Bostonnd the American Revolution

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Official National Park Handbook

Bostonand the American Revolution

Boston National Historical ParkMassachusetts

Produced by theDivision of PublicationsNational Park Service

U.S. Department of the InteriorWashington, D.C.

National Park Handbooks are published to supportthe National Park Service's management programsand to promote understanding and enjoyment ofthe more than 370 National Park System sites thatare important examples of our nation's natural andcultural heritage. Each handbook is intended to beinformative reading and a useful guide before, dur-ing, and after a park visit. They are sold at parksand can be purchased by mail from the Superinten-dent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Of-fice, Washington, DC 20402-9325. This is handbook146.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataBoston and the American Revolution/Boston National His-torical Park, Boston, Massachusetts; produced by the Divi-sion of Publications, National Park Service, U.S. Departmentof the Interior, Washington, D.C.p. cm.

(National park handbook series; 146)Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 0-912627-65-41. Boston (Mass.)HistoryRevolution, 1775-1783.2. Freedom Trail (Boston, Mass.) I. Boston National Histori-cal Park (Boston, Mass.) II. United States. National Park Ser-vice. Division of Publications. III. Series: Handbook (UnitedStates, National Park Service, Division of Publications); 146.F73.B755 1998974.4'6102dc21 98-4483 CIP

Parti A Revolutionary EraBy Barbara Clark Smith

PUBUC DOCUMENTSDEPOSITORY ITEM

Foreword 6Boston in the Empire 9Prologue to Revolution 23New Controversies, 1766-70Trouble Brewing 43"Now We are Enemies" 53

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Part 2 Travels in Historic BostonBy Susan Wilson

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Introducing Boston National HistoricalPark 76Where Revolution Began: An Overviewof the Freedom Trail 79Revolution of Minds and Hearts 80The People Revolt 84Neighborhood of Revolution 88Boston Goes to War 90Related Massachusetts Sites 92

Index 94

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Domestic ware, like this "NoStamp Act" teapot, often car-ried propaganda messagesprior to the Revolution. Thebackground image is part ofa panoramic view of Bostonin 1769.

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Preceding pages: Colonialprotests of oppressive Britishlaws took many forms. Oneof the most popular practiceswas to tar and feather gov-ernment agents responsiblefor enforcing the regulations.One such incident, involvingJohn Malcolm, a customs of-ficial, in January 1774, is sati-rized in this cartoon pro-duced in England entitled "ANew Method of MacaronyMaking as practiced in Bos-ton in North America. " Mer-chant seamen (in stripedtrousers) figure prominentlyin the crowd.

ForewordTo travel back to Revolutionary Bostonto under-stand the people, events, and ideals of more than twocenturies agois a great leap for us today. But thesites along the Freedom Trail do speak eloquently ofthat timea time when Boston was not a sprawlingmetropolis but a moderate-sized seaport. Still, weneed to look beyond what lies before our eyes,because 18th-century Boston was very different fromthe city we see today. Engineers had not yet recon-figured the landscape, and the town was confined toa peninsula, connected with the rest of the provinceof Massachusetts only by a narrow strip of land,called "the Neck" at Roxbury. In 1765, roughly15,000 people lived on that peninsula in nearly 1,700houses, mostly wooden structures crowded along thecrooked, narrow streets and alleyways.Walking the streets of 1765, visitors saw a busy and

varied scene. There was the densely settled NorthEnd, Boston's first real neighborhood, where sailorsand maritime artisans clustered. In the middle oftown were shops, dwellings, and prominent publicbuildingsmost notably the Old State House (thenknown as the Towne House) where the governingbodies of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and thetown convened. In front of the Old State House,State Street (then called King Street) ran east toLong Wharf, which reached out a half-mile into theharbor to welcome ships of all sizes. Boston alsoboasted impressive Georgian mansions. Especially inthe southern wards and west near the Common, thetown's well-to-do merchants and government offi-cials resided in brick houses with spacious privategardens. Everywhere church spires pierced the sky-line, reflecting the town's founding in religious fer-vor, while stores, workshops, wharves, and warehous-es marked the area as a bustling commercial center.Boston had an excellent harbor. In a very real

sense, the town faced out toward the Atlantic. Theocean was the great highway of the 18th century. Itdid not isolate Bostonians but connected them toothers. By mid-century, Boston ships sailed to therich fishing banks off Nova Scotia, to the West Indi-an sugar islands, to continental colonies along thecoast to Georgia, to southern Europe, and to variousport cities of Great Britain.With all of these parts of the Atlantic world, Bosto-

nians had important economic dealings. With Eng-

land, however, they felt a deeper tie as well, for Mass-achusetts was a colony of Great Britain. Britain wasthe source of political liberty, the mother country,and, as many called it, home. In 1750, few Bostoniansimagined looking for liberty by separating fromBritain. They did not imagine independence.Within two decades of 1750, however, Bostonians

were resisting the policies of the British government.Quickly, their resistance turned to revolution. In thespan of a generation, they came to see themselvesand their society in a new way. Today the sites ofBoston National Historical Park include the scenesof critical events in the story: resolutions in defenseof colonial rights made in town meetings at FaneuilHall; the Boston Massacre in front of the Old StateHouse; mass assemblies at Old South Meeting Housethat preceded the Boston Tea Party; the battle atBunker Hill and the occupation of DorchesterHeights. What brought Americans to these sites onthese occasions? The answer lies partly in the acts ofBritish authorities, whose policies aroused a ferventopposition. It lies, too, in the townspeople's mostbasic beliefs and cherished ideals, most especially anotion of "liberty" that was precious not only to18th-century Bostonians but ultimately to otherAmericans as well.These pages explore Bostonians' idea of liberty. We

have often seen that idea through the eyes andactions of the city's most prominent men. Yet libertywas also the vision of 18th-century shipwrights andshoemakers, barrelmakers and goodwives, tavern-keepers, shopkeepers, and sailors. The full story ofBoston's revolution includes the beliefs and politicalpractices that an assorted, often anonymous groupknown as "the people" brought with them to the con-flict with Britain. Popular ideas of liberty both sup-ported and challenged the city's leading men. AsBoston's ordinary people found new ways to partici-pate in public life, they made the era a truly revolu-tionary one. Inspired by the Revolution's ideals, latergenerations carried the logic of liberty still further toargue for the abolition of slavery, women's rights, andthe right of working people to organize. For manypeople around the world the principles that the Rev-olution embodied have served as models of self-gov-ernment and personal freedom.

