THE MERCENARIES ARRIVE

The German auxiliaries were an essential part of the British war plan for 1776. Without them the subjugation of the rebels would have been unthinkable. And although British officers had spoken of the Americans in Parliament and elsewhere with contempt the opening of the war had not been auspicious for British arms. Lexington and Concord had revealed a deficiency in light infantry training, neglected since the last war. After a costly victory on Breed's Hill, General William Howe's troops were hemmed within Boston; and the enemy's skilful occupation of Dorchester Heights commanding a part of Boston Harbour obliged Howe to evacuate the city. Rebel forces led by Montgomery and Arnold had taken all British posts in Canada save Quebec, and although an assault had been beaten off in a snowstorm early New Year's morn 1776, Sir Guy Carleton and his men remained beleaguered in the old city.At the same time that the first Hessian division was slowly crossing the Atlantic, a blundering assault on Charleston by Clinton and commodore Peter Parker ended in dismal failure, leaving southern Loyalists isolated. Thoughtful officers like Clinton and Captain Frederick Mackenzie noted their army's shortcomings: badly trained, poorly disciplined, and ill led, many of the officers having no idea of their business.