54 ARRIVAL OF HOWE. II. CHAP. The appointment of General Howe was welcomed by the British with great enthusiasm. "Even the blunders of Bunker 1775. Hill were forgotten, so happy were most people at the change. But, though superior in abilities to Gage, and much more beloved by his troops, the new commander-in-chief entered upon his duties at a critical juncture; and the reverses which the British arms had sustained impressed him with greater respect for the prowess of the provincials, who were no longer branded as a "despicable rabble," but who were feared for their resolute and unflinching bravery. Hence, in his early Oct. 9. despatches to England, the general very frankly confessed to Lord Dartmouth that "the opening of the campaign from this quarter would be attended with great hazard, as well from the strength of the country as from the intrenched position the rebels had taken." The prospect of success, indeed, was, in his view, quite doubtful; and, under this impression, he did not hesitate to recommend an entire evacuation of Boston. At the south, a different spirit prevailed. There the tories were more numerous; the burden of oppressive legislation had been less seriously felt; and the enthusiasm of the people had not reached so high as to induce an entire renunciation of allegiance to England.2 So long, however, as he was required to remain in Massachusetts, General Howe devoted himself zealously to the improvement of his defences and the quartering of his army. The principal works in progress at this time were the fort on Bunker Hill, where Clinton was posted, and the fortifications on Boston Neck ;3 and as a reënforcement of five battalions, of two thousand men, was expected from Ireland, with these he proposed to "distress the rebels by incursions along the Frothingham's Siege, 251. 2 Sparks's Washington, iii. 114, note, 127, note; Frothingham's Siege, 250. "Why," asks Paine, in Crisis, No. 1,-"why is it that the enemy hath left the New England provinces, and made these middle ones the seat of war? The answer is easy: New England is not infested with tories, and we are." 3 • Frothingham's Siege, 251. PROCLAMATIONS OF HOWE. II. 55 coast."1 Beyond this, he was satisfied, but little could be CHAP. accomplished. His men would "shortly have full employment in preparing quarters for the winter;" and, as they had 1775. already sufficiently felt the weight of the American arms, they had no ambition to provoke a further trial of their strength. The quartering of the troops was accordingly hastened; the Oct. 27. Old South Church was cleared out for a riding school; an opening was made across the Neck from water to water; works were erected to check incursions from Roxbury; and redoubts were thrown up on the eminences on the Common.2 With a view, also, to intimidate the patriots of Boston, who were struggling to escape to their brethren in the country, three proclamations were issued the first of which threat- Oct. 28. ened with military execution, and the seizure of their goods and effects as traitors, any who were detected in attempting to leave the town without a written permission; the second prohibited, under the penalty of imprisonment and the forfeiture of the sum discovered, those to whom passes were given from carrying away more than five pounds in specie; and the third recommended an association of the loyalists into regular companies, to be employed within the precincts of the town "to preserve order and good government." 3 1 Sparks's Washington, iii. 134; Frothingham's Siege, 250. "The enemy," says Washington, "expect a considerable reënforcement this winter, and, from all accounts, are garrisoning Gibraltar and other places with foreign troops, in order to bring the former garrison to America." 2 Newell's Jour. in 4 M. H. Coll. i. 269; Gordon's Am. Rev. i. 413; Frothingham's Siege, 252. On the occupancy of the Old South Gordon observes, "It is said, and believed, that an offer was made of building a complete riding school for less money than it would cost to remove the pews and the side galleries, and to make a proper flooring for the horses. In clearing every thing away, a beautiful, 3 Boston Gazette for Nov. 6, 1775 56 CHAP. Oct. 28. POSITION OF THE BRITISH SHIPS. The British ships of war anchored in the harbor consisted of the Boyne, of sixty-four guns, which lay near the western 1775. end of Spectacle Island; the Preston, of fifty guns, which was moored for the winter at the eastern end of the town, between Long Wharf and Hancock's Wharf; the Scarborough, of twenty guns, and a sloop, of sixteen guns, moored a short distance southward of the Preston; and the Mercury, which was stationed upon Charles River, at the north-western side of the Oct. 4. town. A small fleet, under Captain Mowatt, had previously sailed to the eastward, and was afterwards engaged in the Oct. 16. destruction of Falmouth, now Portland, a seaboard town in Maine. The troops under Clinton, at Bunker Hill, consisted of about one thousand men; and these, with the troops quartered in Boston, and the marines and sailors, made in all an army of some ten thousand men - the whole force of the British now in Massachusetts.3 The