THE EVACUATION
Washington, looking into Boston from the Heights of Dorchester,
witnessed the confusion of the British at the discovery of his works,
and watched with grim pleasure the preparations made to attack him. The
abandonment of the assault was to him a great disappointment. He had
never seen men more alert and willing than his soldiers on the Heights.
If Howe had sent a small force against them, Washington felt confident
of repulsing it. Had the attacking force been so large as to have
appreciably weakened the army in Boston, Washington would have delivered
his counterstroke by means of the men in boats under command of Putnam.
"He would have had pretty easy work of it,"[158] wrote Washington,
still after nearly a month regretting the issue. He wrote his brother,
"that this most remarkable interposition of Providence is for some wise
purpose, I have not a doubt. But ... as no men seemed better disposed to
make the appeal than ours did upon that occasion, I can scarcely forbear
lamenting the disappointment."
Washington lay for a while inactive while the enemy prepared for their
departure. But upon Howe's shoulders was thrown a tremendous task. He
had under him, in the army and the fleet, about eleven thousand
men.[159] For them he had been gathering military stores and provisions;
he had many horses, much artillery, and at least a partial equipment
for field service, in preparation for the spring campaign. His army had
been at Boston for many months, some of the regiments for nearly two
years; consequently there had been a natural accumulation of personal
effects, for the convenience of the officers, with their wives and
families. To carry away this army, its stores, and its belongings, there
was not at hand enough shipping.
But the difficulty was greater than this, for Howe had to consider the
Tories and their families. Long before this, when Gage was in command,
the ministry had written that in case of evacuation "the officers and
friends of government must not be left to the rage and insult of rebels,
who set no bounds to their barbarity." Howe's ships, therefore, were to
be at the service of the Tories, and with full knowledge of the involved
results, he so informed them.
When the realization of the situation burst upon the Tories, they were,
said a contemporary letter, "struck with paleness and
astonishment."[160] "Not the last trump," wrote Washington, "could have
struck them with greater consternation."[161] Until the very last, no
suspicion of such a result seems to have disturbed them; they had borne
themselves confidently, and had expected to see their enemies scattered
when the new forces should arrive. Among their Whig brethren they had
been very high-handed. "The selectmen say," wrote Eldad Taylor, who must
have been at Watertown when the selectmen arrived there with the news of
the evacuation, "that the Tories were the most dreadful of any, that all
the sufferings of the poor for the want of provisions and the
necessaries of life, were not equal to the dreadful scorn, derision, and
contempt from them."
Upon the Tories was now put the hard decision, whether to go or stay. In
order to decide, they needed to know what the Whigs would do to them;
and to know that, they had but to consider what they would do to the
Whigs in similar case. In their own prison languished the Whig Lovell.
They thought of the Whig prisons which might be waiting for them, and
they decided to go.
It is not to be denied that the decision was, under the circumstances,
wise. The loyalists were right in supposing that the treatment which
they would have meted to the Whigs, the Whigs would mete to them. For
the country was inflamed against the Tories; Washington himself shared
the sentiment against them. Much as we may regret this feeling, we must
remember that it was natural to the age. Kind treatment to an opponent
in civil war was not yet generally practised; it was Lincoln who made
the lesson acceptable to mankind.
Practically all of the Tories, therefore, made up their minds to go.
Some few, indeed, remained behind, counting upon their humble station,
or inoffensiveness. No harsh treatment of them is recorded. The one
prominent Tory who remained, Mather Byles the minister, soon weathered
the storm that rose against him. The remaining loyalists, who planned to
depart, were some eleven hundred in number. It was necessary that they
should be accommodated in the ships, necessary also that they should
take with them such of their valuables as were easily portable. Howe
gave orders that room be made for them, and the orders were unselfishly
obeyed by the army and navy.
