Boston’s Independence Day: Evacuation Day at 250 (episode 348)

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Jake:
[0:03] Welcome to Hub History, where we go far beyond the freedom trail to share our favorite stories from the history of Boston, the hub of the universe.

Introduction to Independence Day in March

Jake:
[0:14] This is episode 348, Independence Day in March. Hi, I’m Jake. This week I’m talking about Boston’s Independence Day, a holiday we celebrate every year on March 17th as Evacuation Day. In the early months of 1776, the American Revolution was stuck in a freezing, muddy stalemate. For nearly a year, George Washington’s fledgling Continental Army had kept the British regulars pinned inside the city of Boston, but without heavy artillery, they lacked the muscle to actually end the occupation. Washington, frustrated and desperate, even fantasized about a suicidal frontal assault across the ice of the Charles River. But the arrival of Henry Knox and his noble train of artillery, meaning the dozens of cannons that he hauled 300 miles through the winter wilderness from Fort Ticonderoga, flipped the script overnight. This episode explores the high-stakes gambit that followed, the secret overnight fortification. of Dorchester Heights.

Jake:
[1:24] In this episode, we’ll dive into the primary accounts of those who lived through it. From Abigail Adams listening to the earth-shaking roar of a diversionary bombardment, to the British officers who woke up to find a miraculous fortress staring down their throats. You’ll learn how Washington used the best tactics and technology of 18th century military engineering. Like portable bulletproof shields crafted of wicker and dirt known as gabions, fascines, and chandeliers. Pulling off a logistical feat that left the British commander, General William Howe, stunned. It’s a story of military brinksmanship, a providential storm that changed the course of history, and the chaotic and plundering retreat of the British that we remember every March 17th as Evacuation Day. Join me now as we go behind the lines of the first American victory of the War for Independence.

Behind the Scenes of Boston’s History

Jake:
[2:22] But before we talk about Evacuation Day, I just want to pause and say a big thank you to all the listener supporters who make it possible for me to keep making hub history as we head into our 10th year. I love talking about Boston history, and this shows a way to keep me from talking the ears off of everybody around me. I recently found myself going on a 10-minute monologue about the busing crisis to some poor trainee at work who had never heard of it, but happens to live in Southie. To try to keep stuff like that from happening too often, I used to give walking tours of the Back Bay. And after that, I served as a docent at the Shirley Eustace House for a while, before finally landing on the idea of this podcast. This show gives me an outlet to share the history I know, and an excuse to keep learning new stuff about this city that I love. And your support makes this show possible by covering the expenses it takes to make it. So to everybody who’s already supporting the show, thank you. If you’re not yet supporting the show and you’d like to start, it’s easy. Just go to patreon.com slash hubhistory, or visit hubhistory.com and click on the Support Us link. And thanks again to all our new and returning sponsors.

Context of Boston in Early 1776

Jake:
[3:39] To kick us off, here’s a quick reminder of where things stood in Boston in the early months of 1776. The British retreated from Lexington and Concord into the heavily fortified gates of the occupied city of Boston, while the Americans took up strong positions stretching from the Mystic River to the hills near today’s Roxbury Community College, keeping the British trapped inside Boston. There was a series of skirmishes on islands and peninsulas around the harbor in the spring of 1775, and then a climactic battle on June 17th on the slopes of Bunker Hill in Charlestown.

Jake:
[4:19] The British carried the day at Bunker Hill, giving them an outpost outside Boston on the far side of the Charles. The Americans kept close watch on them from Prospect Hill, near Union Square in what’s now Somerville, and both sides settled into static positions that would remain mostly unchanged until the following spring. George Washington took command of this new Continental Army at its headquarters in Cambridge in July of 1775 and immediately recognized that his army was short of many vital supplies, most critically, artillery and gunpowder. He dispatched Boston’s own Henry Knox to Fort Ticonderoga in November on a mission to bring back enough cannons to tip the balance of power in Boston. In the meantime, rations were running low in British-occupied Boston, where the only means of resupply was by ship from across the Atlantic. General Howe, the British commander, waited in hopes that Spring would bring new orders or the reinforcements that he would need to fight his way out of Boston. After confidently predicting that he’d be back in a couple of weeks with all the cannons his general needed, Henry Knox finally arrived in the Continental Camp in Cambridge after just over two months, against all odds having sledded and carted 120,000 pounds of cannons some 300 miles from upstate New York.

Jake:
[5:46] Suddenly, in March of 1776, the stalemate that had dragged on for almost 11 months wasn’t so stale anymore.

Jake:
[5:57] From the moment he assumed command of the army in July, General George Washington had looked out across the Charles River mudflats and at the shallows along either side of Boston Neck and fantasized about an amphibious landing that would use whale boats to ferry his troops across the water to land at the foot of Boston Common, where the barely trained citizen soldiers who didn’t have enough guns or ammunition to go around and had no artillery to support them would somehow force the highly trained and heavily armed British regular troops to surrender. His top officers were able to talk the commander-in-chief out of this plan in a series of councils of war. Throughout the long winter of 1775 into 1776, the commander-in-chief looked out at that same water and wished for it to freeze over so he could send his troops over the ice in a frontal assault. Now that a few months had passed, the Continental soldiers were trained a bit better, and they had more ammunition, thanks to the capture of a British supply ship that you can hear about in Episode 341. Still, though, even when that ice finally formed, Washington’s officers talked him out of a frontal assault against a superior force that was entrenched within a fortified city. After the most recent council of war, Washington griped to Colonel Joseph Reed in a letter dated February 26, 1776.

Jake:
[7:22] About ten days ago, the severe freezing weather formed some pretty strong ice from Dorchester to Boston Neck, and from Roxbury to the Common. This, I thought, knowing the ice could not last, a favorable opportunity to make an assault upon the troops in town. I proposed it in council, but behold, Though we had been waiting all the year for this favorable event, the Enterprise was thought too dangerous.

Washington’s Strategic Decisions

Jake:
[7:51] Perhaps it was. Perhaps the irksomeness of my situation led me to undertake more than could be warranted by prudence. I did not think so, and I’m sure yet that the Enterprise, if it had been undertaken with resolution, must have succeeded. Without it, any would fail. But it is now at an end. And I’m preparing to take post on Dorchester to try if the enemy will be so kind as to come out to us. He didn’t yet know it, but Washington had finally stumbled into a winning strategy to break the siege of Boston. At the time, John Hancock was president of the Second Continental Congress, so he was away in Philadelphia presiding over that body. General Washington had to be in frequent contact with President Hancock to ask for congressional input on strategy and to press them to fulfill their promises of funding and supplies.

Jake:
[8:48] On February 26th, the General wrote to the President, We’re making every necessary preparation for taking possession of Dorchester Heights as soon as possible, with a view of drawing the enemy out. How far our expectations may be answered, only time can determine. But I should think if anything will induce them to hazard an engagement, it will be our attempting to fortify these heights. As on that event’s taking place, we shall be able to command a great part of the town in almost the whole harbor, and to make them rather disagreeable than otherwise, provided we can get a supply of what we greatly want, meaning gunpowder.

