The Siege of Boston

From April 19, 1775 to March 17, 1776, Boston was under siege. The Continental Army and over 15,000 militia men from all over New England formed a line from Chelsea to Roxbury that cut off access by land. A British blockade in Boston Harbor cut off access by sea.

The siege began following the Battles of Lexington and Concord, when British forces retreated to Boston after being overwhelmed by militiamen in Concord. British military forces had occupied Boston since 1768 so they knew they would be safe there.

But it wasn’t just British soldiers that were trapped in Boston for a nearly a year. Although 9,000 civilians managed to escape at some point, nearly 3,000 remained for the duration of the siege. These are just a few of their stories.

Separated Families

On April 19, 1775, a group of 12–13-year-old boys followed some British soldiers leaving Boston. The boys got tired of following them in Cambridge and spent the rest of the afternoon playing games on the common. When evening fell, they discovered that they could not return to their homes in Boston. They stayed in rooms on the Harvard campus, and most of them got jobs working as errand boys for the soldiers.

Benjamin Russell was reunited with his father after he managed to get out of Boston in August of 1775. He was then apprenticed to Isaiah Thomas, a printer in Worcester who published The Massachusetts Spy. This newspaper was banned from Boston due to Thomas' criticism of the British. Russell would later start his own newspaper, the Columbian Centinel.

Unlike young Benjamin Russell and his family, many families were not reunited until it ended.

Donations

Many that left Boston during the siege had nowhere to live or any way to support themselves. The Provincial Congress passed a resolution directing towns in Massachusetts to "aid and assist" the citizens of Boston who were in need. The funding came from the Committee of Donations, set up in 1774 to assist struggling Bostonians after the Boston Tea Party. The ones that received assistance were often called the "Boston poor" or "donation people." Despite their hardships, they could be considered the lucky ones.

Bunker Hill

The Battle of Bunker Hill was the first major battle of the Revolutionary War. It was also the only one to take place in Boston. Hundreds of people were killed or injured, and much of Charlestown was destroyed by fire. Many civilians in Boston were able to watch the entire battle from rooftops, hills, and church steeples.  In his diary entry for June 17, 1775, merchant William Cheever called it “A melancholy Scene of Fire & Slaughter.” So many dead were brought back from the battle that the traditional tolling of church bells during funerals was halted. Otherwise, they would be ringing constantly. After the battle was over, the situation in Boston went from bad to worse.

Desperation and Destruction

Before the battle some residents got passes to travel through the gate on Boston Neck after surrendering their weapons. Others hid on fishing boats leaving the harbor and at least one man managed to swim away. After the battle, no one could get in or out. This left over 10,000 British soldiers and 3,000 civilians completely cut off from the outside world.

The few supplies that came to Boston came via British ships and were not shared with the civilians. Many of them had no income and could not afford the high prices of what was for sale. The situation was so dire that a group of Loyalists banded together to raise £144 (about $7300 today) for the relief of the poor. There was also not enough for the soldiers, leading them to become more desperate as the siege went on. They raided abandoned property for food and valuables. They tore down anything that could burn for firewood including the Liberty Tree and the Old North Meetinghouse.

The houses that weren’t torn down for firewood became barracks for the soldiers, including several churches. Old South Meeting House became a riding school and stable for horses. Two years before, the Sons of Liberty planned the Boston Tea Party there. A later accounting of the losses put the total of the damages for the residents of Boston at £17,619 (about $735,000 today.) Some Bostonians, in addition to losing property, also lost their freedom.

Prison

Two days after the battle, 18-year-old printer’s apprentice Peter Edes was arrested due to his vocal support of the revolutionary cause. He would ultimately spend over 100 days in jail. During this time, he chronicled the harsh treatment of prisoners in his diary. Many of the soldiers taken prisoner at the battle died while Edes was imprisoned with them. The last pages of his diary note that of the 30 men captured that day, only 11 were still alive three months later. He referred to the prison as an “emblem of hell.” The men were subject not only to assault and starvation, but rampant disease as well.

