The campaign to liberate British-occupied Boston marked the first major test of the newly formed Continental Army under the command of General George Washington. Like many episodes during the war, it is filled with remarkable turns of events, which were viewed by participants as having been influenced by Providence.

Unlike modern retellings of our nation’s story that omit that perspective, the historical record bears witness to the “Battlefield Faith” of the American patriots - the conviction that God’s providence decidedly intervened in the struggle for liberty and sustained those who fought for it.

A Ragged Army and an Impossible Task

When George Washington arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 2, 1775, the patriot forces surrounding Boston had already been engaged in a tense standoff with the British army for more than two months. Battles and bloodshed at Lexington and Concord on April 19 ignited armed resistance across New England. Militia companies from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire had rushed to surround the British in occupied Boston. Thus began an 11-month siege. The battle at Breed’s Hill (Bunker Hill) on June 17, though a defeat for the patriot militia who were forced to retreat, was even more costly for the British who suffered more than twice the casualties. Staggering British losses also essentially sealed the fate of their commander and Massachusetts military governor, Lt. General Thomas Gage.

The Americans controlled the countryside. Their forces stretched in a rough semicircle from up north toward Medford and the Mystic River, across to Cambridge and Prospect Hill, down south to Roxbury and the vital road up the neck of land connecting to Boston. Yet what Washington inherited was not an army in the conventional sense. The men were brave and spirited but lacked structure and discipline. This improvised coalition of militia units was organized by township and colony rather than under a unified command. Enlistments were temporary. Supplies were scarce. Many soldiers possessed only rudimentary military training, and the army’s stockpile of guns and powder was dangerously low. Plus, camp conditions were deplorable, and the lack of sanitation led to sickness from dysentery. The army encamped around Boston had initially numbered an estimated 20,000 men, but when Washington arrived, he found that only about 13,000 were fit for duty.[1]

Washington’s challenge was to transform these militia units into a disciplined force capable of sustaining an arduous campaign. The task was formidable. He confided in his wife Martha before arriving at patriot headquarters in Cambridge, “I go fully trusting in that Providence, which has been more bountiful to me than I deserve…”[2] He would indeed have to depend on his God to meet the tremendous challenges presented. Yet his reliance on Providence was not merely a private conviction. General Washington soon made clear that the army itself should recognize its dependence upon God.

Only a couple of days after taking command, on July 4, 1775, he issued General Orders reminding the soldiers of the moral conduct expected in the Continental Army. Among other instructions, Washington directed officers to ensure that their men attended religious services whenever military duties allowed. Such observances, he wrote, were necessary “to implore the blessings of Heaven upon the means used for our safety and defence.”

Washington must have been pleased to find a rhythm of religious services already in place among the militia camps around Boston, which doubtless sustained the patriot cause from the outset of the conflict. From the beginning of the siege, ministers had marched alongside their congregants toward British-held Boston. Sermons were preached at Harvard Yard, in barns, meeting houses, and open fields. Soldiers gathered for prayer before drilling or standing guard. Diaries from the camp frequently mention attendance at religious services alongside military duties. The presence of clergy in the camps was no accident. On May 25, before Washington was even appointed and arrived, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress had recommended that local ministers serve as chaplains to the army, ensuring that soldiers had spiritual guidance during the campaign.[3] The Continental Congress followed with approval of paid chaplains on July 29, 1775.

Many of these ministers were already prominent patriot leaders. Rev. William Emerson of Concord, who had marched with his own parishioners to Cambridge after participating in the Battle of Concord in the shadow of his parish home, preached regularly to the troops. Rev. Samuel Langdon, president of Harvard, delivered sermons encouraging the soldiers to view their struggle in light of biblical history. Such preaching helped shape how many soldiers understood the conflict. They believed they were defending liberties given by God and inherited from their forefathers. Their struggle was not merely political - it was moral and spiritual.

Washington shared that perspective. Though he immediately began imposing discipline upon the disorganized army by reforming command structures, improving camp sanitation, and strengthening defensive positions, he also reinforced the spiritual practices already present among the troops. On July 16, 1775, Washington ordered the Continental Army to observe a day of fasting and prayer in response to the proclamation of the Continental Congress calling for “a Day of public Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer; that they may with united Hearts and Voice unfeignedly confess their Sins before God, and supplicate the all wise and merciful disposer of events, to avert the Desolation and Calamities of an unnatural war.” The general expected:

“[T]hat Day to be religiously observed by the Forces under his Command, exactly in manner directed by the proclamation of the Continental Congress: It is therefore strictly enjoin’d on all Officers and Soldiers, (not upon duty) to attend Divine Service, at the accustomed places of worship, as well in the Lines, as the Encampments and Quarters; and it is expected, that all those who go to worship, do take their Arms, Ammunitions and Accoutrements and are prepared for immediate Action if called upon… that solemn day.”[4]

The observance underscored a theme that would recur throughout the siege - that the American cause depended not only upon arms and strategy but upon the favor of God.