Jake:
[9:31] By this time, the British knew that the Continentals finally had artillery, and they knew that if the Americans could emplace that artillery on a hill within range of Boston and its harbor, before British reinforcements could arrive in spring, their only options would be to press an attack on the hill to drive the artillery off it, or to abandon their posts and leave Boston behind. George Washington was betting on a battle, where he hoped to bait the British into a series of frontal assaults on a fortified hilltop position, similar to the Battle of Bunker Hill the previous June. Remember here that Bunker Hill was fought to keep the Patriots from building a strong fort on a height of land that could have threatened the town and harbor with even a few cannons there. Over the next few days, you can practically see the General’s strategy start to take shape in a series of letters and orders. The same day that he wrote to Colonel Reed and President Hancock, the general issued these orders of the day to his army.

Preparations for Dorchester Heights

Jake:
[10:34] The commanding officers of regiments are immediately to order all the axes, pickaxes, spades, shovels, and other entrenching tools now in their possession to be forthwith sent to the Quartermaster General’s store in Cambridge.

Jake:
[10:50] Hmm. So they were gathering picks, shovels, and axes. Sounds like somebody was planning to dig some trenches. Now, over the winter and spring of 1776, John Adams was also in Philadelphia, representing Massachusetts in the Continental Congress that John Hancock was presiding over. This is fortuitous for us, because the Adams family kept seemingly all their letters, and their descendants and a series of archivists have done an amazing job of cataloging and transcribing them all. So the family’s collected letters are a fantastic source of information for any time when Abigail and John were separated. One letter in that collection came from Billy Tudor, another Continental officer who’d clerked for John Adams before becoming a prominent attorney himself, and serving at this time as the judge advocate of the Continental Army. Tudor wrote to his old mentor on February 27th, saying, Preparations have been for some time silently making for an important maneuver, and from the contents of general orders for several days back, the army are in hourly expectation of being called to action. If the past several days of general orders had raised the army’s expectation of being called into action, the next day’s general orders told the soldiers what to expect when that moment came.

Jake:
[12:16] As the season is now fast approaching, when every man must expect to be drawn into the field of action, it’s highly necessary that he should prepare his mind, as well as everything necessary for it. It is a noble cause we are engaged in. It is the cause of virtue in mankind. Every temporal advantage and comfort to us and our posterity depends on 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. This was written a day before Washington’s letter to Phyllis Wheatley, praising the formerly enslaved poet’s talents. Slavery enthusiasts didn’t need to have any internal coherence in their ideology. The orders continue, But it may not be amiss for the troops to know that if any man in action shall presume to skulk, hide himself, or retreat from the enemy without the orders 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.

Jake:
[13:31] At this point, I’ll stop reading every single day’s general orders, but I have to include one more, just because it’s so confidence-inspiring. George Washington’s February 29th general orders to the Continental Army include this gem. The commanding officers of brigades are to order all spears in the several posts and redoubts to be examined, cleaned, and collected in the proper places, and make a return of the number fit for service in each brigade and where deposited.

Jake:
[14:06] So, spears for self-defense and a bullet in the head for retreating? I think all these orders might have had the opposite of the intended effect on their recipients. Would any of that give you the warm and fuzzies?

Anticipation of Conflict

Jake:
[14:20] After all that discussion, the Continentals all knew something was about to happen, and a lot of them also knew, or at least suspected, that Dorchester Heights would be their objective. When and exactly how they’d take Dorchester Heights was on a need-to-know basis, so General Artemis Ward was one of only a handful of officers who were notified by General Washington on March 2nd. The commander sent Ward a note, saying, After weighing all circumstances of tide, etc., and considering the hazard of having the posts on Dorchester Neck taken by the enemy, and the evil consequences which would result from it, the gentlemen here have the opinion that we should go on there Monday night. I give you this early notice of it, you may delay no time in preparing for it, as everything here will be gotten readiness to cooperate.

Jake:
[15:13] Down in Braintree, Abigail Adams didn’t have a need to know, so she didn’t get that tip that General Ward got. But on the same day, March 2nd, she wrote to John that she was impatiently awaiting an American offensive on Boston. It has been said tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow for this month, but when the dreadful tomorrow will be, I know not. But hark, the house this instant shakes with the roar of cannon. I’ve been to the door and find tis a cannonade from our army Orders, I find, are come for all the remaining militia to repair to the lines on Monday night by 12 o’clock No sleep for me tonight.

Jake:
[15:57] She picks up the letter the next day and continues, I went to bed after twelve, but got no rest. The cannon continued firing, and my heart beat apace with them all night. We have had a pretty quiet day, but what tomorrow will bring forth, God only knows. The bombardment that started on the evening of March 2nd continued throughout the next day. And on March 3rd, Washington’s general orders prepared the Continentals for a pitched battle. The commander-in-chief hadn’t been here for the Battle of Bunker Hill, arriving in Cambridge about two weeks later. But he’d served in the Seven Years’ War, and he knew what was coming. Plenty of his soldiers had either seen or even participated in the battle on June 17th, so their March 2nd orders would have been sobering. As it is not unlikely, but a contest may soon be brought on between the ministerial troops and this army, the general flatters himself that every officer and soldier will endeavor to give such distinguished proofs of his conduct and good behavior as becomes men fighting for everything that is dear and valuable to Freeman, remembering at the same time what disgraceful punishment will attend to contrary behavior. Every man’s conduct will be marked and rewarded or punished accordingly, and cowardice in a most exemplary manner.

Jake:
[17:24] Remember the previous orders where that exemplary punishment is spelled out as being summarily shot by your commander for exhibiting cowardice on the field of battle.

Jake:
[17:34] The orders continue. Particular care is to be taken to prevent firing at too great a distance, as one fire well aimed does more execution than a dozen at long shot. All woodcutting parties, etc. are to join their respective regiments until further orders. The quartermaster general may draw the carbines out of the commissary’s stores and put them in the hands of carpenters or such others as he thinks will use them to the best advantage. Taking care to return them when called for. All arms in store fit for use may be delivered out to the Adjutant General’s order. The brigadiers are to see that the arms in their several brigades are disposed of to the best advantage, placing them in the hands of only such men as are fittest for duty, and that the spears are used as occasion shall require to supply the defective arms.

Jake:
[18:30] After a steady artillery barrage on March 2nd and 3rd, the pace of firing only intensified on March 4th. Daniel Sutton was a rifleman in Captain Crescough’s Maryland Company. I couldn’t tell from his diary entry that night exactly where he was along the American lines when the guns opened up that night, but he was close enough to hear the bombardment taking effect in Boston, writing, Oh my God, the wonders of last night. Just as it was dusk, our people let fly at them from all sides and corners. I can’t, it’s impossible that I could describe the situation of this town and all about it. This night you could see the shells, sometimes seven at a time in the air. And as to cannon, the continual shaking of the earth by cannonading dried up our wells. We lost two men this night, but I heard no certainty from Boston’s loss. It must be great, for our cannonballs went bang, every shot through the houses. Besides, most of our bombshells broke about their barracks and in the streets. Another Continental wrote a letter that night, saying, As we are so near the town, every shot from our batteries must take effect. The tumbling I could distinctly hear amongst the houses.

