Ward, Artemas 1727-1800. American Revolutionary general who directed Massachusetts troops in the siege of Boston, until George Washington relieved him of the command and drove the British from the city (1776).American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.