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Boston in the Empire

John Rowe (inset left) wasin many ways typical ofBoston merchants. Born inEngland to a family ofmeans, he emigrated toBoston in the mid-1730s, atabout age 21. After buyinga warehouse along theLong Wharf, shown here ina 1764 watercolor, he setup to import fabrics, salt,and other goods. Later, heowned his own dock,"Rowe's Wharf." He prof-ited within the empire, ashe gained lucrative con-tracts for supplying theBritish Navy and as the laxenforcement of trade lawsallowed him to smuggleDutch tea. His fortunegrew. He built a fine housein the fashionable SouthEnd of town, with vegeta-ble gardens and a pasturefor sheep. He joined socialclubs, became a prominentFreemason, and wor-shipped at Trinity Church.He spent many eveningswith fellow merchants atthe British Coffee Houseat the head of the LongWharf, discussing ways toimprove "the state oftrade." He was a prudentand respectable man. Butin the 1760s and 1770s,John Rowe would becomea reluctant revolutionary.Hard times and new Parlia-mentary policies set mer-chants like Rowe on a col-lision course with Englishauthorities.

Bostonians of the mid-18th century were thankful tobe part of the British Empire. More than a centuryearlier, the town's founders had consciously decidedto leave some aspects of English life behind. But thePuritan settlers of the 1630s did not intend to sepa-rate from England. Instead, they sought to create inthe Massachusetts Bay Colony a shining example ofa godly commonwealth, "a Citty upon a Hill." Theirsociety would be a "New" England, and its examplewould show the Old World the way to righteousness.For a short time it seemed that their experimentwould succeed. In freezing winters and summer heat,settlers carved out farms, built religious meeting-houses, and established institutions of governmentfor the province and the towns. They pursued theircallingstheir daily work as farmers and goodwives,shoemakers and smiths, traders, clergymen, and mag-istrateswith piety and diligence.New Englanders watched expectantly as the soci-

ety they had left was plunged into turmoil. WhenEnglish Puritans took power during the Civil War ofthe 1640s, it seemed that Old England might followthe lead of Massachusetts Bay. But the Puritan com-monwealth collapsed, and the decidedly un-PuritanCharles II was restored to the throne in 1660. Afterthat, inhabitants of Massachusetts could no longersee themselves as leading England to righteousness.Where once they had imagined themselves on thecutting edge of history, the restoration of the Stuartsmeant they were in danger of becoming a backwater.Growing numbers of churches and new denomina-

tions demonstrated that spiritual ideals remainedcompelling to many townspeople. In the 18th centu-ry, however, Boston was tied to England less by reli-gion than by economic trade, a shared history, andshared political culture.A century earlier, by 1650, the mercantile nations

of Europe had turned the whole Atlantic basin into asingle trading area. Late in the 17th century, English

George III ascended theBritish throne in 1 760 andlost no time in heeding hismother's words, "George, bea King!" After ousting pop-ular Prime Minister WilliamPitt and winning control overParliament by passing outroyal gifts and favors to theright people, he sought waysto tighten his control over theAmerican colonies. In doingso, he helped to foster a revo-lution. This 1 771 portrait byJohann Zoffany portraysGeorge III as commander inchief of the British Army.

traders and government officials turned their atten-tion to establishing a commercial empire. From theEuropean point of view, the most lucrative of theNew World colonies were the sugar islands of theCaribbean. In England, sugaronce an expensiveluxury consumed only by the aristocracybecame astaple in the diets of many. Caribbean plantersscrambled to maximize production and importedenslaved Africans for back-breaking labor in thesugar cane fields. The southern continental colonies,too, had discovered a lucrative cash crop. As early asthe 1620s, a tobacco boom led planters in Virginia tobase their society, in the words of King James I, "onsmoak." In the 18th century, traders in Pennsylvania,New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delawarebegan drawing wheat from the countryside to ship toOld World markets. Middle colony trade expandedrapidly around this essential foodstuff. The regionwould always enjoy a good market for its crops,quipped the essayist Thomas Paine, "while eating isthe custom of Europe."In the midst of this good fortune, New England

merchants were at a disadvantage. Farmers in theregion raised livestock and garden crops, cut timberand planted corn, but no single product found a sub-stantial market abroad. To pay for English cloth,hardware, and other manufactures, New Englandmerchants learned to diversify. They combined avariety of productstimber, potash, beef, whale oil,shinglesin a single cargo. They filled a niche in thecarrying trade, using the region's timber supply tobuild ships and the region's labor supply to sail them.New England ships carried Carolina rice to Englandand Pennsylvania wheat to Europe. Some also pliedthe route to southern Europe, trading provisions forwine from Spain, Portugal, and the Canary Islands.Finally, the region's traders found a nearly insatiablemarket for timber, cattle, and dried fish in theCaribbean, where West Indies planters devoted alltheir land to sugar alone. New England ships sup-plied staples, then returned home with molasses forNew England distillers to make into rum. Rum salesprovided credit to purchase goods from England.From this commerce, a good many Boston merchantsgradually built up fortunes. At the same time, theycreated complex business and cultural ties that locat-ed Boston firmly in the empire.

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By the mid-18th century, trade had given a distinc-tive shape to Boston society. Only a handful of theport's population of 15,000 were merchantsabout250 in the early 1760s, if we reserve the term for menlike John Rowe, who owned enough capital to en-gage directly in overseas trade and sell mostly atwholesale. Many more made a living as retailers.Their number fluctuated from good times to bad, andthey ranged from large-scale shopkeepers to margin-al dealers, men and women, who sold goods on theside as they kept a tavern, took in boarders, or man-aged an artisan shop. Artisanscalled mechanics ortradesmenincluded carpenters, caulkers, ropemak-ers, sailmakers, coopers, and others who directlyserved the maritime economy. Still others in the lux-ury trades lived off merchants' prosperity: fine silver-smiths, like Paul Revere, peruke (wig) makers, tailorsand dressmakers, coachmakers, carpenters andmasons, fine furniture makersall thrived as mer-cantile fortunes grew. One step removed weretradesmen who served more middle class or "mid-dling" town consumers, but the livelihood of butch-ers, bakers, and shoemakers ultimately relied on thestate of trade as well. Finally, within the laboringclasses, there were fishermen who sailed for macker-el and cod; sailorscalled "jack tars"who mannedthe merchant fleet; workers at the wharves, steve-dores and common laborers who did the hauling ofcargo and materials so essential to the port city.There were laborers in the construction trades and inthe ropewalks, as well as women who eked by aslaundresses, servants, and seamstresses.Although they shared a stake in seaborne com-

