his works, which

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

GENERAL HENRY KNOX.1

were now much stronger and better provided than were Prescott's works at Bunker Hill. Knox's Ticonderoga cannon were likely to be in good service.

1 [A likeness of Knox is prefixed to the Life of him by Samuel A. Drake. A photogravure of what is called the panel likeness of Knox, by Stuart, is given in Mason's Stuart, p. 211. The Knox papers, left to the New England Historic Genealogical Society by the late Admiral Thatcher, grandson of the general, are now ar- ranged in fifty-five folio volumes, to which an index is preparing. A brief account of the papers (11,464 in all), prepared by the Rev. E. F. Slafter, has been printed by the society.

Knox played an important part in the siege by conducting the expedition from Cambridge to Ticonderoga to get some of the cannon which had fallen into Ethan Allen's and Arnold's hands by the capture of that post, and which Washing- ton needed to put in his batteries, and which were opportunely at hand when the heights at Dor- chester Neck were to be fortified. Knox's diary of this expedition is in the N. E. Hist. and Gencal. Reg., July, 1876. An inventory of the cannon, made Dee. 10, 1775, is given in Drake's

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

Had the attack been made, Washington relied upon Thomas to hold the Heights, and he would himself have assaulted Boston on the western side as soon as the English troops were engaged at South Boston. He had, at the mouth of the Charles River, two divisions of troops in readiness, numbering four thousand men, under the command of Greene and of Sullivan. Greene's division was to have landed near where the Massachusetts General Hospital grounds now are, and Sullivan's further south at the powder house, and to seize the hill on the Common. If they were successful, these divisions were to unite, march upon the English works at the Neck, and let in the troops from Roxbury. Three floating batteries were to clear the way in advance for their landing.

Washington thought well of this enterprise, and the troops would have certainly been well led; but it will never be known how far this attack of four thousand men, who were to row two miles and land under fire from the English batteries, would have succeeded.

It was only twelve months after Warren's last address in the Old South. Washington, in his general orders, alludes to the anniversary of the Massacre.1 But as the English did not attack on their side, the American attack did not take place. Thomas kept on strengthening his works. Washington regarded this fortification as only preliminary to taking Nook's Hill. This hill was the extreme northwest part of South Boston, and commanded the south end of Boston proper. It is now wholly dug away.2

The details were made for the occupation of this lesser hill on the night of the ninth. It was, so to speak, the Breed's Hill of Dorchester, - the eminence nearer to the town. But on the eighth Howe sent out a flag of truce, with a letter signed by John Scollay, Timothy Newell, Thomas Mar- shall, and Samuel Austin, the selectmen of the town. It was addressed to nobody, for Howe had made a point that these gentlemen should not address "His Excellency George Washington," as they wished to do. The letter stated officially that Howe had assured them that he was making his preparations to withdraw, and that he would not injure the town unless he was molested in withdrawing. Washington would not answer. Colonel Learned, who received the paper, sent back a message that Washington would take no notice of it; that it was an unauthenticated paper, not obli- gatory upon General Howe. This was all the communication which passed ; but it was enough. The Patriots were only too glad to have the "pyrates"

Cincinnati Society, p. 544. See also Drake's Life of Knox, p. 175; his Landmarks of Middlesex, p. 154; Frothingham's Siege of Boston, p. 295. After the war Knox became a resident, for a time, of Boston, and occupied the Copley house on Beacon Hill. The mansion which he built, later, at Thomaston, Me., is figured in Scribner's Monthly, ix. 616. A brother of General Knox (Thomas Knox) was the first keeper of Boston Light, when it was rebuilt after the war. Car- ter's Summer Cruise, p. 24 .- ED.]

1 [ While this fortifying was going on at Dor- chester Neck, a scene of solemnity, not unmixed with ludicrous associations, took place at Water- town. A meeting of the citizens of Boston had been legally warned to listen there to an anniver- sary oration on the Massacre. The Rev. Peter Thacher delivered it, and the audience of sup- posable Bostonians applauded it. - En.]

