V V • — OP — RHINEBECK. This Book must be returned within two weeks, without injury. A. ¥ V Glass_E:Ji4:_L_ BQok^ ^r .r)?4 -^^^^ -C/-\'' /Ti- ty ,^ BUNKER HILL BATTLE MONUMENT ■>^ ^v N. :^; E K. ^~3l SKETCHES BUNKER HILL BATTLE MONUMENT WITH ILLUSTRATIVE DOCUMENTS. 7. ' u FOURTH EDITION CHARLESTOWN: C. p. EMMONS, 47 AND 49 MAIN STREET. 1846. Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1843, BY CHARLES P. EMMONS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. H-i\4 «j STEEEOTVPED EV GEORGE A. CURTIS, CNCLAXD TYPE AND STERBOTVPE FOUNDRY. BOSTON. CONTENTS. Preliminary Remarks on the Opening Page. Scenes of the American Revolution, 7 — 27 The Battle, 28—87 Documents Illustrative of the Battle of Bunker's Hill, .... 88 — 154 Part I. English Documents, . . 88 — 128 Extracts from the Orderly Book of General Howe, . . . 88—92 Letter from General Gage to Lord Dartmouth, .... 92 — 98 Observations on the above, . 98 — 106 General Burgoyne to Lord Stanley, 106 — 110 Observations on the above, . 110 — 114 Letter from a British Surgeon, . 114 Letter from a British Officer, . 115 — 116 Letter from a British Officer, . 117 — 119 Letter from a Merchant in Boston, 119 — 123 Letter of H. Hulton, Commissioner, 123 — 128 Part H. American Documents, . 129 — 154 Committee of Safety, . . 129 — 131 Account sent to England, . . 131 — 139 Account to Congress, . . 140 — 142 Account of the Engagement, . 142 — 145 Letter from Colonel Stark, . 145 — 147 Letter from Mr. Isaac Lothrop, . 148 — 150 Letter from Rev. Dr. Eliot, . 151 — 154 The Monument, ..... 155 — 172 PRELIMINARY REMARKS OPENING SCENES AMEEICAN REVOLUTION The important relation which the Battle of Bunker Hill bears to the whole war of the Amer- ican Revolution, requires a brief statement of the causes that led to that memorable conflict. Pro- posals in successive British Parliaments, for the taxation of the American colonists, without allow- ing them a representation in those Parliaments, first !opened the issue of strife. That there were those, fcspecially in the New England colonies, who had for some time previous cherished a lurking spirit of opposition to any acts of sovereignty which areat Britain might here attempt to exercise, may aot be denied. The mother country was bur- «l6ned with a debt, which, though trifling compared with that which now weighs upon her, was thfen felt to be grievous ; and it was not strange, that, amid the various projects for meeting its aimual obligations, the 'hope of a revenue from America 8 BATTLE OF BUNKEE HILL. should suggest itself. The taxing of America was first moved in the British Parliament by Mr. Grenville, in March, 1764. The result of his motion was the Stamp Act, imposing a tax upon all notes, bonds, papers, &c., which passed the House of Commons by a vote of 250 to 50, and the House of Lords, without debate or dissent, and received the approval of George III., March 22, 1765. The object of this delay of a whole year be- tween the motion and its passage, was to give the colonists • an opportunity to suggest some other mode of raising the tax, which should be prefera- ble to them. A tax of some kind they must sub- mit to, and if they did not like to have the impo- sition attached to their legal instruments, bills, receipts and private contracts, they might propose some other method. This show of indulgence was represented to the colony agents in London, as establishing a precedent by which their con- stituents might demand, henceforward, the right of being consulted before any tax was imposed upon them. ' But this gilded bait did not tempt. The reception of the news of the passage of this act was followed by remonstrances and petitions from a Continental Congress assembled at New York, and by various demonstrations of popular excitement. Handbills printed with funereal dec- orations around them, the tolling of muffled bells, and the construction and ridicule of the effigies of BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. V obnoxious officers, testified to the deep indignation of the people. The stamp agents were compelled to resign, and the act was wholly disregarded. The act was repealed the next year by a new administration; Pitt having triumphed in the House of Commons by denying the right of the Parliament to impose a tax on the colonies. The repeal was, however, accompanied by a declara- tory act, maintaining the power and right of the kingdom to bind the colonies in all cases what- soever. This declaration, being only a threat, was, for the time being, harmless, and was winked at on this side of the water, as a salvo to British pride. In 1767, under the Townshend administration, several measures, most obnoxious to the colonists, were devised in succession, — such as import du- ties on paper, glass, paints and teas, a list of civil officers to be named by the crown, with salaries fixed at the pleasure of the monarch, a requisition for providing articles of food and clothing for the ■soldiers, at the expense of the colonies, together ^With the establishment of a custom-house and a board of commissioners, on tyrannical principles. These measures were all followed by intense ex- citements of the people, and led to protective com- binations. In 1770, Lord North brought about a repeal of the new duties, with the exception of that upon tea, which was retained, as it was alleged, for the purpose of upholding the disputed 10 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. right of taxation. " The Boston Massacre " of the 5th March, as it was most improperly called, in which three of the inhabitants were killed and five others wounded, in an affray with the soldiers, well nigh maddened the populace. In this matter the blame was unquestionably on our side. How ..far it is palliated by the honest indignation of the people of Boston at the presence of the military in their streets, is a question open for individual judgment. From that time there was a continued succession of insurrections and hostilities. At every stage in the offensive proceedings against the colonies, there were those among the legislators and the people of Great Britain who opposed the measures of the government, and pre- dicted the disastrous results which at last mingled in the issue. Our former governor, Pownall, whose judgment and experience should have given au- thority to his words, uttered in the House of Com- mons a prophecy which the war fulfilled. An act of parliament, in 1764, in anticipation of extreme measures, had empowered the king to station a military force in any province, and to quarter it upon the people. This act was not im- mediately enforced, but in 1767, some troops of the royal artillery arrived in Boston, and Gov- ernor Bernard made provision for their support at the castle, at the expense of the province, without authority thus to vote away money. He dissolved the General Court, and refused to call it together BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 11 again. The people of Boston and of the neigh- boring towns formed and re-established their com- binations against the importation and consumption of British goods, of tea, of foreign fruit, and arti- cles of mourning apparel, recommending likewise great prudence and economy. As the people were deprived of their General Court, a convention of delegates from more than a hundred towns assembled in Boston, in September, 1768, and sat several days. They requested the governor to call together the General Court, but he refused. Their measures were judicious and calm, but resolute ; they advised the observance of a day of fasting and prayer, and that the peo- ple should provide themselves with fire-arms. At the close of the convention two more regiments arrived. They were quartered in Boston, in de- fiance of the earnest objections of the people and the council. They marched through the town in battle-array, and occupied the common, the state- house, the court-house, and Faneuil Hall. The people looked on in amazement, but they did not fear. Governor Bernard was re-called to England August 1, 1769, and was succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Hutchinson, who followed up the mea- sures of his predecessor, delaying at his pleasure the convoking of the General Court, and then ar- bitrarily summoning it to assemble at Cambridge. There were now about two thousand British troops 12 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. in Boston. As they had been kept for a time m close quarters, the people had not received from them any provocations beyond that of their un- welcome presence. But in the winter of 1770 they had been allowed to walk about the streets in little squads, and their language and conduct were often insulting. It might have been foreseen that outrages like that upon the 5th of March would ensue. The resolute remonstrances of the people procured the removal of the troops from Boston to the castle. Discontent and bold resis- tance gradually ripened the elements of civil strife, and it was evident that a great crisis approached. The destruction of three cargoes of tea, belonging to the East India Company, in Boston harbor, i« 1773, was a plain evidence of the determination of the people to resist the duty which Lord North's bill had left to be exacted on that import. At the session of the General Court, in May, 1773, a committee was appointed to open a correspon- dence with the committees of other colonies on political subjects, and it was this step which led to the convention of a Continental Congress at Philadelphia. The people had petitioned the King for the immediate removal of Governor Hutchinson, who in letters to England had made unfair and prejudicial representations of the state of things in this colony. He sailed for England in June, 1774. His house had been destroyed by a mob, and his property and papers scattered BATTLE aF BUNKER HILL. 18 to the winds. He was succeeded by General Gage, the Commander in chief of the British forces in America. If England had not then a Stuart for a monarch, she had a Stuart ministry. Infatuation seems to be the only appropriate word by which to desig- nate their galling accumulation of abuses and restrictions upon the colonists, who had already given sufficient evidence of their indomitable reso- lution to resist. Next came the appointment of the Governor's Counsellors by the King, instead of by the Court, as heretofore, and finally the climax of ministerial delusion, in which, upon June 1, 1774, a parliamentary bill declared that Boston Port should be closed against all commerce and navi- gation, and be in a state of blockade. The pas- sage of this bill was procured under the expecta- tion that the other ports of this and the other col- onies would delight in the humiliation of Boston, and selfishly seize the opportunity thus put into their power of drawing commerce to themselves. Here again did the ministry delude itself by another gross miscalculation. The effect of the bill was wholly opposite to their expectations. Numberless copies of it were quickly multiplied and circulated over the continent, having, as Burke said, the inflammatory effect which the poets ascribe to the fury's torch. Copies of the bill, printed on mourning paper, with a black border, were hawked in the streets of New York and Bostonviimder'the 2 14 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. title of " a barbarous, cruel, bloody and inhuman murder." In other places, the populace being called together by placards, burnt the bill with great solemnity. The General Court of Massa- chusetts recommended to the other colonies to suspend all commercial intercourse with Great Britain, and formed a solemn league and covenant against the use of English goods, though General Gage threatened all the subscribers of it with transportation to England for treason. Within four months after the receipt of the Boston Port bill, the deputies of twelve provinces, representing three millions of people, were con- vened at Philadelphia. Loyal and constitutional sentiments there foupd an honorable reception, and conciliatory measures on the part of Britain would even then have been of avail. Yet it was easy to see that allegiance to the throne was a word which was fast becoming of an empty sound throughout the continent. The sufferings to which the people of Boston were subjected were relieved by generous contributions throughout the country. General Gage removed the Court from Boston to Salem, where it met by adjournment on June 7th ; but on the 17th he sent his messen- ger to announce its dissolution. The messenger was shut out of doors, while the Court, before obeying the summons, chose their first delegates to the General Congress, Gushing, Samuel and John Adams, Paine and Bowdoin. About this BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 15 time inuependent military companies were formed in Boston. General Gage began to assume de- spotic power, as the successive encroachments upon the chartered liberties of the people brought on the unavoidable issue. He ordered military stores from New York ; he collected powder from the neighboring towns ; sent out agents to survey the country, and erected strong fortifications on Boston neck. This last measure, which amounted to a shutting out of all intercourse between the people in Boston and the environs, by land as well as by sea, was regarded as an outrage which ought not to be endured. But he alleged that the object of the fortifications was to prevent the frequent de- sertions of his soldiers. Delegates from the different towns met at Salem in October, and there constituted the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. A committee of this body was directed to ascertain the character and amount of the military stores in the province, and to encourage military discipline. The taxes were turned from the authorised provincial treasurer to a new officer then appointed; a Committee of Safety, with executive authority, was chosen to act after the adjournment, and three general offi- cers, Colonels Ward, Thomas and Pomeroy, were invested with the command of the provincial mili- tary. Before that Congress met again, another warning voice was lifted in solemn tones to coun- sel the mother country. On the 20th of January, 16 BATTLS OF BUNKER HILL. 1775, Lord Chatham, after long retirement and severe bodily suffering, rose in the House of Lords. He foretold the event of these ruinous measures.; he implored the nation to pause and consider, and then proposed that a humble request be made to the King to require General Gage to evacuate Boston. But the voice of warning