merce, town dwellers did not benefit equally fromtrade. Contemporaries took for granted the existenceof inequality. Many loosely divided the town into the"better sort," the "middling sort," and the lower or"meaner sort." Successful professionalsdoctors,lawyers, or clergymen educated at Harvardandgovernment officials appointed from England joinedwealthy merchants in the first category. The mostprosperous of these men and their families weremarked off from their social inferiors by fashionableimported clothing, refined manners, and an opulentstyle of life.Many more townspeople inhabited the middling

world of shopkeepers and artisans. Tradesmen alone

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Boston's Ships Command the SeaOverseas trade routes were ascritical to 1 8th-century Boston-ians as highways are to Ameri-cans today. Ships brought portdwellers essential imports suchas manufactured goods, sugar,molasses, and fruit. They alsoprovided means to export suchdesired items as fish, naval tim-bers, whale oil, and rum. Theextent to which Boston mer-chants were involved in all as-pects of the transatlantic and

coastal trade in the pre-Revolu-tionary War era is reflected onthe large map. Wealthy Boston-ians poured their capital intothe highly lucrative but risky ov-erseas trade. Less wealthymerchants satisfied themselveswith coastal trade from New-foundland to the West Indies.Boston ships carried navalstores, such as lumber andpine pitch for caulking ships, toBritain and Europe; sugar, mo-

lasses, and fruit from the WestIndies to New England and Eur-ope; and fish, lumber, livestock,and grain from New England tothe West Indies. They called atwestern African ports to bringslaves and gold to the West In-dies and North America. Al-though relatively few slaveswere brought to Boston, theslave trade and the slave econ-omy figured prominently inBoston's Atlantic trade network.

Before the Revolution, Bos-ton merchants were deeplyinvolved in many aspects oftransatlantic and coastal com-merce. Boston (map, right)depended on a complex webof trade routes that bound theport's livelihood to the in-ternational marketplace. Thenewspaper advertisement an-nounces the availability of atypical imported item.

The Salem-based 45-ton, two-masted schooner Baltick wasthe type of vessel favored byNew Englanders for fishingand the coastal trade. Built inNewbury, Massachusetts, in1763, Baltick was active inthe transatlantic trade as well.

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Boston's wealthiest shipownersregularly bought and soldslaves, which provided capitalto purchase English manufac-tured goods. More significantly,much of Boston's trade de-pended directly on the slaverysystem of the southern coloniesand the Caribbean. For exam-ple, Boston's ships carried fishto feed plantation slave laborersand slave-produced molassessupplied the New England rum

industry. Wealthy traders profit-ed most from the lucrative mar-itime commerce. Most Bostoni-ans, however, derived somebenefit. Shipbuilding and com-merce, integral parts of Bos-ton's economy, employed hun-dreds of people who lived nearthe wharves, including rope-walk workers, carpenters,coopers, sailmakers, and "jacktars" or sailors. The well-beingof many artisans and laborers

was tied to overseas trade.Slowdowns in the port's activi-ty, caused by wars or restrictiveBritish policies, hurt everyone inBoston, from the wealthiestmerchant to the most ordinaryof workers.

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Artists and Artisans

Boston was a provincial out-post, 3,000 miles from the cen-ter of the empire. With thegrowth of mercantile wealth inMassachusetts Bay, there arosea provincial class to patronizeskilled artisans and, to a lesserextent, the fine arts. Together,successful merchants and gov-erning officials set the style,their tastes imitative of Londonand reflecting the convictionthat Europe was the source ofculture and sophistication.Shopkeepers who specializedin luxury imports flourished inBoston. Booksellers, printsel-lers, and looking-glass sellers

found buyers, disseminatingideas and styles through theirwares. Boston supported danc-ing masters and music instruc-tors. Engravers found work,and leading officials, traders,and clergymen sat to have theirportraits painted. The productsof Boston's many skilled luxurycraftspeople were unsurpassedin British North America. Theywere produced, as their adver-tisements claimed, "in the neat-est British manner" and the"latest" London styles. House-wrights, masons, carpenters,bricklayers, roofers, glaziers,paperhangers, and plasterers

combined to build elaborateGeorgian-style mansions for thewealthy. Cabinetmakers, carv-ers, upholsterers, japanners,chairmakers, and other crafts-men produced tea tables, cardtables, settees, dining tables,chairs, and cabinet pieces tofurnish the elite's parlors, diningrooms, and ballrooms. Silver-smiths and goldsmiths, watch-makers and jewelers, customtailors, skilled dressmakers,glovers, wigmakers all foundwork in a culture that declared"luxuries" to be necessities forthe socially ambitious.

John Singleton Copley's por-trait of Paul Revere capturesthe talented artisan at aboutage 35 in work clothes at hiswork bench. Reveres skill asa silversmith is reflected inthe coffeepot (below) and inthe "Liberty Bowl" (belowleft) honoring the 92 mem-bers of the MassachusettsAssembly who refused to re-scind the Circular Letter pro-testing the 1767 Townshend

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numbered from one-half to two-thirds of the popula-tion. In some respects these craftspeople sharedexperiences and aspirations. Few hoped to rise to thelevel of the "better sort." Most sought to achieve alife of modest comfort, free from debt. By luck anddiligence a man might serve an apprenticeship in hisyouth, become a wage-earning journeyman in theshop of an experienced craftsman, then graduallysave the capital to set up a shop of his own. As a mas-ter craftsman he would enjoy independence and con-trol his own time and labor. He proudly wore theleather apron that marked him as a skilled producer.A few womenfashionable dressmakers, glovers,and widows who managed to continue their hus-bands' tradesbelonged to this class.Yet only the fortunate could afford apprentice-

ships in the highly skilled, lucrative trades. For everygoldsmith or cabinetmaker, many more struggledalong as humble tailors, smiths, or shoemakers. Wo-men in particular were concentrated in the ranks ofthe lower trades: nurses, housekeepers, seamstresses.They lived only narrowly above the classes beneath.Among the "meaner sort" were laborers, including ahighly transient population of seamen and unskilledworkers, some of them the so-called "strolling poor,"attracted from rural areas by the town's opportuni-ties. Boston contained little indentured labor, butroughly 800 townspeople were African American,nearly all slaves and most working as household ser-vants in 1765. Among the free population, some 30percent qualified as poor or near poor: widows, sea-men, laborers, and, when times were hard, minor arti-sans as well.

