Wednesday, September 6, 2017

What people were in the Siege of Boston?

There were many people involved in the Siege of Boston during the American Revolution. Most were low-ranking members of the British military forces and the colonial militias. Colonial militias consisted primarily of colonists from the outlying countryside. The British forces consisted of enlisted soldiers, sailors, and marines from Great Britain.
Let us look at some of the bigger players of the Siege of Boston.
At the start of the siege in April 1775, British forces were under the command of General Thomas Gage. He had been appointed the governor of Massachusetts in 1773 and was in charge of all British military forces on the continent. After the British suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775, Gage was recalled to England.
General Gage was replaced by Lord General William Howe. Howe had personally led the British attack at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He was respected by the English elite and was appointed the commander in chief of all British forces in America upon Gage's recall. The siege entered a period of prolonged stalemate under Howe's leadership. The general spent much of this time gambling and carrying on an affair with the wife of one of his subordinates during the following year.
General Henry Clinton and General John Burgoyne were sent to Boston in May of 1775 to assist in breaking the siege. They commanded the garrison in Boston but saw little action during this time.
At the beginning of the Siege of Boston, colonial forces were placed under the command of Joseph Warren, a doctor from Boston who was appointed major general by the Provincial Congress. In truth, there was no central leadership among the various militias during this early period of the war. Warren did his best to coordinate between the numerous militia leaders. He led the defense at the Battle of Bunker Hill where he was killed during the final British assault.
In an attempt to organize colonial forces under a single strong command, George Washington was named the leader of the militias besieging Boston. He took command in July of 1775 and quickly went about establishing order and discipline throughout the various forces under his command. He ordered resupply raids on British gunpowder stores and set about devising a plan to force the British to withdraw from Boston.
Second in command to Washington was Major General Artemas Ward. He was respected by the New England militias and served as an effective bridge between Washington and the rank and file of the militia; they were often at odds.
The siege was finally broken in March of 1776 when Henry Knox arrived at Dorchester Heights with captured British artillery from upstate New York. Knox had been sent to Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point where he took charge of the captured cannons. He spent the winter transporting the heavy artillery over 300 miles to Boston. Once placed on Dorchester Heights, the cannons could directly bombard British forces in the city. Consequently, British forces evacuated Boston on March 17, 1776, ending the Siege of Boston.
http://boston1775.blogspot.com/search/label/siege%20of%20Boston

https://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-siege-of-boston/

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