was not heeded. The Provincial Congress met again by adjourn- ment in February, 1775, organized their commit- tees, arranged their correspondence, and provided military preparations and stores, designating Wor- cester and Concord as places of deposit. General Gage was well informed of all these proceedings, and hearing of some stores at Salem or Danvers, he sent one hundred and fifty men to seize them. But the attempt was rendered fruitless by resist- ance on the way. There w^as a third session of the Congress in March, when vigorous measures were adopted. Large companies were organized, composed of men who held themselves ready for service at a minute's warning. More British troops arrived, and General Gage was equally determined to pur- sue his blind and misguided measures. Nor were legislative enactments the only grievances of which the people complained ; insults and indignities of various kinds were offered them by officers and soldiers, which annoyed and vexed the citizens. The 16th of March had been consecrated as a day of fasting and prayer by the Provincial Congress. BATTLE OF BUNKEE HILL. 17 While the society were assembling in the church at West Boston, the regulars pitched two marquee tents within ten yards of the house, and continued with fifes and drums to disturb the service. At the commemoration of the 5th of March massacre, in the Old South Church, the patriot Samuel Adams courteously placed about forty British officers, who came to hear Warren's Oration, in the best seats, and they listened in quietness. At its close, Adams moved that an orator be chosen for the ensuing 5th March, to commemorate " the bloody and horrid massacre, perpetrated by a party of soldiers under the command of Captain T. Preston." His motion was received with hisses and cries from the officers, when great confusion ensued. On the 8th of the month, a countryman (Thomas Ditson) from Billerica, while buying a musket in Boston, was seized by the regulars and covered with tar and feathers. He was carried through the streets on a truck, guarded by twenty soldiers with fixed bayonets, a label being attached to his back, inscribed " American Liberty, or a Specimen of Democracy," while a promiscuous crowd of officers, negroes and sailors followed, and the drums and fifes played " Yankee Doodle," a tune used by the British in ridicule of the provincials. The selectmen of Billerica sent a remonstrance to General Gage, and told him if it did not answer the purpose, they should " hereafter use a different m BAIXUS 0^: BUNEEIl BILL. Style from that of petition and complaint." Golo'- nel Hancock's house was twice assaulted during the month, when the fence and the windows were destroyed by the soldiers. On the night of the 18th the Providence coach was attacked, as it entered the town, and its passengers were abused, but the driver, leaping from his seat, inflicted a severe castigation upon the British Captain Gore. These are but specimens of the many riots, out- rages and indignities, which maddened the people of the town and of the province. Such were the ministerial enactments, the pub- lic grievances and the military outrages, which were preparing the way for a civil war. It was evident that only an occasion was necessary to confront the foreign invaders, and the citizens of the soil, in two opposing armies. That occasion presented itself on the 19th of April, when Gen- eral Gage, without provocation, warrant or justifi- cation, sent a body of troops to Concord to seize upon the military stores there deposited. Those troops on their way, going beyond their orders, wrong as they were, made an attack upon a few militia-men at Lexington, and then ensued the fight at Concord. It was a most inglorious ex- ploit for his majesty's regulars, for as the country people had good warning of their purpose, it was but poorly accomplished, and they were forced to retreat, marking their homeward way by a line of killed and wounded, shot from the shelter of BAJTLE OF, BUNKER HILL. 19 houses, woods, walls and fences, by the uicensed country people. That dastardly enterprise was not even sanctioned by ministerial authority, when the news reached England, though an attempt was made to charg6 upon the provincials the sin of striking the first offensive blow. The Congress of the colony instituted inquiries and procured certified affidavits, which proved that both at Lex- ington and at Concord the first fire was discharged by the British. That aggression upon the liber- ties of the people was equally unauthorized and exasperating. On the 22d of the month the Pro- vincial Congress again assembled, voted to raise at once thirteen thousand men, to rally at Cam- bridge and the neighborhood, and asked aid from the other provinces, to which Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire responded. The forts, magazines and, arsenals were secured for the country. Then, for the first time, the title of enemies was given to the British, and General Gage was denounced as the agent of tyranny and oppression. An account of the battle at Lexing- ton was sent to England, and an address, closing thus : " Appealing to heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die or be free." By advice received from Lord Dartmouth, the head of the war department. General Gage issued a proclamation on the 12th of June, in which he declared the discontents to be in a state of rebellion, offered full pardon to all, with the exception of 20 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. Hancock and Adams, who would lay down their arms and bow to his authority, and announced that martial law was now in force. This proclamation, issued on the first day of the week, was to be illustrated by a fearful com- mentary before another Sabbath came. For we have thus entered upon that week in our history when was fought the battle which has made that green summit the first altar of our country's free- dom. Of the fifteen thousand troops then gathered, by the cry of war, at Cambridge and Roxbury, under the command of General Ward, about ten thou- sand belonged to Massachusetts, and the remainder to New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecti- cut. They constituted an irregular and undisci- plined army, without accoutrements, or any other uniform than their working suits. Recruits and stragglers were continually coming in. Yet many of those provincial soldiers, though undisciplined by any thing like regular service, were by no means unused to the severities and obligations of a military life, having had experience in the Indian and French wars. One regiment of artillery, with nine field-pieces, had been raised in Massa- chusetts, and put under command of the famous engineer. Colonel Gridley, but it was not yet thoroughly organized. A self-constituted Provin- cial Congress discharged the legislative functions, and a Committee of Safety, elected by the Congress, BATTLE OS* BUNKER HILL. 2^1 filled the executive place of governor and co\mcil, and confined their functions chiefly to military directions. There vv^ere in fact four independent armies then united in resistance to the foreign enemy. The forces then gathered in the neighborhood did not constitute a national army, for there was then no nation to own them ; they were not under the authority of the Continental Congress, for the au- thority of that Congress was not as yet acknowl- edged; nor had that Congress as yet recognised those forces. Neither were the troops from Con- necticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, sub- ject to the command of General Ward, save as the friendly purpose which led them to volunteer their arms in defence of a sister colony, would be accompanied by the courtesy that would make them subordinate allies. These independent armies could act in concert only by yielding them- selves to the influence of the common spirit which called them together. General Ward was a judi- cious and conscientious patriot, had served the colony in high civil and judicial stations, and in th^ French war, in which he was a Lieutenant Colonel, had earned some military experience and fame. Lieutenant General Thomas, who accepted his commission on May 27, was distinguished for talents, patriotism and military reputation; he was second in command. General Pomeroy, like- wise famous in the border war, continued to serve 22 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. under the appointment of the Provincial Congress. General Putnam preceded his Connecticut troops, in hurrying to the scene of war, on the news of the battle of Lexington. His men soon followed him with like enthusiasm. The New Hampshire troops, on their arrival at Medford, made choice of Colonel Stark as their leader. General Green commanded a regiment from Rhode Island. The semicircle of headlands, slopes, points and eminences, united by green levels and extending over ten or twelve miles, which we may now see from these summits, in all the beauty of its sum- mer garb, was then covered by the wide-spread wings of our citizen army. A part of Colonel Ger- rish's regiment from Essex and Middlesex, and a detachment of New Hampshire troops, stationed on the hills of Chelsea, formed the tip of its left wing, and all along the eastern sea-board to Cape Ann and Portsmouth, were watchful spies on the alert to spread the alarm, if the British should at- tempt an entrance at any of the ports. Colonels Reed and Stark, next in the line, were stationed at Medford with their New Hampshire regiments. Lechmere's Point, at East Cambridge, was guard- ed against a hostile landing, to which it offered great facilities, by parts of Colonel Little's and other regiments. General Ward, with the main body of about 9,000 troops, and four companies of artillery, occupied Cambridge ; while all the points of high land, the farms, and the main roads, were BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 23 cautiously defended. Lieutenant General Thomas, with 5,000 troops from Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, with three or four companies of artillery, constituted the right wing of the army at Roxbury and Dorchester. Here was a wide extent of space, approachable by land only at Roxbury neck, where the British lines were strongly entrenched, assailable at seve- ral points by armed ships and floating batteries, but protected to a great degree by shoal and tide waters, swamps, and intersecting creeks. The army was wholly voluntary in its organization, the soldiers having enlisted for different periods, de- pending for their daily food upon the provisions sent from their several towns. Subordination and obedience to their officers were secured and yield- ed by their respect for those whose names were familiar to them, as associated with magnanimity, enterprise and bravery. Such was the constitution and the disposition of the American army when the provincials found themselves in the singular position of besieging their own chief town of Boston. 'J hat little penin- sula was thus completely invested and hemmed in. Several of its inhabitants remained there from dif- ferent motives ; some as devoted loyalists, some as timid neutrals, some as spies, to watch each hos- tile movement and to communicate it to the colo- nists. Some of these last, together with many deserters, would occasionally cross the water bv 24 BATTLE OF BITNKEE HILL. swimming, or in boats, or pass th^ Roxbury lines and enter the American camp by night. Others there were whose anxiety for their property induc- ed them to continue in Boston. After hostilities had commenced, General Gage of course consider- ed the citizens as prisoners. By the spies and deserters our officers generally received full infor- mation of all that occurred in Boston during the whole time of its investment by the British. That word British had now become synonymous with enemy, and though the regular army encamped in the capital might despise the undisciplined multi- tude which kept it in such close quarters, it was compelled to regard its opponents as powerful and formidable. At the time of the battle at Lexington, there were about 4,000 British troops in Boston. The number was increased to more than 10,000 before the action in this town. The best disciplined and most experienced troops in the kingdom, many of them freshly laurelled in the recent wars on the European continent, under the command of officers equally distinguished, composed the invading army. Gage, the Governor and Commander in Chief, had long resided in America, and had mar- ried here. He came originally as a lieutenant under Braddock, and was with that general when he received his mortal wound. He had been Governor of Montreal, had succeeded General Amherst in command of the British forces on this BATTLE 6t BUNKER t[ILL. ^5 (ibritinent, and Hutchinson as Governor of Massa- chusetts. He had constantly and vigorously favor- ed the oppressive measures of the ministry which brought on t}ie war. He had strongly fortified Boston by a double line of intrenchments crossing the neck, and by batteries there, and also upon the Common, commanding Roxbury and Cambridge, upon Copp's Hill, commanding Charlestown, upon Fort Hill and the northern extremity of the town, commanding the harbor, and upon West Boston Point. There were, besides, at least twenty-five armed vessels in the harbor. To the inhabitants remaining in Boston, the population of which, in- dependent of the military, was then about 20,000, the troops behaved in an insulting and tyrannical manner. Thus confronted, both armies seemed alike con- fident of success, and anxious for a trial. The British were naturally mortified at their condition as besieged. They looked with anxiety to the heights of Charlestown aiid Dorchester, and were forming measures to occupy them, having decided to put them in force on the ISth of June. They regarded their opponents as rude, untaught, and cowardly farmers, and were nettled at being kept at bay by an army clothed in calico frocks arid Carrying fowling-pieces. The provincials did not feel their lack of disci- pline as they should have done. They were rest- te^^ under restraint, they were Used to' ^kifmi^h^s, 3 26 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. and thought such would he the contest before them. Yet in the Council of War, and in the Committee of Safety, there was a difference of opinion as to the measures to he pursued. If the heights of Charlestown were once occupied by the provin- cials, they must he retained against a constant fire, which could not he answered, as there were hut eleven barrels of powder in the camp, and