2 [It is shown on Pelham's map, of which a heliotype is given in the Introduction to this volume, -there called " Foster's Hill." - ED.]

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

embark; and nothing would have justified any loss of life or of property in hurrying them.1 On the 7th Manly took two more provision ships in the bay, and carried them into the harbor of Cape Ann. BY HIS EXCELLENCY On Saturday night, the 9th, a ball from the Eng- lish killed Dr. Dole and WILLIAM HOWE, three men who had made a fire on Nook's Hill. Sunday and Monday the MAJOR GENERAL, &c. &c. &c. bombardment continued. On the next Sunday morning, the 17th, Howe, A S Linnen and Woolen Goods are Articles much wanted by the Rebels, and would with his whole army, aid and affift them in their Rebellion, the Com- mander in Chief expects that all good Subjects will ufe their utmoft Endeavors to have all fuch Articles convey'd from this Place: Any who have notOpportunity to convey theirGoods under th, 11 own Care, may deliver them on Board the Ml. nerva at Hubbard's Wharf, to Crean Brufb, Erq; mark'd with their Names, who will give a Certifi. cate of the Delivery, and will oblige himself to, return them to the Owners, all unavoidable Ac- cidents accepted. sailed in seventy-eight vessels. The total num- ber of officers and men, on his returns, was eight thousand nine hundred and six. The refugees who accompanied him were nine hundred and twenty-four more, who registered their names at If after this Notice any Perfon fecretes or keeps in his Poffeffion fuch Articles, he will be treated Halifax, and some two hundred who made no as a Favourcr of Rebels.

registry there. In more Bolton, March 10th. 1776. HOWE'S PROCLAMATION." than one case, after the flect had come out into the bay, a sea-sick Tory's wife begged her husband to put back; and, by this chance, her family landed on the shore of Massachusetts, to be pro- genitors of sturdy Republicans, and not, as might have been, of Nova Scotians, loyal to Victoria.

1 " Last Friday," writes Major Judah Alden to his father, " the selectmen of Boston sent out a letter to General Washington, to desire him not to molest General Howe when he quit the town, as they had assurance from him that he would leave the town standing, and all private property. By their [the enemy's] motions, it looks as if they were determined to quit. They have loaded every vessel in the harbor, but what their design is we do not know. It is generally thought that they are not determined to go, but to make us think so until they can get reinforcements. We are making all preparations against them that we possibly can, and keep a better lookout than usual. General Washington's answer to the selectmen of Boston was, as there was nothing

binding from General Howe, he should pay no regard to his promises to them."

2 | This is a reduced fac-simile of an original broadside in the Massachusetts Historical So- ciety's Library, and indicates the measures in preparation for the evacuation. Crean Brush was an Irishman who had gained notoriety in New York politics. Under cover of this procla- mation, he broke open stores and dwellings, and conveyed the plunder to the " Minerva." Ite was captured on board his vessel after the evacu- ation, and lodged in Boston jail, where, in 1777, he was joined by his wife; and, in a disguise which her garments furnished, he escaped, Nov. 5, 1777, and fled to New York. See the Evacua- tion Memorial, p. 164 .- ED.]

VOL. III .- 13.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

WASHINGTON AT DORCHESTER HEIGHTS.1

1 [This portrait of “ Washington at Dorches- ter Heights," as it is called, was painted by Stu- art in nine days, in 1806, following the so-called Athenæum head, which was depicted twenty years later than the event it is here made to com- memorate. The story of this larger picture, told in Mason's Stuart, p. 103, is as follows : Win- stanley, the painter, brought to Boston a copy

which he had made in London of the Lansdowne likeness of Washington, painted just before the Athenæum head. Mr. Samuel Parkman ad- vanced the copyist some money on this canvas, which, not being redeemed, was offered by him to the town for its acceptance. At the meeting when this offer was made, a blacksmith objected to the town's receiving a copy after Stuart, when