As the 18th century wore on, hard times becamecommon in Boston. Wealth was increasingly concen-trated in the hands of those at the top of society,while more people fell into the ranks of the impov-erished. Even as men like John Rowe built mansions,the plight of Boston was evident on the landscape:some poor people lived in the town almshouse or thebrick workhouse on the Common, and many more

nearly 1,000 in 1757received outdoor (home)relief. Of all the port towns in North America,Boston alone stagnated in population and opportu-nity in the mid-1700s.Part of the reason for Boston's decline lay in the

long and repeated wars that Britain waged with

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All in a Day's Work on the Boston Waterfront

On a rough cobblestone streetrunning to the wharf in the busyNorth End, Bostonians ply theirtrades. The time is 1769, a yearafter redcoated British soldierswere first quartered in town.There is a hustle and bustle tomake the ship ready for a voy-age to the West Indies. Ship rig-gers on the top mast (1) unfurlsails as cartmen (2) load barrelsof rum and salted fish. A sail-

maker's helper (3) lowers a newsail on a winch from the sail-cloth loft where it has just beenwoven by the sailmaker (4). Ablacksmith (5) forges ironbands for last-minute repairsto make the vessel seaworthyand a brazier (6) hammers newbrass ship fittings. A merchant(7), in a stylish red coat of agentleman complete with wigand cane, has come down to

the docks, very likely with last-minute instructions for the ship'scaptain. The seafaring men inthe foreground are taking abreak from work. A fisherman(8) leaning on his boat hook tellsa joke that the fishmonger (9),resting his wooden shovel on abasket of fish, finds funny butthe stern-faced seaman (10)doesn't get. Building tradesmenrepair the porch roof of the

seamstress shop to the right: amaster housewright (11) shoutsorders to his journeyman (12),young apprentice (13), and la-borer (14) while a carpenter (15)in leather apron shaves shin-gles. Leather aprons are themark of tradesmen. A seam-stress (16) in the doorway ofher shop receives a lady's maid(17) bearing a garment from hermistress. A laundress (18) hauls

buckets of water for her wash-tubs while two elderly marketwomen (19) peddle a hot drinkfrom their cart to a grenadierand battalion soldier from theBritish 29th Regiment of Foot(20). The lady's maid is among

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the 800 African Americans in jBoston's "lower trades," which)include the sailmaker's helper,

Jthe laborer on the roof, and thaiyoung porter (21) carrying a j\

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basket on his head. A newsboy(22) hawks the Boston Gazetteto the merchant, a newspaperbrimming with patriotic outrageagainst the redcoats that woulderupt in March 1770 in the"Boston Massacre." The de-ceptively peaceful scene on thewharf is a lull before the storm.

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French settlements in North America. For some NewEnglanders, the wars provided profitable supply con-tracts, but in general they disrupted trade. They cre-ated widows and orphans, whose maintenance taxedthe resources of the town.Yet colonists generally embraced Britain's battles

as their own. It was not just that economic opportu-nity seemed to lie within the empire. Equally impor-tant, as colonists saw it, liberty itself lay in the con-nection they had with Great Britain. When theyfought against the French, they fought against papa-cy and an absolute monarchy as well as against acommercial rival. When they fought against France,they fought for the "rights of Englishmen."Contemporaries did not entirely agree on just what

those rights included. All were certain, however, thatEnglish rights derived from a proud history, fromcenturies of resistance by Englishmen against would-be tyrants and the gradual establishment of libertiesfor the lowly subjects. Harvard scholars, students atwriting schools, readers of newspapers, and listenerswho heeded either church sermons or tavern storiesall learned this view of English history. Boston'slower classes showed their familiarity with the Eng-lish heritage, too. They held popular celebrationsevery November 5, on the anniversary of GuyFawkes's attempt in 1605 to blow up Parliament. Onthese "Pope's Days," crowds of petty artisans, ap-prentices, and laborers paraded about the streets,carrying effigies of the devil, the pope, and the Stuartpretender to the throne, a symbol of political abso-lutism. It was a day of disorder, which ended in a vig-orous battle between companies from the North andSouth ends of town, each side trying to capture andburn the other's effigies. Boston's elite deplored theviolent excesses of the day, but they accepted and ev-en applauded the popular display of anti-popery andattachment to English history.As New Englanders saw it, that history taught Eng-

lish people everywhere to treasure certain politicalinstitutions. English wars of the 17th century hadestablished that the powers of the monarch would becountered by a sovereign Parliament, made up of aHouse of Lords and an elected House of Commons.Along with customary rights, such as trial by jury, thisbalanced structure of government protected Englandfrom both anarchy and tyranny. Massachusetts's gov-

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ernment was modeled along the same lines. A royalgovernor, appointed by the king, held executivepower. The colony had no House of Lords, but aCouncil, or upper house of the legislature, was filledwith wealthy and educated gentlemen, nominated bythe lower house and chosen by the governor. Thelower house, called the Assembly, paralleled the Eng-lish House of Commons, and was elected as repre-sentatives of the towns of the province. (Collectively,the Council and Assembly were known as the Gen-eral Court.) Every year the Governor, Council, andAssembly met at the Old State House on State Streetto decide matters of province-wide concern.None of these institutions, it is important to note,

was supposed to enact the will of the people. True,the representatives in the Assembly were elected bylocal town meetings, but even they were expected totranscend petty, local interest and promote the goodof the whole province, not the advantage of their par-ticular towns. Assemblymen were not as distin-guished as Council members, but they were proper-tied and prominent well beyond the average. "AGentleman of good natural Interest... a Man ofReading, Observation, and daily conversant withAffairs of Policy and Commerce, is certainly betterqualified for a Legislator, than a Retailer of Rum andsmall Beer called a Tavern-keeper," wrote one com-mentator. Government, in the commonly held viewof the day, belonged in the hands of the elite and"better sort."Retailers of beer might have greater political voice

in the institutions of local politics. At town meetings,usually held at Faneuil Hall, qualified votersmenwith enough propertyelected representatives,chose local officers, and regulated local affairs.Prominent men routinely filled town offices, buttown meetings did allow broad participation. "Mid-dling" interests organized small and self-selectedcaucuses, which met before the town meeting tochoose slates of candidates and settle points of poli-cy. By organizing in caucuses, the "middling" peoplesometimes outvoted the well-to-do.