Jake:
[19:59] I’m trying to imagine what it would sound like for solid iron shot to go bouncing down the cobblestone streets of Boston, tumbling into and no doubt through people’s houses. The idea is unsettling. Inside Boston, British Lieutenant John Barker had recently rotated with his company from the forward post at Bunker Hill in Charlestown, back into their winter quarters inside Boston.

The Bombardment Begins

Jake:
[20:24] He arrived just in time to witness the three-day cannonade, writing in his diary.

The British Response

Jake:
[20:34] About 11 o’clock at night, upon a signal being given at Cambridge, the rebels began to bombard the town of Boston, from Phipps Farm, Cobbles Hill, and the heights of Roxbury. They continued throwing in shot and shells till daybreak. The same was returned to them from the lines and the batteries at Barton’s Point. Our shells very bad, most of them bursting in the air, or not at all. The next day continues. March 3rd. At 10 this night, the rebels began again, and a warmer fire was kept up on both sides till daybreak. Very remarkable, no hurt was done, as most of their shot and shells fell in the town. And again, March 4th. The firing began at 7 at night, and continued very hot till daybreak.

Jake:
[21:29] When the sun rose over Boston Harbor the next morning, it shone upon a changed strategic landscape around Boston.

Fortifications Erected Overnight

Jake:
[21:37] The three-day bombardment had been a distraction, forcing the British in Boston to stay undercover and covering any noise that the Continentals made in completing a massive construction project. A letter written by a British officer that was later reprinted in the London paper explains what that construction project was. Though I lost the exact reference when Northern Illinois University changed their online archives. Let that be a lesson to me in relying on links that might change at some point. Luckily, I had an electronic copy of the letter, although not the exact provenance, and the letter’s dated March 5th. This is, I believe, likely to prove as important a day to the British Empire as any in our annals. This morning at daybreak, we discovered two redoubts on the hills on Dorchester Point, and two smaller works on their flanks. They were all raised during the night, with an expedition equal to that of the genie belonging to Aladdin’s wonderful lamp.

Jake:
[22:42] Unlike George Washington, Continental General William Heath was no stranger to Boston’s geography. He was a Jamaica Plain native who rose through the ranks of the Roxbury Militia and now was a brigadier general in the Continental Army. In a memoir that he published over 20 years later, the general described how the redoubts at Dorchester were erected literally overnight. I’ll read the passage and add some color commentary as we go. Perhaps there was never so much work done in so short a space of time. The adjoining orchards were cut down to make the abati. Abati were basically rows of sharpened sticks that were stuck in the dirt at a low angle, so that the pointy end was toward the enemy. Ideally, you’d put them on the uphill side of a ditch, thereby doubling the difficulty for an oncoming enemy. Since the early 20th century, barbed wire and concertina wire have replaced wood abati on the battlefield. If you’re wondering about that word, it’s spelled A-B-A-T-T-I-S. You’re going to hear a lot of French words for 18th century defensive techniques in this week’s episode.

Jake:
[23:59] And when Heath says, adjoining orchards, keep in mind that Roxbury and Dorchester were famous for apple production at the time, being the home of the Roxbury russet cider apple. Heath’s note continues, And a very curious and novel mode of defense was added to these works. The hills on which they were erected were steep and clear of trees and bushes. Rows of barrels filled with earth were placed around the works. Now, these barrels also have a modern equivalent, which are Hesco baskets, these big steel baskets the size of a pallet that are designed to be filled with dirt as a quick and effective defense against bullets and bombs. You would think barrels full of dirt would play the same role in the 18th century battlefield, but Heath says, they presented only the appearance of strengthening the works, but the real design was, in case the enemy made an attack, to have rolled them down the hill. They would have descended with such increasing velocity as must have thrown the assailants into the utmost confusion and have killed and wounded great numbers.

Jake:
[25:11] I’ll also add some commentary to a letter that General Horatio Gates wrote to John Adams on March 8th, where he further describes the logistics that allowed the Continentals to successfully fortify the heights in a single night. A vast quantity of materials being previously collected, especially chandeliers and fascines, our troops were soon covered, and before day began to break ground to thicken their defenses against the enemy’s cannon. Chandeliers and fascines were two parts of a wooden defensive structure. Fascines were bundles of similarly sized small branches tied up tightly, and then chandeliers were wooden frames designed to hold the fascines together to make low walls. They weren’t bulletproof by any means, but if they were built in advance and hauled to the top of Dorchester Heights under the cover of night, they could be quickly erected and used to shore up earthworks and trench lines.

Jake:
[26:14] General Gates’s letter goes on to describe the counterattack that the Continentals had in reserve for the expected British attack on their new fortress, writing, Tuesday morning at sunrise, expecting the enemy would attempt to force our new works upon the heights, everything was prepared for their proper reception. A large body of troops were drawn up near Cambridge River, with orders upon a signal given to embark upon the flat-bottomed boats and in two divisions, push into Boston. But the enemy disappointed us by remaining sullen and sulky in Boston.

Jake:
[26:53] From inside Boston, British Captain Lieutenant Archibald Robertson brought a military engineer’s professional eye to bear on the new defensive works you could see across the harbor. About 10 o’clock at night, Lieutenant Colonel Campbell reported to Brigadier Smith that the rebels were at work on Dorchester Heights. And by daybreak, we discovered that they had taken possession of the two highest hills, the table land between the necks, and run a parapet across the two necks. A parapet, of course, is just a wall. No color commentary really needed there. Besides a kind of redoubt at the bottom of Sentrybox Hill near the neck, the materials for the whole works must have been carried. Chandeliers, facines, gabions, trusses of pressed hay and barrels. A most astonishing night’s work that must have employed from 15,000 to 20,000 men. We’ve already talked about chandeliers and fascines. Gabions were used for a similar purpose. They were tall, cylindrical wicker baskets that could be filled with rocks and soil to provide a quick defensive wall. I actually have photos of some gabions that were created for an event at Fort Ticonderoga a few years back. I’ll include the pictures in this week’s show notes.

Jake:
[28:14] All these defensive measures have been built in secret in the countryside around Boston, out of sight of the British, in the days and weeks before the push onto the heights.

Jake:
[28:25] Now, Captain Lieutenant Robertson might have been impressed by the effort it took to fortify the heights in a single night, but nobody was impressed as General William Howe, the commander-in-chief of all British land forces in North America since General Thomas Gage was dismissed in the fall of 1775. In a letter to John a few days later, Abigail Adams repeated an anecdote that was making the rounds at the time, supposedly originating with a British deserter who’d heard the general say it. Abigail’s letter says, I hear that General Howe said upon going upon some eminence in town to view our troops who had taken Dorchester Hill, unperceived by them till sunrise, My God, these fellows have done more work in one night than I can make my army do in three months.

The British Reaction

Jake:
[29:17] And he might well say so, for in one night, two forts and a long breastworks were sprung up, besides several barracks.

Jake:
[29:27] With a strong fortress having sprung up overnight just outside Boston, seemingly miraculously, everybody expected a counterattack to follow.