Indeed, Washington emphasized the same in a letter to his counterpart, British Lt. General Thomas Gage, on August 20, reviewing what had transpired leading up to the current conflict:

“What may have been the ministerial [British government] Views, which have precipitated the present Crisis, Lexington, Concord, and Charles Town can best declare. May that God, to whom you then appealed, judge between America, and you. Under his Providence, those who influence the Councils of America, and all the other Inhabitants of the united Colonies at the Hazard of their Lives are determined to hand down to Posterity those just and invaluable Privileges, which they received from their Ancestors.”[5]

Washington admitted that both sides were praying to the same God, trusted He would judge between them, and under God, declared that the Americans would put their lives on the line, not only for their own liberty, but also to leave a legacy of freedom to future generations.

Faith in the Midst of a Stalemate

Meanwhile, the military realities surrounding Boston remained daunting. Although Washington’s army surrounded the city, the British position remained formidable. The Royal Navy controlled Boston Harbor, ensuring that the British army could still receive reinforcements and supplies by sea. The British garrison itself included thousands of experienced professional soldiers.

Consequently, the siege settled into a tense stalemate that lasted through the summer and into the fall of 1775. Yet Washington desired to break the deadlock and argued for making a bold attack on fortified Boston, admitting in a letter to his generals, “The success of such an Enterprize [sic] depends, I well know, upon the all wise disposer of Events, and is not within the reach of human wisdom to foretell the Issue.”[6] However, his council of war refused to endorse such a move due to the strength of the entrenched position of the British in Boston. To do so now would risk far too many casualties and threaten the overall cause. Consequently, Washington reluctantly relented and remained determined to hold his position.

Even as the situation remained uncertain, Washington continued to interpret events through the language of Providence. He observed with cautious optimism that, “The wise disposer of all Events has hitherto smiled upon our virtuous Efforts; Those Mercenary Troops, a few of whom lately boasted of Subjugating this vast Continent, have been check’d in their earliest Ravages and are now actually encircled in a small Space; their Arms disgraced, and Suffering all the Calamities of a Siege....”[7]

Inside Boston, conditions steadily deteriorated. With the departure of disgraced Lt. General Gage, General William Howe inherited his command and with it all the problems. Though the British had been reinforced during the summer, it only made the supply problem worse. With thousands of soldiers crowded into the town, provisions quickly grew more scarce. The weather made matters worse. The warm months of late summer brought disease and foul conditions to the crowded city. By autumn, deadly smallpox was spreading. Storms in the Atlantic made supply voyages unpredictable and unreliable. Food and fuel became increasingly difficult to obtain.

Trapped in the occupied town where he had served as a Selectman, patriot Timothy Newell, a deacon at Brattle Street Church, recorded in his diary in matter-of-fact fashion: “This day was invited by two gentlemen to dine upon rats.”[8] His diary entry for October 27 expressed his outrage regarding British General John Burgoyne’s special form of abuse of the Old South Church, the place of fiery sermons and patriot speeches:

“The spacious Old South Meeting House taken possession of by the Light Horse 17th Regiment of Dragoons commanded by Lieut. Col. Samuel Birch. The pulpit, pews and seats all cut to pieces and carried off in the most savage manner as can be expressed, and destined for a riding school. The beautiful carved pew with the silk furniture of Deacon Hubbard’s was taken down and carried to _____’s house by an officer and made a hog stye. The above was effected by the solicitation of General Burgoyne.”

Deacon Newell could hardly believe that the British would stoop so low as to turn a church sanctuary into a makeshift equestrian center.

Outside the city, Washington’s army faced its own difficulties. The autumn weather brought rain, mud, and cold winds sweeping across the exposed camps surrounding Boston. Soldiers lived in crude huts or tents while the army struggled to secure adequate food, clothing, and equipment. Enlistments neared expiration within weeks, forcing Washington to plan for reorganizing the ranks.

Washington’s war council continued to reject his plans for a bold attack, having reached a sobering conclusion about the siege of Boston. As long as the British army remained safely entrenched inside the fortified city and supported by the guns of the Royal Navy in the harbor, the Continental Army could do little more than watch and wait. Otherwise, such a move risked the likelihood of unsustainable casualties in an assault on fixed positions. The British learned that lesson at Bunker Hill. Washington reluctantly agreed yet again.

The Noble Train of Artillery

By mid-November, Washington concluded that the key to breaking the stalemate was artillery. Without heavy cannon capable of threatening both the city and the British fleet, the Americans had no realistic way to force Howe’s army out of Boston. Yet the Continental Army possessed precious few. Yet the big guns Washington needed sat in a fort nearly 300 miles away in northern New York near the Canadian border.

They were the heavy artillery captured months earlier with Fort Ticonderoga. Col. Benedict Arnold, sanctioned by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, had joined forces with Col. Ethan Allen and his “Green Mountain Boys” with the objective of taking the British stronghold, along with its arsenal and artillery pieces. When Allen ordered the British commander to surrender Ticonderoga to the Americans at the point of a sword, he asked, “By what authority?” Allen famously declared: “In the name of the great Jehovah, and the Continental Congress.”[9] Yet months later, there the arsenal remained, scores of heavy guns of iron and brass, some weighing more than two tons each.

