George Washington Siege and British Evacuation of Boston March 17, 1776 “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.” Benjamin Franklin made this candid observation to John Hancock on July 4, 1776 as the signers of the Declaration of Independence committed their reputations, their property and their lives to the cause of American independence. Had the British succeeded in putting down the American rebellion, the signers of that most famous of American documents would have been tried and convicted of treason. Yet three months before, the Continental Congress passed another resolution which was almost as daring and risky as the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It began on April 19, 1775 when a force of 1,400 British regulars crossed the Charles River from Boston and set out for the towns of Lexington and Concord. Their mission was to capture arms held by the rebellious colonial militias and perhaps bag two local leaders, John Hancock and Samuel Adams. Paul Revere was the most famous of three local horsemen who spread the news of the British advance as the redcoats made their way toward the towns. Revere was captured, but he became famous for his ride. Samuel Prescott was far more successful at spreading the word but would receive limited notoriety. The first skirmish occurred on the Lexington Green where the 1,400 redcoats met 70 minute men. Clearly outnumbered, Captain Jonas Parker ordered his men to disband without attacking or surrendering. Then someone fired a shot which prompted both sides to exchange fire. In the end eight militiamen, including Captain Parker, lay dead and ten more were wounded. One British soldier was slightly wounded. From Lexington the British marched to Concord where they found a force 400 minutemen positioned on a ridge overlooking the town. The minutemen moved toward the British, and both sides exchanged volleys that Ralph Waldo Emerson would later call “the shots heard ‘round the world.” After the Battle of Concord, the British marched back to Lexington under heavy fire from additional minutemen who were arriving on the scene. At Lexington they joined with an additional British force that had been sent from Boston. From there British faced a hellish march back to Boston while the militia men fired upon them from behind boulders, trees and houses. Overall 76 British soldiers were killed; 26 were missing and presumed dead; and 74 were wounded. Over the coming months the British were holed up in Boston while increasing numbers of militia men encircled the besieged city. In June the British attacked a patriot position on Breeds Hill, which would later be called the Battle of Bunker Hill. The British won a tactical victory when the patriots were forced to withdraw because of a lack of ammunition, but their success came at a frightful price. Among the 2,400 men British soldiers who had attacked the patriot position, 1,054 were wounded and among those, 226 died. British major general, Henry Clinton, noted in his diary, “A dear-bought victory; another such would have ruined us.” Over the next several months, 15,000 patriot troops were stationed around Boston leaving the British bottled up in the city. The British were able to supply their troops because the Continental forces did not have a navy, and the British could still sail ships in and out of the Boston Harbor. On June 15, 1775 the Continental Congress commissioned George Washington to lead the Continental Army. Washington had been lobbying for the job for several months by wearing his uniform to the legislative sessions. Washington arrived in Cambridge on July 3 and was concerned with what he found. Although the troops were dedicated and motivated to their cause, their camps were filthy, and they lacked discipline. Washington set to whipping his forces into shape with the goal of establishing a professional army that would be far more formidable than the poorly organized militias. In November Washington dispatched Boston bookseller turned ordinance expert, Henry Knox, to Fort Ticonderoga. His mission was to capture the cannon there and bring them back to Boston. After a difficult journey through mud, ice and snow, Knox returned with the guns that would be needed to complete Washington’s plan. Under the cover of darkness Washington’s forces quietly fortified Dorchester Heights. Then in early March under the cover of an all night cannon barrage, the patriots completed the placement of the cannon on the Heights which overlooked Boston Harbor. At dawn the British found that their military position was untenable. The cannon on Dorchester Heights cut off the army’s last line of escape, the British fleet. The British set out to attack the fortifications on Dorchester Heights, but a freak storm forced them to withdraw. Most observers thought that the British would not have succeeded in taking the patriots’ position, even if they had not been thwarted by the storm. There was no way that they could have aimed their cannon high enough to hit the Dorchester Heights works. Facing an impossible situation, the British and the Americans made a deal. The Americans let the British pack up and leave without firing upon their ships. In return the British agreed not to put Boston to the torch. On March 17 the British withdrew and sailed to Halifax, Nova Scotia. On March 25, 1776 the Continental Congress voted to award a gold medal to Washington for his success in forcing the British to evacuate Boston. Perhaps some members did not realize it at the time. The concept of voting to award a gold medal to a man who had led a significant armed force in a military operation against what had been his country was an audacious act. Such a vote certainly would have brought retribution upon those who had proposed and voted for it. Yet, the actual vote for independence would come three months later. In the grand scheme of the Revolutionary War, Washington’s victory at Boston was not militarily significant. The British regrouped in Nova Scotia and returned to inflict stinging defeats upon the American Army in what is now the New York City metropolitan area. By the end of 1776 the game was almost up for the American cause, and Washington knew it. On Christmas Night Washington loaded his beleaguered forces on boats and crossed the icy Delaware River. The following morning, Washington led a surprise attack on the British hired Hessian troops at Trenton, New Jersey. He followed that with another victory at Princeton a week later. These two victories kept the revolutionary cause alive and were far more worthy of a gold medal than the evacuation of Boston. Washington would not receive his gold medal until 1790. The medal, which was executed by Chief French mint engraver, Benjamin Duvivier, is a massive gold piece that measures 68.8 millimeters in diameter. Washington’s gold medal is now held by the Boston Public Library. In addition to the gold piece, five examples struck from the original dies are known in silver and 26 to 40 pieces are known in copper. The obverse features a profile of Washington modeled after a bust by J. A. Houdon. The reverse features Washington and his generals on horseback surveying Boston Harbor. Many copies of the Washington before Boston medal have been struck though the years, but the pieces made from the original die pair are the most coveted collectors’ items. Distinguishing one of the later medals from the pieces that were made from the original die pair is not easy. One way is to look at the "O" in "PRIMO" on the reverse. On the original dies it is perfectly round. On all of the later medals it is an oval to varying degrees. Still, for most collectors, reliance on an expert opinion is highly recommended
What a great story of our history for the 4th of July...thanks for sharing. Unless I missed it somewhere, is the photo of an original, or a copy...? The O you mentioned actually looks a bit more oval than round, but agree hard to tell. I do also believe this exact likeness of Washington has been used on (an)other medal(s)...I have a couple but forget which they are (not handy to me).
That Washington medal was struck from the original die pair. The likeness of was Washington is copied from the bust by Houdan. It is considered to be the definitive likeness of the first president. When the government asked for design submissions for the Washington Quarter, the artists were required to use the Houdan bust as the basis for their likeness. The mint has used the same image many times. Here are a couple of others. This small medal celebrated the time when the mint employees swore an Oath of Allegiance to the Union at the start of the Civil War. This piece was really just an excuse for the mint to issue another Washington medal. Any piece that had Washington on it was collectable at that time. Here's another one that marked the start of the mint cabinet collection. Later these coins, tokens and medals went to the Smithsonian. Here is a copy of the Houdan bust. Houdan can to American to sculpt this bust of Washington. He stayed for a couple of weeks at Mt. Vernon.
A true classic patriotic design and incredible to have an original. I have a restrike from dies prepared by Charles Barber. Only 167 were struck.