But the haste, the disorder, even the tumult, in the days immediately
following the order to depart, were extreme. Each regiment had to be
assigned its transports, each Tory to find space for himself and his
family, and if possible his goods. There was sorting of effects,
bundling up of valuables, and strenuous efforts to get all in safety
before Washington should bombard. Diarists agree in the concise terms
with which they describe the town. Says Newell for the 8th: "The town
all hurry and commotion, the troops with the Refugees and Tories all
embarking." For the 9th he adds: "D^o. D^o. D^o." And for the 10th
writes Lieutenant Barker: "Nothing but hurry and confusion."
In the meantime the Americans at Dorchester strengthened their works,
and fortified one more eminence, which commanded the channel. Washington
did not wish to cannonade the British, for if not attacked he saw no
advantage in attacking, lest the town should be set on fire and burned.
He therefore bided his time. All his action until now, he wrote Hancock,
was but preparatory to taking post on Nook's Hill, a low promontory
which ran so far out upon Dorchester flats that from its top cannon
could enfilade the British lines at the Neck, and could command almost
any part of Boston. An attempt to fortify it upon the night of the 9th
was betrayed by the folly of the men, who kindled a fire and were
dispersed by British cannon. But by this Washington was not disturbed.
He was willing that Howe should delay for a while, if the delay were not
too long. He himself had reasons for waiting, since he reasoned that
the British would, on departing, attempt to seize New York, and he
wanted time to prepare and despatch a force to hold that place. So he
watched the British army, sent a regiment of riflemen to strengthen New
York, and made ready five other regiments to depart as soon as the
British fleet should leave the harbor.
But at this time the inhabitants of Boston were very uncertain of their
own fate. Nothing was more natural than that Washington should attack,
or that the exasperated British should on departing, even if unassailed,
set fire to the wooden town. The selectmen, as spokesmen for the
inhabitants, therefore inquired of Howe what his intentions were. Howe
wrote in reply that he had no intention of destroying the town, if he
were unmolested. This reply the selectmen sent in haste to Washington,
begging for a similar assurance. Washington was not willing to bind
himself, and returned answer that as Howe's note was "unauthenticated,
and addressed to nobody," he could take no notice of it. Nevertheless,
since no threat was made, the Bostonians felt more at ease.[162]
All this time the wind was contrary, and the troops unable to set sail.
They therefore remained in their quarters, while completing their
preparations for departure. As the days passed Howe began to destroy
what he could not take with him, and to seize what would be of advantage
to the rebels. His troops spiked cannon, burned artillery and transport
wagons, or else threw them into the harbor, and ruined bulky stores.
What he did deliberately, his men increased through malice. The 13th
seems to have been the worst day of this period. "The Inhabitants,"
wrote Newell, "in the utmost distress, thro' fear of the Town being
destroyed by the Soldiers, a party of New York Carpenters with axes
going thro' the town breaking open houses, &c. Soldiers and sailors
plundering of houses, shops, warehouses--Sugar and salt &c. thrown into
the River, which was greatly covered with hogsheads, barrels of flour,
house furniture, carts, trucks &c. &c.--One Person suffered _four
thousand pounds sterling_, by his shipping being cut to pieces
&c.--Another _five thousand pounds sterling_, in salt wantonly thrown
into the river." No wonder that the sturdy old selectman thought these
to be "very distressed times."
Howe's agent in the work of plundering was that Crean Brush who had
offered to police the western part of Massachusetts with three hundred
men. Him the general directed to receive all linen and woollen goods
which were on sale, and to take those which were not delivered, giving
certificates for the same. There is on file the petition of one Jackson,
begging for payment for goods taken from him. Brush interpreted his
commission very freely, and it was suspected that he was plundering on
his own account. Every soldier or sailor who could give his officer the
slip was doing the same, in spite of Howe's honest efforts to stop the
plundering.
