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, British General Henry Clinton disembarked in New York, just as the American Major General Charles Lee arrives to prepare the city’s defenses. Tensions are high, but Lee leaves shortly after to the south. Though attention is split between New York, Quebec, and New England, General George Washington is pressing ahead with preparations for a move on Boston.
On February 11, 1776, Lieutenant Colonel Rufus Putnam writes to Washington and informs the general that this area around Roxbury in the south and Bunker Hill in the north are unsuitable for fortifications. He recommends Dorchester Heights as a staging post, due to its proximity to the city and the suitability of the earth, as ground in other areas is frozen. Washington and Colonel Henry Knox are out this day surveying land, along with the army’s chief surveyor Colonel Richard Gridley. They spend their time looking for wig lines to Boston and the best places to station artillery.
Just as Dorchester begins to be seriously considered and prepared, the empire strikes back. On February 14, British troops under General William Howe make haste across the frozen and not-yet-filled-in South Bay. They raze houses and other potential fortifications before slipping back across to Boston. Washington writes to President of the Continental Congress John Hancock, saying, “Last night a party of regulars, said to be about five hundred, landed on Dorchester Neck and burnt some of the houses there, which were of no value to us, nor would they have been, unless we take post there.” He notes as soon as a response was mustered, the enemy retreated.
On February 16, Washington holds a Council of War with most commenting officers around Cambridge with the express purpose of finally putting forth a plan to capture Boston. He states reinforcements are arriving, as well as, crucially, gunpowder. There are few defenders left in the city, with the general noting, “the state of Boston Harbor has been all this year, and now is, a bombardment might probably destroy the town without doing much damage to the ministerial troops within it.” His estimation is that there are currently around 5,000 defenders, though reinforcements are likely. The army currently under Washington’s command around the city numbers around 12,600, far less than he expected to have. With that, he recommends against an immediate attack and instead, await supplies, reinforcements, and to fortify Dorchester with cannons and mortars. By the time the artillery is in place, the general believes powder will have arrived.
Adrenaline is high on February 17, as Washington instructs, through his General Orders, army regimented immediately prepare for battle with 24 rounds of ammunition each. Men are to be ready for an assault at a moment’s notice, and cannons are to be prepared and primed, entrusting the latter to Colonel Knox. At long last, Washington’s men in Cambridge and surrounding Boston are mobilizing and preparing to break the siege, nearly ten months after the Battles of Concord and Lexington.
This Week in Revolutionary War History
By Sam Bishop