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    Siege by Roxane Orgill Chapter Sampler

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    Siege: How General Washington Kicked the British Out of Boston and Launched a Revolution by Roxane Orgill It is the summer of 1775. The British occupy Boston and its busy harbor, holding residents captive and keeping a strong military foothold. The threat of smallpox looms, and the town is cut off, even from food supplies. Following the battles of Lexington and Concord, Congress unanimously elects George Washington commander in chief of the American armed forces, and he is sent to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to transform the ragtag collection of volunteer militiamen into America’s first army. So far the war is nothing more than a series of intermittent skirmishes, but Washington is in constant fear of attack — until he takes the offensive with results that surprise everyone, the British most of all. Roxane Orgill uses verse to zoom in on the siege of Boston that launched the war to defeat the British, giving voice to privates and generals, their wives and city residents. to tell a story that is usually overlooked in Revolutionary War history. Back matter includes source notes, a glossary, and a bibliography. Step back to British-held Boston and hear the voices of citizens, militiamen, and redcoats at a turning of the tide in the American Revolution, brought to life in Roxane Orgill’s deft verse.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Siege by Roxane Orgill Chapter Sampler

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    Candlewick Press
    312 views28 pages
    Siege: How General Washington Kicked the British Out of Boston and Launched a Revolution by Roxane Orgill It is the summer of 1775. The British occupy Boston and its busy harbor, holding residents captive and keeping a strong military foothold. The threat of smallpox looms, and the town is cut off, even from food supplies. Following the battles of Lexington and Concord, Congress unanimously elects George Washington commander in chief of the American armed forces, and he is sent to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to transform the ragtag collection of volunteer militiamen into America’s first army. So far the war is nothing more than a series of intermittent skirmishes, but Washington is in constant fear of attack — until he takes the offensive with results that surprise everyone, the British most of all. Roxane Orgill uses verse to zoom in on the siege of Boston that launched the war to defeat the British, giving voice to privates and generals, their wives and city residents. to tell a story that is usually overlooked in Revolutionary War history. Back matter includes source notes, a glossary, and a bibliography. Step back to British-held Boston and hear the voices of citizens, militiamen, and redcoats at a turning of the tide in the American Revolution, brought to life in Roxane Orgill’s deft verse.

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    Siege: How General Washington Kicked the British Out of Boston and Launched a Revolution by Roxane Orgill It is the summer of 1775. The British occupy Boston and its busy harbor, holding residents captive and keeping a strong military foothold. The threat of smallpox looms, and the town is cut off, even from food supplies. Following the battles of Lexington and Concord, Congress unanimously elects George Washington commander in chief of the American armed forces, and he is sent to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to transform the ragtag collection of volunteer militiamen into America’s first army. So far the war is nothing more than a series of intermittent skirmishes, but Washington is in constant fear of attack — until he takes the offensive with results that surprise everyone, the British most of all. Roxane Orgill uses verse to zoom in on the siege of Boston that launched the war to defeat the British, giving voice to privates and generals, their wives and city residents. to tell a story that is usually overlooked in Revolutionary War history. Back matter includes source notes, a glossary, and a bibliography. Step back to British-held Boston and hear the voices of citizens, militiamen, and redcoats at a turning of the tide in the American Revolution, brought to life in Roxane Orgill’s deft verse.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    312 views28 pages

    Siege by Roxane Orgill Chapter Sampler

    Uploaded by

    Candlewick Press
    Siege: How General Washington Kicked the British Out of Boston and Launched a Revolution by Roxane Orgill It is the summer of 1775. The British occupy Boston and its busy harbor, holding residents captive and keeping a strong military foothold. The threat of smallpox looms, and the town is cut off, even from food supplies. Following the battles of Lexington and Concord, Congress unanimously elects George Washington commander in chief of the American armed forces, and he is sent to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to transform the ragtag collection of volunteer militiamen into America’s first army. So far the war is nothing more than a series of intermittent skirmishes, but Washington is in constant fear of attack — until he takes the offensive with results that surprise everyone, the British most of all. Roxane Orgill uses verse to zoom in on the siege of Boston that launched the war to defeat the British, giving voice to privates and generals, their wives and city residents. to tell a story that is usually overlooked in Revolutionary War history. Back matter includes source notes, a glossary, and a bibliography. Step back to British-held Boston and hear the voices of citizens, militiamen, and redcoats at a turning of the tide in the American Revolution, brought to life in Roxane Orgill’s deft verse.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 28

    SIEGE

    How General Washington


    Kicked the British Out of Boston
    •• • and • • •

    Launched a Revolution

    ROXANE ORGILL
    Copyright © 2018 by Roxane Orgill
    Map courtesy of Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division
    Engraving of George Washington courtesy of Library of Congress
    Engraving of Henry Knox courtesy of Library of Congress
    Engraving of General Howe courtesy of Library of Congress

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted,


    or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means,
    graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and
    recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

    First edition 2018

    Library of Congress Catalog Card Number pending


    ISBN 978-0-7636-8851-6

    17 18 19 20 21 22 BVG 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

    Printed in Berryville, VA, U.S.A.

