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The American Revolution

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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