There was a little genteel thievery as well. Some of the Tories had
unfairly secured more than their share of room on shipboard, and found
this the chance to take their pick of the furniture of their Whig
relatives. "Wat," wrote John Andrews to his brother-in-law in
Philadelphia, "has stripped your uncle's house of everything he could
conveniently carry off.... He has left all the looking glasses and
window curtains, with some tables and most of the chairs; only two
bedsteads and one bed, without any bedding or sheets, or even a rag of
linnen of any kind. Some of the china and the principal part of the
pewter is the sum of what he has left, save the Library, which was
packed up corded to ship, but your uncle Jerry and Mr. Austin went to
him and absolutely forbid it, upon his peril."
Another library did not fare so well. At this time disappeared that part
of the Prince collection which had not been used for kindling the fires
in the Old South. With it vanished the Bradford manuscript history of
the Plymouth plantation, which a later generation freely returned.
While the Tories were so carefully looking to the future, the Whigs were
obliged to guard what they could. Newell covers too many incidents with
etceteras, but John Andrews who, as soon as the siege was lifted, was
free to begin again his correspondence, speaks clearly of his
difficulties. Through the siege he had had the care of six houses with
their furniture, and as many stores filled with goods; but now he
underwent more fatigue and perplexity than for the past eleven months,
for "I was obliged," he says, "to take my rounds all day, without any
cessation, and scarce ever fail'd of finding depredations made upon some
one or other of them, that I was finally necessitated to procure men at
the extravagant rate of two dollars a day to sleep in the several houses
and stores for a fortnight[163] before the military plunderers went
off--for so sure as they were left alone one night, so sure they were
plundered." Later he was obliged to pay at the rate of a dollar an hour
for hands to assist him in moving; but "such was the demand for
laborers, that they were taken from me, even at that, by the tories who
bid over me."
So, while the wind continued contrary, the plundering and the
destruction continued. Before long the seashore dwellers might do their
share of rescue, as the articles which were thrown into the
harbor--"mahogany chairs, tables, etc.," records Abigail Adams--were
cast up on the beaches. But one by one the transports filled and dropped
down the harbor, until at last Washington grew impatient, and on the
night of the 16th made his last move. Though the British, aware of the
attempt, fired with their remaining guns all night at Nook's Hill, the
Americans doggedly entrenched without returning a shot, and in the
morning showed a finished redoubt. It was, as Trevelyan well says,
Washington's notice to quit.
Howe meekly accepted it. "At 4 o'clock in the Morn.," writes Lieutenant
Barker, "the troops got under arms, at 5 they began to move, and by
about 8 or 9 were all embarked, the rear being covered by the Grenadiers
and Light Infantry." The ships sailed down the channel, no shot was
fired from the American batteries, and in return the _Fowey_, the last
of the fleet, which Howe had threatened should fire the town before she
departed, carried away with her her "carcases and combustibles," and
Boston stood free and unharmed.
In half an hour the Americans were in possession. From Roxbury a company
of five hundred, picked for the service because they had had the
smallpox, entered the British lines, and manned the fortifications which
looked toward the harbor. In the redoubt at Bunker Hill sentries
appeared to be still doing their duty; but two men who were sent to
reconnoitre found them to be dummies, and signalled their companions to
follow them. General Putnam was given command of the town, from entering
which the army in general, and all civilians, were prohibited until it
was ascertained whether there was danger of smallpox.
Washington's other measures were decisive. He directed Manly, admiral of
his little squadron, to follow the British fleet and cut off as many
vessels as possible. One result of this order gave the greatest
satisfaction. "The brave Captain Manly," wrote Andrews, "has taken the
Brig that contained that _cursed_ villain, Crean Brush, with great part
of the plunder he rob'd the stores of here, that I immagine she must be
the richest vessell in the fleet." Other ships were either similarly
taken, or were forced to put ashore from lack of provision or of
preparation.
Another of Washington's moves was to despatch his five regiments to New
York. They went by way of Norwich, Connecticut, and from there, to save
fatigue and time, were taken by water to the city. They arrived fresh
and ready for the expected struggle, but though they watched long for
the British fleet, it did not come.