Still other institutions protected the interests of theless powerful people. Ordinary voters served on ju-ries, and juries were famous for refusing to convictthe obviously guilty when officials tried to enforceunpopular laws. Able-bodied free men also served in

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William Shirley, governor ofMassachusetts, 1741-56. Heorganized the expedition thatcaptured the French fortressof Louisbourg in 1 745. In1755, he served briefly ascommander in chief of Brit-ish forces in North Americaafter the death of Gen. Ed-ward Braddock in the Battleof the Monongahela. Thisportrait by Thomas Hudsonwas painted in London in1 750 while Shirley was ongubernatorial leave (1749-53)as a member of the commis-sion meeting in Paris to de-termine the boundary line be-tween French North Americaand New England.

local militias that were supposed to keep the peace.New England militias were famous for failing togather when local uprisings expressed widely-heldgrievances. With no professional police force and nostanding army, popular discretion in law enforcementrepresented an important power. The system leftspace for ordinary people to decide whether or notto uphold the laws passed by gentlemen in the Coun-cil and Assembly. The people might even enforcetheir own moral standards without the blessing ofgovernment. Boston crowds broke open a privatewarehouse to seize scarce grain, tore down an unpop-ular marketplace, and attacked brothels. When theybelieved their vital interests were at stake, peopleamong the lower ranks assumed a right to shape pub-lic policy. There was a recognized role for the people"out of doors"outside the doors of the legislatureand outside official positions of authority.How far some Bostonians could take that principle

appeared in the mid-1740s, in the distress of war andin the face of the Royal Navy itself. "Pressing" meninto naval service was common in British ports, but inthe colonies the legality of the practice was disputed.It was more than a fine legal question: impressmentabrogated men's freedom and brought turmoil to anentire city. The "jack tars" and dockside workers whowere seized understandably resented it, and every-one else in the port town also disliked the disruptionof trade. News of a "hot press" at Boston deterredships' captains from entering the harbor; even coast-ers with grain, fishing vessels, and small boatmen car-rying firewood hesitated to sail to Boston.In the fall of 1747, ships of the Royal Navy

anchored in Boston, and some sailors took theopportunity to desert the service. To fill out his ships'complement, Com. Charles Knowles sent a presscrew through the harbor. His officers seized nearly40 seamen from trading ships in port and a few menwho worked the waterfront. Boston exploded in afull three days of violent resistance. A crowd tookKnowles 's officers hostage, put the sheriff in thetown stocks, and broke windows at the residence ofGov. William Shirley. Shirley summoned the militia,but they failed to muster. As the mob swelled intothe thousands, Shirley fled for safety to CastleWilliam, a fortification in the harbor. Peace was re-stored only when he negotiated with Knowles for the

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release of the impressed men.In the aftermath of the riots, the Boston town

meeting officially deplored the violence, saying thatrioters had been "Foreign Seamen, Servants, Ne-groes, and other Persons of Mean and Vile Condi-tion." But, in truth, a good many inhabitants hadsympathized with the mob. Although they might dis-approve of particular crowd actions, even the mostconservative acknowledged the general principlethat "mobs, a sort of them at least,. . .are constitution-al." The mob was an institution that, however disor-derly, was a recognized and necessary part of the wayEnglish people were ruled. Mobs stood alongsidetown meetings, jury trials, and the General Court inthe framework of English government. Althoughgentlemen would govern in this system, and thepropertied would direct affairs of the towns, theirdecisions would sometimes be vulnerable to theinterests and beliefs of those beneath them in thesocial order.When they celebrated British liberty or claimed

the rights of Englishmen, what colonists often trea-sured most was this quality of government: that lawwas notor not merelyhanded down to ordinarysubjects from above. It was notor not easily

enforced against their wishes. Even petty artisans,sailors, and small farmers could make their ownnotions of right and justice felt. For many colonists,this was English liberty. It was what they defendedagainst English authority beginning in the mid-1760s.

21

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Maffachufetts Bay.beiiin Town-Meeting, beg leave toyour Majefty ; and h

Royal Attem while we brin; our C mplamThrone, whi. Hour aggrieved Sub-ids cannoRcdrefs. a

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57

Lexington and Concord

Spring 1775: Massachusettscitizens are gathering arms andmilitia companies are drilling ontown commons. Thomas Gage,Governor General of the colony,has twice sent British Regularsfrom Boston into the country-side to capture colonial militarysupplies, first, with success, tothe Cambridge Powder Houseand then, unsuccessfully, toSalem, where a tense stalematewith colonials ended withoutbloodshed. British Lt. FrederickMackenzie wrote, "It is certainboth sides were ripe for it, anda single blow would have occa-sioned the commencement of

hostilities." On the night of April18, 1775, General Gage sent700 soldiers to seize the largestockpile of military supplies inConcord, 20 miles west. Themovement did not go unno-ticed by the colonials, whosealarm rider network was rapidlyset in motion. William Dawes,Paul Revere, and many otherswere soon riding westward toawaken the countryside withshouts that "the Regulars areout!" At dawn on April 19, theRegulars arrived at LexingtonCommon. Standing at the farend were 77 members of theLexington Militia. It is unclear

who fired first, but randomshots provoked British volleys.When the smoke cleared, eightcolonials lay dead and 10 werewoundedthe first bloodshedof the Revolutionary War. TheBritish troops continued on toConcord, where militia fromneighboring towns were con-verging. As militiamen watchedfrom a hillside, a detachment of96 Regulars secured the NorthBridge. Believing that a distantcolumn of rising smoke meantthe British were burning Con-cord, the colonials resolved tocross the bridge and save thetown. The British soldiers fired

58

warning blasts, then shot di-rectly into the advancing ranks.Maj. John Buttrick, leading thecolonials, ordered his men to"Fire, for God's sake, fellowsoldiers, fire!" Surprised by thecolonial counter fire, the Britishsoldiers fled. This brief fight, inwhich two militiamen and twoRegulars were killed, signifiedthe first time that colonials hadbeen ordered to fire on King'stroops. As the Regulars leftConcord to return to Boston,gunfire broke out again and thebattle escalated. For six hoursthe harassed Regulars had torun a gauntlet of colonial fire

along the return route, knowntoday as "Battle Road." Thecolonials fired from behindboulders, stone walls, trees,and houses. "We were totallysurrounded by such an inces-sant fire as it is impossible toconceive," wrote British Ens.John Barker. (The nature of thefighting is characterized in thepainting below, which is on dis-play at the Minute Man NationalHistorical Park Visitor Center.)By the time the exhausted Brit-ish troops reached the safety ofBoston Harbor, their total casu-alties were 73 killed and 200wounded or missing. Colonial

losses were 49 killed and 46wounded or missing. By night-fall, nearly 20,000 colonials hadmobilized. Those who arrivedtoo late to fight on April 1

9

stayed to lay siege to the Brit-ish in Boston and form the nu-cleus of the Continental Army.Years later, when asked why herisked his life to face the Britishtroops on that fateful Aprilmorning, veteran Levi Prestonreplied: "We had always gov-erned ourselves and we alwaysmeant to. They didn't meanthat we should."