these contained one-sixth of all that was in the province. General Ward, and Joseph Warren, who was Chairman of the Committee of Safety, and had been elected Major General on the 14th of June, were at first doubtful as to the expediency of in- trenching on Bunker's Hill. General Putnam was earnest in advocating the measure, saying, " the Americans are not at all afraid of their heads, though very much afraid of their legs ; if you cover these they will fight forever." Pomeroy coincided with Putnam ; he was willing to attack the enemy with five cartridges to a man, for he had been ac- customed in hunting, with three charges of powder, to bring home two or three deer. Daring enter- prise prevailed in the Council, and it was resolved that the heights of Charlestown, Avhich had been reconnoitred the month before by Colonels Gridley and Henshaw, and Mr. Devens, should be fortified. On the fifteenth of June, the Committee of Safety, by a secret vote, which was not recorded till the 19th, advised the taking possession of Bunker's Hill, and of Dorchester heights. On the next day BATTLE OP SUNKER HILL. 27 the Provincial Congress, as a counterblast to General Gage's proclamation, by which Hancock and Adams had been excepted from the proffer of a general amnesty, issued a like instrument, in which General Gage and Admiral Graves were the scape-goats. It was amid the full splendor, luxuriance, and heat of our summer, when rich crops were waving upon all the hills and valleys around us, that the Council of War decided to carry into execution the vote of the Committee of Safety. We may omit the question as to the prudence or discretion of the measure, as being equally difficult of decision and unimportant, save as the misgivings of those who predicted that the deficiency of ammunition would endanger a failure, were proved by the result to be well grounded. THE BATTLE. On Friday, June 16th, 1775, the very day upon which Washington was officially informed, in the Congress at Philadelphia, of his appointment to the command of the Continental army about to be enlisted. General Ward issued orders to Colonels Prescott and Bridge, and to the commandant of Colonel Frye's regiment, to have their men ready and prepared for immediate service. They were all yeomen from Middlesex and Essex counties, and were habituated to the hard labors of a farm beneath a summer's sun. Captain Gridley's new company of artillery, and one hundred and twenty men from the Connecticut regiment under the command of Captain Knowlton, were included in the order. Colonel Gridley accompanied as chief engineer. Three companies of Bridge's regiment did not go, but as small parties of other regiments fell into the detachment, it consisted of from one thousand to one thousand two hundred men. They took with them provisions for only one meal BATTLE OF BTJNKER HILL. 29 Colonel Prescott was ordered to take possession of, to fortify, and to defend, Bunker's Hill, but to keep the purpose of the expedition secret; nor was it known to the men, until, on arriving at Charles- town neck, they found the wagons laden with in- trenching tools. The detachment was drawn up upon Cambridge Common, in front of General Ward's head quarters, after sunset, when prayers were offered by Reverend Dr. Langdon, President of the College. About nine o'clock the expedition was in motion, Prescott with two sergeants carry- ing dark lanterns, leading the way. The Colonel, expecting warm service, carried with him a linen coat or bannian, which he wore during the engage- ment. Thus it was that in the accounts of the battle given by some of the British soldiers, the American commander was described as " a farmer dressed in his frock." A brief sketch of the natural features and posi- tion of the scene may aid the imagination of the reader. The peninsula of Charlestown is in shape not unlike a pear, as an early settler upon it described it : the stem uniting it to the main- land, the end extending towards the harbor. Two small hills, the Burial Hill and the Town Hill, and two larger summits, Breed's Hill and Bun- ker's Hill, swell out from its surface. The south- eastern slope of Breed's Hill divides the waters ot the bay into two broad rivers, which indent the shores, and just beyond the western base of 30 BATTLE OF BUNKER HJLL. junker's Hill approach so iiear each other as to allow scarcely four hundred feet of breadth to the neck of land which unites the peninsula to the neighboring country. The Mystic, on the north, washes with its double channel the farther shore. On the south, the opposite side of the mouth of the Charles, which, in its narrowest span, is about three hundred yards across, we see the now crowded peninsula of Boston, similarly environed by the waters of the sea, and united to the main- land at Roxbury by a narrow neck. The com- munication between Boston and Charlestown was then maintained by a ferry. A sloping eminence in Boston, at the point where it approaches nearest to Charlestown, is called Copp's Hill, and was used as a burial-place. Thickly studded with graves then, as now, there was planted the battery whence came the missiles for the burning of Charlestown. Breed's Hill is thus the part of the peninsula which approaches nearest to Boston, being less than a mile north of Copp's Hill. Bunker's Hill lies a few rods north of a line drawn westward from Breed's Hill. The relative features of the two summits, the highest points of which are one hundred and thirty rods apart, have not been as yet essentially changed. Bunker's Hill, the superior elevation of which has taken the fame from the summit where the real action was fought — rises to the height of one hundred and twelve feet. Breed's Hill, which bears the monu- BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 31 ment, though it has been robbed of its fame, lises to the height of about sixty-two feet. North and eastward of the two summits the land slopes, with occasional irregularities, down to the Mystic shore. A point of land bearing east from Breed's Hill, and extending towards the bay, is called Morton's Point, and was at the time of the battle crowned with an elevation, called Morton's Hill. This little summit, which was about thirty-five feet in height, and was the place where the first detach- ment of the enemy landed and formed for the at- tack, has been nearly removed. Between Breed's Hill and Morton's IJill, much of the ground wa^ sloughy, and occupied by several brick-kilns. Breed's Hill was then chiefly used by hou^sp- holders in Charlestown for pasturage, and was intersected by some fences. Towards Morton's Point some patches of ground were, on the day of the battle, covered with tall waving grass, ripe for the scythe, while farther back, on the margin of the Mystic, at the base of the two principal summits, were fine crops of hay, just mown. Tke fences, and tall unmown grass, which were of great advantage to the Americans in their station- ary defences, were grievous impediments and annoyances to the British in their advances. The edifices of the town were gathered around the present square, and extended along the main Street to the neck. Two roads united at the neck, tl^e pne leading over Winter Hill to Medford, the 32 ' BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. Other to Cambridge, the latter being low and marshy, and exposed to missiles from Boston, and from shipping in the river. The order which Prescott received designated Bunker's Hill as the position to be taken, and in the account of the battle afterwards prepared by the Massachusetts Congress it is said that Breed's Hill was fortified by mistake. Here undoubtedly we must begin to make allowances for that confu- sion which marked the proceedings of that event- ful day, and which originated in the necessary haste with which all the measures were concerted and executed. The forcible occupation of the heights of CharlestOAvn was designed on a sudden emergency, for the purpose of forestalling a con- certed plan of the enemy then confined in Boston. It would be in vain for us, therefore, to undertake to reason upon the supposition of any more defi- nite object than this, of taking the start of the enem.y. With the scanty ammunition and artil- lery of the Americans, and the few measured hours of operation in which they might expect to work undiscovered, a fortification of Bunker's Hill, so far from Boston, would scarcely have effected their purpose, as it would not have pre- vented the landing of the British from boats, and the occupation by them of Breed's Hill, if this latter summit had been left wholly undefended. For all purposes of restraining and annoying the enemy in Boston, Breed's Hill offered superior BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 33 advantages. The Americans have never referred to their works in this town as a specimen of the manner in which they laid their plans. Dorches- ter Heights upon the other side, at the sight of which, when day broke, the enemy thought it wise to take to their ships, would be rather selected by us for such a specimen. The detachment from Cambridge, on the night of the 16th of June, when it had reached this side of the neck was for a time undecided as to the position to be talcen. The moments, however, were too precious for deliberation, though many were spent upon it. It was only after repeated and urgent warnings from the engineer that longer delay would nullify all their labors, that the works were commenced upon Breed's Hill, when the clocks had announced the midnight hour. The highest part of the summit was selected, and thither the simple intrenching tools, gathered on the spur of the moment, were speedily carried. The intrenchments consisted of a redoubt and a breastwork, formed entirely of the earth heaped by the spade. The redoubt, of which the monu- ment now occupies the centre, was eight rods square ; the southern side, running parallel with the main street, was constructed with one pro- jecting and two entering angles. On a line with the eastern side, which faced the present navy- yard, was the breastwork, extending from the re- doubt nearly four hundred feet upon the brow ard 34 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. down the slope of the hill towards the Mystic; the sally port opened upon the interval between the redoubt and the breastwork. This interval, that is, the space between the beginning of the breastwork and the corner of the redoubt, was defended by a blind, but the sally port, the outlet on the northern face of the redoubt, was not pro- tected, either within or outside. Probably the intention was to have extended the breastwork down the whole length of the hill, had time per- mitted ; but, instead of wondering at the incom- pleteness of the works, we are rather impressed with amazement at the results which were brought about in four hours of toil. Colonel Gridley planned the works, which exhibited an equal measure of military science and of Yankee inge- nuity. No vestige of the redoubt now remains, it having been entirely obliterated in the process of laying the foundation of the monument. A small portion of the breastwork is distinctly visible, as causing a slight protuberance in the soil which has never been ploughed. The intrenchments which we now see lying a few rods west of the monument, are remains of the fortifications made by the British army, which was in possession of the ground for nine months after the battle. Their fortifications upon both summits, which occupied several weeks in their construction, have often been carelessly taken by superficial observers for the American works raised in four hours of BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 35 darkness. Coming generations will regret, as many of the present generation do, that the battle- ground has been so disfigured and marred by the sale of all but a small portion of the hill, for house lots. Still, the natural features of the peninsula are such that they can never be obliterated to an extent which will deny to a visiter some conception of the fearful scene which has made the ground famous. The erection of the Belgic mound on the field of Waterloo, causing the removal of a ridge of earth, has done as much injury there, as the sale of house lots here. Though the hands which spaded the bulwarks of earth upon Breed's Hill on the night of Friday, June 16th, were used to daily toil, and brought to their unwonted midnight task the most unflinch- ing courage and determination, it was still a work of dreadful anxiety. Besides the battery on Gopp's Hill, there was another in close proximity to Charlestown and to the road from Cambridge, erected on Barton's Point, at the foot of Leverett street, in Boston. It was a bright star-light night of midsummer, when the long hours of day almost deny an interval to the darkness, and we expect each moment after twilight in the west to behold the grey of morning in the east. Probably had the distance to Boston across the water been one rod less, the midnight laborers would have been discovered. Cooper, in his admirable tale of Lionel Lincoln, which is remarkably faithful 2i6 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. to history in most of its details, has represented the sounds of the work as audible, at least as occasional and smothered tokens of some secret enterprise, to the guard on Copp's Hill. It may have been so, but no proof of it appears. A guard was stationed on the Charlestown shore nearest to Boston, to anticipate any movement of the enemy. Prescott himself went there in company with our late Governor Brooks, then a major in Bridge's regiment, and heard from the enemy's sentries, when relieving guard, the cry, " All 's well." He returned to his works upon the hill, and after another interval, thinking it impossible that the enemy could be so dull of hearing, he went down to the shore again, and finding all secure, he recalled the guard, as their hands were needed even more than their ears. The moments may have passed rapidly, yet they must have left space for thought ; and then those earnest patriots, knowing full well to tvhat a ser- vice the light of day would introduce them, could not but call before their minds, their homes, their wives and children, and striking the balance between their private joys and their public rights, resolve that they must fight. The resolve iriust have been deeply formed, for it was cherished and acted upon through a day of horrors which they could not have anticipated. The midnight work went on, and those burdened moments BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 37 