Boston Campaign - Legacy

Legacy

The British were essentially driven from New England as a result of this campaign, although there (as elsewhere in the colonies) they continued to receive support from local Loyalists, especially in Newport, Rhode Island, from which they drove most of the local Patriots. The campaign, as well as the final result of the war as a whole, were a significant blow to British prestige and confidence in its military. The senior military leaders of the campaign were criticized for their actions (Clinton, for example, while he went on to command the British forces in North America, would take much of the blame for the British loss of the war), and others either saw no more action in the war (Gage), or were ultimately disgraced (Burgoyne, who surrendered his army at Saratoga). While the British continued to control the seas, and had military successes on the ground (notably in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania), their actions that led to these conflicts had the effect of uniting the Thirteen Colonies in opposition to the crown. As a result, they were never able to marshal enough support from Loyalists to regain meaningful political control of the colonies.

The colonies, in spite of their differences, united themselves as a consequence of these events, granting the Second Continental Congress (predecessor to the modern U.S. Congress) sufficient authority and funding to conduct the revolution as a unified whole, including funding and outfitting the military forces that formed as a result of this campaign.