His Excellency George Washington Esq-r.

This early image of George Washington is based on a painting (Brooklyn Museum) that Peale made for John Hancock in 1776; its engraver may have been the silversmith Joseph Hiller Sr. or the painter Samuel Blyth. The commander in chief of the Continental Army stands on a hill overlooking Boston, the distant smoke a reminder of the burning of Charlestown and the Battle of Bunker Hill, fought on June 17, 1775. Although the British won the latter, they soon found themselves besieged in Boston. To break the stalemate, Washington ordered cannon captured at Fort Ticonderoga, in upstate New York, to be dragged three hundred miles to Dorchester Heights—likely where he stands here. The British evacuated Boston on March 17, 1776, and would next target New York.