secured, the results of long years of liberty and prosperity to a nation. There was a scene for the imagination to pic- ture. Even the narrow space occupied by the river's bed was wider than the distance between those midnight laborers and their enemies. Five armed vessels then floated in the stream, and the Boston shore was guarded by a belt of sentinels. The Glasgow frigate, with twenty guns and one hundred and thirty men, lay on the line of the present Cragie's Point Bridge, and commanded the neck of land by which the peninsula of Charlestown is united to Cambridge ; the Somer- set, with sixty-eight guns, and five hundred and twenty men, lying near the draw of the pres- ent Charlestown Bridge, commanded Charlestown Square and its dwelling-houses ; the Lively, with twenty guns, and one hundred and thirty men, lying off the present navy-yard, could throw its shot directly upon the redoubt ; the Falcon, sloop of war, lying off Morton's Point, defended the ascent between the landing places of the British and Breed's Hill ; and the Cer- berus, of thirty-six guns, maintained a continual fire during the action. These vessels were most advantageously situated for the purposes of the enemy, and it seemed almost impossible that the sentries could have been wakeful at their posts, and not have overheard or suspected the opera- tions of the hill. Either dullness in them, or 4 38 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. wonderful caution and unbroken harmony among the provincials, must have secured the unbroken repose of those midnight hours. The brief interval of darkness after the labors of intrenching had commenced, at last gave place to the grey of early morning. On that moment, when the sun sent forth the first heralds of his coming, seems to have been suspended the inter- ests of nations. Then was the moment for peace to insinuate her mild influences, before brutal passions had been kindled at the roar of can- non and the flow of blood. If true patriotism, if wise policy, if the love which Christian people, of the same lineage, should bear to each other, had been allowed its full free influence over the par- ties in the approaching struggle, how much agony and wo, and fruitless wretchedness, might have been averted. Even then it was not too late for justice to have ensured peace. Even then a vessel was on her way to the mother country, bearing yet another earnest petition from her in- jured colonists, for a redress of grievances ; but the same ocean which was transmitting her fruit- less message, was already crowded with a hostile fleet coming hither with the instruments of death ; and on the very day of the battle, and upon the eve before, reinforcements of foreign troops had entered the harbor. The blood shed at Concord and Lexington, with the long list of antecedent outrages, might BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 39 have been forgiven by our fathers. They had not been the aggressors ; they acted only on the defensive ; they struck a blow only to ward off a blow. -There is no evidence that the heights of Charlestown were occupied for any other purpose than that of defence, to confine the enemy within their narrow quarters, and to prevent any more hostile incursions into the country. When the morning sun displayed to the astonished invaders the character of the last night's labor, and showed them the workmen still employed, with undis- mayed hearts and untired hands, it was not even then too late for peace. Gage and his officers, at least, if their hiped subordinates did not, should, have honored, though they might not have feared that patriot band; should have respected the spirit which controlled them, and should have counted the cost of the bloody issue. Bat not one moment, not one word, perhaps not one thought, was spent upon intercession or warning. The instant that the first beams of light mark- ed distinctly the outlines of the Americans, and of their intrenchments upon the hill, the cannon of the Lively, which floated nearest, opened a hot fire upon them, at the same time arousing the sleepers in Boston, to come forth as spectators or actors in the cruel tragedy. The other armed vessels, some floating batteries, and the battery on Copp's Hill, combined to pour forth their volleys, uttering a startling and dismal note of 40 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. preparation for the day's conflict. But the works, though not completed, were in a state of such forwardness that the missiles of destruction fell harmless, and the intrenchers continued to strengthen their position. The enemy in Boston could scarcely credit their eyesight. Prescott, the hero of the day, with whom its proudest fame should rest, was undaunted, ardent, and full of heroic energy. He planned and directed, he encouraged the men, he mounted the works, and with his bald head uncovered, and his command- ing frame, he was a noble personification of a patriot cause. Some of the men incautiously ventured in front of the works, when one of them was instantly killed by a cannon shot. This first victim was buried in the ditch, and his com- panions were fearfully warned of the fatalities which the day would bring yet nearer to them. When the orders had been issued at Cam- bridge, the night before, to those who had thus complied with them, refreshments and reinforce- ments had been promised in the morning. Thus some of the men might have thought they had fulfilled their part of the work, and were entitled to relief, or were at liberty to depart. Some few, when the first victim fell, left the hill, and did not return. Those who remained uere exhausted with their toil, and without food or water, and the morning was already intensely hot. The officers, sympathizing with their situation and BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 41 sufferings, requested Prescott to send to Cam- bridge for relief. He summoned a council of war, but was resolute against the petition, saying that the enemy would not venture an attack, and if they did venture, would be defeated ; that the rnen who had raised the works were best able to defend them, and deserved the honor of the vic- tory; that they had already learned to despise the fire of the enemy. The vehemence of Pres- cott infused new spirit into the men, and they resolved to stand the dread issue. Prescott or- dered a guard to the ferry to prevent a landing there. He was seen by Gage, who was recon- noitring from Copp's Hill, and who inquired of Counsellor Willard, by his side, " Who is that officer commanding ? " Willard recognised his brother-in-law, and named Colonel Prescott. " Will he fight ? " asked Gage. The answer was, " Yes, sir, depend upon it, to the last drop of blood in him; but I cannot answer for his men." Yet Prescott could answer for his men, and that amounted to the same thing. The measures of the enemy were undoubtedly delayed by sheer amazement and surprise, on finding that the intrepidity of the provincials had anticipated them in an enterprise upon which they had deliberately decided. In the council of war called by Gage, all were unanimous that the enemy must be dislodged, but there was a difference of opinion as to the manner of effecting 4^ ^ BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. this object. The majority agreed with Generals Clinton and Grant, in advising that the British troops should be embarked at the bottom of the Common, in boats, and, under the protection of the ships and floating batteries, should land at Charlestown, and thus hold the proAancials and their intrenchments at their mercy. But General Gage overruled the advice, and determined upon landing and making an attack in front of the works, fearing that his troops, if landed at the Neck, would be ruinously surrounded by the in- trenchers and the whole army at Cambridge. Meanwhile, General Ward, though repeatedly solicited by General Putnam, who had been at the ground by night, or early in the morning, and by messengers sent from Prescott, hesitated about weakening the strength of the main army by sending reinforcements to the Heights ; for, as the enemy had not yet landed, he had good reason to fear that they might divide their forces, and, while engaging with the intrenchers, effect a landing at some other spot, and proceed to Water- town or Cambridge, where the scanty stores of the provincials were deposited. By nine o'clock, the preparations in Boston, heard and seen by Prescott on the hill, informed him of the determination of the British to attack. He therefore gave up his first opinion, that they would not dare to resist him, and comforted him self and his men with the promise of certain and BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 43 glorious victory. He sent Major Brooks to Gen- eral Ward, to urge the necessity of his being reinforced. Brooks, being obliged to proceed on foot, as Captain Gridley would not risk one of his artillery horses to pass the Neck, which was swept by the Glasgow frigate, arrived about ten o'clock at head-quarters, where the Committee of Safety were then in session. Brooks's ur- gency, seconded by the solicitations of Richard Devens, a member of the Committee, and a citizen of Charlestown, induced General Ward to order that Colonels Reed and Stark, then at Medford, should reinforce Prescott with the New Hamp- shire troops. The companies at Chelsea were then recalled, and the order reached Medford at eleven o'clock. The men were as speedily as possible provided with ammunition, though much time was consumed in the preparation. Each man received two flints, a gill of powder, and fifteen balls. They were without cartridge-boxes, and used powder-horns and pouches, or their pockets, as substitutes, and in making up their cartridges, they were obliged to beat and shape their balls according to the diflerent calibre of their guns. Dr. Joseph Warren, one of the most distm- guished and self-sacrificing of the many patriots of the time, had not yet taken the commission which was granted to him on the 14th of June. He had twice maintained the cause of liberty 44 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. in the very teeth of British officers, on the annual commemoration of the" 5th of March. When the report of the coming action reached him at Water town, where he then was, as acting President of the Provincial Congress and Chair- man of the Committee of Safety, though sufiering from illness and exhaustion, he resolved to join in the strife. Wholly inexperienced as he was in military tactics, his determination could not be shaken hy the earnest remonstrances of his friends. His presence and counsel were needed in the Committee, but he persisted in his resolve, and we must lament, as all his contemporaries lamented, that his heroism outran his prudence, and would not be controlled by duty in another direction. The hostile arrangements of the British being concluded, the devoted band upon the slightly fortified hill soon saw the result. At noon, twenty-eight barges, formed in two parallel lines. left the end of Long Wharf, and made for Mor- ton's Point, the most feasible landing-place. The barges were crowded with British troops of the 5th, 38th, 43d, and 52d battalions of infantry two companies of grenadiers, and ten of light infantry. These troops were all splendidly ap- pointed, with glittering firelocks and bayonets, but sadly encumbered, for the hot work before them and the hot sun above them, by their arms and ammunition , and it would seem by the BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 45 statement of their own historian, Stedman, that they carried a hundred pounds of provision, intended to last for three days. Their regular and uniform appearance, with six pieces of ord- nance shining in the bows of the leading barges, presented an imposing and alarming spectacle to our raw soldiery. A part of the regulars that had lately arrived, had been retained on board of the transports, on account of the crowded state of Boston. A part of these were landed for the first time at Charlestown, and thus the first spot of American soil upon which^many of them trod, became to them a grave. The officers were all men of experience and valor: Generals Howe and Pigot, Colonels Nesbit, Abercrombie, and Clarke, Majors Butler, Williams, Bruce, Spend- love, Smelt, Mitchell, Pitcairn, Short, Small, and Lord Rawdon, were the most distinguished. Captain Addison, related to the author of the " Spectator," had arrived in Boston on the day before the battle, and had then accepted an invi- tation to dine with General Burgoyne on the 17th, when a far different experience awaited him, for he was numbered among the slain. This detachment landed at Morton's Point about one o'clock, defended by the shipping, and wholly unmolested. They soon discovered an egregious and provoking act of carelessness on the part of their master of ordnance, in send- ing over cannon-balls too large for their pieces. 