General Sir William Howe was already in Boston when his brother, Admiral Richard Howe, arrived. So, say what you will about Boston during the siege, but you can’t say there was a lack of no Howe.

Hi-yooooooooooooooooo! I apologize.

Richard’s biggest problem was that he was known to have been part of prior reconciliation efforts and therefore known to sympathize with the colonists. But even though he did his duty, he was sometimes short on materiel to get the job done, and as a result he took the blame for blockade failures. People thought he was deliberately letting blocked vessels through. But the fact was, he just didn’t have what he needed to do it properly.

For some reason, William didn’t catch quite the same level of ire, though he was also part of the reconciliation effort. He did catch plenty of blame as the revolutionary dust began to settle, though.

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