Disease

Smallpox was a constant threat in the 18th century. Another outbreak hit North America during the siege. Soldiers and civilians in Boston were felled by the virus, which at the time very few were inoculated against. George Washington had survived his own bout with it and was concerned about its spread. He thought that the British had sent infected people out of Boston to spread it among the soldiers. When the siege ended, Washington at first only allowed soldiers who had previously had smallpox, and were thus immune, to enter the town.

End of the Siege

After Dorchester Heights was fortified with cannons from Fort Ticonderoga, on March 5, British military commanders decided to leave Boston. After numerous weather-related delays they finally started to leave on March 17. Traveling with them were 1,100 Loyalists, crammed onto 30 ships. Before evacuating the British rendered the ships, weapons, and ammunition left behind unusable. They also did some more looting and destroyed Fort William on Castle Island. 

The 3,000 that survived the siege were exhausted, and happy to see the Continental Army and local militia men march back into town. Residents who had been able to flee also returned. James Thacher, a military surgeon, remarked in his diary that it was “truly interesting to witness the tender interviews and fond embraces of those who had been long separated.”

Aftermath

After the siege ended, Boston was no longer a military target. George Washington himself left for New York in early April and brought the Continental Army with him. Boston would still remain an important part of the war effort, especially the port.

The British ships that stayed in the harbor until June were only there to stop other British ships from landing. However, when the last of the ships left the harbor, the British destroyed the lighthouse on Little Brewster Island. Many of the Loyalists that left settled in Canada, while others went to England. Some actually returned to the U.S. after the war ended and were able to rebuild their lives, due in part to the desire from both sides to reunify their communities. The Loyalists that remained during the war had a much harder time, and were frequently punished in various ways.

On July 18, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was read aloud in Boston from the balcony of the Town House (now the Old State House.) Later that night, the royal symbols of the lion and the unicorn were removed from the building and burned in a public bonfire.

Learn More

Resources at the BPL

Books

• Bunker Hill: a City, a Siege, a Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick
• History of the Siege of Boston and of the Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill by Richard Frothingham              
  • Also available online.
• Siege and Evacuation of Boston and Charlestown: With a Brief Account of Pre-revolutionary Public Buildings by William W. Wheildon              
  • Also available online.
• The Siege of Boston by Allen French              
  • Also available online.

Special Collections

Manuscripts

• Journal of Timothy Newell, Boston, 1775              
  • Journal kept by Boston Selectman Timothy Newell during the siege
• An account of losses during Siege [of Boston], amounting to £17,619              
  • Compiled in 1777; lists the names of residents who incurred losses and damages
• Letter [from Andrew Eliot] to Daniel Parker, saying he gave meat to prisoners and still is unable to leave Boston               
  • Available online
• Subscription list among Loyalists for £144 for the relief of the poor in Boston during the British blockade, 1776.              
  • Available online
• Letter [from Ezra Selden] to Nathan Hale in New London about bombs and skirmishes around Boston, 1775              
  • Available online

Printed Material

• In Provincial Congress, Watertown, April 30, 1775. Whereas an Agreement has been made ...              
  • Broadside announcing the agreement between the Provincial Congress and General Gage allowing Boston's civilians to enter and exit Boston.
  • Also available online via the Massachusetts Historical Society
• In Provincial Congress, Watertown, May 1, 1775: Whereas the inhabitants of the town of Boston have been detained by General Gage              
  • Broadside from Provincial Congress recommending that other Massachusetts towns receive various inhabitants of Boston who left Boston due to the Siege.
  • Also available online via the Massachusetts Historical Society

Other Resources

• Massachusetts Historical Society, The Siege of Boston
  • Includes maps and first-hand contemporary accounts
• Boston 1775: History, analysis, and unabashed gossip about the start of the American Revolution in New England.              
  • Blog by J.L. Bell, an independent scholar specializing in the history of the American Revolution in New England
• Revolutionary Spaces, Legacy of the Liberty Tree: Where Is It Now in Present-Day Boston?
  • Non-profit group that oversees the Old South Meeting House and Old State House
• National Archives, Gen. George Washington - A Threat of Bioterrorism, 1775
• National Park Service: Smallpox, Inoculation, and the Revolutionary War

Event

What to learn more about the Siege of Boston? Join us for an online lecture hosted by the National Park Service called "Donation People": Refugees from the Siege of Boston. To learn more and to register, check out our website.