46 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. They were immediately returned to Boston, and were not replaced in season for the first action. At the same time, General Howe, the commander of the detachment, requested of General Gage a reinforcement, which he thought to be necessary the moment that he had a fair view of the ele- vated and formidable position of the provincials, as seen from the Point. While these messages were passing, some of the British troops, stretched at their ease upon the grass, eat in peace their last meal, refreshing their thirst from large tubs of drink, — a tanta- lizing sight to the provincials. About two o'clock the reinforcement landed at Madlin's ship-yard, now the navy-yard. It consisted of the 47th bat- talion of infantry, a battalion of marines, and some more companies of grenadiers and light infantry. The whole number of British troops who engaged in the course of the action did not fall short of, and probably exceeded, 4,000. In connection with this force, which far surpassed that of the provincials in numbers, and was immeasurably superior to them in discipline and military appoint- ments, we are to consider the marines in the ships, which completely cannonaded three sides of the hill, and the six-gun battery on Copp's Hill, as engaging in the unequal contest. Contrasting a Biitish regular with a provincial soldier, we are accustomed to ascribe immense advantages of discipline to the former. Yet we are to re- BATTLE OP BUNKER HILL. 47 member that an overpowering superiority of character and of cause was on the side of the latter. If we could have followed a recruiting sergeant of Great Britain at that time, as he hunted out from dram-shops and the haunts of idleness and vice, the low and vulgar inebriate, the lawless and dissolute spendthrift, seeing how well the sergeant knew where to look for his recruits, we should know how much discipline could do for them, and how much it must leave undone. The provincials were not acquainted with the forms and terms of military tactics ; but they knew the difference between half-cock and double-cock, and the more they hated the vermin which they had been used to hunt with their fowling-pieces, the straighter did the bullet speed from the muzzle. But their superiority consisted in the kind of pay which they were to receive, not in pounds and shillings, but in a free land, a happy home, and rulers of their own choice. While the British troops were forming their lines, a slight work was constructed by the Connecticut troops, sent from the redoubt, under Captain Knowlton, which proved of essential service to the provincials. A rail fence, under a small part of which a stone wall was piled to the height of about two feet, ran from the road which crossed the tongue of land between the hills, to the bank of the Mystic, with a few apple trees on each side of it. The provincials pulled 4(B BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. up some Otter fences near by, and set them in a line parallel with this, filling the space between with the fresh mown hay around the ground. The length of this slight defence was about 700 feet. It was about 600 feet in rear of the re- doubt and breastwork, and had it been on a line with them, would have left a space of about 100 feet between the ends of the earthen and the wooden defences. Thus there was an opening of about 700 feet on the slope of the hill between the intrenchments and the rail fence, which the provincials had not time to secure. Part of this intervening space then, as now, was sloughy, and as there were no means of defending it save a few scattered trees, the troops behind the breast- work were exposed to a galling fire from the ene- my, on their third attack, which finally brought about the unfavorable issue of the strife. The six pieces of British artillery were stationed at first upon Morton's Hill. All these preparations, visible as they were to thousands upon the neighboring hill-tops, steeples and house-roofs, were watched with the intensest anxiety. Undoubtedly, the common persuasion and fear was, that General Gage would himself lead a portion, if not the whole of the residue of his army, upon an attack at some other point in the semi-circle. Roxbury was heavily cannon- aded, to retain the forces there from proceeding to Charlestown. A schooner, with 500 or 600 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 4B men, was directed to the Cambridge shore, but wind and tide proved unfavorable. In fear of these movements, great caution was advisable in sending reinforcements upon the hill. Captain Callender was ordered there with his artillery. Gardner's, Patterson's, and Doolittle's regiments were stationed at different points between Charles- town Neck and Cambridge. This Neck, though frequently passed by our officers and troops in single file, was fearfully hazardous during the whole day, as it was raked by a fire of round, bar and chain shot, from the Glasgow, and from two armed gondolas near the shore. The rein- forcements arrived from Medford before the en- gagement, though General Stark had led them very moderately, insisting that " one fresh man in battle is worth ten fatigued ones." General Putnam stopped a part of them to unite with a detachment from the redoubt in attempting to fortify Bunker's Hill, which was of great con- sequence to the provincials in case of a retreat. Stark, with oaths and encouragements, led on the remainder to the rail fence. It soon became a matter of importance to the provincials to seek the utmost possible help from their artillery, but it amounted to very little. A few ineffectual shot had been fired from Gridley's pieces in the redoubt, against Copp's Hill and the shipping, when the pieces were removed and placed with Captain Callender at the space 5 §& BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. between the fence and the breastwork. Here they would have been of some service in defend- ing our weakest and most exposed point. But the officers and the companies who had them in charge, were wholly ignorant of their manage- ment ; and, on the plea of having unsuitable car- tridges, Callender was drawing his guns off to prepare ammunition, when Putnam urged him to return. The pieces were fired a few times, and soon afterwards were moved by Captain Ford to the rail fence. General Pomeroy, at Cambridge, old as he was, was moved like the war-horse at the smell of the battle. He begged a horse of General Ward that he might ride to Charlestown, but on reaching the neck, and observing the hot fire which raked it, he was afraid to risk the borrow- ed animal. Giving him then in charge to a sentry, he walked on to the rail fence, where his well-knoTvm form and countenance called forth enthusiastic shouts. Colonel Little came up with his regiment, and the men were stationed along the line, from the rail fence on the left to a cart- way. There were also reinforcements, of about 300 troops each, from Brewer's, Nixon's, Wood- bridge's, and Doolittle's regiments, detachments of which were stationed along the main street in Charlestown. Colonel Scammans, who was de- prived of his sense and his courage, either by confusion or fear, had been ordered by General BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 5% Ward to go where the fighting was. He went to Lechmere's Point, understanding, as he said, that the enemy were landing there. He was advised to go to the Hill. He chose to under- stand the nearest hill, and so he posted himself upon Cohble Hill, where the Insane Hospital now stands, and occupied that useless position. General Warren arrived just before the action. Putnam endeavored to dissuade him from enter- ing it, and then recommended to him a safe place, and offered to receive his orders. But Warren could not be thus wrought upon. He said he came only as a volunteer, and, instead of seeking a place of safety, wished to know where the onset would be most furious. Putnam point- ed to the redoubt as the place of danger and importance. Prescott there offered to receive Warren's orders, but he again said he was happy to serve as a volunteer. The tune of Yankee Doodle, which afforded the British so much spor4; as ridiculing the pro- vincials, was the tune by which our fathers were led on to that contest. Let their example com- mend to us this only way of depriving ridicule of its sting ; for there is nothing which it so much annoys men to spend in vain as their scorn. Before the engagement commenced, Captain Walker, of Chelmsford, led a band of about fifty resolute men down into Charlestown to annoy the enemy's left flank. They did great execution, sSb battle of bunker hill. and then abandoned their dangerous position, to attack the right flank upon Mystic river. Here the captain was wounded and taken prisoner. He died of his wounds in Boston jail. The British, in their attack, aimed at two distinct objects : first, to force and carry the re- doubt ; second, to turn the left flank of our troops, and thus to cut off' their retreat. To accomplish the former. General Pigot, who commanded the British left wing, displayed under cover of the eastern slope of the hill, and advanced against the redoubt and breastwork. General Howe led the right wing, which advanced along the shore of the Mystic to the rail fence. The artillery prepared the way for the infantry, and it was at this time that the mistake of the oversized balls was a great grievance to the enemy, as they had but a few rounds of proper shot. It was of vital necessity that every charge of powder and ball spent by the Americans, should take effect. There was none for waste. The officers commanded their men to withhold their fire till the enemy were within eight rods, and when they could see the whites of their eyes, to aim at their waistbands ; also to " aim at the hand- some coats, and pick off' the commanders." As the British left wing came within gun-shot, the men in the redoubt could scarcely restrain their fire, and a few discharged their pieces. Prescott, indignant at this disobedience, vowed instant BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 53 death to any one who should repeat it, and prom- ised, by the confidence which they reposed in him, to give the command at the proper moment. His Lieutenant Colonel, Robinson, ran round the top of the works and knocked up the muskets. When the space between the assailants and the redoubt was narrowed to the appointed span, the word was spoken at the moment; the deadly flashes burst forth, and the green grass was crimsoned with the life-blood of hundreds. The front rank was nearly obliterated, as were its successive substitutes, as the Americans were well protected, and were deliberate in their aim. The enemy fell like the tall grass which grew around before the practised sweep of the mower. General Pigot was obliged to give the word for a retreat. Some of the wounded were seen crawl- ing with the last energies of life from the gory heap of the dying and the dead, among whom the officers, by their proportion, far outnumbered the private soldiers. As the wind rolled away the suflbcating smoke, and the blasts of the artil- lery and the musketry for a moment ceased, the awful spectacle, the agonizing yells and shrieks of the suiferers, were distracting and piercing. Prayers and groans, foul, impious oaths, and fond invocations of the loved and the dear, were min- gled into sounds which scarcely seemed of human utterance, by the rapturous shout of victory which rang from the redoubt. The earth has not a 6^ ^ BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. sight or sound more maddening, in its passion or its wo, than a battle-field. The fabled pit beneath the earth then opens from its bowels, and covers its fair surface with the flames and yells of demon strife. While such was the temporary aspect of the field near the redoubt, General Howe, with the right wing, made for the rail fence, where Put- nam, assisted by Captain Ford's company, had posted the artillery with success. Here, as at the redoubt, some of the provincials were tempted to discharge their muskets while the advancing enemy were destroying a fence which crossed their path. Putnam, with an oath, threatened to cut down with his sword the next oflender. The word was given when the enemy were within eight rods. The artillery had already made a lane through the column, and now the fowling- pieces mowed down their victims, especially the officers, with fearful celerity. The assailants were compelled to retreat, leaving behind them heaps of the fallen, while some of the flying even hurried to their boats. Their artillery had stop- ped in the slough among the brick-kilns, and could do but little. The regulars did not take aim, and their shot passed high over the heads of the Americans. The trees around were af- terwards observed with their trunks unscathed, while their branches were riddled through and through. The passionate shout of victory again BATTLE OF BTJNKEE HILL. 55 rang through the American lines, and even the coward was nerved to daring. Now it was that our troops and our cause suf- fered from the want of discipline, and from the confusion apparent in the whole management of the action, originating in the hasty and imperfect preparation, and in their ignorance of the pur- poses of the enemy. The Neck of land ploughed by the engines of death, and clouded by the dust thus raised, was an almost insuperable obstacle to the bringing on of reinforcements. Major Grid- ley, wholly unJfitted in spirit and in skill, had been put in command of a battalion of infantry in com- pliment to his father. He lost, and could not recover, his self-possession and courage. Though ordered to the hill, he advanced towards Charles- town slowly and fearfully; and though urged by Colonel Frye to hasten, he was satisfied with the poor service of firing three-pounders ficom Cobble Hill upon the Glasgow. His Captain, Trevett, refused obedience to such weakness, and ordered his men to follow him to the works. Colonel Gerrish, with his artillery on Bunker's Hill, could neither be urged nor intimidated by Put- nam to bring his pieces to the rail fence. He was unwieldy with corpulence, and overcome with heat and fatigue. His men had been scat- tered from the summit of the hill, by the shot from the Glasgow, which took tremendous effect here, as it was thought to be strongly fortified. 