Light, however, finally began to break on the work about him.  Henry Knox, sent out for that purpose, returned safely with the guns captured at Ticonderoga, and thus heavy ordnance and gunpowder were obtained.  By the middle of February the harbor was frozen over, and Washington arranged to cross the ice and carry Boston by storm.  Again he was held back by his council, but this time he could not be stopped.  If he could not cross the ice he would go by land.  He had been slowly but surely advancing his works all winter, and now he determined on a decisive stroke.  On the evening of Monday, March 4, under cover of a heavy bombardment which distracted the enemy’s attention, he marched a large body of troops to Dorchester Heights and began to throw up redoubts.  The work went forward rapidly, and Washington rode about all night encouraging the men.  The New England soldiers had sorely tried his temper, and there were many severe attacks and bitter criticisms upon them in his letters, which were suppressed or smoothed over for the most part by Mr. Sparks, but which have come to light since, as is sometimes the case with facts.  Gradually, however, the General had come to know his soldiers better, and six months later he wrote to Lund Washington, praising his northern troops in the highest terms.  Even now he understood them as never before, and as he watched them on that raw March night, working with the energy and quick intelligence of their race, he probably felt that the defects were superficial, but the virtues, the tenacity, and the courage were lasting and strong.

When day dawned, and the British caught sight of the formidable works which had sprung up in the night, there was a great excitement and running hither and thither in the town.  Still the men on the heights worked on, and still Washington rode back and forth among them.  He was stirred and greatly rejoiced at the coming of the fight, which he now believed inevitable, and as always, when he was deeply moved, the hidden springs of sentiment and passion were opened, and he reminded his soldiers that it was the anniversary of the Boston massacre, and appealed to them by the memories of that day to prepare for battle with the enemy.  As with the Huguenots at Ivry,—­

  “Remember St. Bartholomew was passed from man to man.”

But the fighting never came.  The British troops were made ready, then a gale arose and they could not cross the bay.  The next day it rained in torrents, and the next day it was too late.  The American intrenchments frowned threateningly above the town, and began to send in certain ominous messengers in the shape of shot and shell.  The place was now so clearly untenable that Howe determined to evacuate it.  An informal request to allow the troops to depart unmolested was not answered, but Washington suspended his fire and the British made ready to withdraw.  Still they hesitated and delayed, until Washington again advanced his works, and on this hint they started in earnest, on March 17, amid confusion, pillage, and disorder, leaving cannon and much else behind them, and seeking refuge in their ships.