59

William Howe, consideredone of the most promisingyoung officers in the BritishArmy, had served with dis-tinction under the legendaryGen. James Wolfe during theFrench and Indian War. Hehad come to Boston with re-inforcements and two othermajor generals in May 1 775to bolster Gage's besiegedcommand. Four months afterthe Battle of Bunker Hill, inwhich his troops drove thepatriots from the Charles-town Peninsula, he succeededGage as commander in chief.

Massachusetts faced the immediate crisis. GeneralGage worried that militiamen would storm the cityand that most of Boston would join in an armeduprising. Gage announced that inhabitants whoturned in their weapons might leave town in peace.Within weeks Bostonians of all ranks were streamingto nearby villages. In all, an estimated 12,000 to13,000 men and women fled the city, fearing starva-tion, mistreatment by the British, or retaliation fortheir political convictions. Notorious Sons of Libertyprudently left. Benjamin Edes quietly loaded a print-ing press and some type into a boat, rowed to Water-town, and resumed printing the Gazette there. Somepatriots, like John Rowe, stayed in town to overseetheir property. Others, like George Robert TwelvesHewes, found themselves stuck in town when Gagedecided to prevent able-bodied men from leavingafter all. Those disaffected from the patriot cause,like the Cuming sisters, welcomed the protection ofBritish troops. At the same time, Tories from the inte-rior poured into Boston, fleeing patriot mobs and, insome cases, hoping to serve alongside the Regularsagainst patriot forces. The civilian population ofBoston, usually about 15,000, became a mere 3,500,with an estimated two-thirds of that number beingTory sympathizers.Surrounding the town, patriot forces hastily orga-

nized a hodgepodge of militia units from differentcolonies into a working army. With George Wash-ington yet to arrive, they considered the proper chainof command and the pressing need for both ammu-nition and a reasonable plan of action. Massachusettschose Artemas Wardschoolteacher, storekeeper,provincial official, judge, and militia officeras com-mander in chief of Massachusetts forces. Ward andGage both realized that the hills surrounding Bostonwere the military key. Charlestown Peninsula com-manded the northern end of Boston and the narrowpassage into the Back Bay and Charles River. To thesouth lay Dorchester Peninsula. Its hills loomed overCastle Island and the entire inner harbor. A patriotentrenchment built high enough on either hill wouldstand out of reach of cannon aboard the warships inthe harbor and could dislodge the British fromBoston.Amidst rumors of a British raid, inhabitants of

Charlestown evacuated their homes in May 1775. On

60

June 12, Gage read a royal proclamation thatdeclared martial law and offered pardon to rebelswho now laid down their arms. Learning of a Britishinitiative, provincial leaders resolved to hold BunkerHill, on Charlestown Peninsula. In the early eveningdarkness of June 16, Col. William Prescott led 1,200Massachusetts and Connecticut men out of Cam-bridge to build a redoubta fortified entrenchmentwith light artillery piecesatop Bunker Hill.Through miscommunication or ignorance of the ter-rain, Prescott's men bypassed Bunker Hill and in-stead dug in on a smaller eminence, Breed's Hill.Patriot forces spent the night silently digging. Withthe first streaks of dawn, on June 17, 1775, Britishsailors aboard the sloop of war Lively spotted theentrenchment. Daylight revealed to the patriots theirexposed situation. Rising above the empty streets ofCharlestown, Breed's Hill was only 75 feet high.Should the British successfully bring men in from thenorth, they might cut off the patriots from all rein-forcement or retreat. Prescott's men started a breast-work on the north side of the hill. New Hampshiremilitia under Col. John Stark manned a nearby railfence that ran down the northeast slope to the Mys-tic River.The British reacted swiftly. Warships in the harbor

and land batteries on Copp's Hill opened fire on theredoubt, and Maj. Gen. William Howe prepared hissoldiers to attack the patriot position. In the earlyafternoon, barges and longboats filled with scarlet-clad regulars made their way across Boston Harborand came ashore at Moulton's Point, on the north-east corner of the peninsula where the CharlestownNavy Yard is located today. The British general madehis main attack against the rail fence. As a diversion,he also ordered men to advance directly against theBreed's Hill redoubt. When snipers in Charlestownharassed the redcoats, the navy bombarded the townuntil it burned.Through billows of smoke, over fences and treach-

erous footing, Howe's infantry marched. No soonerwas the first attack turned back than the British re-grouped and marched forward again in a hasty, unco-ordinated assault all along the patriot front. Onceagain the result was a costly failure. Meanwhile, theroofs and windows of Boston filled with anxiousspectators. From neighboring towns, people gathered

At the Battle of Bunker Hill,Peter Salem, a black soldier,was reported to have takenaim at Maj. John Pitcairn, theBritish officer who led theassault, and shot him. LaterSalem was presented to Gen.George Washington as theman who killed Pitcairn. Aportion ofAlonzo Chappel'spainting of the battle (page62) purportedly showsSalem, although it could rep-resent one of a number ofblack soldiers who took partin the fight. Peter Salem laterfought in the battles of Sara-toga and Stony Point.

