Dorchester Heights - The Twin Hills - SIEGE OF BOSTON

95R G St, Boston, MA 02127

On the evening of March 4, 1776, Washington directed his men to take the cannon from Fort Ticonderoga up Dorchester Heights south of the city. He also ordered his troops in Cambridge to fire on the redcoats. The British blasted the American guns in Cambridge throughout the night, only to discover the many cannons pointed at them from Dorchester Heights on the following morning. The British Commander General William Howe remarked, "My God, these fellows have done more work in one night than I could make my army do in three months."

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See “Lechmere Point” for more details on Ethan Allen’s men and the trek from Fort Ticonderoga, NY. See “Nook’s Hill” for a video that explains the trek leading up to this fortification.

If you’re wondering why the monument is so far away from the coast, it’s because the South Boston Waterfront was all marshland at that time and Boston was only accessible by land across a very thin isthmus. (See NPS Seige of Boston Map for original landscape)

Dorchester Heights was also known as Telegraph Hill or Thomas Park. The Monument here marks the last surviving hill of a collection of hills that once commanded Boston and Boston Harbor. British Soldiers from Castle William (a British military stronghold on Castle Island nearby) explored how to fortify the site but recognized it would be difficult to do so in the frozen ground. In the meantime, British supplies were running low as well, specifically food and meat.

George Washington favored a direct assault but Henry Knox and Nathaniel Greene, local military strategists, want to fortify the high points around Boston instead. Washington and his Generals planned a distraction to fortify the Heights undetected. On the nights of March 2, 3 and 4, Washington ordered a large bombardment of Boston which diverted the attention of British forces to the west of town.

Finally, on the night of March 4, 1776, Washington directed General John Thomas and Colonel Richard Gridley, the chief engineer of the army, to fortify Dorchester Heights with artillery moved from Fort Ticonderoga. What they lacked in cannons they faked with painted logs to look even more entrenched. Over 1,200 soldiers and volunteers and 300 oxcarts transported tools and materials to the site as stealthily as possible. The dawn of March 5, 1776 – the 6-year anniversary of the Boston Massacre – revealed to everyone what the Continental forces achieved overnight. A fortification with cannon towered over Boston, as well as the only shipping routes out of the Harbor. British General William Howe commented, "My God, these fellows have done more work in one night than I could make my army do in three months." Howe sent troops up to Dorchester Heights to dislodge the guns, but a snowstorm prevented the assault. Fearing a brutal bombardment, he decided to leave Boston. On March 17, 1776, known afterward as "Evacuation Day," 11,000 redcoats and hundreds of Loyalists left the city by boat.

-Source Links-

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/siege-boston

https://allthingsliberty.com/2019/09/massachusetts-privateers-during-the-siege-of-boston/

https://www.nps.gov/places/dorchester-heights.htm

https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/a90667c2-2194-472a-84fc-a466b2f27a04

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/siege-of-boston-map.htm NPS Map

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/maps/animated-battle-maps For other major battles after the war was officially underway

https://www.walkingboston.com/tour-boston-history/ multiple maps

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0390-0002 Inventory of British stores Left in Boston, March 20, 1776