Siege of Boston
Within a month after joining Washington’s forces, the Virginia Company was ordered to join the forces at Roxbury on the front line of the siege of Boston. The militia was within artillery range of the British who intermittently fired cannon shots into their vicinity. Henry and George Michael were stationed in an abandoned house where Henry records that cannon balls fell close by and one came through the house. He noted in his journal that it seemed somewhat frightful at the time since no one of the company was used to hearing canon firing or being within range of canon shot.[i]
These hardy young riflemen were at first called by the British regulars “a rabble in calico petticoats” as a term of contempt. Their uniform consisted of tow linen or homespun shirts, buckskin breeches, leggings, and moccasins. They wore round felt hats, looped on one side and ornamented with a buck tail. They carried long rifles, shot pouches, powder horns, tomahawks and scalping knives. They soon proved themselves to be superior marksmen; armed with their accurate rifled flintlocks they could pick off British sentries at distances that astounded the redcoats. The British, armed with smooth bore muskets that were notably inaccurate even at close range, turned from scoffing them to fearing and hating them as they feared and hated no other troops. The British soldiers soon learned not to carelessly expose themselves when serving on sentry duty.
British troops had been under siege at Boston since the war had begun with the armed conflicts at Lexington and Concord near Boston, then continuing with engagements at Breed’s Hill and Bunker Hill on June 17. The British did have access to and from Boston by maritime routes. But, with delays in communicating and transporting reinforcements and supplies across 3,000 miles of ocean, the bottled up British troops were running short of food and supplies. When word reached King George of the state of the rebellion in the American Colonies, the English Cabinet hurriedly dispatched 2,000 reinforcements to Boston with resolution to have an army of 20,000 regulars in America before mid-1776.
Henry recounts in his journal building of defensive positions, desertions of the British soldiers, injuries sustained by cannon balls shot at the Americans, American raiding parties, skirmishes with British troops, and trial and punishment of soldiers who broke laws and regulations. Captain Daniel Morgan’s Company was ordered to Canada, where at the siege of Quebec most of them were taken prisoners.
The placement by the Continental soldiers of the fortifications at Dorchester Heights, with artillery brought to Roxbury by Gen. Knox from Fort Ticonderoga, is related in Henry’s journal. The fortification at Dorchester Heights placed British fleet movements and shipping to and from Boston at great risk. British Gen. Howe decided to withdraw from Boston and agreed not to torch the city if the Americans allowed the British ships to pass unmolested past Dorchester Heights. And so in March of 1776 the British ships departed Boston harbor carrying the British forces and many American Tories that had sought protection by the British in Boston. The Americans achieved a great victory at the siege of Boston.
[i] Dandridge, Danske, 1910, Historic Shepherdstown, The Michie Company, Printers, Charlottesville, Virginia, 389 p., p. 105-107.
Continued: Go to Holding Staten Island
These hardy young riflemen were at first called by the British regulars “a rabble in calico petticoats” as a term of contempt. Their uniform consisted of tow linen or homespun shirts, buckskin breeches, leggings, and moccasins. They wore round felt hats, looped on one side and ornamented with a buck tail. They carried long rifles, shot pouches, powder horns, tomahawks and scalping knives. They soon proved themselves to be superior marksmen; armed with their accurate rifled flintlocks they could pick off British sentries at distances that astounded the redcoats. The British, armed with smooth bore muskets that were notably inaccurate even at close range, turned from scoffing them to fearing and hating them as they feared and hated no other troops. The British soldiers soon learned not to carelessly expose themselves when serving on sentry duty.
British troops had been under siege at Boston since the war had begun with the armed conflicts at Lexington and Concord near Boston, then continuing with engagements at Breed’s Hill and Bunker Hill on June 17. The British did have access to and from Boston by maritime routes. But, with delays in communicating and transporting reinforcements and supplies across 3,000 miles of ocean, the bottled up British troops were running short of food and supplies. When word reached King George of the state of the rebellion in the American Colonies, the English Cabinet hurriedly dispatched 2,000 reinforcements to Boston with resolution to have an army of 20,000 regulars in America before mid-1776.
Henry recounts in his journal building of defensive positions, desertions of the British soldiers, injuries sustained by cannon balls shot at the Americans, American raiding parties, skirmishes with British troops, and trial and punishment of soldiers who broke laws and regulations. Captain Daniel Morgan’s Company was ordered to Canada, where at the siege of Quebec most of them were taken prisoners.
The placement by the Continental soldiers of the fortifications at Dorchester Heights, with artillery brought to Roxbury by Gen. Knox from Fort Ticonderoga, is related in Henry’s journal. The fortification at Dorchester Heights placed British fleet movements and shipping to and from Boston at great risk. British Gen. Howe decided to withdraw from Boston and agreed not to torch the city if the Americans allowed the British ships to pass unmolested past Dorchester Heights. And so in March of 1776 the British ships departed Boston harbor carrying the British forces and many American Tories that had sought protection by the British in Boston. The Americans achieved a great victory at the siege of Boston.
[i] Dandridge, Danske, 1910, Historic Shepherdstown, The Michie Company, Printers, Charlottesville, Virginia, 389 p., p. 105-107.
Continued: Go to Holding Staten Island