61

The Battle of Bunker (or Breed's) Hill

On the afternoon of June 17,1775, as Maj. Gen. WilliamHowe's British troops ad-vanced towards the defensespatriot forces had erected onthe Charlestown Peninsula,legend says that Col. WilliamPrescott told his men not tofire "until you see the whites oftheir eyes." This famous order,which probably was never giv-en, has come to symbolize thedetermination of an inexperi-enced and ill-equipped colo-nial force confronting a highlytrained army of professional

British soldiers. Although pop-ularly known as the Battle ofBunker Hill, most of the fight-ing actually took place onnearby Breed's Hill. Today a221

-foot granite monumentmarks the site of the first ma-jor battle of the American Rev-olution. The battle resultedfrom patriot efforts to thwartLt. Gen. Thomas Gage's plansto fortify Dorchester Heightsas a base from which to con-trol entry to the port of Bostonand drive the colonials fromthe siege lines they had erect-

ed around the town. Althoughthey ultimately lost the battle,the colonists, under such cap-able leaders as William Pres-cott, John Stark, and IsraelPutnam, repulsed two majorBritish assaults and inflictedheavy casualties before beingdriven from their position. OfHowe's 2,200 ground forcesand artillery engaged in thebattle, nearly half (1 ,034) werekilled or wounded. Of an esti-mated 2,500 to 4,000 patriotsengaged, 400 to 600 werecasualties, including the popu-

j

62

lar leader Dr. Joseph Warren,killed during Howe's third andfinal assault. A newly appointedmajor general, Warren hadcome to the battlefield wearingnot a uniform but an expensiveblue coat and a satin waistcoatfringed with lace. NathanaelGreene, a promising young offi-cer from Rhode Island, wrotehis brother that the colonistswished they "could Sell themanother Hill at the same Price."When word of the British victoryreached London, one Englishwit remarked: "If we have eight

more such victories, there willbe nobody left to bring thenews." And General Gage senta solemn warning to the secre-tary of state for war: "ThesePeople...are now Spirited up bya Rage and Enthousiasm, asgreat as ever People were pos-sessed of, and you must pro-ceed in earnest or give theBusiness up...." The image ofthe battle shown below left isby Alonzo Chappel, a mid-1 9th-century painter whosescenes of the Revolution fillmany history books. He pat-

terned his painting after amore famous romantic canvasby Jonathan Trumbull. UnlikeTrumbull, who portrayed blackpatriot Peter Salem as a ser-vant carrying his master's gun,Chappel shows him (lowerright of painting) as a soldieron his own, priming his rifle.

Maj. John Pitcairn of theRoyal Marines led the finalassault on the American re-doubt. He was fatally wounded by Peter Salem, one ofseveral free blacks whofought in the battle that day.

Militiaman James Pike fromHaverhill, Mass., was in thethick of the Battle of BunkerHill. He was wounded in theBritish attack and his brotherSimeon was killed. "1 was oneof the last of the Americansthat retreated, " he said proud-ly. While the drawings on hispowder horn commemoratethe events ofApril 19, 1775,his sentiments about provin-cials defending the symbolicLiberty Tree against Britishaggressors were just as validtwo months later.

63

Portly Henry Knox, shownhere late in his military careerin this Gilbert Stuart portrait,was one of George Washing-ton's most trusted officers. Hewas only 25 years old whenthe Continental Congress ap-pointed him to organize andtrain Washington 's RegimentofArtillery in November1775. His epic 300-mile mis-sion to Fort Ticonderoga toobtain what he called "a no-ble train of artillery" enabledWashington to successfullyend the siege of Boston andforce the British to evacuate.Knox remained in charge ofthe Continental Army artil-lery throughout the Revolu-tionary War.

around the hills to see the battle. Abigail Adamswrote to husband John: "Charlestown is laid in ashes.. . . How many have fallen we know not. The constantroar of the cannon is so distressing that we cannoteat, drink, or sleep."On the scene of the fighting, Howe's troops were

shaken but not defeated, and he quickly put togethera third assault. This time the British stormed Breed'sHill from two sides, overrunning the breastwork andforcing their way among the defenders within theredoubt. In the last assault on the redoubt, many losttheir livesincluding Boston leader Dr. Joseph War-ren and British Maj. John Pitcairn. The survivingpatriots retreated across Charlestown Neck towardsCambridge. The British pursued only as far asBunker Hill and there dug in. Nearly one-half ofHowe's original 2,200 regulars had been killed orwounded. Patriot losses ranged between 400 and 600.The cost of the first major battle of the Revolutionhad been staggering to both sides.General Gage informed his superiors of the situa-

tion: the spirit of rebellion, once thought to be limit-ed to Boston, was rampant in the thirteen colonies.Confined to Boston and Charlestown, there was littlereason for the British army to stay in the Massachu-setts capital. In October, Gage was replaced by Gen-eral Howe, who presided in town through a cold anddifficult winter, waiting for new ships and supplies.With the new year, word reached the colonies thatKing George III had proclaimed his American sub-jects in rebellion and hired Hessian mercenaries tohelp subdue them.George Washington, now in charge of the Contin-

ental Army, sent Col. Henry Knox, until recently aBoston bookseller, to Fort Ticonderoga to secureartillery pieces. Late in January, Knox's men returnedwith a full artillery train, the guns dragged on sledgesover the winter snow. In March 1776, Washingtontook the initiative. Under the direction of Brig. Gen.John Thomas, American forces constructed fortifica-tions on Dorchester Heights, just south of Boston, onthe night of March 4. By daybreak, on the sixthanniversary of the Boston Massacre, a long line ofearthworks and batteries overlooked the town. Gen-eral Howe's first plan was to dislodge the Americans.However, the British response was thwarted by astorm and Howe decided that his position was no

64

longer tenable: he prepared to evacuate immediate-ly. Howe's troops barricaded the streets, plunderedstores, and, in the early morning of March 17,embarked for Halifax. Roughly 1,000 Tories wentwith them. The American occupation of DorchesterHeights was the final act in an 11-month siege thatsuccessfully forced the British from Boston and gaveGen. George Washington his first military victory inthe war.Patriot Bostonians thankfully returned to their

homes on horseback and on foot. Familiar buildingslay in ruins. British troops had used Faneuil Hall as atheater and Old South Meeting House as a ridingschool. They had chopped down the Liberty Tree,decimated Boston Common, used the steeple ofWestChurch and George Hewes's shoe shop as firewood,and transformed the Brattle and Hollis streetchurches into barracks. There would be no easy re-turn to normal.Moreover, Boston and the rest of the colonies still

stood a long way from liberty. The war with Britainremained to be won, independence to be claimed andthen established. For all their sufferings, manycolonists hesitated to renounce their allegiance toGeorge III. Moderates worried that separationwould license social disorder. The move toward in-dependence was animated by a 47-page pamphletwhose radical ideas and irreverent tone sweptthrough the colonies like wildfire. North and south,colonists read and talked about Common Sense, thework of Thomas Paine, a one-time corsetmaker fromEngland. In biting prose, Paine attacked the princi-ples of birth, breeding, and social superiority thatupheld monarchy and aristocracy alike. "Men wholook upon themselves born to reign, and others toobey, soon grow insolent," he wrote. Paine assertedthe competence of ordinary people, be they mechan-ics or small farmers. Common Sense helped crystalizea decade's ferment: what had begun as defensive re-sistance against British tyranny was becoming a pos-itive embrace of a new American ideal of equality.When at last, in July of 1776, the colonies were

ready to declare independence, they explained theiraction in language that incorporated these egalitari-an ideals. The colonies were entitled to an "equal sta-tion" with other nations. The Continental Congress'spremise, written by Thomas Jefferson in the Declara-

George Washington, a manof limited military experi-ence, became commander inchief of the newly createdContinental Army largelythrough the efforts ofJohnAdams. Because of the needto gain full backing for theRevolution from the southerncolonies, Adams supportedWashington over John Han-cock for the appointment.Washington had not soughtthe position and accepted it,he told his wife, only becauseto have done otherwise"would have reflected dis-honour upon myself" Thisportrait is from Gilbert Stu-art's heroic representation ofWashington on DorchesterHeights just after his troopstook possession of them.

