LIX Mar. were all at the same time in motion, going backwards CHAP. and forwards, some three, some four times; beneath him, in the town, lay the British general, indifferent 1776. to the incessant noise of cannon, never dreaming of an ejectment from his comfortable winter quarters; the army that checkered the quiet place with martial show, reposed without special watchfulness or fear; the crowd of ships in the fleet rode proudly in the spacious harbor, motionless except as they turned on their moorings with the tide, unsuspicious of peril; the wretched, unarmed inhabitants of Boston, emaciated from want of wholesome food, pining after freedom, as yet little cheered by hope, trembled lest their own houses should be struck in the tumult, which raged as if heaven and earth were at variance; the common people that were left in the villages all around, chiefly women and children, driven from their beds by the rattling of their windows and the jar of their houses, could watch from the hill-tops the flight of every shell that was thrown, and waited for morning with wonder and anxiety. In England, the ministry trusted implicitly the assurances of Howe, that he "was not under the least apprehensions of any attack from the rebels;" the king expected that after wintering in Boston, and awaiting reënforcements, he would, in May or in the first week of June, sail for New York; the courtiers were wishing Boston and all New England sunk to the very bottom of the sea. At about three in the morning the working party was relieved; but the toil was continued with unremitted energy, so that in one night strong redoubts, amply secure against grapeshot and musketry, crowned LIX. Mar. CHAP. each of the two hills; an abattis constructed of trees, felled in the neighboring orchards, protected the foot 1776 of the ridge; the top was surmounted by barrels, filled with earth and stones, which, as the hill sides were steep and bare of trees and bushes, were, in case of an attack, to be rolled down against the assailing columns. "Perhaps there never was so much work done in so short a space of time." Some time after daybreak on the morning of the fifth, the British from Boston beheld with astonishment and dismay the forts which had sprung up in a night. At the discovery the batteries on both sides ceased to play, and a fearful quiet prevailed. Howe, as he saw the new intrenchments loom in imposing strength, reported that "they must have been the employment of at least twelve thousand men;" and some of his officers acknowledged, that the sudden appearance recalled the wonderful stories in eastern romances of enchantment, and the invisible agency of fairy hands. The British general found himself surpassed in military skill by officers whom he had pretended to despise. One unexpected combination, concerted with faultless ability, and suddenly executed, had in a few hours made his position untenable. His army at that time was well supplied with provisions from vessels which were constantly coming into port; the Americans, on the contrary, were poorly cared for and poorly paid: the British had abundance of artillery; the Americans had almost no large guns that were serviceable: the British had a profusion of ammunition; the Americans scarce enough to supply their few cannon for six or eight days; and yet the British had no choice but to dislodge the New England farmers or retreat. Left LIX. Mar. very much to himself, Howe knew not what to pro- CHAP. pose; neither Burgoyne nor Clinton was with him to share his responsibility. "If they retain possession 1776. of the heights," said Admiral Shuldham, "I cannot keep a ship in the harbor." A council of war was called, and it was determined to assault the Americans. Washington had provided for the contingency; and had the British made a vigorous sally against the party at Dorchester, the Americans had floating batteries and boats ready to carry four thou sand men into Boston. All day long the neighboring hills which commanded a view of the scene were crowded with spectators, who watched the bustle, hurry, and alarm in the town. Twenty four hundred men were detailed and put under the command of Lord Percy to make the attack; but the men were pale and dejected; they shared the general consternation, and remembered Bunker Hill; and Percy showed no heart for an enterprise, which Howe himself confessed to be hazardous. When they were seen to enter the boats, the Americans on the heights, who expected an immediate conflict, kindled with joy in their confidence of repelling them victoriously. Washington said: "Remember, it is the fifth of March, a day never to be forgotten; avenge the death of your brethren;" and the words, as they flew from mouth to mouth, inflamed still more the courage of his soldiers. But they were doomed to disappointment; the British sallying party, and Percy, who did not intend to attempt scaling the heights till after nightfall, were borne in the transports to the castle; in the afternoon a violent storm of wind came up from the south, and about midnight blew with such LIX. Mar. CHAP. fury that two or three vessels were driven on shore; rain fell in torrents on the morning of the sixth, so 1776. that the movement against the American lines was still further delayed, till it became undeniably evident, that the attempt must end in the utter ruin of the British army. "If we had powder," said Wash ington, "I would give them a dose they would not well like." Their hostile appearances subsided; Howe called a second council of war, and its members were obliged to advise the instant evacuation of Boston. When the orders for that evacuation were issued, the loyal inhabitants, and the royalists who had fled to the town for refuge, were struck with sudden horror and despair, as though smitten by a thunderbolt out of a clear sky. Their error had grown from their confidence in the overwhelming force of the British power, which was to have been able to ravage the 'country in undisputed triumph, and restore them to the safe enjoyment of their possessions. Some of them were wretched time-servers, whose loyalty was prompted by the passion for gain and advancement; others were among the wealthiest and most upright persons in the colony, who, from the principle of honor, had left their homes, their fortunes, and even their families, to rally round the standard of their sovereign. Now the condition of the army was so desperate, that there was no time even to propose a capitulation for their safety, and the best that their sovereign could offer them was a passage in crowded transports from the cherished land of their nativity to the inhospitable shores of Nova Scotia, where they must remain, cut off from all that is dearest and LIX. Mar. pleasantest in life; condemned to hopeless inferiority CHAP. in a dreary place of exile; foregoing for the future the pride and joy of healthful activity; exchanging 1776. the delight of a love of country for a paralyzing, degrading sentiment of useless loyalty; beggared in their sympathies as well as in their fortunes; doomed to depend on the scanty charities, grudgingly doled out, of a monarch for whom they had surrendered every thing, and to find how hard are the steps of the great men's houses, at which needy suppliants must ever renew their importunities. The greatest disgrace to the arms of the British was the manifest confession of their inability to protect their friends, who had risked every thing in their cause. Who could now put trust in their promises? On the eighth, Howe, through the selectmen of Boston, wished to come to an understanding with Washington that the town should be spared, provided he might be suffered to leave it without molestation. The unauthenticated proposal could meet with no reply from the American commander in chief, who continued to strengthen his lines, drew nearer and nearer to his enemy, and used his artillery sparingly only from want of ammunition. On the night following the ninth, a strong detachment began a fort on Nook Hill, which commanded Boston Neck; but some of the men having imprudently lighted a fire, the British, with their cannon and mortars, were able to interrupt the work; and yet as Washington did not abandon his design, Howe was compelled to hasten his embarkation. In November he had given as a reason for not then changing the scene of the war, that he had not transports enough |