Last updated: January 9, 2026
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The Evacuation of Boston, 1776
Prelude
With the rapid completion of American fortifications at Dorchester Heights on March 4, 1776, British soldiers trapped in Boston expressed utter astonishment. One British officer observed that the feat had been done by "an expedition equal to that of the Genii belonging to Aladdin’s wonderful lamp."[1] Towering over British lines, the imposing fortifications posed an immediate threat. American artillery and fortifications on the Heights now made the British navy and transport vessels moving through Boston Harbor vulnerable to attack.
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British General William Howe considered his options of how to counter this aggressive positioning. As Commander of the British Navy in Boston, Admiral Shuldham advised Howe that the British fleet would be "shot to pieces"[2] if the fortifications remained on Dorchester Heights. Howe’s only recourse, then, would have to be an assault on the daunting American positions—one that certainly reminded him of the victory at Bunker Hill the previous June. Fate intervened when a storm of epic proportions thwarted preparations for an attack, although this may have been a convenient excuse for Howe.[3] With his only recourse taken away, Howe had one choice left—an evacuation of Boston.
Evacuation
The British army and navy had a logistical challenge on their hands in preparing for such a haphazard evacuation. A vast array of ships—Abigail Adams counted as many as 170—mobilized in the harbor to evacuate thousands of soldiers (as well as civilian loyalists) to the naval base at Halifax, Nova Scotia.[4] American privateer vessels, meanwhile, harassed the British fleet in the harbor. A state of confusion occurred in Boston as the British army scrambled to load stores and weapons onto waiting ships. British soldiers barricaded the streets, sank heavy mortars in the harbor, and left behind horses to make room on ships for soldiers and civilians.[5]
Some Bostonians feared the British might destroy the town before leaving. Boston town selectman Timothy Newell wrote in his journal on March 12, "The Inhabitants [are] greatly distressed thro-fear the Town would be set on fire by the Soldiers."[6] They also feared Continental Army General George Washington would try to preempt the evacuation by bombing the city. Although neither of these things occurred, some British soldiers and officers did steal and plunder homes and shops, which they viewed as justifiable in depriving the American army of supplies. Merchant John Rowe recalled, "They stole many things and plundered my store," along with those of other Boston property owners.[7] General Howe himself even ordered one Tory, Crean Brush, to seize goods worth thousands of pounds from Boston warehouses. Although successful, American ships eventually caught Brush while fleeing in a vessel with his plunder.[8]
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As a result of the evacuation, civilian loyalists in Boston found an opportunity to escape with British forces. Loyalists (also known as Tories) either destroyed or left behind many of their possessions, littering the streets and the harbor in the ensuing confusion. One resident recollected that "The Tories…carried death in their faces" and "some run distracted."[9] Loyalists clambered to get on departing ships, although those fortunate enough to board one often found social status and wealth were no guarantee of comfort. As Boston loyalist and refugee Benjamin Hallowell recalled, "men, women, and children, parents, masters, mistresses, were obliged to pig together on the floor."[10] A number of wealthy and powerful loyalists, including Massachusetts Governor Hutchinson and Lieutenant Governor Oliver, left with the British.[11]
Aftermath
On March 17, most of the British army left Boston for the base at Nova Scotia, although a few ships remained in the outer harbor. Upon their departure, the British set fire to Castle William to prevent American usage of the fortification.