0b BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. The enemy rallied for a second attack. Thougli they had sorely suffered, and some few of the officers were reluctant to renew the fatal effort, yet the large body, like the general, would have yielded to death in any form of horror, before they would have left the field to those whom they had always represented as cowards. At this crisis four hundred reinforcements came over from Boston to repair the British loss, and Dr. Jeffries accompanied them as surgeon. The reg- ulars again steadily advanced, and with the dreadful apathy of feeling induced by a battle- field, they even piled up the bodies of their slaughtered comrades as a breastwork for their own protection. The artillery was now drawn up by the road which^ divided the tongue of land on the Mystic from tKe hill, to within nine hun- dred feet of the rail fence. The object was to bring it on a line with the redoubt, and to open a way for the infantry. It was during this second attack that Charlestown was set on fire. Proba- bly a double purpose was intended by this act : first, that the smoke might cover the advance of the enemy, and second, to dislodge some of the provincials, who from the shelter of the houses had annoyed the British left wing. General Howe sent over the order to Burgoyne and Clin- ton to fire the town, and the order was fulfilled by carcasses thrown from Copp's Hill, which, BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 57 aided by some marines who landed from the Somerset, completed the work of desolation. The Americans were prepared for the renewed attack. They had orders to reserve their fire till the enemy were within six rods, and then to take deadly aim. As before, the shot of the enemy was mostly ineffectual, ranging far above the heads of the provincials. Still, some of the pri- vates fell, and Colonels Brewer, Nixon and Buck- minster, and Major Moore, were wounded, the latter mortally, crying out in his death-thirst for water, which could not be obtained nearer than the Neck, whither two of his men went to seek it. The British stood, for a time whose moments were hours, the deadly discharge which was poured upon them as they passed the appointed line, while whole ranks of officers and men fell in heaps. General Howe stood in the thickest of the fight, wrought up to a desperate determin- ation. For a time he was almost alone, his aid- de-camps, and many other officers of his staff, lying wounded or dead. But though he would not lead a second retreat, he was compelled to follow it, and to hear the repeated shouts of vic- tory rise from the patriot band who had weighed the choice between death and slavery. Thus the British were twice fairly and completely driven from the hill. For success up to this moment, the provincials have not had the de- served acknowledgment in the English histories. ISB BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL, Even Burke (if, as is probable, he wrote the account in the Annual Register) refers only once to the repulse, and then merely says the regulars " were thrown into some disorder." But now the fortunes of the day were to be reversed, so far, and so far only, as to attach the bare name of victory to the side of the foreign assailants. The provincials encouraged them- selves with the hope that the two repulses which had compelled the regulars to retire with such stupendous loss, would deter them from a renewed attack. Some of the British officers did indeed remonstrate against leading the men to another butchery, but their remonstrance was disdainfully repelled by their comrades. During the second attack, a provincial, with incautious loudness of speech, had declared that the ammunition was exhausted, and he was overheard by some of the regulars. General Clinton, who from Copp's Hill had witnessed the repeated repulse of his Majesty's troops with great mortification, took a boat and passed over as a volunteer, bringing with him added reinforcements. A new mode of attack was now determined upon. General Howe, having discovered that weak point, the space between the breastwork and the rail fence, now led the left wing, and resolved to apply the main strength of the assault against the redoubt and the breastwork, particularly to rake the latter with the artillery from the left, while he disguised BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 53 this purpose by a feigned shovvT of force at the rail fence. The men now divested themselves of their heavy knapsacks, some of them even of their coats. They were ordered to stand the fire of the provincials, and then to make a resolute charge at the point of the bayonet. The three facts last mentioned, viz., the knowledge of the enemy that the provincials lacked ammunition, the encouragement of the presence of General Clinton, and the discovery of the weak point in the works, may have nerved the British to under- take a third attack. While these hostile preparations were in pro- gress, the little band of devoted patriots, exhausted almost to complete prostration by their long and unrefreshed toil of the night, and by the bloody work of noon-day, had time to summon their remaining energies, to resolve that the last blow should be the heaviest, to think upon the glory of their cause and the laurels they should forever wear. The few remaining cartridges were dis- tributed by Prescott. The small number of men whose muskets were furnished with bayonets, stood ready to repel the charge ; and those who were without this defence, as well as without ammunition, resolved to club their muskets and wield their heavy stocks, while the ferocity of despair strung every nerve. Even the loose stones of the intrenchments were gladly secured as the last stay of an unflinching resolution. 60 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. A body of reinforcements, fresh and resolute, and provided with bayonets, might have forced the regulars to a third and final retreat ; but, as before remarked, unavoidable confusion prevailed in the American camp. The Neck of land, the only line of communication, wore a tecrible aspect to raw recruits, and General "Ward was without staff officers to convey his orders. The regiments which had been stationed along the road to wait further commands, were overlooked. Colonel Gardner, though thus left without orders, panting to join the strife, led 300 men to Bunker's Hill, where Putnam first set them upon intrenching, but soon urged them to action at the lines. The Colonel commanded his men to drop their tools and follow. He was leading them to the post of dangerous service, when he received a mortal wound by a musket-ball in the groin. As he was borne off the field, he commanded his men to conquer -or die. Deprived of their officer, but few of them engaged in the action. His son, a youth of nineteen, met him on his way, and, overcome with grief, sought to aid him, but the father com- manded him to march to his duty. Colonel Scammans remained on Cobble Hill, but a de- tachment of Gerrish's regiment, under their Danish Adjutant, Ferbiger, rushed toward the fence. A few of the Americans occupied two or three houses and barns on the slope of Breed's BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 61 Hill, and annoyed, for a time, the left flank of the enemy. The artillery of the British effected its mur- derous purpose, raking the whole interior of the breastwork, driving its defenders into the redoubt, and sending the balls there after them, through the open sally-port. Lieutenant Prescott, a nephew of the Colonel, had his arm disabled, and was told by his uncle to content himself with encouraging his men ; but, having succeeded in loading his musket, he was passing the sally-port to seek a rest from which to fire it, when he was killed by a cannon-ball. It was evident that the intrenchments could no longer be maintained, but the resolution to yield them only in the convul- sion of the last efibrt, nerved every patriot arm. The British officers were seen to goad on some of their reluctant men with their swords. It was for them now to receive the fire, and to reserve their own till they could follow it by a thrust of the bayonet. Each shot of the provincials was true to its aim. Colonel Abercrombie, Majors Williams and Spendlove, fell. General Howe was wounded in the foot. Hand to hand, and face to face, were exchanged the last awful hos- tilities of that day. Only a ridge of earth divided the grappling combatants, whose feet were slip- ping upon the gory sand, while they joined in the mortal strife. When the enemy found them- sehes received with stones, the missiles of a 6 62 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. more ancient warfare, they knew that their work was nearly done, as they now contended with unarmed men. Young Richardson, of the Royal Irish, was the first who scaled the parapet, and he fell, as did likewise the first rank that mounted it, among whom Major Pitcairn, who had shed the first blood at Lexington, was shot by a negro soldier. It was only when the redoubt was crowded with the enemy and the defenders in one promiscuous throng, and assailants on all sides were pouring into it, that Prescott, no less, but even more a hero, when he uttered the reluc- tant word, ordered a retreat. A longer trial would have been folly, not courage. Some of the men had splintered their musket-stocks in fierce blows, nearly all were defenceless, yet was there that left within them, in a dauntless soul, which might still help their country at its need. Prescott gave the crowning proof of his devoted and magnanimous spirit, when he cooled the heat of his own brain, and bore the bitter pang in his own heart, by commanding an orderly, and still resisting retreat. He was tbe hero of that blood- dyed summit, — the midnight leader and guard, the morning sentinel, the orator of the opening strife, the cool and deliberate overseer of the whole struggle, the well-skilled marksman of the exact distance at which a shot was certain death : he was the venerable chief in whose bright eye and steady nerve all read their duty : and when BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 63 conduct, skill, and courage could do no more, he was the merciful deliverer of the remnant. Pres- cott was the hero of the day, and wherever its tale is told, let him be its chieftain. The troops in the redoubt now fought their pathway through the encircling enemy, turning their faces towards the foe, while they retreated with backward steps. Gridley, who had planned and defended the works, received a wound, and was borne off. "Warren w^as among the last to leave the redoubt, and at a short distance from it, a musket-ball through his head killed him in- stantly. When the corpse of that illustrious patriot was recognised and identified the next morning by Dr. JeiTries, General Howe thought that this one victim well repaid the loss of num- bers of his mercenaries. It is not strange that, both in English and American narratives of that day, and in some subsequent notices of it, Warren should have been represented as the commander of the provincial forces. His influence and his patriotism were equally well known to friend and foe. There is no more delicate task than to divide among many heroes the honors of a battle- field, and the rewards of devoted service. Yet the high-minded will always appreciate the integ- rity of the motive which seeks to distinguish between the places and the modes of service, where those who alike love their country enjoy the opportunity of securing the laurels of heroism 64 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. and devotion. The council-chamber and the forum, and the high place in the public assembly, offer to the patriot-statesman the opportunity for winning remembrance and honor to his name ; the battle-field must retain the same high privi- lege for the patriot-soldier, for there alone can he earn the wreath. Let the chivalry and the mag- nanimity of Warren forever fill a brilliant page in our history, but let not a partial homage attach to him the honor to which another has a rightful claim. It was no part of his pure purpose, in mingling with his brethren on that field, to mo- nopolize its honors, and to figure as its hero. It is enough that he stood among equals in devo- tion and patriotism. Here, then, is his claim, which, when fully allowed, leaves the honors of that summit to the leader of the heroic band. And while such Was the issue at the redoubt, the left wing, at the rail fence, aided by some reinforcements which had arrived too late, was making a vigorous stand at their defences. But the retreat at the redoubt compelled the resolute defenders to yield with slow and reluctant steps, as their flank was opened to the enemy. Putnam pleaded and cursed; he commanded and implored the scattering bands to rally, and he swore that he would win them the victory. For his foul profanity he made a sincere confession before the church and congregation of which he was a member, after the war. BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 66 Pomeroy likewise implored the men to rally, but in vain. The last resistance at the rail fence restrained the enemy from cutting off the retreat of the provincials. Yet the enemy were in no condition to pursue, as they were alike exhausted, and were content with the little patch of ground which they had so dearly purchased. The pro- vincials retreated to Cambridge by the Neck, and by the Winter Hill road, taking with them only one of the six pieces of artillery which they had brought to the field. The battle had occupied about two hours, the provincials retreating just before five o'clock. The British lay on their arms at Bunker Hill all night, discharging their pieces against the Americans who were safely encamped upon Prospect Hill, at the distance of a mile. Prescott repaired to head-quarters to make return of his trust. He was indignant at the loss of the battle, and implored peneral Ward to com- mit to him three fresh regiments, promising with them to win back the day. But he had already honorably accomplished all that his country might demand. He complained bitterly that the rein- forcements, which might have given to his tri- umph the completeness that was needed to make it a victory, had failed him. A year afterwards, when he was in the American camp at New York, he was informed how narrowly he had escaped with life. A British sergeant, who was 6=* &Q BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. brought into the camp, on meeting with Prescott there, called him by name. Prescott inquired how or where Tie had known him. The man replied that he knew him well, and that his acquaintance began at the battle in Charlestown. Prescott had there been pointed out to him as the commander, and in the first two attacks, he had singled him out and taken a deliberate aim. Though his position at each time was so favor- able as to convince him the shot would be fatal, yet Prescott had been unharmed. On the third attack, impelled by the same purpose, he had charged the commander at the point of the bayonet, but the strong arm and the sword of Prescott thrust aside the weapon, and the baf- fled sergeant concluded him to be invulnerable. Prescott kindly presented the poor soldier with a gift of charity to relieve his disappointment. The pierced garments of the hero, preserved in his family, bear witness to the repeated efforts of his foe. The number of our troops in the action, includ- mg the occasional reinforcements, and those who came only to cover the retreat, did not exceed, if it reached, 3,000. Of these, 115 were killed and missing, 305 were wounded, and 30 were taken prisoners ; making our whole loss 450. Pres- cott's regiment suffered most severely. The whole British loss was rated by the Pro- vincial Congress, on their best information, at BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 67 1500, but Gage acknowledged only 1054, in- cluding 89 officers; 226 being killed, and 828 wounded. Loud and agonizing was the mourning in Boston, when the wounded were committed to the crowded hospitals ; and the sympathies of the inhabitants were demanded alike for friends and foes. But though the sword was lifted against our fathers by their own brethren, and in a cause which we must pronounce to have been unright- eous and tyrannical, we feel impelled to pay a just tribute to the bravery and gallantry