The battle of dorchester heights
The Council of War decided universally against the wishes of General Washington and chose to take over Dorchester Heights rather than Boston.(20) The taking over of Dorchester Heights would distract from the American soldiers who would be making their way over to Boston in an attempt to gain their land back.(21) General Washington gained knowledge of an engineer named Rufus Putnam, and enlisted Rufus’s skills in constructing barricades on the rock solid winter ground.(22) In addition to these barricades, Washington hoped that the appearance of cannons full of gunpowder from Fort Ticonderoga would trick the British into thinking that they were extremely powerful and “capable of bombarding into oblivion both Boston and the many men-of-war into the harbor.”(23) March 4th was decided to be the day of the attack.(24) Since General Washington did not want just an appearance of fire power, he had Colonel Henry Knox deliver gunpowder to Dorchester Heights so that the American soldiers would not be empty handed.(25) The display of guns was enough to intimidate the British. The following day, General Howe reluctantly made the decision to flee Massachusetts and retreat to Canada. General Washington’s outstanding army and well thought out plan had put the fear of failure into Howe’s head and convinced him to leave.(26) Washington was congratulated for his victory and because he was humble and not arrogant, he did not express how much it really meant to him to win the battle.(27) The people of the Boston area considered him a hero and were ecstatic about the outcome of the battle.(28)
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