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

the artist lived among them and could give an original. This seemed a pertinent objection, and Mr. Parkman commissioned Stuart to paint the larger picture, which was then accepted by the town. and remained for many years in Faneuil Hall. It is now in the Art Museum. Before painting it, Stuart worked out the design on a smaller canvas,-or it is so claimed; and a "small full-length," given by Stuart to Isaac P. Davis, and now owned by Mr. Ignatius Sar- gent, of Brookline, is called this sketch. Ma- son's Stuart, p 105 .- ED.]

1777. Alden was born in Duxbury, Oct. 3, 17 50; was ensign in Cotton's regiment in 1775; licu- tenant in Bailey's in 1776; later, captain and brevetted major, after service throughout the war. Francis S. Drake's Memorials of the So- ciety of the Cincinnati of Massachusetts, p. 210, of which Major Alden was president from 1829 till his death, in I845. He was with his regiment at Roxbury during the siege.

After the news came of the defeat of Mont- gomery at Quebec, Colonel Learned, accompa- nied by Alden, was sent to the British lines with a flag of truce. Alden at another time accompa-

I [The annexed fac-simile is of a pen-and-ink sketch made by Kosciusko at Valley Forge in nied Colonel Tupper, under orders from Gen-

100

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

The siege was ended; and Congress, March 25, 1776, ordered and had struck a beautiful gold medal as a gift to Washington. It bears the mot- toes : " Hostibus primo Fugatis," and "Bostonium Recuperatum." 1

General Artemas Ward commanded the right wing of the American army, and directed the work of fortifying Dorchester Heights. General John Thomas carried out his orders with such resource and promptness as made the work the wonder of the time. And yet to-day, if you should ask ten Boston men, "Who was Artemas Ward?" nine would say he was an amusing showman. If you asked, "Who was John Thomas?" nine would say he was a funky commemorated by Thackeray. On the site of the fortification-ordered by Washington, directed by Ward, and built by Thomas - is a memorial-stone which bears, not their names, but that of the mayor of Boston who erected it. Such is fame ! 2

Edward 6 Hale

eral Thomas, in whale-boats, to dislodge some British who had seized an island in Quincy Bay. The enemy fled on their approach. There are particulars about the Grape Island affair, and the general alarm along the southern shores of the harbor, in The Familiar Letters of John and Abigail Adams. - ED.]

1 [A heliotype fac-simile is given herewith. Washington's reply to the letter of presentation is given in fac-simile in Force's American Archives, fourth series, v. 977. The die, made in France, is still preserved, and coppers struck with it are not uncommon; but impressions taken since it has been repaired can be distinguished by one less leg of the horses being discernible, and by other marks. See Loubat's Medallic History of the United States, and Snowden's Medals of Washington; and particularly the description by Mr. William S. Appleton in the Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., April, 1874, p. 289. The original gold medal had come down through the descendants of Washington's elder brother ; and, after hav- ing been buried, to escape capture during the late civil war, in the cellar of an old mansion in the Shenandoah Valley, a representative of the family sold it in the spring of 1876 to fifty gen- tlemen of Boston, headed by the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, who presented it, during the Centen- nial ceremonies of March 17 of that year, to the city, to be preserved in the Public Library, where, with all the papers of attestation, it nowis. Sec Public Library Report of that ycar ; the Evacua- tion Memorial, p. 25, where a steel outline- engraving of it is given, from the plate used in Sparks's Washington ; and Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., 1876, p. 230. The heliotype here given is from

an early silver copy, belonging to Dr. Samuel A. Green.

