Securing a Stronghold: Boston
The American defense of Boston, the creation of the Continental Army, and artillery from Fort Ticonderoga, drove the British out of Boston.
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View of Breed's Hill and Bunker Hill with American and British Positions, U.S. Army Center of Military History.
In June 1775, Massachusetts leaders discovered the British plan to occupy the Charlestown peninsula. Accordingly, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress ordered Maj. Gen. Artemas Ward to fortify Bunker Hill, overlooking the Charles and Mystic Rivers. On 16 June, Col. William Prescott marched about 1,200 soldiers to the summit to begin work. Col. Richard Gridley determined that nearby Breed’s Hill was more defensible. Joined by Connecticut Col. Israel Putnam, the soldiers labored all night to build an earthen fort there.
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Joseph Warren, General Israel Putnam and American soldiers gathering before Battle of Bunker Hill, 1775, New York Digital Public Library.
Sunrise on 17 June revealed their work to British observers at Boston and aboard ships in the harbor. The British ships opened fire but could not elevate their shots high enough to do any damage. At 0700, British Maj. Gen. William Howe assembled a force to assault the position.
Meanwhile, regiments from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut reinforced Prescott on Breeds Hill, as did artillerists with two cannons. Massachusetts militia Maj. Gen. Joseph Warren arrived at the patriot fortifications, but rather than exercise his rank he volunteered as a private soldier out of respect for Putnam’s experience. Colonel Putnam took command as the ranking officer on the American side.
Putnam’s defenders began to retreat to Bunker Hill. His own soldiers, along with Knowlton’s, formed a rearguard. New England losses stood at 138 killed, 444 wounded, and 30 missing. Having lost 226 killed—including 100 officers—and more than 800 wounded, the British did not pursue them. Although the engagement was a tactical victory for the British, the defense of Breeds Hill and the subsequent occupation of Bunker Hill stymied the British attempt to occupy the peninsula. The hot fight also bolstered the confidence of New England soldiers and those who would soon join them from the south.
George Washington by Charles Willson Peale, 1776. White House Historical Foundation.
Unbeknown to the defenders, three days earlier on 14 June, Congress had adopted the army around Boston; authorized ten companies of expert marksmen to be organized in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia; and appointed Virginia delegate George Washington as commander in chief for the new national army. General Washington took formal command of the besieging army on 3 July 1775 and devoted the next several months to building up the American force and trying to solve its severe logistical difficulties.
The new national army, composed of soldiers from several states, slowly took shape. The rifle companies, six (later nine) from Pennsylvania and two each from Maryland and Virginia, marched to Boston as soon as they had organized. Commanded by local leaders such as William Thompson, James Chambers, Edward Hand, and Daniel Morgan, most arrived by July. Five hundred soldiers from New Hampshire under the command of Brig. Gen. John Sullivan soon joined them.
"The Evacuation of Boston," W.J. Aylward, 1911, New York Public Library Digital Collections.
General Howe now recognized the serious difficulty of the British position. He evacuated the city of Boston by 17 March and on 26 March he sailed with about 9,000 of his soldiers for Halifax, Nova Scotia. Washington and the Continental Army could not rest for long after the evacuation. Washington moved with his army to New York City to defend the city from the British.
Meanwhile, Continental forces had been engaged in a hard fought campaign for control of British Canada. This campaign cumulated in a Continental defeat in Quebec, returning the conflict back to the thirteen colonies.