British soldiers marched to Concord to destroy gunpowder and weapons.
By fall 1774 many Massachusetts militia members were already preparing to fight. In spring 1775 General Gage decided to stop the rebels. On the night of April 18, about 700 of his men left Boston for Concord, Massachusetts, to destroy the gunpowder and weapons stored there. But American spies knew about the march, and word quickly spread to neighboring towns.
Early the next morning, Lieutenant John Barker and the Regulars with him saw armed militiamen waiting for them in Lexington. Someone fired a shot—Barker was sure it was a colonist. The Regulars fired in return. Barker and the other officers ordered their men to stop, but “the men were so wild they could hear no orders.”4 Finally the British marched on, leaving eight dead Americans behind them.
At 8 a.m. the British force reached Concord. The soldiers found just a small amount of rebel supplies before more firing erupted. Several British soldiers were killed, and the rest retreated toward Boston. More rebels poured through the trees and over the hills to join in the attack. British reinforcements from Boston helped Barker and the Regulars get back to camp, but not before dozens were killed.
Word of Lexington and Concord reached London almost six weeks later. Some British citizens feared that battling the colonists could leave Britain open to attacks by France or Spain. But George was determined to press hard on the rebels, believing that once they “have felt a smart blow, they will submit.”5
BUNKER HILL
General Gage hoped that smart blow would come just outside Boston. By mid-June the British there were surrounded by thousands of rebel militia. But several hills outside the city were not defended. Gage hoped to seize the hills and use them to attack the Americans. He had recently received more troops, as well as three new generals—William Howe, Henry Clinton, and John Burgoyne. Each would play key roles in the battles to come.
The attack was scheduled for June 18. Late the night of June 16, General Clinton heard noises on a distant hill. Sunrise the next morning would reveal the source of that sound—Americans digging feverishly to build a redoubt before the British could attack. The small fort went up on Breed’s Hill, but the fighting that soon began was called the Battle of Bunker Hill.
General Howe led the first wave of British soldiers. Weighed down by their heavy backpacks and supplies, the troops were shot by the Americans stationed at the redoubt and behind stone walls. Clinton soon arrived with more men. Also fighting was Lieutenant John Waller, a British Marine. He prepared his men for a charge as the rebel guns fired all around them. The British attacked the redoubt from all sides with their bayonets. Waller saw the redoubt “streaming with blood and strewed with dead and dying men.”6
The bravery of Waller and others forced the Americans to flee. But the British victory at Bunker Hill came at a high price—more than 1,000 casualties, almost half of the men who fought that day. The news of the deaths and injuries stirred action in London. George and his advisers knew they needed a much bigger army. They hired Hessian troops from small kingdoms in Germany. George also removed General Gage from his command, hoping Howe would take bolder action. Finally George officially declared that the colonies were in a state of rebellion, and the rebels were traitors to the crown.
VICTORY IN NEW YORK
The king and his generals decided New York, with its larger harbor, offered a better position for carrying out attacks to either the north or south. And it had more Loyalists than the rebel stronghold of Boston. Making the move, however, required more ships. The British did not leave Boston until March 1776. Howe went to Nova Scotia, Canada, before heading to New York. The Americans under George Washington left for New York as well.
The British were preparing for the largest overseas invasion in their history. Bunker Hill had convinced them that the Americans were more than unskilled farmers causing trouble. The Americans’ declaration of independence in July 1776 confirmed it.
That summer about 35,000 British troops began massing on Staten Island. British Admiral Lord Richard Howe joined his brother, General William Howe, in New York. The Howes were preparing for war, but at the same time, London had given them the power to discuss surrender terms and possible pardons for the rebels. The brothers sent a message to George Washington to set up a meeting. Washington said he had no power to discuss political issues. The fighting would go on.
British and Hessian troops began crossing over to Long Island August 22. William Howe hoped to go from there to Manhattan, the heart of New York City. But General Clinton came up with the plan for the Battle of Long Island. Scouting on horseback, Clinton saw a pass that would let the British sneak up on the Americans waiting for them in Brooklyn. British troops attacked the Americans from the front August 27, while Clinton led his men through the pass. The British had almost 400 casualties. But the Americans had at least 1,000, with 1,000 more taken prisoner.
With the battle won, the Howes once again tried to talk peace. In September Lord Richard Howe met with three members of the Continental Congress, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Edward Rutledge. Howe said King George was willing to grant pardons to the Americans if they would give up their quest for independence. But the Americans refused.
A NEW YEAR
By November General William Howe had pushed some of Washington’s force into New Jersey after taking several thousand more prisoners. Meanwhile, Howe sent a small force under Lord Charles Cornwallis to pursue the rebels. But Howe was content to hold off a major battle until the next year. He knew General Washington’s forces had shrunk greatly, and the remaining soldiers were losing hope.
To provide food for his troops for the winter, General Howe set up posts near the rich farmland of northern New Jersey. He then left for New York City. Several days after Christmas, Howe received bad news. On the morning of December 26, Washington had launched a daring raid on Trenton, which was held by a Hessian force. Hundreds of the German soldiers were killed or taken prisoner. Cornwallis, who had left New Jersey, was ordered back to confront the rebels. But early in January the rebels scored another victory at Princeton.
Howe did not seem overly troubled by the losses. But Colonel William Harcourt wrote home his own thoughts. He placed some blame on Howe for stationing the troops where he did. And the Americans, he said, “are now become a formidable enemy.”7
