1. Colonial Audacity,
Ingenuity, and
Leadership Drive the
British from Boston
Washington, Knox, and the Dorchester Heights
Lecture from 1776, by David McCullough, Copyright 2005

2. Situation: The Siege of Boston, 1775
• April 19th, the Battles of Lexington and Concord - Revolutionary War starts.
 Effectively skirmishes
• June 17th, the Battle of Bunker Hill
 A traumatizing victory for the British due to suffering more than 1000 casualties
when taking the elevated Colonial position.
• July 3rd, George Washington takes command of colonial forces
 British in Boston and Colonial forces respective fortifications engage in a war of
attrition.
 7,000 British regulars, 14,000 Colonial militia
 Challenges included:
 Disease
 Supplies, especially powder for the Colonial forces
 For the Colonial forces, expiring enlistment periods

3. Boston and Surrounding Area, during the siege
Colonial fortifications noted by blue highlighter, British fortifications in red lighter, Dorchester Heights indicated with blue
oval.

4. General George Washington and
Colonel Henry Knox
• Knox (1750-1806), 25 years of age at the start of the siege
 “very fat, but very active,” about 6 ft. tall, 250 lbs.
 Book seller by trade with an interest in military matters before the war
 Born in Boston, went to work at age 9 after the disappearance of his father overseas
 Left hand mauled in a hunting accident, potentially grounds for military exclusion
in a regular army
• Washington, (1732-1799), 44 years of age at the start of the siege
 Military experience in French and Indian War, never before in command of a whole
army and retired from service for 15 years before the Revolutionary War
 Reputation for being cool under fire (Braddock’s campaign, 1755)
 Physically imposing, great rider, physically strong
 Owned over 100 slaves and 53,000+ acres in Virginia
 Interested in the theatre and the architecture of his plantation home, Mount Vernon
 Dedicated husband / father to Martha Dandrige Custis and her two children.

5. Henry Knox, George Washington

6. Retrieving the cannons of Fort
Ticonderoga: Audacity
• Proposed by Knox and readily approved by Washington with Knox in charge
 Knox set out by November 16th, 1775, authorized to spend up to $1000.
 Many thought the task impossible.
 Fort and its cannons captured by Colonial forces in May of 1775.
 58 artillery pieces, the biggest of which weighed 5000 lbs. and a total weight of not less
than 120,000 lbs.
 Transported by rafts and sledges (big sleds) through blizzards, thaws, mountainous
terrain, and river crossings.
 Hudson river crossing, facilitated by Knox cutting holes in the ice. Even so, the expedition nearly
lost an 18-pounder that fell through the ice. The expedition lost a day but still managed to drag it
out of the river.
 By February 16th, 1776, the full 58 guns were ready in the Boston area, allowing for
Washington to persuade his hesitant officers to occupy the Dorchester Heights.
 McCullough, p. 60:
 “That such a scheme hatched by a junior officer in his twenties . . . was transmitted so directly to
the supreme commander, seriously considered, and acted upon, also marked an important difference
between the civilian army of the Americans and that of the British. In any army where nearly
everyone was new to the task of soldiering and fighting a war, almost anyone’s ideas deserved a
hearing (my italics).

7. Operation: Dorchester Heights, the
night of March 4th, 1776: Ingenuity
• How to deploy Knox’s guns on the Heights in one night, quietly and
entrenched?
 A steep-sided feature, 112 ft. high, with the ground frozen as hard as rock.
• Proposal from Rufus Putman, surveyor and farmer in civilian life.
 His proposal came from Muller’s Field Engineer, A British textbook:
 Chandeliers, screwed hay, and fascines – essentially prefabricated fortifications.
 Putman went to his commander, Colonel Richard Gridly, and they took the idea to
Knox. All three men went to Washington, who added barrels of dirt to the plan and
gave the order to proceed.
 Parallel with the Ticonderoga expedition obvious:
 “In any army where nearly everyone was new to the task of soldiering and fighting a war,
almost anyone’s ideas deserved a hearing.”
• Perhaps as importantly, General George Washington was willing to listen
and exercised solid judgement. This is the foundation of leadership.

8. Execution and Aftermath
• 3000 soldiers, 800 oxen, uncounted wagons and carts deployed to move the
cannons and prefabricated entrenchments up the Heights in one night.
 Screens of hay bales and a night-time bombardment further confused the British.
 Even so, the British officer Sir John Campbell did note that the colonial forces were
advancing on the Heights the night of the 4th.
 The British as a whole were very aware of Dorchester’s importance.
 Campbell’s warning still went no further than his commanding officer, Francis Smith, not
to General Howe at the top. Very different from the Colonial chain of command.
• The morning of the 5th, the British were confronted with a position they wouldn’t
dare attack and ultimately withdrew all their forces to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in
exchange for not burning Boston to the ground.
 The Heights were so elevated that the British artillery couldn’t elevate high enough to
fire.
• The politics of war and the danger of high expectations:
 British had planned to eventually withdraw from Boston, however . . . .
 Duke of Manchester, British opponent of the war: “Let this transaction be dressed in what
garb you please. The fact remains that the [British] army was sent to reduce the province
of Massachusetts Bay has been driven from the capital, and that the standards of the
provincial army now wave in triumph over the walls of Boston.”