of the British officers and soldiers upon the field. To march boldly forward, as they did thrice, and bare their bosoms to the weapons of desperate men, was a trial of their spirit which allows us to withhold from them no praise or glory which we give to our fathers, save that which belongs to our fathers as the champions of the better cause. The highest honor we can bestow upon the heroism of the enemy, is, in regretting that the king Eind his ministers found such devoted servants. It is not strange that confusion and disorder should have attended the proceedings of the pro- vincials on that dreadful day. Their measures v/ere hastily concerted in anticipation of the occu- pancy of the Heights by the British ; there Wa« no time to plan, no opportunity to deliberdte. The Provincial Congress was then sitting at 69> BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. Watertown, though its President, Dr. Warren, who was also Chairman of the Executive Com- mittee of Safety, was in the scene of strife. General Ward's Orderly Book does not contain any reference to the action of the day. The reasonable expectation and fear that the British would make an attack at some other quarter, may explain the apparent remissness of the American leaders, in not concentrating all their force upon the action in Charlestown. The severe bombardment of Roxbury, and anxiety for the stores at Watertown, very naturally dividbd their attention. It seems likewise to have been difficult, even some days after the battle, to learn with exactness the chief particulars concerning it. The account in Edes' Gazette, which was printed at Watertown on the following Monday, is very meagre. Indeed, it would appear, that the death of Warren was not then known for certain. Among the resolutions of the Provincial Congress on Monday, the 19th, we read the following : "Resolved, That three o'clock, P. M., be assigned for the choice of a President of this Congress, in the room of the Hon. Joseph Warren, Esq., sup- posed to be killed in the late battle of Bunker Hill." In a letter from J. Pitts, dated, Watertown, July 20, 1775, and addressed to Samuel Adams, at Philadelphia, we read the following : " I find the letters in general from you and the rest of BATTLE OF BUNKEE HILL. 69 our friends, complain of not having particular in- formation relative to the late battle of Charlestown. I do assure you, the particulars, any further than what I have already wrote you, I have not been able to obtain from any one. To be plain, it appears to me, there never was more confusion and less command. No one appeared to have any but Colonel Prescott, whose bravery can never be enough acknowledged and applauded. General Putnam was employed in collecting the men, but there were not officers enough to lead them on." More evidences of this confusion that attended the operations of the day, will present themselves to the reader of the Documents which form a part of this volume. He will find them to abound in discrepancies of statement, which, however, will, for the most part, correct and harmonize each other. One writer, for instance, says that it was known by the British on the night of the 16th, that the Americans were at work on the Heights. Of this statement there is no proof, nor is it prob- able ; yet it may have been that a vague report of the intention of the Americans had reached Boston. Another writer says that the American orce amounted to nine thousand. Probably he mtended in this estimate to include all the pro- vincials who were then under arms at Cambridge and Roxbury, as well as those at Charlestown. The conflagration of the town of Charlestown must have mingled wild and fearful spectacles 70 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. With the awful scene of blood. The order for the incendiary measure was sent over by boat to the generals on Copp's Hill, on account of the annoy- ing fire which the Americans, concealed in the dwellings, poured in upon the left wing of the British. The town then contained 289 dwelling- houses, and its population, of 375 families, num- bered rather more than 2,000 souls. Of course, many of its inhabitants, especially the women and children, had been removed from the town during the night and on the morning of the battle. Householders were busily engaged in removing their effects. Many valuable articles were buried in the fields, gardens, and cellars, most of which, however, were discovered by the British in their long occupation of the peninsula, though some of the treasures of crockery and furniture which were here interred, found a safe concealment till after the evacuation of Boston, and are still cherished as honored relics by the descendants of their owners. Many of the householders and traders of Boston, who had removed their effects to Charlestown on the commencement of hostilities, likev/ise lost their all. The newspapers of {he time abound in advertisements of losses and thefts. Dr. Mather's library was consumed in the conflagration. The American prisoners suf- fered great hardships. They were confined in the jail in Boston, during the siege, where several of them perished. The survivors were taken to BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL 71 Halifax by the British on their departure. Some few of them, after incredible trials, succeeded in making their escape, and returning to their homes one by one, told their moving tales. It was not, however, until after the peace, that the remnant was restored. Such is but a faint delineation of the action which has associated so great a degree of interest with the Heights of Charlestown. The intrench- ing and the defence of Breed's Hill may be described as the most important incident in the war of the American Revolution. The whole protracted struggle was decisively influenced by this its opening contest. The battle was fought by the provincials in earnest, with determined spirit, with proud success, though not with the name of victory, and therefore it gave the impulse of a good beginning to the whole conduct of the war. Its results will attest its importance. The battle accomplished what in all cases of strife and discord is attended with protracted difficulties : it distinguished the two contending parties, and brought them to an issue. There- were then several links of union between England and the Colonies, formed by the various orders, classes, and coteries, then gathered in this neigh- borhood, and by their diverse opinions. Some of the most worthy and disinterested inhabitants of the provinces, and some of the British officers, engaged with extreme reluctance in the hostil- 72 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. ities. We had among us not only tories and republicans, the extremes of party, but also timid and cautious timeservers and hesitants, and at- tached friends to the restricted exercise of royal authority. There were moderate and immoderate men of both parties ; neutral and lukewarm doubters of no party. While reading the jounals of that day, we can readily imagine the thousand social ties and domestic relations, the civilities of neighborhood, and the common interest in the land across the water, which might well render it difficult for the provincials to make the last appeal to blood. Had it not been for the affair at Lex- ington, it is probable that matters might have remained quiet for some time longer, and that the colonists would have wasted many more words of petition upon the ministry. Even after that battle, had the ministry expressed in strong terms their disapprobation of Gage's measure, and adopted a conciliatory tone, the war might have been then averted. But the affair of the 17th June at once put a stop to any further halt> ing between two opinions. Again, that action was of primary importance from the influence which it exercised upon our fathers, who, unknown to themselves, had before them a war of protracted length, partaking largely of reverse and discouragement. They learned, this day what they might do in the confidence X)^^.t Gpd wa^g on their side, and thgit tjieir ,c?^:^^e BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 73 was good. That work of a summer's night was worth its price to them. They lacked discipline, artillery, bayonets, powder and ball, food, and, — the greatest want of all, — they lacked the deli- cious draught of pure, cool water for their labor- worn and heat-exhausted frames. They found that desperation would supply the place of disci- pline ; that the stock of a musket, wielded with true nerves, would deal a blow as deadly as the thrust of a bayonet ; and that a heavy stone might level an assailant as well as a charge of powder. As for food and water, the hunger they were compelled to bear unrelieved, and they cooled their brows only by the thick, heavy drops which poured before the sun. Yet it was their opening combat, and proudly did they bear away its laurels, even upon their backs, which the failure of ammunition and of reinforcements com- pelled them to turn to the enemy. Yes, they did show their backs once to those whose backs they had already seen twice ; and if they retreated once, it was only that they might save their faces for later and bolder opportunities of confronting the foe. It was their opening combat, and it decided the spirit and the hope of all their subse- quent campaigns. They had freed themselves during the engagement from all that natural reluc- tance which they liad heretofore felt in turning theiir offensive weapons agaittst the breasts of former friends, yes, even of kinsmen. On that. 7 74 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. eminence, the first bright image of Liberty, of a free native land, kindled the eyes of those who were expiring in their gore, and the image passed between the living and the dying to seal the cov- enant, that the hope of the one, or the fate of the other, should unite them here or hereafter. It was the report of that battle, which, transmitted by swift couriers over the length and breadth of the continent, would everywhere prepare the spirit to follow it up with determined resistance to every future act of aggression. How can we exaggerate the relative importance of this day's action ? Did it not in fact open the contest, dividing into two parties, not only those deter- mined for the ministry or the colony, but likewise all timid, hesitating, reluctant neutrals ? It was difficult after this to avoid taking sides. Did it not at once render all reconciliation impossible, till it should offer itself in company with justice and liberty ? Did it not echo the gathering cry which brought together our people from their farms and workshops, to learn the art of war, that terrible art, which grows more merciful only as it is the more skilfully pursued ? This day, then, needs no rhetoric to magnify it in our revolu- tionary annals. After its sun went down, the provincials parted with all fear, hesitation, and reluctance. They found that it was easier to fight; the awful roar of the death-dealing arms associated itself in their minds with all their BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 75 wrongs, and all their hopes, and with tne sweet word of liberty. The pen with which petitions were written had been found to be powerless : words of remonstrance left no impression upon the air. There was but one resource. From the village homes and farm-houses around, amid the encouraging exhortations, as well as the tearful prayers of their families, the yeomen took from their chimney-stacks the familiar and well-proved weapons of a life in the woods, and felt, for the first time, what it was to have a country, and resolved for the first time that they would save their country or be mourned by her. And if further evidence be needed in support of the high importance attached to this day's conflict, refer to the effect which the announce- ment of it produced in Great Britain, upon the ministry and the people. One fact painfully evident to the student of our revolutionary history, is, that the war was commenced by the ministry, and allowed by the people, under the grossest misapprehension of the character and courage of the inhabitants of this province. Parliament was in a state of perfect infatuation when it gave ear to the speeches that advised the measures of the ministry, and represented the enforcing of them as so easy a work. For though Parliament had been warned by all the local information of our former Governor, Pownall, by the philosophy of Burke, and the tender appeals of Lord Chatham, ^ BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. that conciliatory measures would be the only efficient measures, there was either stupidity, fol- ly or madness in the self-conceited persuasion, that a race of men who had left their native country to escape oppression, would consent to be oppressed in a new country, redeemed by them from a wilderness, made habitable by virtuous toil and endeared as always free. The last three English governors of this province, and the ministry at home, have represented the Amer- ican people as, wholly under the control of a few ambitious leaders, demagogues or revolutionists, v/ho, by exciting speeches, spread enthusiasm among the multitude, cajoling and flattering them with the enticing word, — liberty. It was alleged m Parliament that the people would succumb, if their leaders could be silenced. This battle proved that a people who showed such a spirix, must be capable of originating some enthusiasm in themselves, as well as of being cajoled into it oy others. They had been represented as cow- ards, who dared to fire a musket only at a long distance, and from behind a protection ; and the people of England had been promised that one regiment of the king's troops should sweep the provincials off the continent. But after this battle the probability of such a result was reduced to this simple rule of three : if so many of his Majesty's regiments were necessary to secure the square feet of ground occupied by Charlestown BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 77 peninsula, how many would be needed to sweep the continent ? The people of England were instructed by this day's news to estimate the bravery, the union, the determined purpose of the colonists. It was greatly in favor of our cause, that the unpopu- larity of the war among the mercantile classes of England, should be increased by such a repre- sentation of its progress, as would induce the pride of the British to listen at last to prudence. While the ministry flattered the people with fables about the pusillanimity