There were eleven different medals struck in Paris, between 1776 and 1786, commemorative of events of the Revolution, and by order of Con- gress. The French Government, acting, it is said, under the prompting of Lafayette, pre- sented the entire series, in silver, to Washington, and the collection is known as " the Washington medals ;" and the same finally coming into the hands of Daniel Webster, passed, after Webster's decease, to the Hon. Peter Harvey, who pre- sented them to the Massachusetts Historical Society, where they now are. Sec the Proceed- ings, April, 1874. - ED.] " Bostonium " in later Latin has given way to " Bostonia." The cari- catures of the times speak of the people as " Bostoneers."

2 The admirable Centennial Address of Dr. Ellis, and its full appendix, give very full mem- oranda of the details of the siege and its re- sults. [It may be worth while to note the sub- sequent careers of the leading British generals. Gage, after his return to England, became in- conspicuous, and died April 2, 1787. Howe's subsequent career further south only gained for him criticism and inquiry, till he returned to England in 1777 (where he died in 1814) ; to be succeeded by Clinton, who held the command till 1782, when he in turn returned to England, and died in 1795. Burgoyne's surrender at Sar- atoga led to his detention in Boston and Cam- bridge, from which he also returned to England, to enter Parliament and advise a cessation of hostilities, dying finally in 1792. Siege of Boston, P. 334 .- ED.]

FUGATIS

HAS

NOLON

IOI

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES BY THE EDITOR.

PAUL REVERE'S LANTERNS. - The story of the lanterns has of late years attracted a good deal of attention. Richard Devens, the friend with whom it is claimed Paul Revere had agreed upon this method of notice, made record of it

Ruch Devens

some time after in some minutes, which were not brought to light till Mr. Frothingham printed them in 1849 (Siege of Boston, p. 57). The De- vens memorandum is also given in Wheildon's Revere's Signal Lanterns, p. 13, who discredits it and disputes some of Frothingham's statements. In 1798, a letter from Revere to Dr. Belknap, detailing the events just before Lexington, was printed in Mass. Ilist. Coll., v .; it may possibly have been written a few, but probably not many, years carlier. It has since been reprinted more accurately in the same society's Proceedings, No- vember, 1878, p. 371, from Revere's own man- uscript, preserved in its cabinet. The story entered into all the histories; but first acquired wide popularity when Mr. Longfellow, in 1863, made it one of his Tales of a Wayside Inn, - departing, however, in his spirited verse, some- what from the historical record, since Revere did not watch for the lanterns, and never reached Concord. Meanwhile no particular discrimina- tion had been made in the printed accounts as to the edifice from which the lights were dis- played. Both Devens and Revere had called it the North Church. Dr. Eaton, in his Historical Discourse of Christ Church, had made no men- tion of the story in 1824 as associated with that church; and though a tradition remained to fix upon that building the place of the signal's dis- play, it was not publicly bruited till 1873, when the Rev. Dr. Henry Burroughs, its rector, in an historical discourse, claimed the connection of the incident with this church, and that Robert Newman, who was then its sexton, was the one who hung out the lanterns at Revere's instiga- tion. Drake's Landmarks, p. 214, about the same time also gave the incident to Christ Church. A movement next on the part of the city au- thorities to commemorate the warning, by an in-

scription on this church, led to a protest, dated Dec. 28, 1876, from Richard Frothingham, The Alarm on the Night of April 18, 1775, in which he showed, as indeed Devens's account makes clear, that other warnings had been given before the lanterns were hung out, and which they only confirmed. Mr. Frothingham also claimed that the old North Meet- ing-house in North Square was the true place of their display, -a building which had been pulled down for fuel during the siege. This position was controverted by the Rev. John Lee Wat- son in a letter in the Daily Advertiser, July 20, 1876, which was subsequently printed, with comments by Charles Deane, in the Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., No- vember, 1876; and separately, with a later letter dated March, 1879, in Paul Revere's Signals, New York, 1880. In these, both writer and commentator show conclusively that Christ Church was known popularly as the North Church, and they contend that it was from its spire the lights were shown. Mr. Watson also contends that the "friend " of Revere was a Boston merchant, Mr. John Pulling, a warden of the church; and that it was he who carried out Revere's plan. Mr. W. W. Wheildon, in his Paul Revere's Signal Lanterns, 1878, on the other hand, reiterates the claims of Newman, and, as well as Drake, - Middlesex County, p. 117, and Landmarks of Middlesex, p. 214,- supports the Christ Church view.

