This March, we invite you to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the end of the Siege of Boston and join us to learn about its aftermath.

On the night of March 4, 1776, acting on General Thomas Mifflin’s suggestion, George Washington made a bold move that changed the course of the Siege of Boston. Under cover of darkness, American troops occupied Dorchester Heights, which overlooked Boston Harbor. By dawn, they had fortified the position with artillery, threatening British supply lines and escape routes.

A violent storm halted a British assault on the Dorchester peninsula planned for March 5. Instead of attacking, British forces ultimately recognized the American troops’ superior position and their own dwindling supplies, and they prepared to withdraw. An unspoken agreement followed: the Americans would not fire if the British evacuated Boston peacefully.

On March 17, British troops left Boston. Washington entered the city the next day and order was restored. Most of the British fleet sailed to Halifax by March 27, including Loyalists like the John Vassall family, whose Cambridge home had served as Washington’s headquarters.

Thus, Washington’s first major victory of the Revolutionary War came not through battle but through strategy and restraint.