In January 1776, George Washington had a problem: the British army controlled the city of Boston.
Later in life, Rufus Putnam advocated for the establishment of the Corps of Engineers..
Courage and engineering ingenuity are celebrated in this intriguing story of the role of engineering in the Revolutionary War.
Putnam\'s plan had worked! After eight years of occupying Boston, the British sailed away on March 17, 1776.
By morning the battle was won, without Firing a shot.
That night, men brought in materials and built a defensive wall, and then brought in cannons.
On March 4, 1776, Boston lay under a light fog, while Dorchester Heights saw a full moon.
Quartermaster Thomas Mifflin gathered wood, wagons, hay bales and much more from the surrounding countryside.
Inspired by a French book, Putnam designed a wall of wood, filled with bundles of sticks.
No one could dig foundations for walls.
But January in Massachusetts was so cold that the ground was frozen.
Cannons on Dorchester Heights meant the colonials needed to build walls to protect their soldiers.
They could place cannons there to bombard the British army.
They needed to take control of the high ground, Dorchester Heights, just south of Boston.
But how? Washington had a solution: ask his engineer Rufus Putnam to solve the problem.
The colonial army needed to force the British to leave.
In January 1776, George Washington had a problem: the British army controlled the city of Boston
