This week in Revolutionary War history, let’s check up on what was going on 250 years ago in and around the colonial Province of Massachusetts Bay. Last week, the best logistical and tactical minds gathered in Cambridge. General George Washington is set on descending on Boston and putting an end to the 10-month-long siege. Dorchester Heights was chosen as the spot to set up Colonel Henry Knox’s artillery he recently brough back from Ticonderoga. Washington has been given the “go-ahead” from the Continental Congress to attack when he deems it ready.
On February 18, 1776, Washington sends a report to John Handcock, President of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. He offers updates to the preparations outside Boston, “The late freezing Weather having formed some pretty strong ice from Dorchester Point to Boston Neck and from Roxbury to the Common, thereby affording a more expanded and consequently a less dangerous approach to the town. At the time, Boston was a small peninsula with a narrow neck. Due to the freezing sea, the neck has widened, allowing for a larger and more dispersed assault. However, he informs the Congress he is still awaiting both more militia men and gunpowder. He says, “I do not utter this by way of complaint – I am sensible that all that the Congress could do, they have done, and I should feel, most powerfully, the weight of conscious ingratitude were I not to acknowledge this.”
Washington feels he has been handed a potential massive tactical advantage on a platter, with the approaches to Boston frozen over. He feels he is unable to make use of this advantage due to the lack of powder. The next day, he sends a letter to Governor Jonathan Trumbull in Lebanon, Connecticut. He says he is “grieved to find” about 4200 pounds of powder instead of the promised 6-to-8 thousand pounds.
On February 20 in his General Orders, Washington instructs officers to ensure “every regiment should be furnished with colors, and that those colors should, if it can be done, bear some kind of similitude to the uniform of the regiment to which they belong.” Battle is coming, and the commanding officers must be able to identify which columns are what in the onslaught. He also attempts to stress discipline, saying, “The General cannot again help urging it in the strongest terms to the Colonels the necessity of the strictest attention to the discipline of their men – learning them to march and perform all the different evolutions and maneuvers; which is of more essential service, than dwelling too long upon the manual exercise.”
That same day, Washington writes to Joseph Johnson, a Mohegan man in Eastern Connecticut. The general says he is pleased by “our brothers of the Six Nations.” He urges Johnson to convince the other Native Americans to stay neutral “on the dispute between us and the Ministers of Great Britain.” Washington adds something that can be seen highly ironic, “you have seen a part of our strength, and can inform our brothers, that we can withstand all the force, which those who want to rob us of our lands and our houses, can send against us.” The general says he would be happy if Natives “take up the hatchet for us,” but must at least remain out of Britian’s forces.
On February 22, Washington celebrates his 44th Birthday from his army headquarters in Cambridge. It is hard to understand the age of the man, as we generally see him as a timeless, prophetic figure. However, Washington was 43-49 throughout the Revolution. Later, serving as President, he was 57-65, and would pass a few months before his 68th birthday and just 18 days before the year 1800.
Back to his 44th birthday, the General does not mention his birthday in his orders nor his writings. Washington spends the day writing to his officers and his estate in Mount Vernon, Virginia.
On February 23, Washington writes to Governor Nicholas Cooke in Rhode Island requesting the Governor give hospitality to a Prussian that has washed ashore. The Baron of Woedtke was on his way to Philadelphia to pledge his services when he made landfall on Cape Cod. This is not the famed Prussian Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, he is to arrive in 1778, but instead Frederick William, Baron de Woedtke. Different man, lesser abilities. This does show that the Prussians, at this time ruled by Frederick the Great and being known for their martial prowess, are making their way with other Germans to the Americas to join the battle.
This Week in Revolutionary War History
By Sam Bishop