“Without Farther Effusion of Blood”: William Howe, Complicated Commander-in-Chief

Posted on January 27, 2026

“Without Farther Effusion of Blood”: William Howe, Complicated Commander-in-Chief

On January 27, 1776—250 years ago today—Sir William Howe was commanding a city under siege. He had arrived in Boston in May 1775 as second in command to General Thomas Gage, the commander of British forces in North America. When Gage was recalled to England in October, Howe was promoted to commander-in-chief. To him fell the task of bringing the rebellious colonies back into line.

Howe and his family had history in North America. Both William and his older brother George had served there during the French and Indian War. William served at the Siege of Louisbourg and the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, while George was killed at the disastrous 1758 Battle of Carillon. He had been so popular among the provincial troops that Massachusetts paid for a memorial to him in Westminster Abbey after his death. Howe now occupied the capital of the colony that had so admired his brother.

Howe had mixed feelings about Parliament’s treatment of the colonies, and he had opposed the Intolerable Acts, but when called into service, his loyalty to Britain won out. He was devoted to ending the rebellion, but hoped for a peaceful reconciliation. In a January 27, 1776 letter to Mark Huish, a merchant and official from Nottingham, which Howe represented in Parliament, Howe claims, “the highest of my ambition would be to conclude the peace between these colonies & the mother country without farther effusion of blood.”

“There has been already but too much, to my sorrow,” Howe continues. He had seen blood spilled while commanding the British at the Battle of Bunker Hill, where his army had seen over 1,000 men wounded or killed. Howe hoped that more Bunker Hills would not be needed to end the war, but was committed to his duty for the sake of Great Britain and of the thousands of loyal British subjects in the colonies: “my direct object is to render Effectual service to my country & to protect a very respectable number of Inhabitants in this country who fervently pray for ye continuance of ye Laws inherent in ye British Constitution.”

Learn more about the letter (object ID MS.7029) on the Ticonderoga Online Collections database: https://fortticonderoga.catalogaccess.com/archives/30262