Jake:
[29:37] The mere possibility of that counterattack was enough reason for the Continentals to have set their sights on Dorchester Heights in the first place. After all, remember that General Washington had written that he was preparing to take post on Dorchester to try if the enemy will be so kind as to come out to us. For their part, the enemy had the same expectation that they would be going out to meet the Continentals in Dorchester. According to our letter from the British officer with the Lost Providence, the Redcoats were expecting to take the field that night. And because of the significance of that day’s date, they were expecting the Continentals to put up an exceptionally bloody fight.

Jake:
[30:21] From these hills they command the whole town, so that we must drive them from their post or desert the place. The former is determined upon, and five regiments are already embarked. A body of light infantry under the command of Major Musgrave, an excellent officer, and a body of grenadiers are to embark tonight at seven. I think it is likely to be so far a general affair, and that we shall take our share in it. It’s worthwhile to remark with what judgment the leaders of the rebels take advantage of their prejudices and work upon the passions of the mob. This 5th of March is the anniversary of what they call the Bloody Massacre, when, in I think 1769, the king’s troops fired on the people in the streets of Boston.

Jake:
[31:10] Side note, it was actually 1770. If they ever dare stand us, it will be today. But I hope tomorrow to be able to give you an account of their defeat.

Jake:
[31:25] There’s a similar account that I still know the provenance of, one from Lieutenant John Barker of the King’s Own Regiment. His diary entry for March 5th makes it clear that he also expected the counterattack to come that night. The entry was also clearly written the next day, because it includes a detail that the good lieutenant would not yet have known before going to bed on the night of the 5th. This morning, works were perceived to be thrown up on Dorchester Heights, very strong ones, though only the labor of one night. Five regiments embarked and fell down to Castle William. In the night, they were to have attacked on that side, while the grenadiers, light infantry, and some more regiments attacked on the side next to the town. The men were not to load, but to embark with fixed bayonets. In the night, it came on to blow such a gale that no boat could possibly land, which stopped the expedition and gave the rebels time to complete their works and make them too strong to be taken without men than we could spare.

Jake:
[32:30] That must have been written after the fact, to have known about the storm. The Continentals got unbelievably lucky that night. In his memoir, Continental General William Heath credits that storm for preventing the British attack upon the heights. About 3,500 of the British troops, it was said, had been sent down to the castle, with the intent to have made an attack on the Americans. But about midnight, the wind blew almost a hurricane from the south. Many windows were forced in, sheds and fences blown down, and some vessels drove upon shore. And no attempt was made on our works. That same day, Boston merchant John Rowe wrote an entry in his diary that takes no notice of the planned amphibious landing and assault on a fortified hilltop. But it does take notice of the night’s storm. A very severe storm blew down my rail fences on both sides of the front of the house.

Jake:
[33:34] Well, that does sound annoying, John. The first time the Continentals took a hill overlooking Boston and built a fort on top, the resulting battle was one of the bloodiest of the entire war. George Washington knew that fortifying Dorchester Heights would provoke a response from British General Howe, and he was counting on the general to order another frontal assault, like the one at Bunker Hill that had cost over a thousand British casualties in a single afternoon nine months before. This time, though, the elements carried the day. My dad was a big environmentalist, and when he was alive, his email signature said, Mother Nature always bats last. And that’s exactly what happened in March 1776. The idea that a storm, of all things, prevented the British from attacking Dorchester Heights on that first morning, before all the fortifications were complete, is just ludicrous. If it was a plot point in a movie, you wouldn’t believe it. And yet, that’s what happened. I’m not a religious person, but the storm that saved Boston is almost enough to make me have faith in something.

The Storm’s Impact

Jake:
[34:49] With a providential storm delaying a British assault until the Americans had consolidated their defenses at Dorchester Heights and made them virtually impregnable, the British position in Boston was no longer tenable. On March 6th, Lieutenant Barker of the King’s Own wrote, It was determined by a council of war to quit the town. Orders to get ready with all expedition and to take as little baggage as possible. Transports allotted for the troops. The townspeople had liberty to go or stay. Over the next few days, the Redcoats would be in a whirlwind of activity as they prepared for a hasty departure. Inside Boston, they set up a series of last-ditch defenses in case they had to make a combat withdrawal from the town. Trenches were dug across Orange Street, today’s Washington Street, and lined with chavota-free of sharpened sticks to slow down the first Americans to enter the city gates. Large tree limbs were cut down and used to block the narrow streets leading to Long Wharf in hopes that they would slow down any pursuers.

British Preparations for Evacuation

Jake:
[35:57] Barrels filled with horse manure were set up on what’s now State Street to create firing positions where a sacrificial guard could hold out to the last man to buy time for the transports to clear the wharves.

Jake:
[36:10] And, of course, the men of war anchored just offshore carried full complements of incendiary rounds called carcasses that could reduce Boston to a smoldering ash heap in minutes. Basically, the British troops were getting prepared for a last-chopper-out-of-Saigon-type situation.

Jake:
[36:29] A retreat under fire is never ideal, though. So with General Howe’s blessing, a message from the Boston selectmen to George Washington and was passed through the lines under a flag of truce on March 8th. It said, As His Excellency General Howe is determined to leave the town with the troops under his command, a number of the respectable inhabitants, being very anxious for its preservation and safety, have applied to General Robertson for this purpose, who, at their request, has communicated the same to His Excellency General Howe, who has assured him that he has no intention of destroying the town unless the troops under his command are molested during their embarkation or at their departure by the armed force without. Which declaration he gave General Robertson leave to communicate to the inhabitants. If such opposition should take place, we have the greatest reason to expect the town will be exposed to entire destruction. As our fears are quieted with regard to General Howe’s intentions, we beg we may have some assurances that so dreadful a calamity may not be brought on by any measures without.

Jake:
[37:43] In the show notes this week, I’ll include a 2008 article by historian J.L. Bell explaining how annoyed General Howe was that the selectmen addressed their letters to His Excellency Mr. Washington, when His Excellency was usually reserved for somebody with the title of governor or the rank of general. Of course, since he was at the head of a rebel army, His Excellency General Howe couldn’t stomach the idea of addressing George Washington as a general, so he addressed his own letters to Mr. Washington. Luckily, the message to Mr. Washington got through, with the March 14th New England Chronicle reporting, A paper was brought out by a flag of truce, to which was fixed the names of sundry inhabitants, among which were those of some of the late selectmen, advising that they were permitted by General Howe, in behalf of the town, to notify our army that if the firing end of the place was discontinued, the British troops would leave the same in three or four days, without destroying it. So that’s good news.

Tension in Boston

Jake:
[38:51] The two sides would continue trading a few shots along their respective lines, but the heavy guns of Dorchester Heights fell silent, and American shells stopped falling in Boston and among the ships in the harbor. Meanwhile, the British troops in Boston flew into a frenzy of activity, loading everything they could onto ships and destroying everything they could not. While their orders were to secure all the arms, ammunition, and supplies belonging to the army, or the colony’s royal government, the March 11th entry in merchant John Rowe’s diary makes it clear that the lobsterbacks went far beyond what their orders called for. This morning I rose very early, and very luckily went to my warehouse. When I came there, I found Mr. Crane Brush with an order and a party from the general, who were just going to break open the warehouse, which I prevented by sending for the keys and opening the doors. They took from me to the value of 2,260 pounds sterling, according to the best calculations I could make, in linens, checks, cloths, and woolens. All of which are types of fabric and not military supplies, I should note.

