"The Artillery From Fort Ticonderoga" Topic

According to William Hazelgrove's Henry Knox's Noble Train: The Story of a Boston Bookseller's Heroic Expedition That Saved the American Revolution the artillery Knox brought to Boston consisted of the following (pages 117-118):

8 3-pounders
9 6-pounders
4 9-pounders
10 12-pounders
7 Iron 18-pounders
1 Brass 18-pounder
4 Iron 24-pounders
1 brass 24-pounder
2 howitzers
7 mortars
6 coehorn mortars

These pieces were divided into five 'groups' for organization and transport. The gun carriages were noted as being in very poor shape.

"The gun carriages were noted as being in very poor shape."
As I noted in a previous thread, Washington didn't need mobile artillery. He needed a show.
It's not unlikely that firing a shot would have dismounted them. But he did intimidate the British into skedaddling. Which they did.
So, now, it's time to make some new decent carriages.

Siege artillery isn't 'mobile' artillery-it is heavy artillery.

And the field artillery that was brought by Knox-12-pounders and less, was also needed for the army.

The heavy artillery brought to Boston, the 13 18- and 24-pounders, along with the mortars and howitzers, were siege artillery and the 12-pounders could be used as such if necessary.

After emplacements and fortifications were constructed on the Dorchester Heights and the artillery moved into position and emplaced, Knox opened fire on the British in Boston on 5 March.

A British officer's letter later published in a London newspaper read:

'5th March This I believe, likely to prove an important day to the British empire as any in our annals. We underwent last night a very severe cannonade, which damaged several houses, and killed some men. This morning at daybreak we discovered two redoubts on the hills of Dorchester Point and two smaller works on their flanks. They were all raised during the night, with an expedition equal to that of the genie belonging to Aladdin's wonderful lamp. From these hills they command the whole, so that we must drive them from their post, or desert the place.'

And the British returned the artillery fire but couldn't elevate their pieces sufficiently to hit the American artillery on Dorchester heights.

So it appears the Ticonderoga artillery was serviceable and was employed in a bombardment of Boston and the British.

See pages 200-206 of Henry Knox's Noble Train.

There is also a Tory View of the Siege of Boston: Fall 1775-Spring 1776 which confirms the bombardment of Boston by the Americans.

It is on pages 119-123 of The American Revolution: Writings from the War of Independence, edited by John Rhodehamel who both selected the writings contained in the volume and wrote the notes in the volume.

Ok.
Interesting.

I don't think the Americans had enough powder for a sustained bombardment. Possibly serviceable but not for sustained use. Powder, not the gun condition being the limiting factor.

A powder shipment of 3,000 pounds was received from Connecticut and Knox deemed that sufficient to be successful in a bombardment of the city and the British positions.

Further, when the British reembarked they left 250 guns of various calibers behind, some of them having had the trunnions knocked off the gun tubes which rendered them permanently unserviceable and others were spiked-a situation that could be repaired by removing the spike and redrilling the vent.

The army surrounding Boston at one point was completely out of powder. Good thing the British didn't know.
At any time they themselves could have occupied the Heights. They didn't.

I don't know how advanced American foundries were, if they could re-cast cannon. But they did have the capability to bore out the tubes. Knox bored out the Hessian 4 pounders captured at Trenton into 6 pounders. Obviously this was to standardize ammunition.

One of the Hornblower novels showed a master gunner fitting a new vent to a cannon which had blown the old one. Of course it was in the middle of a battle. Hornblower was always fascinated by skills and craftsmanship, and of course impatient. But there's a very good description of drilling out the vent and seating a new one. The gunner was very meticulous and took his time. It drove Hornblower nuts but he held back.

The "best way" to spike a gun was to hammer the spike flush. Then you ran the rammer down the barrel to bend the spike back, hopefully again flush. This could of course be fixed but would take time and proper tools.
The British seem to have evacuated Boston in some haste.

During the war the Americans had several foundries producing iron gun tubes.

Some speculation here, and I'm happy to be corrected.

Wasn't the bombardment on the 5th done to cover the sound of the work being done on Dorchester Heights. Since they were building the works on the heights I would doubt any fire came from the heights as there would be little to no room for the guns while the works were being built.

I would guess that the bombardment was being done by smaller guns while the bigger guns were being emplaced.

The other positions were indeed firing to cover the work being done on Dorchester Heights.

According to the reference, that was done previously to 5 March when the newly emplaced guns on the heights opened fire.

