On this day 250 years ago at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General Washington held a Council of War with the generals under his command to determine whether the Continental Army should launch an assault to take Boston. The Council of War:

Resolved that an Assault on the Town of Boston in the present circumstances of the Continental Army is for the following reasons Judged Improper.

Because It is the Opinion of this Council that the King’s forces in the Town of Boston Comprehending New raised Corps & Armed Tories amount to a much larger Number than 5,000—furnished with Artillery, Assisted by a Fleet and possessed of every advantage the situation of the place affords . . .

Because Our Army is at present very defective in the Numbers this Council declared to be sufficient for the purpose of Offensive War, and also deficient in Arms to the amount of 2,000 Stand . . .

Resolved that an Assault on the Town of Boston in the present circumstances of the Continental Army is for the following reasons Judged Improper.

Source: “Council of War, 16 February 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0229. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 320–324.]