Moving these weapons across the wilderness of northern New York and western Massachusetts during winter seemed next to impossible. Yet on November 16, 1775, Washington summoned a young officer named Henry Knox to his headquarters in Cambridge and entrusted him with precisely that task. His father William had helped establish the Presbyterian Church of the Strangers in Boston but died while on business in the West Indies when young Henry was only nine years old. To help support his struggling family, Henry became an apprentice in a bookshop and eventually opened his own bookstore in Boston as a 21-year-old. He was also a patriot, and at six feet tall and 250 pounds, he served as a formidable “security guard” during the Boston Tea Party. However, he married Lucy Flucker, the daughter of a loyalist Boston family, to their great consternation.

When this monumental task was thrust upon him, Knox was only 25 years old, but he was well read on military science and artillery. Washington first admired his engineering of the defenses at Roxbury and had grown to respect his intelligence and energy. Now he asked Knox to attempt what seemed an extraordinary mission: Travel to Fort Ticonderoga, secure the captured cannon and mortars, and somehow transport all that heavy artillery to Boston. Knox accepted without hesitation. Within days, he and his younger brother William departed for New York, beginning a journey that would stretch across mountains, forests, and frozen rivers at the onset of one of the harshest winters in years.

Meanwhile, the stalemate around Boston continued. Inside the city, the British army faced increasing hardship. By late November, the countryside surrounding Boston had been stripped bare of firewood and supplies by American forces. With winter approaching and fuel scarce, British soldiers began dismantling old barns, wharves, ships, and upwards of a hundred houses for firewood. The old elm known as the Liberty Tree, a rallying point for patriots, was cut down and provided 14 cords. Not even churches were spared by the British. Under orders from Howe, the Old North Meeting House on North Square was demolished for firewood.[10]

On November 29, Washington finally received some good news. The Lee, a privateer schooner under the command of Captain John Manley, had captured the British supply ship the Nancy off Cape Ann, north of Boston. Providentially, the ship was loaded with an incredible military arsenal, including cannon, mortars, 2,500 stands of muskets, 2,000 bayonets, nearly 40 tons of shot, flints - nearly everything needed but gunpowder. Washington had sent out the Lee as one of the first of several armed schooners to target enemy shipping. It was a resounding triumph for his new Navy. Yet to Washington, it signaled something even greater. Writing Joseph Reed, he remarked, “We must be thankful, as I truly am, for this instance of Divine favour [sic]; for nothing surely ever came more apropos.”[11]

While Washington maintained the siege, Knox pressed northward toward the lakes of New York. His plan included the construction of sledges pulled by oxen and horses, rather than employing wagons and carriages with wheels. So he made arrangements for those to be built before the snow started to pile up in earnest, anticipating that the sledges would enable his team to better traverse the snowy route from Ticonderoga to Cambridge in the dead of winter.

By December 5, 1775, after traveling through cold rain and rough roads, Henry Knox and his team arrived at Fort Ticonderoga and surveyed the mostly French-made artillery they had been sent to retrieve. The inventory included 59 pieces, mortars and cannon, weighing in at an estimated 60 tons. Transporting such tremendous weight across hundreds of miles of wilderness would test both ingenuity and endurance. On December 9, three boats and their prodigious cargo set sail south on Lake George. The winds were against them for days, rowing was difficult, prompting Henry’s brother William to write a prayer: “God send us fair wind.”[12] Thus began one of the most remarkable logistical challenges of the Revolutionary War.

They finally made it to the southern end of Lake George on December 17, where the ox teams and sledges waited to begin the overland journey. Now what Knox needed was enough snow to get started. Confident, he wrote Washington, “I hope in 16 or 17 days to present your Excellency a Noble train of Artillery.”[13] Beginning on Christmas Day of 1775, Knox not only enjoyed a “White Christmas,” a blizzard dropped three feet of snow over several days. With the ground now snow-covered and the lakes and rivers icing over, Knox launched his teams of oxen and sledges carrying the prized artillery.

By the final days of December, the “noble train” was making its way steadily south through the Hudson River Valley. The guns slowly forged ahead, mile by mile, drawn by oxen and guided by teams of soldiers who shoveled snow from the path or steadied the sledges. After traversing the frozen river, they would cross the valley, climb the Berkshire Mountains, and descend into Massachusetts. This part of the journey would take a month. And it would test the resolve of every man involved.

Back in Cambridge on New Years Eve, the Washingtons attended a church service. In fact, Martha Washington, who had arrived on December 11, had requested it. It was held at the abandoned Christ Church. The Rev. Winwood Serjeant, the Anglican minister and many of his loyalist parishioners, had fled north and to England in the summer of 1774.[14] The church building had been the object of patriot ire, some firing at the building, protesting a British soldier’s funeral. Inside, bullet holes could be seen in the foyer walls. The organ had been stripped of its lead pipes. What had once sounded out Handel’s Messiah had been melted down for musket balls fired at the British in the Battle of Bunker Hill. In addition to the Washingtons, a number of dignitaries gathered, including Martha’s son and daughter-in-law, John Parke “Jacky” and Eleanor “Nelly” Custis, Adjutant General Horatio and Elizabeth Gates, Maj. General Charles Lee, General Nathaniel and Catharine “Caty” Greene, Quartermaster General Thomas and Sarah Mifflin, as well as soldiers and wives from the surrounding camps.

