during the siege of Boston. From ''Marshall's Life of Washington'' (1806). Immediately after the battles of April 19, the
Massachusetts militia formed a siege line extending from
Chelsea, around the peninsulas of Boston and
Charlestown, to
Roxbury, effectively surrounding Boston on three sides. The siege line was under the loose leadership of
William Heath, who was superseded by General
Artemas Ward late on April 20. They particularly blocked the Charlestown Neck, the only land access to Charlestown, and the
Boston Neck, the only land access to Boston, which was then
a peninsula, leaving the British in control only of the harbor and sea access. The size of the colonial forces grew in the following days, as militias arrived from
New Hampshire,
Rhode Island, and
Connecticut. General Gage turned his attention to fortifying easily defensible positions. He ordered lines of defenses with ten 24-pound guns in Roxbury. In Boston proper, four hills were quickly fortified. They were to be the main defense of the city. Over time, each of these hills was strengthened. Gage also decided to abandon Charlestown, removing the beleaguered forces that had retreated from Concord. The town of Charlestown itself was entirely vacant, and Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill were left undefended, as were the
heights of Dorchester, which had a commanding view of the harbor and the city. The British at first greatly restricted movement in and out of the city, fearing infiltration of weapons. The besieged and besiegers eventually reached an informal agreement allowing traffic on the Boston Neck, provided that no firearms were carried. Residents of Boston turned in almost 2,000 muskets, and most of the Patriot residents left the city. Many
Loyalists who lived outside the city of Boston left their homes and fled into the city. Most of them felt that it was not safe to live outside of the city, because the Patriots were now in control of the countryside. Some of the men arriving in Boston joined Loyalist regiments attached to the British army. The siege did not blockade the harbor, and the city remained open for the
Royal Navy to bring in supplies from
Nova Scotia and other places under
Vice Admiral Samuel Graves. Colonial forces could do little to stop these shipments due to the superiority of the British fleet. Nevertheless, American privateers were able to harass supply ships, and food prices rose quickly. Soon, the shortages meant that the British forces were on short rations. Generally, the American forces were able to gather information about what was happening in the city from people escaping the privations of Boston, but General Gage had no effective intelligence of American activities.
Early skirmishes On May 3, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress authorized
Benedict Arnold to raise forces for taking
Fort Ticonderoga near the southern end of
Lake Champlain in the
Province of New York, which was known to have heavy weapons and only lightly defended. Arnold arrived in the village of
Castleton in the
New Hampshire Grants (Vermont) on the 9th, where he joined with
Ethan Allen and a militia company from Connecticut, all of whom had independently arrived at the idea of taking Ticonderoga. This company
captured Fort Ticonderoga and
Fort Crown Point under the joint leadership of Arnold and Allen. They also captured the one large military vessel on Lake Champlain in a raid on
Fort Saint-Jean. They recovered more than 180 cannons and other weaponry and supplies that the
Continental Army used to tighten their grip on Boston. demanding the surrender of
Fort Ticonderoga Boston lacked a regular supply of fresh meat, and many horses needed hay. On May 21, Gage ordered a party to go to
Grape Island in the
outer harbor and bring hay to Boston. The Continentals on the mainland noticed this and called out the militia. As the British party arrived, they came under fire from the militia. The militia set fire to a barn on the island, destroying 80 tons of hay and preventing the British from taking more than three tons. but this merely ignited anger among the Patriots, and more people began to take up arms. The British plan was to fortify Bunker Hill and Dorchester Heights. They fixed the date for taking Dorchester Heights at June 18, but the colonists'
committee of safety learned of the British plans on June 15. In response, they sent instructions to General Ward to fortify Bunker Hill and the heights of Charlestown, and he ordered Colonel
William Prescott to do so. On the night of June 16, Prescott led 1,200 men over the Charlestown Neck and constructed fortifications on Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill. British forces under General Howe took the Charlestown peninsula on June 17 in the
Battle of Bunker Hill. The British succeeded in their tactical objective of taking the high ground on the Charlestown peninsula, but they suffered significant losses with some 1,000 men killed or wounded, including 92 officers killed. The British losses were so heavy that there were no further direct attacks on American forces. The Americans lost the battle but had again stood against the British regulars with some success, as they successfully repelled two assaults on Breed's Hill during the engagement.