65

Abigail Adams lived in Bos-ton from 1768 to 1771, fol-lowing closely the politicalactivities of her husband,John, and taking part withother women in the boycottof British products and inmemorial meetings for thevictims of the Boston Massa-cre. Later she lived in Brain-tree on the family farm,which she managed whenJohn was away in Philadel-phia and where she saw tothe education of their chil-dren. When he joked abouther plea to "remember theladies, " she asked her friend,Mercy Otis Warren, to joinher in "fomenting a rebel-lion " among the women. Theportrait, a companion to theone ofJohn Adams on page38, was painted by BenjaminBlythinl766.

tion of Independence, has become justly famous, that"all Men are Created Equal." In this moment, in thisfounding document, some of the values that ordinarypeople brought to the resistance movement foundexpression. Though its meaning was ambiguous, thephrase linked independence to equality. It madesense to many Bostonians, who had worked their waytoward this radical idea in more than a decade ofstruggle.

The war brought mixed fortunes for Boston's citi-zens. John Rowe chose the patriot side, although hisdecision to remain in town during the siege made hisloyalties briefly suspect among some of his neigh-bors. He died a well-respected man in the late 1780s.George Robert Twelves Hewes took his shoemakingtools and escaped occupied Boston, then served dur-ing the war on a privateer and also in the militia. Heremained a poor tradesman for the rest of his life.John Hancock and Samuel Adams each served in theContinental Congress and, later, as governor of theCommonwealth. The two Cuming sisters left forNova Scotia with the evacuation. The early 1780sfound Betsy Cuming in Halifax where she could con-duct business with "not half the fatigue" as at Boston.Paul Revere served in numerous ways during theRevolution, including as lieutenant colonel in theMassachusetts Artillery. After the war, he expandedhis business in a new shop in the North End. Heopened an iron foundry where he cast church bells.His copper manufactory later produced the sheetthat covered the top of the New State House on Bea-con Hill and the bottom of the frigate Constitution.Benjamin Edes had the honor of leading the contin-gent of Boston printers that marched in the GrandProcession to celebrate the Constitution in 1788.Over the next decade, the Gazette's circulation dwin-dled rapidly. Edes's last years were spent in financialdecline.

On the broader canvas of American society, theimpulse toward social levelling moved far beyondwhat most patriots had foreseen. John Adams wrotein the year of independence: "We have been told thatour Struggle has loosened the bands of Governmentevery where. That Children and Apprentices weredisobedientthat schools and Colledges were grownturbulentthat Indians slighted their Guardians andNegroes grew insolent to their Masters." Conserva-

66

tive fears were justified: men of property and learn-ing could not fully control the changes taking placein American institutions. Patriots had begun with adeep commitment to British libertyincluding theidea that even those of little property and standingought to be able to make their notions of right andjustice felt. In the course of resistance, there arosethe idea that the people's will provided the very basisof all authority.The egalitarian impulse would reach deeply into

the lives of many. John Adams's remark had been inreply to his wife, Abigail, who had boldly suggestedthat patriot principles should affect the very rela-tionship of marriage: "In the new Code of Lawswhich I suppose it will be necessary for you to makeI desire you would Remember the Ladies, and bemore generous and favourable to them than yourancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into thehands of husbands. Remember, all Men would betyrants if they could." Congress in fact did nothing tochange the legal rights of wives. Yet the war broughta host of new experiences for women. Their pre-warresistance activities had introduced many to the ideathat they were political beings, capable of judginggovernment acts and choosing an allegiance. Withwarfare women shouldered new responsibilities. Inthe absence of their menfolk, they ran farms andbusinesses, raised children, and made householddecisions in difficult and unpredictable times. Afterthe war, conservative ideas sharply limited women'spolitical gains. But with increasing success womenclaimed the need for their own education and assert-ed the importance of their role as wives and mothersin shaping citizens of the republic. In 1789, Bostonopened its public schools to girls.

Similarly, sentiment against the slave trade andslavery itself grew more pronounced throughoutNew England. African Americans not-so-humblypetitioned for liberation from a state "worse thanNonexistence." Prompted by such slave petitions, theMassachusetts legislature considered a bill to endslavery. But it was the courts that ended slavery inthe Bay state. The state's new constitution, adoptedin 1780, included the phrase "all men are born freeand equal." When runaway slave Quok Walker wassued by his master, his defense rested on those words.In 1783, the Masschusetts Supreme Court ruled that

67

The Fortification of Dorchester Heights

By the late autumn of 1 775,Gen. George Washington faceda serious military dilemma. Heknew the British could expectsupplies to arrive in the springand he saw apathy beginningto grow among his men, but helacked powder and artillery torout the besieged British fromtheir stronghold in Boston. Dor-chester Heights, a high point ofpastureland reaching into Bos-ton Harbor, had drawn the gen-eral's attention as early as

August. In November, he sentCol. Henry Knox to Fort Ticon-deroga in New York to retrievecaptured British artillery andpowder. Knox's mission provedsuccessful in February 1 776and Washington could finallyact. By occupying DorchesterHeights, Washington hoped todraw the British out of Boston.On the night of March 4, colo-nial soldiers, led by JohnThomas, hastily fortified the fro-zen heights. The British com-

mander, Maj. Gen. WilliamHowe, attempted a full-scaleattack on the position the fol-lowing day, but a storm pre- jvented him from reaching it.With the colonials now well-entrenched and threatening fur-ther action, Howe prepared toleave the city for Nova Scotia,taking with him many loyalists.On March 17, 1776, the Britishabandoned Boston, givingWashington his first major vic-tory of the war.

'.I^^Vl^