Washington had British cannon, brought with heavy labor from
Ticonderoga, and then he lost no time. On the morning of March 5,
1776, Howe awoke to find that, under cover of a heavy
bombardment, American troops had occupied Dorchester Heights and
that if he would dislodge them he must make another attack
similar to that at Bunker Hill. The alternative of stiff fighting
was the evacuation of Boston. Howe, though dilatory, was a good
fighting soldier. His defects as a general in America sprang in
part from his belief that the war was unjust and that delay might
bring counsels making for peace and save bloodshed. His first
decision was to attack, but a furious gale thwarted his purpose,
and he then prepared for the inevitable step.

Washington divined Howe's purpose and there was a tacit agreement
that the retiring army should not be molested. Howe destroyed
munitions of war which he could not take away but he left intact
the powerful defenses of Boston, defenses reared at the cost of
Britain. Many of the better class of the inhabitants, British in
their sympathies, were now face to face with bitter sorrow and
sacrifice. Passions were so aroused that a hard fate awaited them
should they remain in Boston and they decided to leave with the
British army. Travel by land was blocked; they could go only by
sea. When the time came to depart, laden carriages, trucks, and
wheelbarrows crowded to the quays through the narrow streets and
a sad procession of exiles went out from their homes. A profane
critic said that they moved "as if the very devil was after
them." No doubt many of them would have been arrogant and
merciless to "rebels" had theirs been the triumph. But the day
was above all a day of sorrow. Edward Winslow, a strong leader
among them, tells of his tears "at leaving our once happy town of