Washington's third action was to defend Boston against a possible
return of the British. The "lines" at Boston and Charlestown necks were
demolished, and on the day after the evacuation Putnam and his men were
at work building on Fort Hill a redoubt to command the harbor. With this
and the Dorchester batteries the Bostonians might have been satisfied,
but within a month they began fortifying Noddle's Island against any
possible attempt by sea.
In all these precautions the Americans were hastened by the fact that
the British, though they had left the upper harbor, were still in the
lower, lying off Nantasket. "From Penn's Hill," wrote Abigail Adams to
her husband, "we have a view of the largest fleet ever seen in America.
You may count upwards of a hundred and seventy sail. They look like a
forest." Their stay greatly puzzled Washington: "what they are doing,"
he wrote, "the Lord knows." He was troubled as well. The ten regiments
of militia, which had strengthened his army since the first of February,
had promised to remain only until the first of April, and he knew that
it was "as practical to stop a torrent, as these people, when their time
is up." He therefore feared lest the British, by striking with all their
force upon his rear, might do him great injury.
This was not the first time that Washington, reasoning according to his
own nature, expected from Howe that vigorous action which the British
general was unable to perform. Howe, humiliated as he must have felt at
receiving, while his vessel passed down the harbor, a despatch from the
ministry applauding his decision not to evacuate the town, had no
thought of revenge. He blew up the fortifications at the Castle, and
prepared to destroy the lighthouse, but his purposes in remaining were
to fit his fleet for sea, and to warn those British vessels which were
bound for Boston. Nor had he the slightest intention of seizing New
York. The statements which had come to Washington's ears, that Howe's
destination was Halifax, in spite of the American's incredulity, were
correct. On the 27th of March, ten days after the evacuation, the
greater part of Howe's fleet weighed anchor, and sailed away for
Halifax. His army felt its shame. "I do not know the thing so
desperate," wrote an officer, "I would not undertake, in order to change
our situation."[164] But in spite of the chagrin in the hearts of his
soldiers, and the despair in the breasts of the Tories, few of them ever
looked upon Boston again.
Before this time it had been ascertained that Boston was in no serious
danger from smallpox, and on the 20th the main body of the army marched
into Boston. It was an occasion of great happiness to the inhabitants,
and they "manifested a lively joy." Two days later the town was thrown
open to all comers, and once more, as before the Port Bill, entrance by
land or ferry was free.
The town was speedily examined in all particulars, and those who had
suffered by the siege were encouraged to bring in claims for damages. It
was found that, except for the absolute destruction of buildings for
fuel, the injury to houses was inconsiderable. Where the common soldiers
had lived, interiors were defaced; yet externally the houses of the town
looked much as they had before the siege. Where the officers had lived,
the dwellings had suffered little, and even the homes of the prominent
Whigs had not been injured. Abigail Adams wrote to her husband that
their house was "very dirty, but no other damage has been done to it."
She looked upon it as a new acquisition of property. Washington took
pains to write Hancock, who had been so ready to sacrifice his
belongings to the cause of the country, that his house, and even his
furniture and pictures, had received no damage worth mentioning.
To the immense satisfaction of all Whigs, many military stores were
found in the town. Most important were more than two hundred pieces of
ordnance, the larger part of which, though spiked, could soon be put
into serviceable condition. Balls and shells for the cannon and mortars
were found; provisions, horses and their provender, medicines in
quantity, and many other articles were discovered, amounting in value to
nearly forty thousand pounds. The booty of Brush of course swelled this
amount.
[Illustration: GOLD MEDAL COMMEMORATING WASHINGTON'S VICTORY]
The Whigs now might see their friends again, and for a short time
enjoyed military society of a new sort. John Andrews reports "nothing
but a continual round of company." "Last week," he recorded, "I had the
honor of General Washington with his lady, General Gates, Mr. Custos and
Lady, with aid de Camps, &ca, to dine with me." It was an occasion of
which he boasted to his dying day. In the town, now flooded with
provision, there were many eager to feast Washington.