Washington pressed Maj. William Palfrey into duty as the officiant. However, Palfrey, a 34-year-old aide-de-camp to Maj. General Charles Lee, deviated from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer regarding the prayer for the king:

“O Lord our Heavenly Father, high and mighty, King of kings and Lord of lords, who hast made of one blood all the nations upon earth, and whose common bounty is liberally bestowed upon thy unworthy creatures; most heartily we beseech thee to look down with mercy on his majesty George the Third. Open his eyes and enlighten his understanding, that he may pursue the true interest of the people over whom thou, in thy providence, hast placed him. Remove far from him all wicked, corrupt men, and evil counsellors, that his throne may be established in justice and righteousness; and so replenish him with the grace of thy Holy Spirit that he may always incline to thy will and walk in thy way.”

Then Palfrey went off script from the prayer book completely in praying about the war and for the Continental Congress:

“Have pity, O most merciful Father, upon the distresses of the inhabitants of this Western World. Succeed and prosper their endeavors for the establishment of peace, liberty, and safety. To that end, we humbly pray thee to bless the Continental Congress. Preside over their councils, and may they be led to such measures as may tend to thy glory, to the advancement of true religion, and to the happiness and prosperity of thy people.”

Finally, he prayed for the provincial governments, for Washington, and for victory over the enemy:

“We also pray thee to bless our Provincial Assemblies, magistrates, and all in sub-ordinate places of power and trust. Be with thy servant, the Commander-in-chief of the American forces. Afford him thy presence in all his undertakings; strengthen him, that he may vanquish and overcome all his enemies; and grant that we may, in thy due time, be restored to the enjoyment of those inestimable blessings we have been deprived of by the devices of cruel and bloodthirsty men, for the sake of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”[15]

The Washingtons, listening from the front pew, must have appreciated Palfrey’s strategic edits to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and his own heartfelt intercession.

On January 1, 1776 George Washington’s General Orders were in sync with the New Year’s Eve worship church service, urging the new enlistments along with those remaining in the service of the Continental Army, “it is Subordination & Discipline (the Life and Soul of an Army) which next under providence, is to make us formidable to our enemies, honorable in ourselves, and respected in the world; and herein is to be shewn the Goodness of the Officer.”[16]

That same day, word of King George III’s October 26th speech to Parliament reached Boston, formally declaring the colonies in “open rebellion” and pledging to use “force” to suppress them. Washington’s trusted subordinate General Nathanael Greene, known as the Fighting Quaker, who was disfellowshipped from his church because of his participation, was filled with righteous indignation. In a letter to his friend Samuel Ward, he declared:

“Heaven hath decreed that tottering empire Britain to irretrievable ruin and thanks to God since Providence hath so determined America must raise an empire of permanent duration supported upon the grand pillars of truth freedom and religion encouraged by the smiles of justice and defended by her own patriotic sons. … Permit me then to recommend from the sincerity of my heart ready at all times to bleed in my country’s cause a Declaration of Independence and call upon the world and the great God who governs it to witness the necessity propriety and rectitude thereof.”[17]

Statements like these reflected a growing conviction among many patriot leaders, not only that Independence was necessary, but also that the struggle for American liberty unfolded under the watchful care of God.

While the British in Boston faced chronic shortages of fresh food and firewood, the American army faced severe shortages of its own. Washington soon discovered that the army possessed shockingly little gunpowder. After conducting an inventory during the late summer, he learned that the entire army had only a limited supply remaining - so little that each soldier possessed only a few rounds of ammunition. If the British had discovered the weakness and attacked in force, the American position might have collapsed. He wrote, “If I shall be able to rise superior to these and many other difficulties, which might be enumerated, I shall most religiously believe, that the finger of Providence is in it, to blind the eyes of our enemies.”[18] Thankfully, the British did not make a serious move on Washington’s positions other than a few raids, mainly for supplies.

Meanwhile, Knox’s monumental task of transporting the artillery south continued. Yet it was not without setbacks. On Sunday, January 7, one of the larger cannon broke through the ice-covered Hudson River and sank through a 14-foot hole to the bottom. Providentially, this happened close to shore. Knox and his men labored to retrieve it in the bitter cold but gave up since nightfall was upon them. However, they went back out on the ice about 8:00 a.m. the next morning, but this time he had more help. Knox reports in his diary: “proceeded so cautiously … to Get the Cannon out of the River, owing to the assistances the good people of the City of Albany gave In return for which we christen’d her the The Albany.”[19] Undaunted, Knox and his team pressed onward.