Jake:
[40:06] This party behaved very insolently and with great rapacity, and I am very well convinced exceeding their orders to a great degree. They stole many things and plundered my store. Words cannot describe it. I remained all day in the store, but could not hinder their destruction of my goods. They are making the utmost speed to get away and carrying ammunition, cannon, and everything they can away. Taking all things they meet with. Never asking who is owner or whose property. Making havoc in every house and destruction of all kinds of furniture. Never was such destruction and outrage committed any day before this.

Jake:
[40:51] Across the harbor, and part of Braintree that’s now Quincy, Abigail Adams was also closely watching the movements of the British troops in Boston. In other letters, she worries about the possibility that the movements and apparent preparations that she could observe were all part of an elaborate hoax to draw the Continentals into an ambush. In a couple of minutes, you’ll hear that some of the top Continental officers were worried about the same thing, so no shade to Abigail. In a March 16th letter to John, however, she was more optimistic. There has been some movement among the ministerial troops as if they meant to evacuate the town of Boston.

Observations from Abigail Adams

Jake:
[41:33] Between 70 and 80 vessels of various sizes are gone down and lay in a row in fair sight of this place. All of which appear to be loaded, and by what can be collected from our own observations and from deserters, they have been plundering the town.

Jake:
[41:49] Speaking of plundering, poor John Rowe only enjoyed one night of relative peace. After his March 11th diary entry complaining about the destruction and outrage committed against him, he had some more complaints about the Redcoats. On March 13th, he wrote, The confusion still continues, and plundering of houses, etc., is increasing. The sailors from the ships have broke open my stores on my wharf and plundered them. This was done at noon this day. The next day’s entry continues along the same lines, noting, March 14th. This night, much damage has been done to many houses and stores in this town, and many valuable articles stolen and destroyed. They stole out of William Perry’s store a quantity of tea, rum, and sugar to the value of 120 pounds sterling. Mr. Samuel Quincy’s house broke in a great destruction. The Reverend Walters, also the Reverend Dr. Caners, and many others.

Jake:
[42:55] The British weren’t done, however, and the next entry from March 15th continues the inventory of plunder and destruction. This night, my store on the Long Wharf broke open, and almost a hogshead of sugar and a hogshead of ware stole. After dinner, Captain Haskins gave me notice that several officers were in Mr. Hooper’s house, committing violence and breaking everything left.

Escalating Plundering by British Troops

Jake:
[43:19] They broke a looking glass over the chimney, which cost 20 guineas. Such barbarous treatment is too much for even the most patient man to bear.

Jake:
[43:29] Finally, the merchant’s diary records the last time his warehouses were looted in an entry dated March 16th. The troops are getting everything in order to depart. My store on Long Wharf broke open again this night. The behavior of the soldiers is too bad. It is almost impossible to believe it. Across the water in Braintree, Abigail Adams could plainly see the plunder and destruction in Boston that went far beyond loading up military supplies. In another letter to John on March 17th, she wrote, Some of the selectmen have been to the lines and informed that they have carried off everything that they could possibly take. And what they could not, they have burnt, broke, or hove into the water. This is, I believe, fact. Many articles of good household furniture having in the course of this week come on shore at Great Hill, both upon this and the Weymouth side. Lids of desks, mahogany chairs, tables, etc.

Jake:
[44:33] Great Hill’s on the West Agusset Peninsula with the Fore River dividing Braintree from Weymouth on one side and then the Back River dividing Weymouth from Hingham on the other. If good mahogany furniture was washing up there, it was a sign that a lot of stuff from Boston was getting dumped into the water. Way beyond just weapons and military supplies.

The Final Days in Boston

Jake:
[44:55] Meanwhile, back in Boston, the British troops were eager to leave, now that they’d packed up all their gear and everything else that they could get their hands on to steal. The diary of British Lieutenant Barker gives us some sense of the frustration they felt as they waited nervously for a favorable wind that could blow their transports out of the inner harbor, and they nervously watched the muzzles of the cannons above them on the heights of Dorchester. The officer wrote, March 14th. We’re to have embarked last night, but the wind came against us. March 15th. The wind being fair at 12 o’clock in the day, the troops were ordered under arms in order to embark. But after waiting some time, returned to their quarters, the wind having shifted.

Jake:
[45:45] March 16. Still detained by the wind. Finally, his next entry records a shift in the winds that allowed the British troops and the ships carrying them to slowly move away from the wharves of Boston’s waterfront. March 17. At four o’clock in the morning, the troops got under arms. At five, they began to move, and by about eight or nine, were all embarked, the rear being covered by the grenadiers and light infantry. The rebels did not think proper to molest us. We quitted Boston with a fair wind and sailed down to King’s Road, which is just below Castle William.

Jake:
[46:26] By the time Lt. Barker and his company boarded their transports, the Redcoats had given up on the idea of fighting back against the Americans, either through a bombardment or an amphibious landing.

Jake:
[46:38] Brigadier General John Sullivan of New Hampshire was among the Continentals who were keeping a close watch on British movements to make sure they were really leaving. After the artillery barrage that covered the American movement onto Dorchester Heights, he recorded the futility of British countermeasures in his diary. The enemy, after having been severely handled by our shot and shells for a few nights, found us in full possession of Dorchester Heights. This threw them into the utmost consternation. They endeavored to elevate their cannons so as to breach our works by sinking the hind wheels of the cannon into the earth. But after an unsuccessful fire of about two hours, they grew weary of it and desisted. They then ordered Lord Percy with 3,000 troops on board the transports and to proceed to the castle, from whence he was to come and attack our works on the south, while the grenadiers and light infantry were to land from Boston on the north point of Dorchester, called Nuke Point, and attack our lines from the other side. But the renowned Lord Percy disappointed us, for he took a multiplying glass and viewed our people from the castle and made them 50,000, when, in fact, we only sent our 4,000. This prevented their attack and deprived us the pleasure of walking the streets of Boston for that time.

Jake:
[48:01] So the British couldn’t elevate their guns high enough to bring effective fire against the American Battery on Dorchester Heights, and their attempted counterattack was thwarted by the providential storm that blew through Boston Harbor. By the time the weather cleared, the continental positions on the heights were too strong for an assault to succeed, and it quickly became clear to outside observers that the British would have to abandon Boston.

The Evacuation Process

Jake:
[48:25] General Washington’s orders to the Continentals for March 13th cautioned against a hasty entry into Boston. As the ministerial troops in Boston, both from information and appearance, are preparing to evacuate that town, the General expressly orders that neither officer nor soldier presume to go into Boston without leave from the General-in-Chief at Cambridge, or the commanding general at Roxbury as the enemy with a malicious assiduity have spread the infection of the smallpox through all parts of the town. Nothing but the utmost caution on our part can prevent that fatal disease from spreading through the army and the country to the infinite detriment of both. His Excellency expressly commands every officer to pay the exactance obedience to this order.

