NOR is it doubted, if wee may Judge from the outward
appearance of Persons, but that Mr. Lovell (tho in the Capacity of a Prisoner)
embarqued with less reluctance than those Miscreants whose complicated offences
against the Liberties of their Country denied them the Boon of continueing any
longer as Freemen in this Land of Liberty; wherefore since by their Behaviour
they had forfeited all right to Freedom, & were driven to the Alternitude
of Slavery in this or in a foreign Land, they chose rather to imbarque and be
in Servitude with other Slaves than to continue in their native Country &
Suffer the just resentinent of their injured Brethren.
Many of these obnoxious animals (tho none of the most
obnoxious) chose to tarry & rely upon the Mercy of their offended
Countrymen than to hazard their Lives with the Fleet & Army, who were Miserably
stocked with Provisions, — having nothing of Animal Food left but salt Meat,
& that in so small a Quantity that their common allowance would consume it
all in less than three Weeks; this account I had from a Friend of mine who
tarried in Boston during the whole siege, who was well acquainted with their
Scituation, & on whose veracity I think I can safely rely. In this
miserable Scituation they left the Town & hauled of to Nantascet, where I
shall, for the present, leave them. These Tories which remained were soon
apprehended, & what fate they will receive at the hands of their injured
Countrymen (for I can't call them Brethren) may be left by me undetermin'd as
yet.
The Fatiegues & Hardships that were underwent by that
part of the Army which were Stationed at Roxbury from the time of our first
building upon the Hill, tho not eaqual to the Hardships which many of this
Profession have endured, yet I think I may safely pronounce them hard. When we
first arrived upon the Hills, as I before observed, we had no cover from the
Weather but Apple Trees (a miserable Shelter from Storms & March Winds);
for the Regulars had previously set fire to almost all the Houses & Barns
on the Neck, two Barns & three small Houses only being left, & of these
only the Barns were so situated as to afford shelter for the Army of 25 Hundred
Men, or thereabouts, because of their Distance from the Works we were building.
Therefore no particular Regiments could be stationed there, & it was
absolutely necessary to keep at least that Number of Men constantly upon the
Hills, & these must be drawn from those at Roxbury. This Party together
with the Guards at Roxbury kept half of our Men on duty constantly, & many
being taken ill about that time, some with what we termed the Hill Fever &
others with real Sickness, many Men were obliged to be on Duty two Days &
Nights successively. Moreover, because of the dangerous Scituation of the
Causeway, we were obliged to go on to relieve the Parties on the Hills in the
Night at 3 o'clock; this made it more fatiegueing, being in this manner broke
of our Rest each Night.
Being myself unwell upon our first entering upon the Hills,
I was unable to do but three Tours of Duty in this Manner, and had entered upon
the fourth when I was so unwell that with much difficulty with the assistance
of an able Bodied Man I got of from the Hills. I continued 2 Days in my Chamber
and then walked out, but the Blody Flux raged so hard upon me & nothing
suitable for my Diet being to be bought, it was thought best for me to go into
the Country, whereupon I went to Concord & tarried several Days; but being
unwilling to tarry any longer out of Camp than what was absolutely necessary, I
returned about 3 Days before the enemy evacuated Boston. Being still unfit for
Duty, nevertheless I undertook another Tour, seeing Duty had been so hard for
the other Officers, — many of them by this Time being unwell & unfit for
Duty. On the 24 of March, the enemy being gone down to Nantascet & it being
thought best to have some steady forces upon the Hills, Col. Learneard's &
Cole Cary's Regiments were both of them ordered upon the Hills. To the latter I
belonged, & we moved on expecting to have found Barracks provided; but when
we arrived we found that the Barracks provided for our Regt were not above half
sufficient to contain them, neither were there Chimneys in any of them. Our
being huddled in this manner with such accommodations upon the Hills was owing
to the unfaithfullness of the Barrack Master, who had returned to the Genl.
that a sufficiency of Barracks were finished to receive us. Yet in this
Scituation, half killed with smoke, we found our Duty easier than when we lived
at Roxbury & did Duty upon the Hills. Many of our People were sick, for
whom a convenient House was provided at Roxbury; among these two only were very
Dangerous, viz., Elisha Doane & Joseph Philips. Doane, after having been
extreme low and weak, being several times looked upon as a dying Man, recovered
so far that on my coming from Roxbury on the second of April he was able to sit
up and in a likely way of recovery. But as to Philips, who was taken with a
Pleurisy which afterwards turned to a Malignant Putrid Fever, God in his
providence saw fit to take him to himself, as we trust, on the 30th of March.
The next Day he was decently inter'd. On the 18th of March, the Enemy still
keeping Possession of Castle William, I mounted the guard upon the Point near
the Castle at not more than 1 of a Mile Distance; the night being very calm
& my Duty calling me to visit the Centuries, I could hear them busiely
employed, as I then supposed, in spiking up the Cannon & breaking of the
Trunnions. This work they continued till the next day, 19th, when about 3
o'clock they began to blow up the Fortifications. This lasted till about
sunset, when they set the Block House on the South Poin on Fire. Our Guard were
now expecting to be relieved & were paraded to receive the relief; but the
relief being detained, we were desirous to see the fire, & retired to a
Hill about 10 Rods distance North from the Guard House, where we might have a
full View. The Enemy, perceiving us upon the Hill within point Blank Shot of
their Cannon, fired three 24 lb. Shot at us, neither of which went more than 2
yards above our Heads. The first & second would unavoidably have killed
some of the men had they not have fell upon discovering the Flashes of their
Guns; as it was, several of our Men by the Wind of the Balls were almost
stuned. Neither of the Balls came nearer to me than 10 Yards Distance, tho I
stood upon the Top of the Hill & never removed till after their fire was
over. The other Men were in more danger after the first Shot; for the Enemy,
knowing they would repair to the Guard House, had placed their Cannon so as to
take them on their runing from the Hill. Tho horribly frightned by the
whistling of the Balls, I considered this, and was the only Man that stood the
Ground.