But he did not tarry long. While Howe and his fleet were in the bay, he
kept his men at work demolishing the British defences against the land,
and strengthening the forts which looked seaward, and he was continually
on his guard against the blow which Howe might deliver. But when the
British had sailed away to the north-east, Washington himself, on the
4th of April, set off for New York.
Howe had nevertheless left vessels at Nantasket Roads, to intercept the
troop-ships and stores which were on their way to him. In this he was
partly successful, for seven ship-loads of Highlanders were by this
means saved from Yankee prisons. But even while the evacuation was in
progress British vessels were captured in the harbor, and now in sight
of the squadron and its Highlanders was taken the richest store-ship
that had yet fallen into American hands. There was a brisk fight, also,
between an American schooner, aground on Shirley Point, and thirteen
boat-loads of men from the war-ships. The boats were beaten off, but
the British had accomplished the death of the captain of the schooner,
America's first naval hero, Mugford of Marblehead.
At length a determined effort was made to drive away the squadron. The
militia was called out, and artillery was carried to islands down the
harbor. There was a brief cannonade between the Americans and the fleet.
Then the British commander, finding his anchorage no longer safe, blew
up the lighthouse and followed Howe to Halifax. This was on the second
anniversary of the enforcement of the Port Bill. Two days later the
remainder of the Highlanders, unsuspiciously entering the harbor, fell
into the hands of the Americans.[165]
The British resentment aroused by this last mischance was mild compared
with the general indignation which burst on Howe's head at his conduct
of the defence of Boston, and his hurried evacuation. The ministry
announced the departure from Boston in the briefest fashion, but were
forced to explain and excuse it in both the Commons and the Lords. "The
General thought proper to shift his position," explained the Earl of
Suffolk to the Lords, "in order, in the first place, to protect
Halifax."[166] But the defence was riddled, Howe's general weakness was
exposed, his neglect to fortify Dorchester was pointed out, and the
English Whigs acutely reasoned that he must have had a virtual agreement
with Washington to purchase the safety of the fleet and army at the
price of immunity to the town. Newspapers and pamphleteers took up the
subject, and Howe was eventually forced to ask for an inquiry into his
conduct of the siege. To his dying day he was severely criticised for
his generalship in America, and especially at Boston.
Of the other British military leaders, not one was successful. Gage was
never again given a command. Burgoyne returned to Boston only as a
prisoner. Clinton for a time commanded in America, but he was recalled.
As for the master whom these generals served, the king who was the cause
of the war, his failure was complete. George III lost not only his
revolted colonies, but also the dearer prize for which he fought,
personal government. When at last peace was signed, the Americans had
gained independence, and the English people had finally established the
supremacy of Parliament. The king might reign, but he could no longer
govern.
The fate of the Tories cannot detain us long, painful as it was. Some
few returned to America after the war, and made again places for
themselves. Among these was Judge Curwen. Some went to England, where
they were out of their element. Dependent for the most part on the
bounty of the crown, they lived in hope of a change of fortune. They
longed for their homes, and sickened for a sight of the New England
country, to them the most beautiful on earth. Many of them were too old
to begin life anew: by the end of the war it was recorded that, of the
Massachusetts Tory leaders, forty-five died in England. One of these was
Hutchinson, upon whose life the best comment is the concluding sentence
of Sabine's brief biography: "I forget, in his melancholy end, all
else."
But numbers of the Tories remained in Canada. Doubtless many were
discouraged from going to England by the reports of the condition of
those already there. "As to your coming here," wrote Governor Wentworth
from London to a friend in New Brunswick, "or any other Loyalist that
can get clams and potatoes in America, they would most certainly regret
making bad worse."[167] On such advice as this many, indeed most, of the
refugees remained in Canada, and after the war, in which many of them
fought, were of great service in building up that country. Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick received the larger number of them; they became
leaders of the bar, judges, physicians, prominent office-holders. It is
not to be denied that among them were suffering and misery; they had
lost much and had to begin again from the bottom, and many succumbed to
the difficulties of the new life. After the war attempt was made to gain
from the United States compensation for their losses; but the new
country was unable even to recompense those who had suffered in its
cause. The loyalists therefore looked to Britain for help, and in some
measure found it, in pensions, grants of money, and holdings of land.