Jake:
[49:15] At the same time that the Continental Army was cautiously moving in to occupy the town the Brits were abandoning, exiles and refugees had been forced to flee the city during the siege were trying to return. All were eager to see if their homes and possessions had been spared by the larcenous redcoats, but not everyone would be allowed to return just yet. In a March 17th letter to John, Abigail Adams mentions that our people will have liberty to enter Boston, those who have had the smallpox.

Jake:
[49:47] I think General George Washington’s fears that the British had spread smallpox maliciously were unfounded. Earlier in the Siege of Boston, his letters and orders mentioned smallpox several times, almost always followed by an accusation that the British were sending infected Bostonians out of the city in a deliberate attempt to infect the surrounding American army. Smallpox was no small passing concern. For generations, the deadly disease had been known as the speckled monster, with outbreaks killing dozens or even hundreds as they moved from town to town. Inoculation to prevent smallpox had only been practiced in British North America for barely over 50 years at that point. Luckily, the practice had been pioneered in Boston, so Massachusetts and New England had the most immunity per capita of any region in the colonies. Still, there was reason for caution, as the Continental Army’s general orders for March 19th remind us. All officers, soldiers, and others are positively forbid from going into the town of Boston without a pass, or being sent expressly upon duty. As soon as the selectmen report the town to be cleansed from infection, liberty will be given to those who have business there to go in. The inhabitants belonging to the town may be permitted to return to their habitations, proper persons being appointed at the Neck and Charlestown Ferry to grant them passes.

Jake:
[51:17] Reporting from inside the town of Boston, John Rowe’s diary entry for March 17th records the first Continental troops who entered the town. About noon, General Putnam and some troops came into the town to the great joy of the inhabitants that remained behind. Rowe’s diary also notes that George Washington and his command staff visited Boston the next day. General John Sullivan watched the same events unfold, but he was outside the city, watching the movements of the British through a spyglass from a post along the banks of the Mystic River in today’s Somerville. His unit was in the closest American post to the British outpost on Bunker Hill, watching closely for any attempt by the Redcoats to break out of the Charlestown Peninsula. In a letter to John Adams written the next day, Sullivan recalls, We saw the ships underway about eight in the morning, and the river full of boats with armed soldiers.

Jake:
[52:16] This gave an alarm as some suspected they were about to land at Dorchester, but having a full view of them with a glass from Plowed Hill, I found they were going on board the ships. I then took my horse and rode down to Charlestown Neck, where I had a clear view of Bunker’s Hill. I saw the sentries standing as usual with their firelocks shouldered, but finding they never moved, I soon suspected what regiment they belonged to, and upon taking a clear view with my glass, found there were only effigies set there by the flying enemy. This convinced me that they were actually fled, for if they meant to decoy us, they would have taken away every appearance of men.

Jake:
[52:58] By this time, I was joined by Colonel Mifflin, who, with my brigade major, agreed to go up. Sending two persons around the works to examine whether there was any of them in the rear of the works while we went up the front, I at the same time sent for a strong party to follow us up the hill to assist us in running away if necessary. We found no persons there and bravely took a fortress defended by lifeless sentries. I then brought on the party to secure what we had so bravely won and went down to the other works, where we found all abandoned, but the works not injured in any part. We hailed the ferry boat, which came over and informed us that they had abandoned the town. We then gave information to the general, who ordered me with the troops under my command to take possession of Charlestown, and General Putnam with 2,000 men to take possession of the works in Boston.

Jake:
[53:55] The next week’s edition of the Patriot newspaper, the New England Chronicle, published on March 21st, reported on the events of March 17th, including the first troops to enter Boston through the gates at Boston Neck, the very same gates they’d watched for months from the Roxbury Lines, expecting a counterattack at any moment. The troops in the river, which were commanded by General Putnam, landed at Sewell’s Point.

Jake:
[54:22] That means basically Kenmore Square, or at least as close as you could get to Kenmore Square before the mudflats were filled in over 50 years later, where they received intelligence that all the British troops had left Boston, on which a detachment was sent to take possession of the town, while the main body returned up the river. About the same time, General Ward, attended by about 500 troops from Roxbury under the command of Colonel Ebenezer Learned, who unbarred and opened the gates, entered the town on that quarter, Ensign Richards carrying the standard. Command of the whole being then given to General Putnam, he proceeded to take possession of all the important posts, and thereby became possessed in the name of the 13 United Colonies of North America, of all the fortresses in that large and once populous and flourishing metropolis, which the flower of the British Army, headed by an experienced general and supported by a formidable fleet of men of war, had, but an hour before, evacuated in the most precipitant and cowardly manner. God grant that the late worthy inhabitants, now scattered abroad, may speedily reoccupy their respective dwellings, and never more be disturbed by the cruel hand of tyranny.

Jake:
[55:41] That description probably wouldn’t pass muster under modern editorial practices, but the New England Chronicle didn’t concern itself with fair and balanced coverage. If they saw the cruel hand of tyranny, they called it a cruel hand of tyranny. One edifice in Boston was surprisingly undisturbed by that cruel hand of tyranny during the siege. John Hancock, one of the richest men in the British American colonies, owned a mansion on Beacon Hill that was considered one of the finest homes in Massachusetts. Mr. Hancock had been out of town in Lexington when the war started, and he basically went straight from there to Philly to serve in the Continental Congress. Since May of 1775, he had been very publicly serving as president of that body, making him a target for the Redcoats. Hearing how badly the soldiers plundered John Rowe’s warehouses during the days before the evacuation, and remembering that the British had taken out their aggressions by tearing down the North Square Meeting House to use as firewood, and converting Old South to a riding school, you might have expected them to have robbed or even burned John Hancock’s mansion. And yet George Washington was able to report to him in a March 19th letter.

The Calm After the Storm

Jake:
[56:59] Sir, it is with the greatest pleasure that I inform you that on Sunday last, the 17th instant, about 9 o’clock in the forenoon, the ministerial army evacuated the town of Boston, and that the forces of the United Colonies are now in actual possession thereof. I beg leave to congratulate you, sir, and the Honorable Congress on this happy event, and particularly as it was affected without endangering the lives and property of the remaining unhappy inhabitants. The town, although it has suffered greatly, is not in so bad a state as I expected to find it, and I have a particular pleasure in being able to inform you, sir, that your house has received no damage worth mentioning. Your furniture is in tolerable order and the family pictures are all left entire and untouched.

Jake:
[57:53] The Continentals had steeled themselves to withstand a frontal assault by the British Army, one of the most disciplined, best-trained infantries in the world. The Redcoats had defeated the fearsome French in a global war just 13 years before, with bloody battles from the Pennsylvania frontier to the gates of Prague to the streets of Calcutta. Bunker Hill, in June of 1775, had taught the Continentals what it would take to defeat the regulars in a pitched battle. That hot June day had proved a victory, but a costly one. Everyone from George Washington to the humble privates of the Massachusetts line expected Dorchester Heights to be a rematch. So when the British troops packed up and left instead, everyone was stunned.