The next day, 20th, they continued demolishing the Works of
the Castle, and in the Evening set all the Combustible part of it on Fire, and
left it the same Night. I myself went on the next Day to see the Havock and
Destruction they had made, the which surpass all discription & of which no
man could have any tolerable Idea unless himself was made a Spectator; that
once beautifull Fortress was now nothing more than a confused heap of Rubbish.
The Enemy left the chief part of their Cannon, all of which (excepting three 18
lb. ers which were left entire) had either a Trunnion beat of or the
Breechings broke of and all spiked up. We dug up several of their Boxes of
powder, which were designed to blow up part of the Walls, but had not taken
Fire.
The Enemies Fleet, which I left at Nantascet, remained there
till Wednesday, 27 of March, when about half of their Number, consisting
chiefly of Transports with a Few Convoys of Men of war, set sail & stood
out to sea; the remaining Ships, excepting 4 Men of war (which they left at
Nantascet), followed them the next Saturday.
The Fleet lying so long below made many People mistrustfull
that their design was to reland in some part of the Harbour; therefore we kept
strong Guards in every exposed part thereof. But it afterwards appeared that
their long delay was occasioned by the Confusion and Hurry in which they
quitted the Town, not having any time either to rig the Vessels or distribute
the Provisions among the Vessels. Those which sailed first were said to contain
the Families of the Tories which they shipped of for Halifax as soon as they could
get them ready.
After the first part of the Fleet sailed, the other part was
reinforced by several large Ships of war, but from whence they came I could
never learn.
One of the Fleet having a valuable cargo of Stolen goods
together with a number of Tories was cast away soon after on Cape Cod, &
another whose Cargo was estimated at 35,000£ sterling was taken by Capt. Merry;
what became of the others time will discover.
While the Fleet was lying at Nantascet, our People fixed
several Fire Engines, which would undoubtedly have consumed some of their
Fleet, but the Wind proving unfavourable detered us from putting our design in
execution.
The Enemy having thus evacuated Boston & chiefly left
the Harbour, the Army, excepting a few Regiments, were order'd to the
Southward, as it was expected the Enemy were gone to the Southern Colonies. At
least there was great danger of it; and as New York (I suppose) was thought to
be the Center of the Colonies, they were ordered for that place. Many Regiments
had already marched (& by accounts from them they had arrived at N. York)
before the Fleet left Boston; the others, as I before mentioned, had orders to
follow. Genl. Green's Brigade, consisting of 5 Regiments — Viz., Colns Varnum,
Hitchcock, Little, Reed, & Bailey — had orders to March on Monday, the 1 of
April, to New London by the Way of Norwich; butin the Night before their March
Expresses came from Newport that the Enemy were seen of that Port, & that
it was expected that they were about to land. This occasioned counter Orders
for them to take Providence in their Way. I myself had to the First of April
acted in the Regiment to which I belonged, Viz., in Cola Cary's Regt of
Militia; but their time being expired, and having in the Evening before an
Invitation to take the Place of one Lieut Shaw of Colm Baileys Regt, &
having a desire to be farther instrumental in so glorious a Cause, &
finding my acceptance of the office would be agreeable to the officers, I
readily agreed to it, & Lieut. Col Jacobs went the next morning to
Cambridge for the Generals approbation, which if I could obtain I was to follow
the Regt. We found the Genl. very busie in wrighting dispatches, &c., that
he could not attend to Buisness of such small Consequence; but upon Agt. Genl.
Gates Promise of my having a Commission if I would follow the Army, I concluded
to do it if I had the advice of Col Baily. I therefore return'd & asked
Col. Baily, who advised me if I had an inclination, to go, & said he made
no doubt but that I should be as well used as if Time had permitted the Genl.
to have given me a Commission. I therefore concluded to follow the next
Morning, & to spend the Evening in wrighting to acquaint my Friends of my
New undertaking, which I accordingly did; & the next morning the 2d of
April set out to overtake the Regt, which I affected that after Noon. I found
Capt Allen to whose Company I belonged to be a very agreable Companion, &
his Company a Civil Set of People. As I was entirely unacquainted with any
Person in the Company, I had previously enquired of my Friends as to their
Characters before I engaged to serve, & found that the Capt & his other
officers had the character of civil & agreable Gentlemen, & upon my
further acquaintance with them I found their Good Characters to surpass my expectations.
4th of April we arrived at Providence; the Roads being bad and the Rainy
Weather prevented our arriving sooner. Nothing very material happened during
our March. On the road I saw Mrs. Atwood and Miss R. Sears, and Breakfasted
with them at Mr. Atwoods House in I found the Town of Providence very agreably
scituated on each side of a River. Several very elegant Buildings; in
perticular the Baptist Meeting House & the College, a little east of the
Town. We tarried here but one Night, & the next Day sat out for Norwich in
Connecticut.
At Providence I saw building two neat Frigates . . .
[Here a page is gone]
. . . fellow had hired to take care of his Farm, coincided
very well in each other's Opinions, & I believe no part of the old Mans
Estate suffered for the want of Cultivation.
SOURCE: Edward Bangs, Edited, Journal of Lieutenant
Isaac Bangs, April 1 to July 29, 1776, pp. 15-21
