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An eminent historian thus characterized the event: “One unexpended combination, concerted with faultless ability, and suddenly executed, had, in a few hours, made General Howe’s position at Boston untenable.”

As soon as General Howe appreciated the changed conditions of his relations to the besieging rebels, he despatched Earl Percy, who had met rebels twice before, with twenty-four hundred troops to dislodge the enemy from Dorchester Heights. The command moved promptly, by boats, to Castle Island, for the purpose of making a night attack. Sharp-shooting, by the American “Minute Men,” in broad daylight, behind breastworks, was not courted by Percy on this occasion, nor desired by General Howe. During the afternoon a storm arose from the south, which increased to a gale, followed at night by torrents of rain. Some boats were cast ashore, and the entire expedition was abandoned.

By the tenth of March, the Americans had fortified Nook’s Hill; and this drove the British from Boston Neck. During that single night, eight hundred shot and shell were thrown into the city from the American lines.