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The American Revolution
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After about an hour, 400 reinforcements arrived from Boston. The Brit-
ish mounted a third assault. This time it was directed entirely at Breed’s
Hill. The defenders there were running out of ammunition. British troops
swarmed the redoubt and overcame the militiamen in hand-to-hand
combat. The colonists fell back to Bunker Hill, then retreated across
Charlestown Neck.
In the 18th century, the side that held the battlefield at the end of the
fighting was considered the victor. By that standard, the British had won
The Noble Train of Artillery
The cannons that finally forced the British to evacuate Boston
came from Fort Ticonderoga. That fort, which Patriots had captured
in May 1775, was in northeastern New York. It was about 300 miles
from Boston.
A young colonel named Henry Knox first approached George
Washington with the idea of getting
cannons from Ticonderoga. Though
most of his commanders thought the
idea was crazy, Washington approved
the mission.
Knox arrived at Ticonderoga on
December 5. He selected 59 artil-
lery pieces. In all, they weighed an
estimated 60 tons. Knox and his
men moved the guns across Lake
George on barges. From there, the
guns were loaded onto specially built
sleds pulled by teams of oxen. Men
and animals struggled to get the sleds
through deep snow and dense wood-
lands, across frozen rivers, and over
the Berkshire Mountains. The “noble
train of artillery,” as Knox dubbed
his incredible expedition, reached
Cambridge in late January 1776.
This painting depicts Henry
Knox’s “Noble Train of Artil-
lery,” which moved 59 can-
nons from Fort Ticonderoga
to Boston during the winter of
1775–76.
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