The journey became even more difficult when the expedition turned east and reached the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts. Here the terrain rose sharply, and the roads twisted through narrow passes and steep hillsides. Local farmers and townspeople often turned out to help, lending additional oxen and manpower to drag the heavy guns up the icy inclines, then reversing the processes to slow their descent. On January 10, Knox’s diary entry was shaped by his biblical worldview: “Climb’d mountains from which we might almost have seen all the Kingdoms of the Earth” (see Deuteronomy 34:1-4; Matthew 4:8-11).[20]

Once over the mountain ridges, the “noble train” began its descent toward the Massachusetts countryside. Once Knox’s teams reached more level ground, they exchanged the oxen for fresh horses to quicken the pace. They pressed on through the villages of central Massachusetts and across the snow-covered roads toward Cambridge. By mid-January 1776, Knox was nearing the end of his extraordinary journey.

Meanwhile, back in Cambridge, word came late on January 17 from General Philip Schuyler at Albany of the crushing defeat of the American army at Quebec. General Richard Mongomery was killed, and Col. Benedict Arnold was badly wounded. Yet Schuyler sent the good news on January 18 that the big guns from Ticonderoga were on the way. In fact, on January 24, 1776, Knox rode into Cambridge ahead of his “noble train of artillery” and reported to Washington that the mission had been accomplished. After more than two months of travel and nearly three hundred miles of difficult winter transport, the long-awaited artillery would arrive in the next couple of days. Washington immediately recognized the significance of what Knox had achieved, for which he made Knox a colonel and placed him in charge of the artillery.[21]

The guns from Fort Ticonderoga provided precisely the weapons Washington needed to challenge the British position in Boston. With these cannon and mortars placed on the surrounding heights, the Continental Army could threaten both the city and the Royal Navy anchored in the harbor. Yet Washington still needed the right opportunity to use his newly acquired artillery to end this stalemate.

Fortifying Dorchester Heights

On February 16, Washington made his fourth and final argument to his war council for a direct assault on British positions in Boston. With the necessary artillery now in hand, he was convinced the generals would be unanimous. However, after the defeat at Quebec, they were unanimous in their opposition. What they did agree upon was fortifying Dorchester Heights with cannon in hopes of drawing out the British, just as they had done with the makeshift breastworks on Breed’s and Bunker Hills.[22] Ironically, this was the plan General Artemas Ward, whom Maj. General Charles Lee derisively nicknamed “The Church Warden,” had suggested from the beginning. Washington acquiesced.

Now that the plan had been decided, Washington threw himself into preparations for fortifying the heights of the Dorchester peninsula. Providentially, the elevation was about twice that of Breed’s and Bunker Hills. That would enable the 12 and 18-pound cannon to fire on any position in occupied Boston and even the British warships in the harbor. The war council advised that fortifications be installed in one night, just as they had done at Bunker Hill, and the date chosen was the night of March 4. That would mean that the big guns would be in place for the anniversary of the Boston Massacre on March 5.

Preparations began in earnest. Because the ground remained frozen, too hard for trenching, Rufus Putnam, General Israel Putnam’s cousin, prevailed with Col. Knox and engineer Col. Richard Gridley to take a page out of “Muller’s Field Engineer,” a British manual on military engineering and fortifications. The situation called for on-ground wooden frames called “chandeliers,” which were then filled with bundles of branches fashioned into what was termed “fascines.” The result was an instant, mobile fortification. Washington added the need for barrels filled with rocks and dirt to complete the makeshift defenses. Soldiers were put to work gathering timber and branches, making the bundles, building the frames, and filling the barrels.

Anticipating a British assault, Washington planned to repulse them. General John Thomas would lead 2,000 men in fortifying the Heights, 1,200 to provide the labor force and another 800 to comprise a “covering party” made up mostly of riflemen. Another 4,000 were to stand by at Cambridge for an amphibious attack on Boston, once the British launched their assault on the Heights. Washington gave General Israel Putnam overall command of the Boston attack with Generals Nathaniel Greene and John Sullivan leading the crossing via 60 flatboats on the Charles River. The day for decisive action was fast approaching.[23]

On February 27, as preparations intensified, Washington reminded the army of the spiritual and moral discipline he believed necessary for success. In his General Orders that day, he declared:

“As the Season is now fast approaching, when every man must expect to be drawn into the Field of action, it is highly necessary that he should prepare his mind, as well as every thing necessary for it. It is a noble cause we are engaged in, it is the Cause of virtue, and mankind, every temporal advantage and comfort to us, and our posterity, depends upon the Vigour of our exertions; in short, Freedom, or Slavery must be the result of our conduct, there can therefore be no greater Inducement to men to behave well. ... Next to the favour of divine providence, nothing is more essentially necessary to give this Army the victory over all its enemies…”[24]

To lull the British into complacency by diversion, the plan was for American artillery to fire from their usual locations on British positions in and around Boston. Consequently, on the night of Saturday, March 2, 1776, American artillery opened sporadic bombardment against the British, and the British returned fire. The following night, Sunday, March 3, the cannon fire continued, and the British again responded with even more firepower. The thunder of the guns echoed across the harbor and far into the surrounding countryside.

