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Browsing named entities in a specific section of George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 8. Search the whole document.

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5th (search for this): chapter 19
musketry, crowned each of the two hills; an abattis constructed of trees, Chap. LIX.} 1776. Mar. felled in the neighboring orchards, protected the foot of the ridge; the top was surmounted by barrels, filled with earth and stones, which, as the hill sides were steep and bare of trees and bushes, were, in case of an attack, to be rolled down against the assailing columns. Perhaps there never was so much work done in so short a space of time. Some time after daybreak on the morning of the fifth, the British from Boston beheld with astonishment and dismay the forts which had sprung up in a night. At the discovery the batteries on both sides ceased to play, and a fearful quiet prevailed. Howe, as he saw the new intrenchments loom in imposing strength, reported that they must have been the employment of at least twelve thousand men; and some of his officers acknowledged, that the sudden appearance recalled the wonderful stories in eastern romances of enchantment and the invisible ag
8th (search for this): chapter 19
s as well as in their fortunes; doomed to depend on the scanty charities, grudgingly doled out, of a monarch for whom they had surrendered every thing, and to find how hard are the steps of the great men's houses, at which needy suppliants must ever renew their importunities. The greatest disgrace to the arms of the British was the manifest confession of their inability to protect their friends, who had risked every thing in their cause. Who could now put trust in their promises? On the eighth, Howe, through the selectmen of Boston, wished to come to an understanding with Washington that the town should be spared, provided he might be suffered to leave it without molestation. The unauthenticated proposal could meet with no reply from the American commander in chief, who continued to strengthen his lines, drew nearer and nearer to his enemy, and used his artillery sparingly only from want of ammunition. On the night following the ninth, a strong detachment began a fort on Nook Hi
20th (search for this): chapter 19
consigned to Boston, and ignorant of the retreat, successively entered the harbor without suspicion, and fell into the hands of the Americans; among them the ship Hope, which, in addition to carbines, bayonets, gun-carriages, and all sorts of tools necessary for artillery, had on board more than seven times as much powder as Washington's whole stock when his last movement was begun. On the next day, Washington ordered five of his best regiments to march under Heath to New York. On the twentieth, the main body of the army made its entry into Boston; alive with curiosity to behold the town which had been the first object of the war, the immediate cause of hostilities, the place of arms defended by Britain at the cost of more than a million pounds sterling, and which the continent had contended for so long. Except one meeting-house and a few wooden buildings which had been used for fuel, the houses had been left in a good condition. When, two days later, all restrictions on interc
29th (search for this): chapter 19
ept up from the days of Winthrop and Wilson, and all rejoiced with exceeding joy at seeing this New England Zion once more a quiet habitation; they called it a tabernacle that should never be taken down, of which not one of the stakes should ever be removed, nor one of the cords be broken; and as the words were spoken, it seemed as if the old century was holding out its hand to the new, and the puritan ancestry of Massachusetts returning to bless the deliverer of their children. On the twenty ninth, the two branches of the legislature addressed him jointly, dwelling on the respect he had ever shown to their civil constitution, as well as on his regard for the lives and health of all under his command. Go on, said they, still go on, approved by heaven, revered by all good men, and dreaded by tyrants; may future generations, in the peaceful enjoyment of that freedom, which your sword shall have established, raise the most lasting monuments to the name of Washington. And the chief, i
February (search for this): chapter 19
Chapter 59: Boston delivered. February—March, 1776. in February, 1776, the commander in chief of Chap. LIX.} 1776. Feb. the American army found himself supplied with only money enough toFeb. the American army found himself supplied with only money enough to answer claims antecedent to the last day of December; his want of powder was still Feb. so great as to require the most careful concealment. Congress had strangely lavished its resources on the equiFeb. so great as to require the most careful concealment. Congress had strangely lavished its resources on the equipment of a navy; leaving him in such dearth of the materials of war, that he was compelled to look for them in every direction, and at one time had even asked if something could be spared him from theould suggest, he set before congress the ruinous imperfections of their mili- Chap. LIX.} 1776. Feb. tary system. To the vast numbers of mercenary troops that were to come over in spring to reenforDorchester Heights would give Washington the command of Boston and of a large Chap. LIX.} 1776. Feb. part of the harbor. Ill supplied as he was with powder, and having no resource for artillery but
March (search for this): chapter 19
e in motion, going backwards Chap. LIX.} 1776. Mar. and forwards, some three, some four times; benebattis constructed of trees, Chap. LIX.} 1776. Mar. felled in the neighboring orchards, protected t, Howe knew not what to pro- Chap. LIX.} 1776. Mar. pose; neither Burgoyne nor Clinton was with himessels were driven on shore; Chap. LIX.} 1776. Mar. rain fell in torrents on the morning of the sixmned to hopeless inferiority Chap. LIX.} 1776. Mar. in a dreary place of exile; foregoing for the fow he had a larger force and Chap. LIX.} 1776. Mar. fewer transports. He pretended that he went frld not hearken to a doubt of Chap. LIX.} 1776. Mar. speedily crushing the rebellion. On the morninn the laying waste which was Chap. LIX.} 1776. Mar. proposed, New England was to be spared the leaslation, to the end of the war Chap. LIX.} 1776 Mar. and during all his life, heaved and swelled wittive truth, struggling earn- Chap. LIX.} 1776. Mar. estly to solve the problem of the universe, in [4 more...]
