The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-04-13
The Deliverance of R0sten,

NEXT after the battle OF Bunker Hill,
the evacuation OF Boston, which took
place March II, 1776, was the most con-
spicuous military event of the opening Of
the Revolution. Indeed, the I'll hi of the
British army wee TIE first notable victory
fer the Rvolutionists. Bunker Hill was
almost an accidental episode. No flag
was carried by the rebels, and the end 10
be gained by their resistance was onlr
vaguely understood by the brave men
who stood shoulder to shoulder on that
blood.staine5 hill. But the Continental
army on Dorchester Heights was COM
manded by Washington, and what he had
called the Union flag" a banner of red
and white stripes, with the crosses IF st.
George and st. Andrew, was hoisted over
the works. Concord, Lexington and
Bunker Hill were the opening signals of
long conflict. Bancroft says the forced
evacuation of Boston twas the first deci.
sive victory Of the industrious middline
class over the most powerful representa-
tive of the medieval aristocracy.'
When Washington began to complete the
line which was TO invest Boston, he had
about nine thousand men. Lord Howe,
commanding the British forces, was in
town, with eight thousand men, and a
powerful fleet, under Admiral Shuldham,
was riding at anchor in the harbor. The
British were strongly intrenched, we'll
provisioned and amply supplied with am
munition. The patriots were short of
powder, i'll paid and short of rstions.
Howe had delayed his proposed attack on
New York for the reason that he har, not
transports enough to moTe his army.
Through the winter he had remained shut
up in Boston, the wretched inhabitants of
which town, harried and pinched though
they were, remained defiant, hostile and
resentful. The Tories of all the region
around had gathered there for protection
from the angry patriots; and ii was not
always possible for Howe to preserve the
peace when these loyalists met their indig-
mart fellow countrymcn in the streets of
Boston.
The British Ministry had urged the
most crushing and severe measures to-
ward the rebels. New England, earliest
in the rebellion, was to be condignlv pun
ishcd. The resistance of the colonists
was to be ended there. Twenty thousand
German mercenaries and recruits had been
secured, and the ministers laughed at any
suggestion of this being long war, with
disastrous ending for Great Britain,
harmonious Counsels did not prevail
among the American colonies, and many
of the volunteers had left the little army.
Dunmore had proclaimed martial law in
Virginia, and had burned Norfolk, and
Maryland was hesitatlng over propositions
looking toward declaration of indepcn-
dence. 1t was high time that the L" Brit
ish nest IN Boston, as Washington called
it, should be broken up, if possible. eIn
a single night, while cannonade divert
ed the attention of the royal forces in the
town, Washington threw up Oh Durches-
ter Heights a fertilization on which Howe
next day gazed with CONSERVATION. The
ground was frozen, and the patriots had
made shift with bales of hay. barrels
filled with stones, and with as much of
the stiff earth as could be dislodged with
pick and shovel in the night. These
heights commanded the town, and the
British Admiral made haste to inform
General Howe that his ships could not
stay III the harbor if the rebels We're to
keep their new position, Powder being
scarce, the Americans held their fire. A
few days after, an attacking column, I'M
der Lord Percy, moved out of the town.
crossing the bay to what is now South
Boston, under the heights, in transports.
The assault was deferred until next day.
and that night violent storm burst on
the harbOr, drove some of the feet ashore
and so damaged the British fiotilla that
Percy and his men returned to Boston.
Bowe called council of war, and i'm
mediate evacuation was ordered.
The embarkation began before dawn,
March II, and by night not British sol.
der remained in the town. The fleet
anchored in the lower bay, out of the
reach of the cannon of the triumphant
Americans, and the few hundred Tories
who had taken passage for Halifax looked
gloomily on the shores from which they
were to be exiles. Washington's troops
entered the town on the day after the evac-
uation, though the main body did not
move in until March 20. The beloved
Communicating Chief was overwhelmed
with congratulations, thanks and praise
by the delivered inhabitants. The news
OF the flight of the British flew fast and |
far. 1t was a sad blow to the Tories here;
1t confirmed many who were hating be-
twlXt two opin ions, and it ast0nished and |
dismayed the ministers, who had antici. |
pated the speedy crushing of the rebellion
in New England. From this time the
seat of war was transferred to other colo |
mics. New England was spared the pres
ence of the opprcssor. The event is one
worthy to be commemorated with much |
enthusiasm. 1t marked an important era |
in the war of the Revolution. 1t gave
new hopes to the struggling colonists, and |
1t shed new luster on the name of the mil |
itary chieftain whose admirable strategy |
had accomplished this result.-N. Y. |
Times.