Little damage was done, but the bombardment served its purpose. While British commanders focused their attention on the diversionary artillery fire, Washington now launched his real move. As darkness fell on the evening of March 4, thousands of American soldiers quietly moved toward Dorchester Heights carrying tools and supplies. Others drove teams of oxen pulling some 360 wagons and cartloads of timber, fascines, barrels, and, of course, the heavy cannon Knox had delivered weeks earlier.

The night proved ideal for the operation. Patriot minister Rev. William Gordon, observing the effort, later wrote that the timing could scarcely have been better: “A finer night for working could not have been taken out of the whole 365. It was hazy below, so that our people could not be seen, though it was a bright moonlight night above on the hills.”[25] Concealed from the British by the marine layer from the harbor, but the heights lit for work by the full moon: It was the hand of God.

All through the night, the soldiers worked quickly and quietly. While some teams raised breastworks along the ridge tops, other teams hauled heavy artillery up to the heights, and others placed the cannons in the battlements. As Rev. Gordon, who was on the Heights with the troops, put it, “Everyone knew his place and his business.”[26] At 3:00 a.m., General Thomas’s work party was relieved, and 3,000 fresh troops moved into position with an additional five regiments of riflemen to repulse any approach by the British. By dawn, 20 cannons were in place.[27] Dr. James Thacher surveyed the fortifications and wrote in his journal, “These are the preparations for blood and slaughter. Gracious God! if it be determined in thy Providence that thousands of our fellow-creatures shall this day be slain, let thy wrath be appeased, and in mercy grant that victory be on the side of our suffering, bleeding country!”[28] Rev. Gordon reported that Washington, who was on the heights with the men, made this challenge, “Remember it is the fifth of March, and avenge the death of your brethren!”[29]

When morning broke on March 5, the transformation astonished friend and foe alike. Where bare hills had stood the evening before, formidable battlements bristling with cannons now crowned Dorchester Heights. British officers stared in disbelief. General William Howe is said to have scratched his head, admitted he didn’t know what he should do, and declared that Washington’s army “had done more work in one night than his whole army would have done in six months.”[30] After the shock wore off, Howe made plans to retake Dorchester Heights. From those heights, American artillery now threatened both Boston and the British fleet in the harbor.

Predictably, Howe set in motion his plan in the afternoon. British troops assembled along the waterfront, and boats were readied to carry them across the harbor for an assault on the American fortifications. The attack promised to be fierce and costly - perhaps another battle like Bunker Hill. Lt. Samuel Webb of the Continental Army wrote: “This is what we wish for, trusting (through the assistance of Heaven) this would be a means of rescuing from their hands our capital and many of our friends who are confined there.”[31]

Yet events took an unexpected turn. Just as the weather was favorable for the Americans on Dorchester Heights on the night of March 4, the weather became unfavorable for the British for an attack on the evening of March 5. For just as preparations for the assault were underway, a violent nor’easter swept across Boston Harbor, bringing a mixed bag of precipitation, first heavy snowfall, followed by a driving rain mixed with hail and sleet. Powerful winds churned the water, and heavy seas made it impossible for British boats to land troops safely along the Dorchester shoreline. The attack was postponed. While the storm continued through the night and into the next day, Washington’s soldiers strengthened their defenses, adding additional artillery and reinforcing their earthworks. By the time the weather cleared, the position had become far too strong for the British to attack successfully.

Patriot supporters interpreted this weather event as the providence of God. Dr. James Thacher wrote: “A most violent storm came on in the night, and still continuing, obliges General Howe to abandon his enterprise, and thus has a kind Providence seen fit to frustrate a design, which must have been attended with immense slaughter and blood shed.”[32] Rev. Gordon concurred, writing of the epic storm, “[W]hen I heard in the night how amazingly strong the wind blew (for it was such a storm as scarce any one remembered to have heard) and had rained toward morning, I concluded that the ships could not stir, and pleased myself with the reflection that the Lord might be working deliverance for us and preventing the effusion of human blood. The event proved that it was so. The storm hindered the attack…”[33]

Inside Boston, observers sensed that the siege was drawing to a close. Deacon Timothy Newell, recorded both unrelieved tension and yet expectant hope in his diary on March 6: “This day the utmost distress and anxiety among the refugees and associators. … Blessed be God, our redemption draws near.”[34] On March 6, even as events continued to unfold, Washington directed the army to observe a Fast Day as proclaimed by the Massachusetts Provincial Assembly. In his General Orders, Washington directed:

“Thursday the seventh Instant, being set apart by the Honourable the Legislature of this province [Massachusetts], as a day of fasting, prayer, and humiliation, ‘to implore the Lord, and Giver of all victory, to pardon our manifold sins and wickedness’s, and that it would please him to bless the Continental Arms, with his divine favour and protection’ - All Officers, and Soldiers, are strictly enjoined to pay all due reverence, and attention on that day, to the sacred duties due to the Lord of hosts, for his mercies already received, and for those blessings, which our Holiness and Uprightness of life can alone encourage us to hope through his mercy to obtain.”[35]

