page_title: Henry Clinton (British Army officer, born 1730)
section_title: Boston
hierarchical_section_title: Henry Clinton (British Army officer, born 1730) / American War of Independence / Boston
context_page_description: General Sir Henry Clinton, KB was a British army officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1772 and 1795. He is best known for his service as a general during the American War of Independence. First arriving in Boston in May 1775, from 1778 to 1782 he was the British Commander-in-Chief in North America. In addition to his military service, due to the influence of his cousin Henry Pelham-Clinton, 2nd Duke of Newcastle, he was a Member of Parliament for many years. Late in life he was named Governor of Gibraltar, but died before assuming the post.
context_section_description: Clinton, along with Major Generals William Howe and John Burgoyne, was sent with reinforcements to strengthen the position of General Thomas Gage in Boston. They arrived on 25 May, having learned en route that the American War of Independence had broken out, and that Boston was under siege. Gage, along with Clinton and Generals Howe and Burgoyne discussed plans to break the siege. Clinton was an advocate for fortifying currently unoccupied high ground surrounding Boston, and plans were laid to occupy those spots on 18 June.  However, the colonists learned of the plan and fortified the heights of the Charlestown peninsula on the night of 16–17 June, forcing the British leadership to rethink their strategy.
  In a war council held early on 17 June, the generals developed a plan calling for a direct assault on the colonial fortification, and Gage gave Howe command of the operation. Despite a sense of urgency (the colonists were still working on the fortifications at the time of the council), the attack did not begin until that afternoon. Clinton was assigned the role of providing reserve forces when requested by Howe. After two assaults failed, Clinton, operating against his orders from General Gage, crossed over to Charlestown to organize wounded and dispirited troops milling around the landing area.
  On the third and successful assault against the redoubt on Breed's Hill, the position was taken and these troops, having rallied, arrived and drove the rebels back to Bunker Hill.  The battle was a victory for the British, but only at the heavy cost of over 1,000 casualties. Clinton famously wrote of the battle that it was "A dear bought victory, another such would have ruined us."
  For the remainder of 1775 the siege became little more than a standoff, with the sides either unwilling or unable to mount an effective attack on the other. After Howe took command of the forces following General Gage's recall in September, the two of them established a working relationship that started out well, but did not take long to begin breaking down. Howe gave Clinton the command of Charlestown, but Clinton spent most of his time in Boston. He occupied the house of John Hancock, which he scrupulously cared for. He hired a housekeeper named Mary Baddeley, the wife of a man who had supposedly been demoted because she refused an officer's advances. Clinton also hired Thomas Baddeley as a carpenter; the relationship Clinton established with Mary lasted the rest of his life, although it was only platonic during his time in Boston.
  Cracks had already begun to form in his relationship with Howe when plans were developed for an expedition to the southern colonies, command of which went to Clinton. He asked Howe for specific officers to accompany him and authority that an independent commander might normally have, but Howe rebuffed him on all such requests. In January 1776, Clinton sailed south with a small fleet and 1,500 men to assess military opportunities in the Carolinas. During his absence his fears about the situation in Boston were realized when the Dorchester Heights were occupied and fortified by the rebels in early March, causing the British to evacuate Boston and retreat to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
caption: John Trumbull's The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Clinton is in the center background, bareheaded and holding a sword.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image ExifOffset": "38", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1070"}