The following is an installment of “On This Day,” a series celebrating America’s 250th anniversary by following the actions of Gen. George Washington, the Continental Congress, and the men and women whose bravery and sacrifice led up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
March 4, 1776
The day has come.
Eleven months after the British occupied Boston at the outbreak of the Revolution, bringing 11,000 troops to the city, flag signals have been established and hospitals are readied as Gen. George Washington issues orders to prepare for military action.
According to surgeon’s mate James Thacher’s journal entry for Feb. 22, 1776, medical preparations have been underway for days: “Orders have been received for surgeons and mates to prepare lint and bandages, to the amount of two thousand, for fractured limbs and other gun-shot wounds. It is, however, to be hoped that not one-quarter of the number will be required, whatever may be the nature of the occasion.”
Known as the Siege of Boston, the nearly year-long campaign was Washington’s first as commander in chief of the Continental Army.
Since April 1775, after the battles at Lexington and Concord, patriot militias had contained the British to Boston. Forcing them to retreat became an ideological rallying cry for the cause, but there had been setbacks for the Continental Army. It was defeated in an early attempt to remove them in the Battle of Bunker Hill in June. It was then that the Continental Congress elected Washington as commander in chief. He immediately came to Cambridge after that appointment.
Washington’s orders on this day were unmistakable; action was imminent.
General Orders
Head Quarters, Cambridge, March 4th 1776
Parole Hooper.
Countersign, Allen.
The Flag on Prospect-hill, and that at the Laboratory, on Cambridge Common, are ordered to be hoisted only upon a General Alarm; of this the whole Army is to take particular notice, and immediately upon those Colours being displayed, every Officer and Soldier, must repair to his alarm post—This is to remain a standing order, until the Commander in Chief shall please to direct otherwise.
The several Surgeons, of the Hospitals at Cambridge, and every regimental Surgeon in the left, and centre divisions of the army, are directed to meet at five O’Clock this evening, at Brown’s Tavern in Cambridge, to take directions from the Director General of the hospital, relative to the immediate disposition of their sick, and in what manner they, and their Mates are to be posted.
The College to be forthwith appropriated to the reception of the regimental sick, and such as may be wounded—That suitable Barracks at Prospect-hill, or any other part of the Camp, which the Director General of the hospital shall advise, be got in immediate readiness for the reception of at least, one hundred wounded, in case of need, and such a number of men, as he may think sufficient, be ordered to assist in carrying wounded men to the hospital—Hand-barrows, and other proper means to be provided for their removal.
ON THIS DAY: WASHINGTON DEMANDS COURAGE AND GOOD BEHAVIOR
Under the cover of night, Washington stealthily directs American forces to begin climbing Dorchester Heights, the high ground south of Boston that overlooks the town and its harbor.
The maneuver is nothing short of stunning. More than 2,000 men with hundreds of oxen-drawn wagons moved artillery and preassembled ramparts up the steep slope. All were undetected by the British.