    This book was typeset in Adobe Caslon.

    Candlewick Press
    99 Dover Street
    Somerville, Massachusetts 02144

    visit us at www.candlewick.com
    For my brothers,
    Kip (1959 –2012) and Rory Orgill
    CONTENTS

    Cast of Characters viii

    Introduction xi

    Summer 1 7 75 1

    Fall 1 7 75 57

    Winter 1 7 75–1 7 76 87

    Spring 1 7 76 177

    Glossary 195

    Source Notes 203

    Bibliography 213

    Acknowledgments 223
    Cast of Characters
    (in order of appearance)

    George Washington, “the General,” commander in


    chief of the Continental Army

    Joseph Reed, a Philadelphia lawyer, served as an


    aide-de-camp, or secretary, to Washington

    The News from Boston, reporting on the state of


    affairs in Boston

    Orders, daily instructions from Washington to his


    officers

    Cyrus, a waiter or servant, a boy of the author’s own


    devising

    Martha Washington, wife of George Washington

    William Lee, Washington’s slave who travels


    with him
    Caleb Haskell, a fifer, later a private; kept a daily diary

    Joseph Hodgkins, a lieutenant

    Samuel Haws, a private who kept a journal

    Henry Knox, a Boston bookseller who became a


    colonel under Washington

    Sir William Howe, commander of the British forces,


    succeeding Thomas Gage, who was ordered back to
    England

    Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, who was a


    delegate to the Continental Congress
    Introduction

    The situation is this:

    Seven hundred British regulars


    Marched to Concord in April
    Looking to steal weapons
    Got a nasty surprise from some colonials
    Who tailed them back to Boston.

    Now it’s June.

    The British have command


    Of the town and the harbor
    All the islands and waterways.
    Seven thousand regulars
    Camped out on the Common
    Closed the port
    Shut down the shops
    Blocked the thoroughfares with barricades.
    Confusion
    In every corner
    One man can hardly greet another
    Without fear of
    Being seen
    Or heard.

    Across the river


    In Cambridge
    The rebel militia
    Expands by the day
    Fourteen thousand
    (Or more)
    From four colonies
    Camped in the common pasture
    And beyond
    To Prospect Hill and
    Roxbury village.
    Men make tents
    From sails
    Build fortifications
    On the heights
    Just farmers
    With picks and shovels
    Firelocks from home
    No artillery
    No gunpowder
    No experience.

    There’s more:

    The Continental Congress


    Thinks this lot can be turned
    Into a professional army
    Strong enough to force
    The British out.
    Delegates meet this very day
    In Philadelphia
    To choose a commander.

    Make ready . . . present . . . fire!


    SUMMER
    1775
    • George Washington •

    He wore his uniform to the Continental Congress


    Blue coat faced in buff, hat trimmed with silver lace.
    Delegates began saluting him as “the General.”
    That’s when he knew he’d been elected.
    The vote in Congress was unanimous.
    At midday dinner he was toasted
    “To the Commander in Chief of the American Armies.”

    “I do not think myself equal to the command,”


    He said, and would not take a salary, asked
    His expenses to be paid —“that is all I desire.”
    Worried about leaving his wife, Martha, alone.

    A crowd attended his departure


    Congressmen in carriages
    City officers on horseback
    A company of light horse
    Drummers and fifers
    Beating and piping.

    3
    Some miles from town they bid farewell
    Leaving him with two major generals
    A friend named Reed and
    William Lee, his slave from home.

    He rode, a natural horseman, or changed


    To the comfort of a four-wheeled carriage
    But never in the whole journey, nine days
    To Cambridge by way of New York,
    Was he sufficiently at ease
    To observe the countryside.