Writing to Joseph Reed, Washington reflected on the dramatic events of the previous week. The army had been prepared for battle should the British attempt an assault, yet he explained: “I will not lament or repine at any act of Providence because I am in a great measure a convert to Mr. Pope’s opinion, that whatever is, is right, but I think everything had the appearance of a successful issue, if we had come to an engagement on that day.”[36]

Yet in the providence of God, the attack never came. Recognizing that the American artillery now commanded both the harbor and the city, General Howe made the difficult decision to evacuate Boston rather than risk the destruction of his army and with it the town of Boston. During the following days British soldiers hurriedly loaded supplies and equipment onto ships while loyalist families crowded the waterfront hoping to escape with the departing fleet.

Finally, on March 17, 1776, the long siege came to an end. More than 9,000 British troops, accompanied by hundreds of loyalist refugees, sailed out of Boston Harbor bound for Halifax. From the surrounding hills Washington and the Continental Army watched as the fleet weighed anchor and set sail. Those who were freed from the British occupation both cheered and wept. Abigail Adams wrote John with an appropriate celebratory verse of Scripture, “Surely it is the Lord’s doings and it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:23).[37]

Patriot forces entered the liberated city of Boston that Sunday afternoon with much fanfare, drums beating and flags flying, led by General Artemus Ward on horseback. Washington had given Ward the honor, since he had served as the previous commander who led the siege from the beginning. Instead, Washington remained in Cambridge and attended a worship service conducted by Chaplain Abiel Leonard of Col. Henry Knox’s artillery regiment. The Pennsylvania Evening Post reported on the service:

“This afternoon, a few hours after the British retreated, the Reverend Mr. Leonard, preached at Cambridge an excellent sermon, in the audience of his Excellency the General, and others of distinction, well adapted to the interesting event of the day, from Exodus XIV. 25: ‘And took off their chariot wheels, that they drove them heavily; so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.’”[38]

Recognizing that the American artillery now commanded both the harbor and the city, General Howe made the difficult decision to evacuate Boston rather than risk the destruction of his army and with it the town of Boston. During the following days, British soldiers hurriedly loaded supplies and equipment onto ships while loyalist families crowded the waterfront hoping to escape with the departing fleet. Finally, on March 17, 1776, the long siege came to an end. More than 9,000 British troops, accompanied by hundreds of loyalist refugees, sailed out of Boston Harbor bound for Halifax. From the surrounding hills, Washington and the Continental Army watched as the fleet disappeared beyond the horizon.

In a response to the gratitude expressed by the Massachusetts Assembly, Washington wrote about God’s providence in liberating Boston:

“That the metropolis of your colony is now relieved from the cruel and oppressive invasion of those, who were sent to … trample on the rights of humanity, and is again open and free … must give pleasure to every virtuous and sympathetic heart; and its being effected without the blood of our soldiers and fellow-citizens must be ascribed to the interposition of that Providence, which has manifestly appeared in our behalf through the whole of this important struggle, as well as to the measures pursued for bringing about the happy event.”[39]

Then Washington added this prayer:

“May that being, who is powerful to save, and in whose hands is the fate of nations, look down with an eye of tender pity and compassion upon the whole of the United Colonies; may He continue to smile upon their counsels and arms, and crown them with success, whilst employed in the cause of virtue and mankind. May this distressed colony and its capital, and every part of this wide extended continent, through His divine favor, be restored to more than their former luster and once happy state, and have peace, liberty, and safety secured upon a solid, permanent, and lasting foundation.”[40]

For those who had witnessed the events firsthand - from Washington and his officers to ministers, soldiers, and civilians - the liberation of Boston seemed more than a fortunate military success. Many Americans believed they had seen the hand of God intervene on their behalf, and they continued to pray for His providential favor.

The story of the liberation of occupied Boston reveals more than simply the recounting of the first major victory in the War for Independence. It also offers a window into the robust faith of those who lived through the struggle itself. American patriots believed that the liberties they fought for were not merely political rights but gifts entrusted to them by God.

Now 250 years later, the events surrounding the liberation of Boston still stand as one of the most dramatic turning points of the Revolutionary War. Yet to those who experienced it firsthand - from Washington and his officers to ministers, soldiers, and ordinary citizens - the unfolding of events pointed to something greater than military success. They believed they had witnessed the providence of God guiding their cause and intervening on their behalf. It was, in every sense, an expression of the “Battlefield Faith” that provided our firm foundation at the birth of the American Republic.

[1]https://revolutionarywar.us/year-1775/siege-of-boston/.

[2] George Washington to his wife, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, on June 23, 1775, in John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., “The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745-1799,” 39 volumes (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1931-1944), 3:301.

[3] William Lincoln, ed., “The Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Massachusetts in 1774 and 1775, and of the Committee of Safety, with an Appendix, Containing the Proceedings of the County Conventions-Narratives of the Events of the Nineteenth of April, 1775-Papers Relating to Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and other Documents, Illustrative of the Early History of the American Revolution,” (Boston: Dutton and Wentworth, 1838), 247.