There is much to regret in this emigration, which took from New England
such numbers of men and women of good blood and gentle breeding. For the
Tories were largely of the better class, many of them had been educated
at Harvard, and they represented an element which no community can
afford to lose. Some of the difficulties of the new commonwealths were
due to the loss of the conservative balance-wheel; some further
troubles beset them from the bitterness of feeling in the new colonists
across the border. This has now died away, but boundary and fisheries
disputes long brought out the hostility latent in the descendants of the
Tories.
So much for the losers in the fight. Of the winners, no American needs
to be more than reminded of their fame and their successes. At the siege
Washington made his first claim to fame. He proved his tenacity, his
mastery of men, and the greatness of his resolution and daring. Some of
his generals followed him in his success, some were failures. Lee
attempted treachery, but was finally discarded by both sides. Gates
endeavored to displace Washington, but ruined himself in the attempt.
But most of Washington's other generals were able men. Greene proved
himself to be a military genius second only to Washington. Knox, the
sole Bostonian on Washington's staff, commanded the artillery throughout
the war.
Of the chief Boston politicians, all ended their days honorably. Soon
after the evacuation the body of Warren was sought for among the dead
buried on Bunker Hill. It was found, identified, and entombed at Boston
with solemn mourning. Hancock presently signed his name on the
Declaration of Independence so large that King George could read it
without his spectacles. The Boston merchant served the Continental
Congress for another year as its president; then returning to Boston he
became "King" Hancock, the governor of Massachusetts practically for
life. John Adams passed to greater usefulness as envoy to France, first
minister to Great Britain, and finally as Washington's successor as
President. But to a student of Boston itself the mind dwells most
willingly on Samuel Adams, "the man of the town meeting," who roused the
rebellion, guided it skilfully, served usefully in many public
capacities, and became governor after Hancock's death. His statue stands
to-day in the square named after him, not far from the Old South and the
old Town House, and within sight of Faneuil Hall.
But we trespass beyond the period of this history. When Howe sailed
away, Boston's share in the Revolution was practically ended. No attempt
was made to retake the town, for there could be no profit in gaining
what could not be held. In the remaining years of the war the town had
no more serious duty than fitting out ships of war and privateers, and
of entertaining the officers of the French fleet. But Boston had earned
its rest. For nearly sixteen years the town had stood as the spokesman
for liberty, the leader of revolt. In bringing the country safely
through a critical period, the services of Boston were essential.
FOOTNOTES:
[158] Trevelyan, in concluding that Washington disapproved of this
attack by Putnam, is apparently misled by General Heath's curious habit
of referring to himself in his Memoirs as "Our General." It was Heath
who opposed the project. Against Howe's flimsy defences on the Back Bay,
if weakened of defenders, Putnam might well have prevailed, especially
in a night attack. They were, wrote Edward Bangs, "ill-constructed, and
designed for little but to frighten us." James Warren, who reported on
these works, found them to be very weak. See Frothingham's "Siege," 329.
[159] Frothingham's "Siege," 311.
[160] Eldad Taylor to his wife, Watertown, March 18, 1776.
[161] "Writings," iii, 343.
[162] For this correspondence, see Newell's "Diary," or "Washington's
Writings," iii, 531-533.
[163] It cannot have been more than eleven days.
[164] Frothingham's "Siege," 310.
[165] See concerning these men and their commander the interesting
monograph by Charles H. Walcott: "Sir Archibald Campbell of Inverneil,
sometime Prisoner of War in the Jail at Concord, Massachusetts."
Privately printed.
[166] "The Writings of Washington," iii, 531.
[167] Sabine's "Loyalists," 217.