From Farm House to the White House - 912 Freedom Library

Farm House to the White House, by William M. Thayer 150
make any attempt to plunder, or if the torch is applied to a single building, I will open upon you the most
deadly bombardment."
Howe promised: yet such was the disposition of the British soldiers to acts of violence, that he was obliged to
issue an order that soldiers found plundering should be hanged on the spot; and he had an officer, with a
company of soldiers and a hangman, march through the streets, ready to execute his order.
It was not, however, until the 17th of March that the embarkation of the British army commenced. About
twelve thousand soldiers and refugees embarked in seventy-eight vessels. The refugees were Americans who
favored the British cause (called Tories), and they did not dare to remain in this country. Washington wrote
about these refugees:
"By all accounts there never existed a more miserable set of beings than those wretched creatures now are.
Taught to believe that the power of Great Britain was superior to all opposition, and that foreign aid was at
hand, they were even higher and more insulting in their opposition than the regulars. When the order was
issued, therefore, for embarking the troops in Boston, no electric shock, no sudden clap of thunder, in a word,
the last trump, could not have struck them with greater consternation. They were at their wits' end; chose to
commit themselves, in the manner I have above described, to the mercy of the waves at a tempestuous season,
rather than meet their offended countrymen."
With exceeding joy Washington beheld the "precipitate retreat" of the British army from Boston, but fired not
a gun. One of General Howe's officers wrote afterwards:
"It was lucky for the inhabitants now left in Boston that they did not, for I am informed that everything was
prepared to set the town in a blaze had they fired one cannon."
We have intentionally passed over several incidents, with the rehearsal of which we will bring this chapter to
a close.
When Washington assumed the command of the American army, he left his Mount Vernon estate in charge of
Mr. Lund Washington, continuing to direct its management by correspondence. He expected to return to his
home in the autumn, and so encouraged his wife to believe. But in this he was sorely disappointed. His
thoughtful and benevolent character appears in one of his early letters to his agent:
"Let the hospitality of the house with respect to the poor be kept up. Let no one go hungry away. If any of this
kind of people should be in want of corn, supply their necessaries, provided it does not encourage them to
idleness; and I have no objection to your giving my money in charity to the amount of forty or fifty pounds a
year, when you think it is well bestowed. What I mean by having no objection is, that it is my desire that it
should be done."
Many Americans feared that the enemy might send a war vessel up the Potomac and destroy the Mount
Vernon residence and capture Mrs. Washington. She was earnestly advised to leave, and repair to a place of
safety beyond the Blue Ridge. But Washington sent for her to come to him at Cambridge.
She was four weeks travelling from Mount Vernon to Cambridge. She performed the journey in her own
carriage, a chariot drawn by four fine horses, with black postilions in scarlet and white liveries. This was an
English style of equipage, and the public sentiment of that day demanded that the commander-in-chief should
adopt it. She was accompanied by her son, and was escorted from place to place by guards of honor. Her
arrival in Cambridge was the signal for great rejoicing. The army received her with the honors due to her
illustrious husband.
She immediately took charge of Washington's headquarters, and soon became as popular in the domestic and