Sir William Howe

William Howe commanded British forces in North America from 1775 to 1778 and has been argued over ever since for failing to destroy Washington's army when he could have. Born in 1729, he was a younger son of an Irish viscount and, through his grandmother, an illegitimate great-uncle of George III. He served with distinction in the Seven Years' War, leading the light infantry that scaled the cliffs at Quebec in 1759. His elder brother George was killed at Ticonderoga in 1758 and was genuinely popular in Massachusetts, which paid for a monument to him. William had told his constituents he would not fight the Americans, and then accepted the command. He directed the assault at Bunker Hill in June 1775, where three frontal attacks on entrenched positions cost over a thousand casualties out of about 2,200 engaged — the heaviest British loss of the war, and an experience that plausibly explains his later caution. He evacuated Boston in March 1776, then executed the campaign for New York with real skill, flanking Washington on Long Island in August and driving him across New Jersey. He did not pursue to destruction, and Washington recrossed the Delaware to take Trenton at Christmas. In 1777 he took Philadelphia by sea, winning at Brandywine and Germantown, rather than moving up the Hudson to join Burgoyne, who surrendered at Saratoga — the defeat that brought France into the war. He and his brother Richard were also commissioned as peace commissioners, which may explain the reluctance to annihilate. He resigned in 1778 and died in 1814.

• Lived: 1729 CE – 1814 CE
• Nationality: British
• Roles: military_leader