None of these positions were occupied by the British, despite having all the time in the world. I think that points to my belief that the British garrison, and leadership in Boston at the start of the war was not up to later standards.

If you take a look at what the British did in Boston to fortify it after Bunker Hill and the fact that the garrison was probably not strong enough to hold all of the outlying territory, I would submit that you 'analysis' is somewhat flawed.

What are you basing your 'analysis' on?

I'm looking at the entire tenure of the occupation of Boston at the beginning of the war.

The Lexington Concord expedition was neatly a disaster.

The Bunker Hill battle was mishandled and bloody. Just one example. The British sent over some artillery to Charles Town. When they set up, they discovered that they had sent the wrong ammunition. The neck could have been occupied days before. The Yankees surprised them by occupying and fortifying overnight.

Dorchester Heights was an almost identical situation to Bunker Hill. I'm not saying that the entire perimeter had to be manned, just the vital portions.
As soon as the Yankees occupied the Heights, the British evacuated Boston. And as you yourself pointed out, leaving much artillery behind, and some of which could be made useful again. That again argued for poor planning.

So, what did the British do to fortify Boston after Bunker Hill? Obviously they didn't fortify the Heights.
I'm not being a smartass; I really don't know. But it obviously wasn't sufficient. If Washington hadn't discovered that the army had no ammunition, I bet he would have tried to assault Boston. He certainly had them outnumbered. That would have been interesting. Knowing Washington this early in the war, his plan would have probably been far too complicated.

I agree with John, the British did a very poor job from a command perspective during the Boston campaign. They held the Americans in contempt, with some justification.

I don't blame them for Lexington and Concord. There had been several confrontations with the militia prior to this and the Americans backed down every time….until they didn't. Not having a relief force on standby was a serious error.

Even after the disaster of Bunker Hill the Brits still left Dorchester unmanned. That's unforgivable.

The city itself was fortified; the Neck, the green, the water front, etc. But they ignored the commanding terrain around the city.

After Bunker Hill and the amphibious campaign both sides waged on the harbor islands the British shouldn't have continued holding the militia in contempt. They'd had numerous reversals on the islands after all. This led directly to Dorchester Heights and the eventual evacuation of Boston. Had they realized that the Americans were a competent, effective force, they might not have been forced from the city.

I believe Washington had several plans to assault the city which included landing by boat and waiting for the harbor to freeze over.

After Bunker Hill and the amphibious campaign both sides waged on the harbor islands the British shouldn't have continued holding the militia in contempt.

They certainly were "only" militia. Any Continentals there were "regulars" only by stroke of the pen.

Enthusiasm can cover for poor training, up to a point. The Minutemen were specially selected and had, perhaps, a LITTLE more training than most militia, and certainly a cool name and some esprit. And of course numbers have a quality of their own.

I agree that it was inexcusable of the British not to have occupied Dorchester Heights.

Let us remember Lord Percy's famous comment:

During the whole affair (Concord), the rebels attacked us in a very scattered, irregular manner, but with perseverance and resolution, nor did they ever dare to form into a regular body. Indeed they knew too well what was proper, to do so. Whoever looks upon them as an irregular mob, will find himself very much mistaken. They have men amongst them who know very well what they are about, having been employed as rangers against the Indians and Canadians, and this country being very much covered with wood, and hilly, is very advantageous for their method of fighting.

I remember selling several USArmy paintings of the Knox Expedition from Ticonderoga. One painting in particular had the gun barrels being transported off the carriages and on sleds. This seems to support the poor condition of the carriages. New ones could easily be built.
I did have some questions about the tubes. It was not unusual for captured brass tubes to be melted down and recast as more useable tubes. Did this happen? How many smaller three or six pounder tubes could be cast from a 18 or 24 pounder tube?

Gun tubes would be melted down if they were unserviceable and the gun metal used to recast new gun tubes.

Since what was needed in Boston was heavy (siege) artillery, I doubt that those taken to Boston from Fort Ticonderoga would have been melted down, at least not immediately.

And as already mentioned, heavy artillery was transported over long distances broken down as the pieces were heavy, especially where no roads, or no suitable roads, were available. Transporting them over snow using sleds would necessarily be done with the pieces being broken down.

New gun carriages would have to be carefully built, usually with plans from such artillery treatises as Muller's which was the standard one for the War of the Revolution. If not carefully built and maintained it would be a waste of wood as they had to stand up to the stress of firing as well as transportation and maneuvering, the latter in the case of field pieces.