The evacuation of the British resulted in a day of jubilation for Boston residents.[12] One witness to the occasion, Colonel Jedediah Huntington described the scene:
"This Morning we had the Agreable Sight of a Number of Ships leaving the Town of Boston with a large Number of Boats full of Soldiers, about ten of Clock several Lads came to our out Centries and informed us that the Troops had intirely left the Town."[13]
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According to historian Sam Willis, the British evacuated a total of "11,000 people including 8,906 troops, 1,100 loyalists and 553 children."[14] While British officials portrayed the evacuation as successful and orderly, George Washington shared his own impression of the evacuated British: "By all [accounts] there never existed a more miserable set of beings than these wretched creatures now are."[15]
The quick and disorderly withdrawal also meant the British abandoned a great deal of military provisions. Washington commented on this in several letters from March 17-19, with one summing up:
"The hurry in which they have Imbark’d is inconceivable, they have not, from a rough estimate, left less than 30,000£s worth of his Majestys Property behind them, in Provision’s and Stores, Vessels, Rugs Blankets &ca—near 30 pieces of fine heavy Cannon are left (Spiked, which we are now drilling) a Mortar or two—Shott Shells &ca in abundance—All their Artillery Carts, Powder Waggens…"[16]
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Civilian reaction of the evacuation varied between exultation and relief, with resident and Boston selectmen Timothy Newell writing, "Thus was this unhappy distressed town…relieved from a set of men, whose unparalleled wickedness, profanity, debauchery, and cruelty is inexpressible."[17] Writing to her husband John, Abigail Adams expressed not only relief, but also gratitude:
"The more I think of our Enemies quitting Boston, the more amaz'd I am, that they should leave such a harbour, such fortifications, such intrenchments, and that we should be in peaceable possession of a Town which we expected would cost us a river of Blood without one Drop shed. Shurely it is the Lords doings and it is Marvelous in our Eyes."[18]
However, the physical and emotional damage caused by the siege had left its mark. American army surgeon James Thacher wrote of Bostonians that "though they manifested a lively joy on being liberated from a long imprisonment, they were not altogether free from melancholy gloom which ten tedious months’ siege has spread over their countenances."[19] When Continental troops entered the town, they found a deserted war zone, as American officer James Wilkinson recalled: "a death-like silence pervaded an inhabited city, and spectacles of waste and spoil struck the eye at almost every step."[20]
Boston residents, nonetheless, were grateful for self-rule once again. The Selectmen of Boston expressed their gratitude to George Washington in a special address:
"The Select-men of Boston, in behalf of themselves, & Fellow-Citizens, with all gratefull Respect, congratulate Your Excellency on the Success of your military Operations, in the Recovery of this Town...You have not only saved a large, elegant, & once populous City, from total Destruction, but relieved the few wretched Inhabitants from all the Horrors of a besieged Town, from the Insults & Abuses of a disgraced & chagrined Army, and restored many Inhabitants to their quiet Habitations who had fled, for Safety, to the Bosom of their Country...”[21]
Washington responded with similar admiration:
"Your virtuous efforts in the cause of freedom, and the unparalleled fortitude with which you have sustained the greatest of all human calamities, justly entitle you to the grateful remembrance of your American brethren; and I heartily pray that the hand of tyranny may never more disturb your repose; and that every blessing of a kind providence may give happiness and prosperity to the town of Boston." [22]
With the departure of several thousand British soldiers and Loyalists, Bostonians could finally breathe a sigh of relief, begin to rebuild their town, and adopt a new, and American, identity.
Footnotes
[1] Nathaniel Philbrick, Bunker Hill: a City, a Siege, a Revolution (Penguin Random House, 2013), 280.
[2] Nathan Miller, Sea of Glory: A Naval History of the American Revolution (New York: D. McKay, 1974), 78.
[3] Christopher Ward, The War of the Revolution (Skyhorse Publishing, 2011), 129.
[4] Miller, Sea of Glory, 78.
[5] Ward, The War of the Revolution, 131; Barbara Clark Smith, Boston and the American Revolution (National Park Service, 1998), 65.
[6] Timothy Newell, "A Journal Kept During the Time that Boston was Shut Up in 1775 - 6." Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, ser. 4 vol. 1. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1852: 272-276.
[7] Alexander Cain, "Anxiety and Distress: Civilians Inside the Siege of Boston," Journal of the American Revolution, February 13, 2017. Accessed December 9, 2025.
[8] Ward, 131.
[9] Philbrick, Bunker Hill, 284.
[10] Sam Willis, The Struggle For Sea Power: A Naval History of the American Revolution (W.W. Norton and Company, 2016), 108.
[11] Mark Peterson, The City-State of Boston: The Rise and Fall of an Atlantic Power, 1630-185 (Princeton University Press, 2019), 323, 377.
[12] Philbrick, 285.
[13] "Colonel Jedediah Hungtington to Jabez Huntington, March 17, 1776," in William Bell Clark (Ed.) Naval Documents on the American Revolution, volume 4. Washington, Naval History Division, Dept of the Navy, 1969. 378-379.
[14] Willis, 109.
[15] "George Washington to John Augustine Washington, 31 March 1776," Founders Online, National Archives. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 566–571.]
[16] "George Washington to Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Reed, 19 March 1776," Founders Online, National Archives. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 493–494.]
[17] Timothy Newell, "A Journal Kept During the Time that Boston was Shut Up in 1775 - 6." Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, ser. 4 vol. 1. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1852: 272-276.
[18] "Abigail Adams to John Adams, 16 March 1776," Founders Online, National Archives. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 1, December 1761 – May 1776, ed. Lyman H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963, pp. 357–361.]
[19] Philbrick, 286.
[20] Philbrick, 286.
[21] "Address from the Boston Selectmen, March 1776," Founders Online, National Archives. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 571–572]
[22] "His Excellency’s Answer," Thomas’s Massachusetts Spy Or, American Oracle of Liberty, April 12, 1776, 4.