[4] General Orders, July 16, 1775, “Writings of George Washington,” 3:341-342.

[5] George Washington to Lieutenant General Thomas Gage, August 20, 1775 (draft is in the handwriting of secretary/aide Joseph Reed), “Writings of George Washington,” 3:431.

[6] George Washington to the Major and Brigadier Generals on September 8, 1775 in “Writings of George Washington,” 3:483

[7] George Washington to the Inhabitants of the Island of Bermuda on September 6, 1775, in “Writings of George Washington,” 3:475-476.

[8] Diary entry of Timothy Newell, as found in Henry Steele Commanger and Richard B. Morris, eds., “The Spirit of ’Seventy-Six: The Story of the American Revolution as told by Participants,” (New York: Harper Collins, 1975), 148.

[9] Ethan Allen, “A Narrative of Col. Ethan Allen’s Captivity: From the Time of His Being Taken by the British, Near Montreal, on the 25th Day of September, in the Year 1775, to the Time of His Exchange, on the 6th Day of May, 1778,” (Walpole, NH, Charter & Hale, 1807), 19.

[10] David McCullough, “1776,” (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005), 73. This Congregational church is not to be confused with the Old North Church from which the lantern signal warned of the British approach at Lexington and Concord. The latter has survived since 1723.

[11] George Washington to Joseph Reed on November 30, 1775 in “Writings of George Washington,” 4:130.

[12] William Knox to Henry Knox on December 14, 1775 in New York Historical Society Collection.

[13] Henry Knox to George Washington on December 17, 1775 in W. W. Abbott, ed., “The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series,” vol. 2, September 16, 1775 - December 31, 1775 (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1987), 564.

[14] See https://www.cccambridge.org/our-history.

[15] William Palfrey to his wife Susanna on January 2, 1776 in “Life of William Palfrey: Paymaster-General in the Army of the Revolution” as found in Jared Sparks, ed., “The Library of American Biography: Second Series,” Vol. (Boston: Little & Brown, 1845), 7:405-406. An apocryphal account of the worship service appeared in the Boston Daily Advertiser, in which a person identifying herself as Lydia Biddle wrote that though the organ was disabled for use in the war effort, some “musical soldiers” played the “bass viol” and “clarionet.” These men also led the singing. “[T]he strong voices of the men who thronged the church making fine music to my ear,” she added, “and when part of Psalm cxviii [118] and a verse from the cxix [119]was rolled out, I saw some tearful eyes…” However, see this article that deems it dubious: https://boston1775.blogspot.com/2011/10/making-fine-music-to-my-ear.html.

[16] George Washington, General Orders on January 1, 1776 in Philander D. Chase, ed., “The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series,” vol. 3, January 1, 1776 - March 31, 1776, (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988), 1-5.

[17] Nathaniel Green to Samuel Ward on January 4, 1776 in Richard K. Showman and Dennis Conrad, eds., “The Papers of Nathaniel Greene,” 13 vols., (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1976-2005), 1:176-77.

[18] George Washington to Joseph Reed on January 14, 1776 in “Writings of George Washington,” 4:243.

[19] Henry Knox, Diary from November 20-January 13, p. 23. https://www.masshist.org/database/viewer.php?item_id=463&mode=transcript&img_step=24#page24.

[20] Ibid., “January 10,” p. 24.

[21] McCullough, 85.

[22] Ibid., 87.

[23] McCullough, 89.

[24] George Washington, General Orders, February 27, 1776 in “Writings of George Washington,” 4:355.

[25] Rev. William Gordon to Samuel Wilson on April 6, 1776 in “Spirit of ’Seventy-Six,” 178.

[26] Ibid.

[27] McCullough, 93.

[28] Journal of Dr. James Thacher as found at https://www.americanrevolution.org/james-thachers-journal-1776/.

[29] Gordon, “Spirit of ’Seventy-Six,” 179.

[30] Ibid., 178.

[31] Journal of Samuel Webb, March 1, 1776 in “Spirit of ’Seventy-Six,” 177.

[32] Thacher at https://www.americanrevolution.org/james-thachers-journal-1776/.

[33] Gordon, “Spirit of ’Seventy-Six,” 179.

[34] Thomas Newell in Josef and Dorothy Berger, eds., “Diary of America,” (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1957), 112.

[35] George Washington, General Orders, March 6, 1776, in “Writings of George Washington,” 4:369.

[36] Geroge Washington to Joseph Reed on March 7/1776, “Writings of George Washington,” 4:380-381.

[37] Abigail Adams to John Adams on March 16, 1776 in L. H. Butterworth, ed., “Adams Family Correspondence,” 2 vols., (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1963), 1:360.

[38] Frank Moore, ed., “Diary of the American Revolution from Newspapers and Original Documents” (New York: Charles Scribner Sons, 1860), 1:222-223.

[39] George Washington, Response to the Address from the Massachusetts Legislature, March 28, 1776, “Writings of George Washington,” 4:441-442.

[40] Ibid.