WEBVTT NOTE 20. Forcing the British Out of Boston 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.000 Volume 4, Chapter 20, Forcing the British out of Boston 2 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:17.000 The securing of the South was not the only decisive military victory gained by the American revolutionaries in first half of 1776. 3 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:22.000 Another was the forced evacuation of Boston by the British. 4 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:28.720 It is true that the British were contemplating an eventual shift of their base from Boston 5 00:00:28.720 --> 00:00:34.720 to New York where Tories and provisions would be plentiful and the inner parts of the colonies 6 00:00:34.720 --> 00:00:37.120 accessible to attack. 7 00:00:37.120 --> 00:00:41.480 But the British were driven out much sooner than they had planned. 8 00:00:41.480 --> 00:00:48.480 The idle siege army in front of Boston had its troubles and the end of 1775 saw a huge 9 00:00:48.480 --> 00:00:54.320 and the huge turnover as enlistment terms were up and new enlistments were secured. 10 00:00:54.320 --> 00:01:00.040 It was clear to the Americans that Boston could only be taken if the great guns that 11 00:01:00.040 --> 00:01:04.880 had been captured at Ticonderoga could be brought to bear. 12 00:01:04.880 --> 00:01:11.960 But how to transport them over land across the ice and the steep New England hills? 13 00:01:11.960 --> 00:01:18.120 The answer was supplied by young Boston bookseller and amateur student of military engineering 14 00:01:18.120 --> 00:01:25.160 Colonel Henry Knox, head of the American Army Artillery. Asking Washington to be sent 15 00:01:25.160 --> 00:01:32.600 to transport the guns, Knox arrived at Ticonderoga in early December. He conceived a fantastically 16 00:01:32.600 --> 00:01:43.240 ambitious plan of dragging 16 big cannon howitzers and mortars, weighing over 120 tons in all, 17 00:01:43.240 --> 00:01:49.480 On forty-three sledges, over three hundred miles of snow and ice, the sledges had to 18 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:56.200 be constructed and then dragged by eight yoke of oxen, slowly driven by whips. Whenever 19 00:01:56.200 --> 00:02:03.600 a big cannon broke through and sank beneath the ice, it was laboriously hauled up again. 20 00:02:03.600 --> 00:02:08.800 Knox finally completed the journey of his wondrous caravan in early February. It was 21 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:15.600 was a remarkable achievement, a feat at which soldiers and engineers still marvel. 22 00:02:15.600 --> 00:02:21.200 Now that the Continental Army had the guns, Washington, ever eager for military glory 23 00:02:21.200 --> 00:02:28.600 in the classical European manner, and drastically underestimating the number of British troops, 24 00:02:28.600 --> 00:02:35.960 proposed a direct frontal assault upon Boston. On three previous occasions, without the guns, 25 00:02:35.960 --> 00:02:42.760 He had impatiently urged such an attack, and each time had been opposed by a unanimous 26 00:02:42.760 --> 00:02:49.440 war council of his generals. The Council of War again demurred, and General Ward sagely 27 00:02:49.440 --> 00:02:58.280 proposed to place the guns upon the unaccountably still unoccupied Dorchester Heights, commanding 28 00:02:58.280 --> 00:03:04.900 Boston to the south, just as Breeds Hill and Bunker Hill commanded it to the north. Washington 29 00:03:04.900 --> 00:03:10.900 Men grudgingly accepted the plan, which was agreed to by all the generals. 30 00:03:10.900 --> 00:03:16.700 The American Army, given something sensible to do for the first time since Bunker Hill, 31 00:03:16.700 --> 00:03:19.540 worked with renewed enthusiasm. 32 00:03:19.540 --> 00:03:25.340 The operation began on the night of March 2, 1776, with three nights of cannonading 33 00:03:25.340 --> 00:03:30.720 from the northwest, diverting British attention from Dorchester Heights. 34 00:03:30.720 --> 00:03:36.920 On the night of March 4, under cover of the bombardment, General John Thomas took 2,000 35 00:03:36.920 --> 00:03:43.920 men and 360 carts and with splendid efficiency constructed two forts on Dorchester Heights. 36 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:51.240 The Americans could perform this remarkable feat of constructing the entire works in one 37 00:03:51.240 --> 00:03:58.240 night by using a novel plan suggested by Colonel Rufus Putnam, employing frames on top of the 38 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:03.560 on top of the ground that required little digging in the frozen earth. 39 00:04:03.560 --> 00:04:08.400 The British awoke on the morning of March 5 to look up in amazement at the American 40 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:11.400 heavy guns on the heights. 41 00:04:11.400 --> 00:04:13.560 General Howe sadly remarked that, 42 00:04:13.560 --> 00:04:19.360 The rebels have done more in one night than my whole army could do in months. 43 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:25.960 As at bunker, he decided on March 7 to give up and evacuate, for it was not safe for the 44 00:04:25.960 --> 00:04:31.200 The British fleet to remain in the harbor under the guns of Dorchester. He had planned 45 00:04:31.200 --> 00:04:36.640 to move at his own will to New York, but was now forced to move to Halifax, a military 46 00:04:36.640 --> 00:04:43.640 base unquestionably safe for the British, to await the arrival of supplies. The understandably 47 00:04:43.640 --> 00:04:49.280 fearful citizens of Boston soon obtained a promise from Howe that he would not burn the 48 00:04:49.280 --> 00:05:07.280 Washington took no official notice of the promise when it was conveyed to him, but he abided by its terms, and Boston was spared much devastation and bloodshed. 49 00:05:07.280 --> 00:05:15.000 Finally, Howell and the British troops, carrying with them no fewer than 1,000 Tories in flight, 50 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:25.120 embarked on March 17 in a mighty armada of over 170 ships, soon setting sail for Halifax. 51 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:27.320 It was truly a great victory. 52 00:05:27.320 --> 00:05:32.960 Boston, the spearhead of the revolution, the focal point of British military oppression, 53 00:05:32.960 --> 00:05:36.280 had at last been liberated. 54 00:05:36.280 --> 00:05:40.840 And in their hasty flight, the British had been forced to leave behind them an enormous 55 00:05:40.840 --> 00:05:44.400 amount of supplies and military equipment. 56 00:05:44.400 --> 00:05:49.240 As the Duke of Manchester was soon to declare in the House of Lords, let this transaction 57 00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:52.000 be dressed in what garb you please. 58 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:57.260 The fact remains that the army, which was sent to reduce the province of Massachusetts 59 00:05:57.260 --> 00:06:04.440 Bay has been driven from the capital and the standard of the provincial army now waves 60 00:06:04.440 --> 00:06:06.600 and Triumph over the Walls of Boston.