    4
    • What the General Saw •

    tents
    jumbled
    this way and that
    contrived
    from any stuff
    come to hand
    cloth or scrap
    wood or both
    huts
    constructed
    of sticks or stones
    or bricks
    some thrown up
    in haste some
    forged with care
    hardly one
    resembling another
    soldiers
    in soiled breeches

    5
    shirts wanting
    mending
    shoes missing
    stockings
    worst of all
    they’d been
    relieving themselves
    anywhere they pleased

    6
    • Joseph Reed •

    Joseph Reed intended


    to accompany
    the General
    as far as New York
    then
    turn around to attend
    to his law business
    wife and two children
    their modest house
    in Philadelphia.
    Instead
    Joseph Reed
    found himself
    going all the way
    (there was much to discuss)
    to headquarters.
    When
    the General looked at him
    intently
    with blue-gray eyes

    7
    asked him
    to be his secretary
    join his military family
    he felt bound
    by every tie of duty
    to comply with
    the request
    said yes
    then
    wrote his beloved wife
    he would not be home
    for a while.

    8
    • George Washington •

    General Washington
    Astride a chestnut horse
    Sixteen hands high
    Rode with General Lee
    Into Cambridge Common
    It was the third of July
    One-and-twenty
    Fifers
    One-and-twenty
    Drummers
    A-tooting and
    A-pounding
    Round and round
    The parade.

    Generals Washington
    And Lee
    Surveyed
    The rebel lines

    9
    Eight miles in an arc
    From Medford to Roxbury
    Noted
    Forts and citadels
    A strong redoubt
    Commanding the Mystic
    Spied
    The enemy still holding Charlestown
    (Though in ruins
    Since the battle of Bunker Hill)
    The enemy
    Almost near enough to converse.

    General Washington
    Noted all —
    And wished for uniforms.

    10
    • George Washington •

    At thirteen
    He found some old instruments belonging to his father
    A brass compass with two sights
    A pointed staff
    A chain one hundred links long —
    Surveyor’s tools.

    He learned how to measure his brother’s turnip patch


    His mother’s plantation, the neighbors’ fields.

    At sixteen
    He crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains
    Surveyed the property of Lord Fairfax
    In the unsettled frontier
    Was made surveyor for the county of Culpeper
    A job that paid in cash or land.
    He chose land,
    Lots of land,
    Which he measured.

    11
    At twenty-one
    He walked from the Potomac to Lake Erie
    To relay a message to a French commander
    Measured his journey
    Although no one asked him to
    Noted directions and made a map.

    At forty-three
    Encamped without compass and chain
    The General needed to know where he was
    Location and boundaries
    Bays and peninsulas, roads
    And rivers, enemy forts
    So he made a map.

    12
    The NEWS from BOSTON
    ————————————

    A state of distress
    Prevails
    All business
    Ended
    All communication between town and country
    Ceased
    All provisions from farm to market
    Stopped

    The population has shrunk


    By more than half
    Patriots and loyalists alike
    Gone to the mainland
    Or to England
    Leaving behind the poor
    Who lack the means to flee
    And the very rich
    Like John Rowe
    Who remains to watch over

    13
    House, garden plot, pastures
    Lots and houses in other parts of town
    His wharf and ships
    Stores of salt and cloth
    Even John Rowe
    Neither a true patriot
    Nor especially loyal to the king
    Even John Rowe
    Is disturbed
    Spyglass in hand
    Gaze fixed on the militia
    Building fortifications atop the hills
    Forming a great ring around the town
    His town
    Besieged

    14
    The NEWS from BOSTON
    ————————————

    The British
    Have sealed off
    The Neck
    A narrow causeway
    Half a mile long
    Linking town
    With country
    Ditches of some
    Depth
    Earthworks
    Invincible
    Double-guarded
    To keep the rebels out
    Unfortunately
    Also effective
    In depriving
    Townspeople
    Of meat and fuel
    Vegetables, grains
    Even gruel

    15
    : ORDERS :

    Keep the men clean and neat.


    Make sure they have straw to lie on.
    See their arms are always in order,
    Their victuals properly cooked.

    Read the General Orders,


    Daily orders from the General.
    Lapses will be noticed,
    Consequence severe.

    Provide regiments with good drummers and fifers.


    Execute properly the reveille upon the drum
    Not half an hour before daylight but when
    A sentry can see clearly one thousand yards.

    Read the General Orders,


    Daily orders from the General.
    Lapses will be noticed,
    Consequence severe.

    16
    Fill up old necessaries,
    Dig new ones posthaste.
    Stem the spread of disorders,
    Fevers, the bloody flux.

    Read the General Orders,


    Daily orders from the General.
    Lapses will be noticed,
    Consequence severe.

    Each soldier to furnish his own arms,


    Two dollars to be paid to any
    Who provides himself
    With a good blanket.

    Read the General Orders,


    Daily orders from the General.
    Lapses will be noticed,
    Consequence severe.

    17

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