March 4/5 Inspiration for Walter Mittys Everywhere

The overnight hours of March 4 and March 5 mark the two-hundred thirty-first anniversary of a remarkable military feat, one made possible by an even more remarkable feat that preceded it.

As the New England winter unfolded in 1776, Boston was occupied by the British, soldiers in its streets, sailors in its harbor. George Washington, newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, wanted desperately to take Boston from the Brits, commanded by Sir William Howe.

But, Washington who had long ago learned to rein in his impulse for recklessness, knew that he simply didn't have the artillery he needed to take advantage of his position on the heights overlooking the great New England city.

That's where Henry Knox comes in. Knox was a rotund Boston bookseller who, before the outbreak of the war, extensively read military history and strategy. Like many who develop armchair expertise, Knox wondered whether he mightn't excel in the field of his intense interest and reading. With little to commend him, Washington appointed Knox to be the chief of his army's artillery.

The problem was that Washington had virtually no artillery to command. But Knox, who must be an inspiration to every Walter Mitty who has ever fantasized about achieving great things, had a plan. It was an outrageous one: He would go to the recently-taken British Fort Ticonderoga, with its cache of cannon and artillery, and transport the big guns 300-miles over the winter snows of upstate New York and through Massachusetts to the heights overlooking Boston. And he would move them on sleds built on the fly at Ticonderoga.

Amazingly, Washington approved the venture. Getting to Ticonderoga in the early part of December, Knox brought the artillery to Washington in mid-January. It was an amazing achievement!

It was the possession of these guns that emboldened Washington to try retaking Boston. The plan was to dig in at Dorchester Heights and call the Redcoats out, making them sitting ducks for the American forces peering down at them behind their enormous cannon. As James L. Stokesbury writes:

The American operation opened with a preliminary covering bombardment. On the night of March 4-5, the troops moved onto the heights and began hammering the frozen ground, under cover of the noise of the guns. Twelve-hundred Yankees with picks, shovels, and crowbars could do a lot of work in the course of a night. British officers heard them, but did not bother to anything about it. So with the dawn, there were the fortifications crowning the heights, and Sir William and his miserable band stood agape. Howe reported home that at least 12,000 men must have been working on the position; his chief engineer thought it would have needed 20,000. There must be a great horde of rebels about if they could do that.

A.J. Langguth writes memorably of what happened on the morning of March 5 and subsequently:

In the morning, Howe found that Boston was now vulnerable to an attack from Dorchester Heights whenever Washington chose to fire Henry Knox's cannon. The March rains that drenched the town made Howe's muskets worthless. As he already had permission to withdraw his men, Howe decided to leave Boston as quickly as he could.

Washington watched the British make their undignified retreat--"in so much hurry, precipitation and confusion as ever troops did"--and shared his glee with his brother John, home in Virginia. Howe ordered his baggage wagons and artillery carts thrown off the docks, along with several hundred blankets. But in his haste he left behind mortars, cannon and shell. On Sunday, March 17, 1776, the British army and twelve hundred loyalists boarded ships to sail away from Boston.

For Washington, the twin miracles of Knox's three-hundred mile sled ride with British cannon and the emplacement of massive fortifications overnight on March 4 and 5, were welcomed events.

Shortly before, American forces had suffered a humiliating rebuff in Canada, in spite of the fact that many in the rebellious colonies had assumed the Americans would be welcomed by the Canadians as liberators and friends.

The evacuation of the British from Boston encouraged Americans to believe that they could win their war.

It also gave them confidence in the commander-in-chief who had won the victory and who had wisely picked Henry Knox to be his commander of artillery.

Washington, almost always a good judge of talented and trustworthy subordinates, would later turn to Knox again, making the one-time Boston bookseller the first Secretary of War in his first years as President.

[Above: Washington at Dorchester Heights; a portrait of Henry Knox and a cannon]