Washington Before Boston
At this crisis Congress felt that it must make one more appeal to the
King. This was done in a petition couched in the most respectful
language. It says: “We beg to assure Your Majesty that, in spite of the
sufferings of your loyal colonists during the present disagreement, we
still cherish such tender consideration for the kingdom to which we owe
our origin that we are far from demanding any agreement incompatible
with the dignity and prosperity of the mother country.” Thus the English
government had another opportunity of adopting a conciliatory course. It
did not do so. London paid no attention whatever to Congress. The answer
intended for the Americans was to be written by Howe’s bayonets and the
English government had no doubt that their general would soon report the
downfall of the rebellion, as they called this justifiable resistance.
In the meanwhile Washington had appeared before Boston. An army chaplain
has left us the following characteristic picture of the American camp:
“It is very diverting to walk among the camps. They are as different in
their forms as the owners are in their dress; and every tent is a
portraiture of the temper and taste of the persons who encamp in it.
Some are made of boards and some are made of sailcloth; some are partly
of one and partly of the other. Again, others are made of stone and
turf, brick and brush. Some are thrown up in a hurry, others curiously
wrought with wreaths and withes.” To his discomfiture, Washington did
not find what he had hoped for. The American army consisted of sixteen
thousand men instead of twenty thousand, as he had been told, and of
these only fourteen thousand were fit for military service. He found
brave men, but not a homogeneous army; instead, large and small bands of
men, armed in promiscuous fashion, under leaders who were totally
independent of each other. There was no artillery and even the most
rudimentary military organization was lacking. To make a military unit
of this heterogeneous mass was the first task which lay before him. It
was to be expected that the solution of this problem would be attended
with extraordinary difficulties. He had to deal with sons of the forest
who, though brave, were, owing to their unrestrained and independent
lives, unused to military discipline. Such a task was not to be
accomplished in a few days or weeks, but needed a long time. Inside the
city a picked body of eleven thousand men was quartered, splendidly
armed and well equipped with all that was necessary to carry on the war.
Thus Washington found more than enough work awaiting him from the first
day of his arrival at headquarters. He was now repaid for the careful
training of his youth and his habit of conscientiously carrying out
whatever he undertook, of seizing upon the essentials of a matter, and
of persevering, with strict attention and diligence, to the end. What
industry, strength, firmness, and patience were necessary to call forth
that spirit, without which harmony in action would be lacking and
enduring success could not be attained! Under the existing circumstances
there was at first no other course open to him than to imitate the
method of Fabius, the delayer. Thus the year passed and nothing had been
done by either side. At the end of December a part of the American
troops who had only enlisted for the current year demanded to be
mustered out. It was their right and Washington let them go. There were
about ten thousand men left in the camp before Boston, while the enemy
inside had in the meanwhile been strengthened by reinforcements from
England.
The patriots of the country had no idea of the difficulties with which
Washington had to struggle. Many had expected to read in the newspapers
of battles and victories during the first days of Washington’s command
and now a year had passed and nothing had been done. Two of Washington’s
letters of that time, both of them to Colonel Reed, give sufficient
explanation of the situation. The first letter says: “Search the vast
volumes of history through and I much question whether a case similar to
ours is to be found; to wit, to maintain a post against the flower of
the British troops for six months together, without powder, and at the
end of them to have one army disbanded and another to raise, within the
same distance of a reinforced enemy. It is too much to attempt—what may
be the final issue of the last manœuvre, time only can tell. I wish this
month were well over our heads!” The second letter is dated in February
of the next year (1776), in which he says: “I know the unhappy
predicament I stand in. I know that much is expected of me. I know that
without men, without arms, without ammunition, without anything fit for
the accommodation of a soldier, that little is to be done, and, which is
mortifying, I know that I cannot stand justified to the world, without
exposing my own weakness and injuring the cause by declaring my wants,
which I am determined not to do, further than unavoidable necessity
brings every man acquainted with. My own situation feels so irksome to
me at times that if I did not consult the publick good more than my own
tranquillity I should long ere this have put everything to the cast of a
die. So far from my having an army of twenty thousand men, well armed,
etc., I have been here with less than one-half of it, including sick,
furloughed, and on command; and those neither armed or clothed as they
should be. In short, my situation has been such that I have been obliged
to use art to conceal it from my own officers.”
Washington worked tirelessly over the reorganization of the army. He
paid heed, not only to outward conditions, accoutrements, maintenance,
etc., but he aimed to infuse a new spirit into the whole mass. Among his
troops there were not a few wild fellows who led disgraceful lives.
Washington issued an order, which read as follows: “At this time of
public distress, men may find enough to do in the service of God and
their country without abandoning themselves to vice and immorality. It
is a noble cause we are engaged in. It is the cause of virtue and
mankind. Every advantage and comfort to us and our posterity depend upon
the vigor of our exertions; in short, freedom or slavery must be the
result of our conduct. There can, therefore, be no greater inducement to
men to behave well. But it may not be amiss to the troops to know that,
if any man in action shall presume to skulk, hide himself, or retreat
from the enemy without the order of his commanding officer, he will be
instantly shot down as an example of cowardice; cowards having too
frequently disconcerted the best-formed troops by their dastardly
behavior.”
In camp this order of the day was attributed to a determination on the
General’s part to risk striking a blow. And it was so. It was his
intention to occupy Dorchester Heights, overlooking the city. On the
night of the third to fourth of March, while he heavily bombarded the
city to distract the attention of the enemy, the Heights were occupied
and immediately fortified. This work was carried on with such zeal and
success that the next morning at daybreak, when General Howe gazed up at
the Heights, he could not conceal his amazement and broke out with the
words: “The rebels have done more work in one night than my whole army
would have done in one month.” Washington was prepared for a furious
onslaught from the enemy, for Dorchester Heights commanded the town and
therefore a repetition of the bloody fight at Bunker Hill was to be
expected. Heavy rains for the next two days, however, prevented the
British from advancing to the attack, while the Americans continued
their work on the fortifications industriously. When the storm had
subsided and Howe again inspected the works on the Heights, he decided
that he dare not risk an attack. There was nothing left for him but the
bitter alternative of evacuating the city and taking to the ships with
his whole army. Immediately afterward Washington entered Boston.
The news of this event aroused the greatest joy all over the country.
Congress determined to cause a gold medal, bearing the relief of
Washington, to be coined in commemoration of the liberation of Boston.
With a humble heart the General thanked God for the victory that had
been won. He was happy in the conviction that this event would
strengthen the confidence of the patriots. He would have been glad to
dispense with the honor, which was to be paid him, for he foresaw full
well that the road to complete success in the establishment of
independence was to be a long and arduous one.