Jake:
[58:42] On the morning of Monday, March 18th, Abigail Adams wrote to John, A fine, quiet night. No alarms, no cannon. The more I think of our enemies quitting Boston, the more amazed I am that they should leave such a harbor, such fortifications, such entrenchments, and that we should be in peaceable possession of a town which we expected would cost us a river of blood, without one drop shed. Surely it’s the Lord’s doing, and it’s marvelous in our eyes. Every foot of ground which they obtain now they must fight for, and may they purchase it at a Bunker Hill price.

Jake:
[59:28] Still, there was reason for caution. After the troops boarded their transports at Long Wharf, the ships all made sail and pulled slowly away from the docks of Boston. They didn’t go far, though. That first night, they made anchor in King’s Road, a channel in the harbor between Deer Island and Long Island, with an easy sight of downtown Boston. We call the channel President’s Road today. Abigail Adams wrote, From Penn’s Hill, we have a view of the largest fleet ever seen in America. You may count upwards of 170 sail. They look like a forest. Penn’s Hill was a short walk from John and Abigail’s house, and it was where she and John Quincy had watched in horror as the Battle of Bunker Hill unfolded in the distance.

Destruction of Castle William

Jake:
[1:00:26] After a few days, a party of engineers landed on Castle Island on March 20th. We all picture Fort Independence at Castle Island, but that fort is a later creation. In 1776, the fort there was called Castle William, after William of Orange, and it had been a symbol of royal authority and the seat of military power in Boston since it was built in the 1690s. While the garrison of the fort boarded their transport ships, the engineers spent about four hours laying over 63 naval mines within the stone walls of the fort. At about 8 p.m., those mines were detonated, destroying much of the main fort structure. A rear guard landed back on the island again after the explosion, and they set fire to the barracks and other wooden structures that were outside the main walls of the fort. Among the engineers who helped to lay the mines was Captain Lieutenant Archibald Robertson, and the New York Public Library has an amazing ink sketch he created of the remains of the castle in flames. I’ll link to an online copy in the show notes this week.

Jake:
[1:01:41] After the castle was detonated, the fleet moved out to the outer harbor to another channel, known as Nantasket Road, which is sheltered between George’s Island, Pettix Island, Rainsford Island, and Allerton Point and Hull. Even that didn’t last too long, with merchant John Rowe noting in his diary on March 27th, This afternoon, all the fleet sailed from Nantasket Road but three, which is supposed to be men of war. Our next episode will dig into the details of where the fleet went, And what happened to all the loyalist civilians who decided to leave Boston alongside the king’s troops?

Jake:
[1:02:21] As the British fleet, or at least most of it, sailed off into the sunrise, the last vestiges of George III’s authority in Massachusetts sailed with it. Our colony had been effectively governing itself since the formation of the Massachusetts Congress 18 months before.

The Aftermath of Evacuation

Jake:
[1:02:38] Now, enthusiastic Bostonians began calling for a formal declaration of that independence. In a letter dated March 23rd, Joseph Ward, a cousin and secretary to General Artemis Ward, wrote to John Adams, urging the Continental Congress to take action. I think the flight of the British fleet and army before the American arms must have a happy and very important effect upon the great cause we are engaged in and greatly facilitate our future operations. I wish it may stimulate the Congress to form an American government immediately. If, after all our exertions and successes, while Providence offers us freedom and independence, We should receive the cloven foot of King George to rule us here again. What will posterity, what will the wise and virtuous through the world say of us? Will they not say unjustly that we were fools who had an inestimable prize put into our hands, but had no heart to improve it?

Jake:
[1:03:40] Eight days later, Abigail Adams sat down and wrote a letter to her husband, in which she famously said, Remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Somewhat less famously, she started that passage by writing, I long to hear that you’ve declared an independency. The continental victory at Boston was inspiring dreams of independence that would be realized for the rest of the colonies on July 4th, 1776.

Boston’s Early Independence

Jake:
[1:04:13] We just got there about four months early in Boston.

Jake:
[1:04:18] While General Putnam had led an American column into Boston on evacuation day and General Washington paid a visit shortly after, it took a few days to put together a plan for how the Continental should occupy a city that had just been an enemy stronghold, but was now once again in friendly hands. The Continental’s general orders for March 20th said.

Jake:
[1:04:42] Whitcomb’s, Phinney’s, and Hutchinson’s regiments are to march into Boston this day and remain there until further orders. They are to guard the town and the public stores there, and do all such fatigue and other duties as the general commanding there thinks proper to order. Every possible precaution will be taken to destroy the infection of the smallpox. The posts on Bunkers Hill, Breed’s Hill, and Charlestown Ferry are to be garrisoned by Colonel Waldron’s regiment, who is to take a special care that the abatee, picketing, etc. are preserved in Tyre. The quartermaster general is to see that Byrewood or Coles is immediately laid in for the supply of those posts. The commissary general has orders immediately to lay in a proper supply of provisions for the garrisons of Boston, Bunkers Hill, and Dorchester Heights. The outward-facing fortifications at Charlestown were maintained, even down to making sure that the barriers and obstacles set up by the British stayed in place to protect against those same British troops returning. At the same time, the defenses at Boston Neck were being torn down. The trenches were filled in and the obstacles were pulled up, symbolically rejoining Boston’s Shawmut Peninsula with the Massachusetts mainland outside the city gates.

The New Order in Boston

Jake:
[1:06:04] On March 20th, General George Washington issued a proclamation that went far beyond his daily general orders, laying the groundwork for how the soldiers who’d been in the hills around Boston for most of the past year should interact with the civilians who’d been suffering within the city. All officers and soldiers are hereby ordered to live in the strictest peace and amity with the inhabitants, and no inhabitant or other person employed in his lawful business in the town is to be molested in his person or property on any pretense whatever. If any officer or soldier shall presume to strike, imprison, or otherwise ill-treat any of the inhabitants, they may depend on being punished with the utmost severity. And if any officer or soldier shall receive any insult from any of the inhabitants he is to seek redress in a legal way and no other.

Jake:
[1:07:00] For an explanation of why dueling was outlawed and despised in Massachusetts, see episode 216. The General continues, Any non-commissioned officer, soldier, or others under my command who shall be guilty of robbing or plundering in the town are to be immediately confined and will be most rigidly punished. All officers are thereby ordered to be very vigilant in the discovery of such offenders and report their names in crime to the commanding officer in the town as soon as may be. The inhabitants and others are called upon to make known to the quartermaster general or any of his deputies all stores belonging to the ministerial army that may be remaining or secreted in the town. Any person or persons whatever that shall be known to conceal any of the said stores or appropriate them to his or their own use will be considered as an enemy of America and treated accordingly. The selectmen and other magistrates of the town are desired to return to the commander-in-chief the names of all or any person or persons they may suspect of being employed as spies upon the Continental Army, that they may be dealt with accordingly.

Jake:
[1:08:15] All officers of the Continental Army are enjoined to assist the civil magistrates in the execution of their duty, and to promote peace and good order. They are to prevent, as much as possible, the soldiers from frequenting tippling houses and strolling from their posts. Particular notice will be taken of such officers as are inattentive and remiss in their duty, and on the contrary, such only who are active and vigilant will be entitled to future favor and promotion.

