<h2 id="c10"><span class="h2line1">Chapter X</span> <br/><span class="h2line2">Washington Before Boston</span></h2>
<p>At this crisis Congress felt that it must make
one more appeal to the King. This was
done in a petition couched in the most
respectful language. It says: “We beg to
assure Your Majesty that, in spite of the sufferings
of your loyal colonists during the present disagreement,
we still cherish such tender consideration for
the kingdom to which we owe our origin that we
are far from demanding any agreement incompatible
with the dignity and prosperity of the mother country.”
Thus the English government had another
opportunity of adopting a conciliatory course. It
did not do so. London paid no attention whatever
to Congress. The answer intended for the Americans
was to be written by Howe’s bayonets and the
English government had no doubt that their general
would soon report the downfall of the rebellion, as
they called this justifiable resistance.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_87">87</div>
<p>In the meanwhile Washington had appeared before
Boston. An army chaplain has left us the following
characteristic picture of the American camp: “It
is very diverting to walk among the camps. They
are as different in their forms as the owners are in
their dress; and every tent is a portraiture of the
temper and taste of the persons who encamp in it.
Some are made of boards and some are made of
sailcloth; some are partly of one and partly of the
other. Again, others are made of stone and turf,
brick and brush. Some are thrown up in a hurry,
others curiously wrought with wreaths and withes.”
To his discomfiture, Washington did not find what
he had hoped for. The American army consisted of
sixteen thousand men instead of twenty thousand, as
he had been told, and of these only fourteen thousand
were fit for military service. He found brave
men, but not a homogeneous army; instead, large
and small bands of men, armed in promiscuous
fashion, under leaders who were totally independent
of each other. There was no artillery and even
the most rudimentary military organization was
lacking. To make a military unit of this heterogeneous
mass was the first task which lay before him.
It was to be expected that the solution of this
problem would be attended with extraordinary difficulties.
He had to deal with sons of the forest who,
though brave, were, owing to their unrestrained
and independent lives, unused to military discipline.
Such a task was not to be accomplished in a few
days or weeks, but needed a long time. Inside the
city a picked body of eleven thousand men was
quartered, splendidly armed and well equipped with
all that was necessary to carry on the war.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_88">88</div>
<p>Thus Washington found more than enough work
awaiting him from the first day of his arrival at
headquarters. He was now repaid for the careful
training of his youth and his habit of conscientiously
carrying out whatever he undertook, of seizing upon
the essentials of a matter, and of persevering, with
strict attention and diligence, to the end. What
industry, strength, firmness, and patience were
necessary to call forth that spirit, without which
harmony in action would be lacking and enduring
success could not be attained! Under the existing
circumstances there was at first no other course
open to him than to imitate the method of Fabius,
the delayer. Thus the year passed and nothing had
been done by either side. At the end of December
a part of the American troops who had only enlisted
for the current year demanded to be mustered out.
It was their right and Washington let them go.
There were about ten thousand men left in the
camp before Boston, while the enemy inside had in
the meanwhile been strengthened by reinforcements
from England.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_89">89</div>
<p>The patriots of the country had no idea of the
difficulties with which Washington had to struggle.
Many had expected to read in the newspapers of
battles and victories during the first days of Washington’s
command and now a year had passed
and nothing had been done. Two of Washington’s
letters of that time, both of them to Colonel Reed,
give sufficient explanation of the situation. The
first letter says: “Search the vast volumes of history
through and I much question whether a case similar
to ours is to be found; to wit, to maintain a post
against the flower of the British troops for six months
together, without powder, and at the end of them
to have one army disbanded and another to raise,
within the same distance of a reinforced enemy. It
is too much to attempt—what may be the final
issue of the last manœuvre, time only can tell. I
wish this month were well over our heads!” The
second letter is dated in February of the next year
(1776), in which he says: “I know the unhappy
predicament I stand in. I know that much is expected
of me. I know that without men, without
arms, without ammunition, without anything fit for
the accommodation of a soldier, that little is to be
done, and, which is mortifying, I know that I cannot
stand justified to the world, without exposing my
own weakness and injuring the cause by declaring
my wants, which I am determined not to do, further
than unavoidable necessity brings every man acquainted
with. My own situation feels so irksome
to me at times that if I did not consult the publick
good more than my own tranquillity I should long
ere this have put everything to the cast of a die.
So far from my having an army of twenty thousand
men, well armed, etc., I have been here with less
than one-half of it, including sick, furloughed, and
on command; and those neither armed or clothed
as they should be. In short, my situation has been
such that I have been obliged to use art to conceal
it from my own officers.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_90">90</div>
<p>Washington worked tirelessly over the reorganization
of the army. He paid heed, not only to outward
conditions, accoutrements, maintenance, etc.,
but he aimed to infuse a new spirit into the whole
mass. Among his troops there were not a few wild
fellows who led disgraceful lives. Washington issued
an order, which read as follows: “At this time of
public distress, men may find enough to do in the
service of God and their country without abandoning
themselves to vice and immorality. It is a noble
cause we are engaged in. It is the cause of virtue and
mankind. Every advantage and comfort to us and
our posterity depend upon the vigor of our exertions;
in short, freedom or slavery must be the result of our
conduct. There can, therefore, be no greater inducement
to men to behave well. But it may not be
amiss to the troops to know that, if any man in action
shall presume to skulk, hide himself, or retreat
from the enemy without the order of his commanding
officer, he will be instantly shot down as an
example of cowardice; cowards having too frequently
disconcerted the best-formed troops by their dastardly
behavior.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_91">91</div>
<p>In camp this order of the day was attributed to
a determination on the General’s part to risk striking
a blow. And it was so. It was his intention
to occupy Dorchester Heights, overlooking the city.
On the night of the third to fourth of March, while
he heavily bombarded the city to distract the attention
of the enemy, the Heights were occupied and
immediately fortified. This work was carried on
with such zeal and success that the next morning
at daybreak, when General Howe gazed up at the
Heights, he could not conceal his amazement and
broke out with the words: “The rebels have done
more work in one night than my whole army would
have done in one month.” Washington was prepared
for a furious onslaught from the enemy, for
Dorchester Heights commanded the town and therefore
a repetition of the bloody fight at Bunker Hill
was to be expected. Heavy rains for the next two
days, however, prevented the British from advancing
to the attack, while the Americans continued
their work on the fortifications industriously.
When the storm had subsided and Howe again
inspected the works on the Heights, he decided
that he dare not risk an attack. There was nothing
left for him but the bitter alternative of evacuating
the city and taking to the ships with his
whole army. Immediately afterward Washington
entered Boston.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_92">92</div>
<p>The news of this event aroused the greatest joy
all over the country. Congress determined to cause
a gold medal, bearing the relief of Washington, to
be coined in commemoration of the liberation of
Boston. With a humble heart the General thanked
God for the victory that had been won. He was
happy in the conviction that this event would
strengthen the confidence of the patriots. He would
have been glad to dispense with the honor, which
was to be paid him, for he foresaw full well that
the road to complete success in the establishment
of independence was to be a long and
arduous one.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_93">93</div>
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