intrenchments on Bunker Hill, as well as those in Boston, were of considerable strength so much so that even Washington was constrained to say it would be "almost impossible to force their lines." "Without great slaughter on our side," he adds, " or cowardice on theirs, it is absolutely so. We therefore can do no more than keep them besieged, which they are, to all intents and purposes, as closely as any troops upon earth can be who have an 1 Frothingham's Siege, 255, note. 3 Gordon's Am. Rev.; Debates in ton." A letter published in Almon's Remembrancer, ii. 230, says, "General Howe has barely 6000 effective men in Boston;" but another, in ibid. iii. 109, says he had "7575 effective men, exclusive of the staff; so that, with the marines and sailors, he might be considered as 10,000 strong." Lord Barrington, however, in the House of Commons, reported the number of men in Boston on the 19th of July, exclusive of the three regiments going over to join them, as 8850; and as these three regiments had now ar rived, the number was doubtless not far from 10,000. POSITION OF THE AMERICAN FORCES. II. 57 opening to the sea." The advanced works of the two armies CHAP. were within musket shot of each other; and a daily cannonade was kept up by the British on the American lines, to which they were compelled to submit for the want of powder, though occasionally retaliating by "giving them a shot now and then." 1 The position of the American forces was not very flattering; and during this month the energies of Washington were principally directed to the reorganization of the army, which sadly needed attention, and to preparations for the winter. Roxbury, once a prosperous and flourishing village, inhabited by an intelligent and industrious yeomanry, had suffered severely from the cannon of the enemy, and was now nearly deserted. Oct. 20. The main street, formerly crowded with people, was occupied only by a picket guard. Some houses had been burned, others had been pulled down, and many were empty, with their windows taken out, and the walls filled with shot holes. The fortifications, however, were in excellent condition, and extended across the town in a nearly unbroken line from Dorchester to Brookline.2 Charlestown was in ruins, and was occupied by the enemy. The head quarters at Cambridge, being sheltered, had suffered but little. The operations of the war had interrupted for the time being the progress of education at the college; the students had returned to their homes, and the college buildings were occupied by the soldiery.3 In the fitting out of a naval armament, greatest interest and importance, a matter of the some progress had been made; and the few vessels chartered for service had behaved with gallantry in several engagements. So early as June, the Jun. 12. Sparks's Washington, iii. 28, 122, 128; Frothingham's Siege, 255. "The world," wrote Franklin to Dr. Priestley, Jan. 27, 1777, in Works, viii. 198, "wondered that we so seldom fired a cannon. Why, we could not afford it." 2 Thacher's Jour. 34; Belknap's Lett. in Life of Belknap, 92; Lett. to the Earl of Dartmouth, in Almon's Remembrancer, iii. 92; Frothingham's Siege, 254. 3 Thacher's Jour. 32. 58 A NAVAL ARMAMENT FITTED OUT. 2 1 CHAP. Rhode Island Assembly authorized two vessels to be fitted out II. at the expense of the colony, for the "protection of its trade," 1775. which were cruising before July ; and, on the first day of the July 1. last-named month, a similar order was passed by the ConnecSept. 2. ticut Assembly. It was in September, however, that the first commission was issued by Washington, under his general authority as commander-in-chief, to Nicholas Broughton, a citizen of Marblehead, who was addressed as "captain in the army of the United Colonies of North America," and directed to "take the command of a detachment of said army, and proceed on board the schooner Hannah, at Beverly." 3 In October other commissions were issued; and, as the importance of the subject had been urged upon the attention of the Assembly of Massachusetts by Newburyport and Salem, - two of the principal maritime towns, which memorialized in Nov.13. favor of public armed vessels, a law was passed, draughted by Elbridge Gerry, which authorized the employment of priva teers, and established a court for the trial and condemnation of prizes. These vessels, the first sent out under the auspices of the colonies, and the embryo of the flourishing navy of the United States, sailed under the pine tree flag, which was white, to Quebec. The action of the General Congress upon the subject of a navy does not properly fall within the province of this work; but the subject is one of interest, from its bearings upon the maritime greatness of our country. • Boston Gazette for Nov. 13, 1775; Austin's Life of Gerry, i. 94, 505; Almon's Remembrancer, ii. 149-153; Impartial Hist. of the War, 281; Mrs. Warren's Hist. of the Rev.; Marshall's Life of Washington, ii. 257, 258; Sparks's Washington, iii. 124, 125, 154, 518; Frothingham's Siege, 261. Elbridge Gerry, of Marblehead, was at the bottom of this movement, and it was through his influence that the law was passed. Life of Gerry chap. ix. |