Stalemate General George Washington arrived at
Cambridge on July 2. He set up his headquarters at the
Benjamin Wadsworth House at
Harvard College and took command of the newly formed
Continental Army the following day. By this time, forces and supplies were arriving, including four independent companies of riflemen (not part of any state line) from
Maryland and
Virginia. Washington began the work of molding the militias into an army, appointing senior officers (the militias had typically elected their leaders), and introducing more organization and disciplinary measures. Washington required officers of different ranks to wear differentiating apparel so that they might be distinguished from their underlings and superiors. On July 16, he moved his headquarters to the
John Vassall House in Cambridge. Toward the end of July, about 2,000 riflemen arrived in units raised in
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia by Congressional mandate. The accuracy of the rifle was previously unknown in New England, and these forces were used to harass the besieged forces. taking command of the Army, 1775 Washington also ordered the defenses to be improved, so the army dug trenches on Boston Neck and then extended toward Boston. However, these activities had little effect on the British occupation. The working parties were fired on from time to time, as were sentries guarding the works. The British pushed back an American advanced guard on July 30, and they burned a few houses in Roxbury. An American rifleman was killed on August 2, and the British hung his body by the neck. In retaliation, American riflemen marched to the lines and began to attack the British troops. They continued their sharpshooting all day, killing and wounding many of the British while losing only one Patriot. On the same night, 300 Americans attacked
Lighthouse Island and burned the lighthouse, killing several British soldiers and capturing 23, with the loss of only one American. In early September, Washington began drawing up plans for two moves: to dispatch 1,000 men from Boston to
invade Quebec, and to launch an attack on Boston. He felt that he could afford to send some troops to Quebec, as he had received intelligence from British deserters and American spies that the British had no intention of launching an attack from Boston until they were reinforced. On September 11, about 1,100 troops under the command of
Benedict Arnold left for Quebec. Washington summoned a council of war and made a case for an amphibious assault on Boston by sending troops across
Back Bay in flat-bottomed boats which could hold 50 men each. He believed that it would be extremely difficult to keep the men together when winter came. His war council unanimously rejected the plan, and the decision was not to attack "for the present at least". In early November, 400 British soldiers went to
Lechmere's Point on a raiding expedition to acquire some livestock. They made off with 10 head of cattle but lost two lives in the skirmish with colonial troops sent to defend the point. On November 29, colonial Captain
John Manley commanding the schooner
Lee captured one of the most valuable prizes of the siege: the British brigantine
Nancy just outside Boston Harbor. She was carrying a large supply of ordnance and military stores intended for the British troops in Boston. As winter approached, the Americans were so short of gunpowder that some of the soldiers were given spears instead of guns. Many of the American troops remained unpaid and many of their enlistments were set to expire at the end of the year. Howe had replaced Gage in October as commander of the British forces, and was faced with different problems. Firewood was so scarce that British soldiers resorted to cutting down trees and tearing down wooden buildings, including the Old North Meeting House. The city had become increasingly difficult because of winter storms and the rise in American privateers. The British troops were so hungry that many were ready to desert as soon as they could, and
scurvy and
smallpox had broken out in the city. Washington's army faced similar problems with smallpox, as soldiers from rural communities were exposed to the disease. He moved infected troops to a separate hospital, the only option available given the public stigma against inoculation. Washington again proposed to assault Boston in October, but his officers thought it best to wait until the harbor had frozen over. In February, the water froze between Roxbury and Boston Common, and Washington thought that he would try an assault by rushing across the ice in spite of his shortage in powder; but his officers again advised against it. Washington's desire to launch an attack on Boston arose from his fear that his army would desert in the winter, and he knew that Howe could easily break the lines of his army in its present condition. He abandoned an attack across the ice with great reluctance in exchange for a more cautious plan of fortifying Dorchester Heights using cannon arrived from Fort Ticonderoga. British major general,
Henry Clinton, and a small fleet set sail for the Carolinas in mid-January with 1,500 men. Their objective was to join forces with additional troops arriving from Europe, and to take a port in the southern colonies for further military operations. In early February, a British raiding party crossed the ice and burned several farmhouses in Dorchester. ==End of the siege==