March 4th (search for this): chapter 19
g the enemy out and force them to offer battle. To that end the council of Massachusetts, at his request, called in the militia of the nearest towns. The engineer employed to devise and superintend the works was Rufus Putnam; and the time chosen for their erection was the eve of the anniversary of the Boston massacre. To Mar. harass the enemy and divert attention, a heavy cannonade and bombardment of the town was kept up during the two previous nights. Soon after candlelight on the fourth of March, the firing was renewed with greater vehemence than before from Cobble Hill, now Somerville, from Lechmere's Point, now East Cambridge, and from a battery in Roxbury, and was returned with such zeal by the British, that a continued roar of cannon and mortars was heard from seven o'clock till daylight. As soon as it had begun, Washington proceeded to take possession of the Heights of Dorchester. All the requisite dispositions, including the method of baffling an attack, had been delibe
March 5th (search for this): chapter 19
ndred men were detailed and put under the command of Lord Percy to make the attack; but the men were pale and dejected; they shared the general consternation and remembered Bunker Hill; and Percy showed no heart for an enterprise, which Howe himself confessed to be hazardous. When they were seen to enter the boats, the Americans on the heights, who now expected an immediate attack, kindled with joy in their confidence of repelling them victoriously. Washington said: Remember, it is the fifth of March, a day never to be forgotten; avenge the death of your brethren; and the words, as they flew from mouth to mouth, inflamed still more the courage of his soldiers. But they were doomed to disappointment; the British sallying party and Percy, who did not intend to attempt scaling the heights till after nightfall, were borne in the transports to the castle; in the afternoon a violent storm of wind came up from the south, and about midnight blew with such fury that two or three vessels wer
March 14th (search for this): chapter 19
he British parliament, after being imprisoned for many tedious months in the place they were to have punished, found no refuge but on board the fleet. In these very hours the confidence of the ministry was at its point of culmination; they had heard of the safety of Quebec; they had succeeded in engaging more than twenty thousand German mercenaries and recruits, and they would not hearken to a doubt of Chap. LIX.} 1776. Mar. speedily crushing the rebellion. On the morning of the fourteenth of March, the British secretary of state listened to a speech from Thayendanegea, otherwise named Joseph Brant, a full-blooded Mohawk, of the Wolf Tribe, the chosen chief of the confederacy of the Six Nations, who had crossed the great lake to see King George; to boast that the savages, his brethren, had offered the last year to prevent the invasion of Canada; and to complain that the white people had given them no support. Brother, so the Mohawk chief addressed Germain, we hope to see these
May (search for this): chapter 19
the villages all around, chiefly women and children, driven from their beds by the rattling of their windows and the jar of their houses, could watch from the hill-tops the flight of every shell that was thrown, and waited for morning with wonder and anxiety. In England the ministry trusted implicitly the assurances of Howe, that he was not under the least apprehensions of any attack from the rebels; the king expected that after wintering in Boston, and awaiting reenforcements, he would, in May or in the first week of June, sail for New York; the courtiers were wishing Boston and all New England sunk to the very bottom of the sea. At about three in the morning the working party was relieved; but the toil was continued with unremitted energy, so that in one night strong redoubts, amply secure against grapeshot and musketry, crowned each of the two hills; an abattis constructed of trees, Chap. LIX.} 1776. Mar. felled in the neighboring orchards, protected the foot of the ridge; t
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