George Washington Signed Military Commission. by Washington, George - March 4, 1791

March 4, 1791. In July of 1775, General George Washington arrived in Cambridge to assume command of the new Continental Army and direct the ongoing campaign at Boston. General Gage was eventually recalled to London to answer for the outcome of the battle. General Howe, the field commander at Bunker Hill, assumed command. Howe was unwilling to repeat another disaster he witnessed first-hand at Bunker Hill, and Washington lacked the supplies to mount any offensive. Thus the siege of Boston stalled into a stalemate. It would not be until the March of 1776 that the siege came to an end. After acquiring over fifty pieces of artillery from Fort Ticonderoga during the winter, General Washington ordered men to fortify Dorchester Heights to the south of Boston overnight. This position proved even more formidable than the one at Charlestown, and Howe ultimately decided to evacuate Boston entirely. The event at Dorchester Heights ended the campaign at Boston, but the war would continue for another seven years.