Jake:
[1:08:46] Now we’ve heard general orders to guard the public stores in Boston, and the General’s proclamation cautioning troops that they would be considered an enemy of America if they tried to make off with any of those stores. So, what kind of stores were found in Boston? As always, cannons and gunpowder were among the most sought-after treasures for the Americans. While they were able to recover some cannonballs and some shells from batteries on Copse Hill, Beacon Hill, and Boston Neck, the Redcoats had been pretty diligent about taking almost all their gunpowder with them. The Continentals were able to recover dozens of cannons that had been left behind. Pretty much the only ones that were useful were a handful that had been dumped into the shallow water around the wharves in downtown Boston. Almost all the rest were useless, as the British had disabled any guns they weren’t able to take with them. In batteries all over town, field guns, mortars, and heavy cannons had been abandoned. But the Redcoats had either broken off the trunnions, which are the little swivels cast into either side of a gun tube to allow it to be mounted on a carriage, or they’d been spiked, which refers to driving a large nail into the touch hole, where a gunner would like to powder inside. You drive a nail tightly into the hole, you cut it off flush with the cannon tube, and then the canon’s useless for the next person who comes along and finds it.

Jake:
[1:10:14] While there wasn’t much in the way of guns or powder, Boston held a veritable treasure trove of other supplies for the resource-poor Continental Army. There were vast quantities of salt, sugar, molasses, wheat, corn, and oats. Hungry American horses would appreciate those oats, along with a meager store of hay that was recovered, along with hundreds of saddles, pack saddles, and assorted leather tack. The Americans found miles of lumber, shingles, and wooden siding, plus enough tools to allow them to build a whole new city.

Jake:
[1:10:50] During the siege, and especially after the Battle of Bunker Hill, the British had used the converted Boston Workhouse as a hospital. The interior was chaos when the First Continental searched it, with papers, bandages, medicines, and other potentially useful items scattered all over the beds and floors.

Jake:
[1:11:10] After the initial search, the surgeon of the main Continental Hospital in Watertown was called in to review the supplies. That surgeon was Harvard Medical School founder John Warren, and he later gave a sworn deposition accusing the retreating British of deliberately contaminating the medicines and supplies they left behind with arsenic in an attempt to poison any Continentals who wanted to use them. There were even entire ships that had been left behind in the evacuation after entire crews deserted rather than sailing off for the British fleet. Some of these ships had been intentionally sunk, but others were left loaded, provisioned, and ready to sail away.

Recovery of Supplies

Jake:
[1:11:54] There were cargoes of barrel hoops, oil, coal, salt, and other useful supplies. The Americans didn’t find much in the way of medicine, weapons, or gunpowder, but the food, tools, and other military stores they were able to recover would prove valuable, both for the units who would stay on to garrison Boston in case of a future attack, and the Corps of the Army that would march on to New York.

Jake:
[1:12:21] News of the victory at Boston finally made its way to Philadelphia, where John Adams was hard at work in the Continental Congress trying to get the army and his home colony the resources they needed to drive the British out. When he was advised of the American triumph, he wrote to Abigail on March 29th, I give you joy of Boston and Charlestown once more the habitations of Americans. I can think of nothing but fortifying Boston Harbor. I want more cannon than are to be had. I want a fortification upon Point Alderton, one upon Lovell’s Island, one upon George’s Island, several upon Long Island, one upon the moon, one on Squantum. I want to hear of half a dozen fireships and two or three hundred fire rafts prepared. I want to hear of rogue alleys, floating batteries built, and booms laid across the channel in the narrows. No efforts and no expense are too extravagant for me to wish for to fortify that harbor so as to make it impregnable.

Jake:
[1:13:26] Finally, in June, the last of the British ships were forced out of the harbor. Fulfilling John Adams’ wish to make the harbor impregnable, several hundred continental troops and a few hundred more local militia began fortifying the heights at Pettix Island, Long Island, Hull, and other easy-to-reach points on the evening of June 13. Putting their artillery well within range of any ships remaining in Nantasket Road. The next morning, those guns opened up on the British ships, and one by one they hoisted their sails and started moving on down the harbor. One of the last to depart stopped off at Little Brewster Island, stuffed the lighthouse there full of gunpowder, and then set it on fire, blowing up the 60-year-old Boston Light as they made their retreat. You can listen to our recent episode, 332, to hear more about that incident.

Celebrating Boston’s Independence

Jake:
[1:14:21] So this St. Patrick’s Day, remember that we have something bigger to celebrate than green beer and shamrocks. We’re celebrating the early independence of Boston, Massachusetts, and New England, thanks to the leadership of George Washington, the ingenuity of Henry Knox, and the valor of the citizen-soldiers of the Continental Army and the Massachusetts militia. The heart of that celebration will be a parade that winds its way through South Boston, from Andrews Square to Broadway. So, if Henry Knox’s cannons were emplaced on Dorchester Heights, why is the parade in Southie? Well, in 1804, the independent town of Dorchester ceded the section of the town known as Dorchester Neck and Dorchester Heights to Boston, while the rest of the town waited until 1869 to vote to be annexed by Boston then. Most years, Dorchester Heights and Boston’s bloody fight for independence are forgotten amongst the silliness of a South Boston St. Patrick’s Day. Let’s hope that this year, on the 250th anniversary, we can find time to remember Evacuation Day as well.

Jake:
[1:15:32] To learn more about Evacuation Day in Boston, check out this week’s show notes at hubhistory.com slash 348. I’ll have plenty of primary sources for you to review this week. I originally intended for this episode to come out on March 8th, and I think this is the first time in almost a decade of making this podcast that I’ve ever missed a release date for an episode. The problem is, there are just so many great sources and so many things I wanted to say about Evacuation Day. I just couldn’t get this out the door in time. So, in the show notes, I’ll have links to George Washington’s correspondence and general orders that are provided by the Founders Online Project or the National Archives, the letters of John and Abigail Adams collected by the Mass Historical Society, March 1776 newspapers also collected by the MHS, and the journals of John Rowe, John Barker, and Daniel Sutton, all of which are scanned and available online. I’ll make sure to include some 1775 maps so you can see the disposition of the troops around Boston and exactly how Dorchester Heights overlooked the town. I’ll also include some images of the view of Boston from Dorchester Heights, gabions created at Fort Ty, and several period images showing the construction and eventual destruction of Castle William at Castle Island.

Jake:
[1:16:59] If you’d like to get in touch with us, you can email podcasts at hubhistory.com. I still have profiles for Hub History on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and as at hubhistoryatbetter.boston on Mastodon. Lately, though, the only social media site where I actively post and regularly interact with people is Blue Sky. You can find me sharing historic facts and complaining about contemporary politics on Blue Sky as at hubhistory.com. If, like most of my friends and just about everybody I know, you’re trying to spend less time on social media, just go to hubhistory.com and click on the Contact Us link. While you’re on the site, hit the Subscribe link, and be sure that you never miss an episode. If you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, please consider writing us a brief review. If you do, drop me a line, and I’d love to send you a Hub History sticker as a token of appreciation. That’s all for now. Stay safe out there, listeners.