The present appearance of Christ Church is shown in Vol. II. p. 509. A tablet was placed on its front Oct. 17, 1878, with this inscription : " The signal lanterns of Paul Revere displayed in the steeple of this Church, April 18, 1775, warned the country of the march of the British troops to Lexington and Concord." The orig- inal spire was overthrown in the great gale of 1804, but a new one, built by Charles Bulfinch, preserved the proportions of the old one ; this, however, has been somewhat changed by the placing of the clock, as will be seen by com- paring the cut in Shaw's Description of Boston, p. 257. Mr. H. W. Holland's William .Dawes and his Ride with Paul Revere, Boston, 1878, sets forth the particular services, at the same time, of Dawes.

LEXINGTON AND CONCORD). - Percy wrote a private letter the day after the fight, dated Boston, April 20, 1775, in which he says, speak- ing of his march : " I advanced to a town about twelve miles distant from Boston, before I could get the least intelligence, as all the houses were

IO2

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

shut up, and not the least appearance of an in- habitant to be seen." Then, speaking of his reaching Lexington, and training his cannon upon the Provincials, to gain " time for the gren- adiers and light companies to form and retire in order," he says he "stopped the rebels for a little time, who dispersed directly and endeav- ored to surround us, for they were in great num- bers, the whole country having been collected for above twenty miles round." " When the re- treat began," he adds, " I ordered the grenadiers and light infantry to move off, covering them with my brigade, and detaching strong flanking parties, - which was absolutely necessary, as the whole country we had to retire through was covered with stone walls, and extended a very hilly strong country." He reports that they had "expended almost every cartridge " when they reached Charlestown, and had lost "65 killed, 157 wounded, and 21 missing, beside one officer killed, 15 wounded, and two wounded and taken prisoners. ... This, however, was nothing like the number of which, from many circumstances, I have reason to believe were killed of the rebels." Of his adversaries he says: " Whoever looks upon them merely as an irregular mob will find himself much mistaken. They have men among them who know very well what they are about, having been employed as rangers against the Indians and Acadians ; and this country, being much covered with wood and hilly, is very advantageous for their method of fighting. Nor are several of their*men void of a spirit of enthusiasm, as we experienced yester- day ; for many of them concealed themselves in houses, and advanced within ten yards to fire at me and other officers, though they were morally certain of being put to death. . . . You may de- pend upon it that as the rebels have now had time to prepare, they are determined to go through with it; nor will the insurrection here turn out so despicable as it is perhaps imagined at home. For my part I never believed, I con- fess, that they would have attacked the King's troops, or have had the perseverance I found in them yesterday." These extracts are from a fac-simile of the letter kindly lent by the Rev. E. G. Porter, of Lexington, supplied to him by the Duke of Northumberland, the grand-nephew of the Earl. The letter is more interesting than Percy's official report to Gage of the same date, which is printed in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., May, 1876, p. 349.

The late Hon. Charles Hudson furnished to the Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., January, 1880, p. 315, a paper on Pitcairn, whose name, because of his alleged beginning of the contest at Lexington, has been usually shrouded with obloquy ; but he is said to have been a fair-minded officer, much esteemed by all. (Sargent's Dealings with the Dead, No. 17.) The first shot, whether fired by

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The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III, Part 15

Author: Jewett, Clarence F; Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897 Publication date: 1880-1881 Publisher: Boston : J.R. Osgood Number of Pages: 770

Author: Jewett, Clarence F; Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897
Publication date: 1880-1881
Publisher: Boston : J.R. Osgood
Number of Pages: 770