and poverty of the colonists, and called for new resources against them, promising that each demand should be the last, only the report of such poor success as at- tended their hostilities upon this peninsula, could open the eyes of the British nation to the hope- lessness of their measures. The account of the battle transmitted by Gen- eral Gage, accompanied, of course, by numerous private letters, was received in London, July 25th. The General estimated his loss at 226 killed, and 828 wounded. The ministry were dismayed, and for a time kept back the official announcement from the Gazette. It was known, however, that government despatches had been received, and in order to draw forth their contents, some ingenious persons wrote from their imaginations what pur- ported to be an account of the battle, and pub- lished it in the newspapers. By this fictitious 7# 78r MTTLE OF BUNKEil HILL. s^tementj the regulars were said to ha,ve been defeated with great slaughter. Thus the admin- istration were obliged to prepare their own state- ment for the Gazette, as soon as possible. Even with a favorable garb thrown around its announce- ment, the official account shocked and alarmed the people. They waited wdth the utmost anxiety for the representation which the provincials might give of the battle, and to hear the measures of the Congress. They changed their opinion of the colonists when they found that one square mile of our territory had cost them more than a thousand men. As the news of the engagement circulated in England, it called out popular ex- pressions w^hich exhibited the general dissatisfac- tion with the war. The official publications were made up from the accounts of Gage, Howe, and Burgoyne ; they w^ere replied to, even in London, with cutting sarcasm. The report in London was, that General Gage was ordered not to haz- ard another engagement till he was reinforced, though it was doubted whether the provincials would leave this at his option ; that he was ordered to depart from Boston, after burning it, and to fortify himself upon Rhode Island, whence he might make descents upon the coast ; and that 1000 stand of arms and 1000 Highlanders had been sent to Quebec. So high did sympathy for the colonists rise in England, that, on the 23d of August, the king issued a proclamation against BATTLE OF BTIUKER HILL. 7^ all in his realms who should aid, correspond with, or favor the rebels. It was found that the reve- nue, so unblushingly promised in Parliament, was to require a large outlay for its collection in the colonies. Instead of receiving taxes from hence, they were obliged to send regiments of their own subjects, with foreign mercenaries, and coals, fagots, vinegar, porter, hay, vegetables, sheep, oxen, horses, clothing, — to say nothing of muni- tions of war, — across 3000 miles of water, and even then, to anticipate, as the result proved, with good reason, that some of their richest trans- ports would fall into the hands of these reluctant tax-payers. Some of the Highlanders who were induced to enlist by the representations of recruit- ing sergeants, were told that they were to take possession of some vacant farms in this country, the owners of which had been driven into the interior. They even received certificates that when the rebellion here was subdued, each of them should have a clear title to two hundred acres of land for himself, and fifty acres in addi- tion for each member of his family. By a resolution of the Provincial Congress at Watertown, July 7th, the Committee of Safety prepared an account of the engagement on the 17th June, to be transmitted to Great Britain, for the sake of counteracting the influence of any misrepresentations on the part of General Gage. The account was dated July 25, and sent to 80 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. Arthur Lee, at London, who caused it to he pub- lished in the papers. But the sympathies and complaints of the English people were not left to be excited merely by documents sent from this side of the water, and answered by well-freighted transports from Britain. The people were made to witness some melancholy results of th^ battle, Avhich brought its pictures of sorrow to their own doors. On September 14th, a transport, (the Charming Nancy,) arrived at Plymouth, having left Boston, August 20th. On board were General Gage's lady, and 170 sick and wounded officers and soldiers, with 60 widows and children of the slain. The stench of the vessel was intolerable, but the condition of its human cargo was awful. Maimed and helpless, ragged and pined with sickness, — many of them hundreds of miles from their home in Ireland, — the sufferers, as they were landed and begged for charity in the streets, presented a most deplorable and wretched tale of the unnatural strife. Two more vessels, with similar cargoes, which left Boston at the same time, were daily expected, and more were on their way. Thus was Boston relieved of a part of its helpless vic- tims, and thus were the people of England most piteously besought to spare the blood of their own kinsfolk, rather than to make so fearful a sacrifice to national pride, to lust of dominion, and to the wealth expected from the taxation of the colonies. Nor did the conduct of the battle, on the part BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 81 of the British generals, escape severe scrutiny and censure. Plans were stated, and alternatives imagined, by which they might have secured a nearly bloodless victory. These complaints were made with good reason. A ship of war, some floating batteries, or the Cymetry transport, which drew but little water, might have been towed into Mystic river, and lying water-borne at low tide, (for during the heat of the strife the water was at ebb,) would have been within musket-shot of our left flank, and have rendered the rail fence use- less. The regulars might have landed in the rear of the provincials, and thus have surrounded them, have incapacitated the breastwork, cut off a retreat, and occupied Bunker's Hill. Or, sup- posing it was most in accordance with military rule and prudence that they should have landed as they did, in front, they should not have ad- vanced in an extended line, firing at intervals, but, formed into columns, should have rushed forward, reserving their fire for the redoubt, and charging with the bayonet. Their first two attacks were disastrous to themselves, but harm- less to the provincials. The simple truth seems to be, that the regular officers had a most despi- cable opinion of the provincials, and thought that the smell of powder, the glancing of bright bay- onets, and a well deployed line, would frighten them into flight. They were grievously mistaken. But, after all, when the dear-won victory was 92 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. theirs, why did they not pursue to Camhridge, under cover of their own ships, especially as, towards and after the close of the battle, Charles- town was filled with British troops who were hurrying over from Boston ? Another result attending the news of the battle in England, was the immediate recall of General Gage. Just before the arrival of the news, de- spatches had been prepared, yet not transmitted to him, in which his future operations were directed. But these despatches, when sent, were accompanied by another, in which he w^as directed to give them to General Howe, who was to suc- ceed him in the command, and in which he was advised that it was his Majesty's pleasure that he should immediately return to give information and counsel at home. It is likewise a remark- able, but a very manifest fact, that the disastrous character of this battle, the desperate courage of the provincials, and the hopeless aspect which the designs of the ministry began in consequence to wear, completely unmanned General Howe, deprived him of all energy in the conduct of the war, and entailed upon him disgrace. Such were the effects produced by this battle upon our enemies. They might be indefinitely enlarged upon, traced out in British petitions and addresses to the throne, in public opposition meetings held throughout the kingdom, in the reluctance of the soldiers to enlist in that cause, BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 83 and the high bounty promised to their services, and especially in the increasing number of the avowed and secret friends of the colonies in England. While such were the results of the battle on the other side of the water, its effects upon our own army and cause contribute to magnify its importance. We might trace out the influence of that battle through the whole war, might refer to the spirit and determination and self-respect which it infused into the provincials. We might find in every subsequent engagement of the war some individuals who had learned their military elements on June 17th. But we will confine our- selves to a statement of its immediate results which were favorable to our cause. Many of our offi- cers had received their commissions from Great Britain, and were in the receipt of half-pay at the time of the battle, which they of course resigned. The British took possession of, and strongly fortified Bunker and Breed's Hills, and posted their advanced guards upon the Neck. This division of their forces between the two penin- sulas was in one point of view advantageous to them, as it enlarged their quarters at a season of the year when Boston, crowded as it was, and made unwholesome by impure air, seemed as one large hospital. The cool heights of Charlestown were a refreshing refuge ; yet they were com- pelled to a great increase of their labor in defend- , ^4 BATTLE OF BTJNKER HILL. ing their works against an enemy so near to tliem, who insulted and vexed them, and made them feel the degradation of their position. During the ensuing inclement winter, the troops in Charles- town were obliged to live in tents, and were exposed to great sufferings and to driving snow- storms. Neither did the possession of Charles- town give the enemy any facility in obtaining supplies of fresh provisions, in which the country abounded, but of which they had enjoyed little, if any, after the battle of Lexington. In this re- spect, their condition was trying in the extreme. They could procure no fresh meat, vegetables, milk, or fuel, save what came in by water. The provincials took the live stock and the hay off the harbor islands, and intercepted many of the ves- sels entering with supplies. In a letter from an officer in Boston to a gentleman in London, dated July 25th, the writer says, they felt themselves worse off than the rebels ; as to numbers, like a few children in a large crowd; that the provin- cials daily grew more bold, menacing insolently, and leading the regulars to fear that, when the short nights came, the threats would be executed. He adds, " They know our situation as well as we do ourselves, from the villains that are left in town, who acquaint them with all our proceed- ings, making signals by night with gunpowder, and at day, out of the church steeples. About three weeks ago, three fellows were taken out of BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. m one of the latter, who confessed that he had been so employed for seven days. Another was caught last week swimming over to the rebels, with one of their general's passes in his pocket. He will be hanged in a day or two." The writer adds other instances of the boldness of the rebels, in beating in the advanced guard on the British Imes at Roxbury and destroying the guard-house, and in the pillaging and destruction of the light- house by some yankees who landed from boats, while a British ship of war lay becalmed within a mile. And what a cheering spectacle was set before the eyes of our fathers when the American army, ifttrenching upon all the beautiful and elevated hills which bound the semicircle around, con- fined their enemy to these two peninsulas. There was no concealing the fact that the ministerial troops felt deeply the degradation of their situ- ation, and were dispirited by it to a degree that weakened their moral and physical energies through the whole war. From the best infor- mation that Washington, on assuming his com- mand, July 3d, could obtain, he rated the number of the enemy at 11,500, while the provincials numbered 16,000 to 17,000. The sentries of the opposing forces stationed upon Charlestown Neck •Weie near enough to converse together. We are forcibly reminded of that admirable trait in the character of Washington, — a scrupulous attentiiOn 8 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. to minutiee, — as well as of tlie spirit of patriotism which sustained us under the war, by several of the " orders " issued by our General under these circumstances. He expressly forbade that any post of peculiar responsibility, such as that of sentry or guard at the advanced lines upon Rox- bury or Charlestown Necks, should be committed to any other than a native of this country, who had a wife and family in it, and was known to be attached to its interests. " This order is to be considered as a standing one, and the officers are to pay obedience to it at their peril." The contrast between the health and the food of the regulars and of the provincials was ex- tremely tantalizing. Hand-bills were printed at Cambridge, and sent on a favorable wind across the lines into the British camp. On one of these, an address to the British soldiers bears the following contrasted bills of fare, in the two camps : — Prospect Hill. I. Seven dollars a month. II. Fresh provisions and in plenty. UI. Health. IV. Freedom, ease, affluence, and a good farm. Bunker's Hill. I. Threepence a day. II. Rotten Salt Fork. III. The Scurvy. IV. Slavery, beggary, want. and In reviewing the whole struggle whose opening contest we have thus commemorated, we have a duty to. perform as patriots and as Christians ; let A BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 87 US hope that there be no discord in our senti- ments or purposes as we apply to ourselves those two epithets. As patriots we would vindicate our country, but as Christians we must regret the war, the civil strife, the bloody conflict, so utterly irreconcilable with the spirit and precepts of our religion. DOCUMENTS * ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE BATTLE OF BUNKER's HILL. PART I. ENGLISH DOCUMENTS. EXTRACTS FROM THE ORDERLY BOOK OF GENERAL HOWE. The following extracts embrace all that has reference to the engagement : " General morning orders, Saturday, June 17, 1775. The companies of the 35th and 49th, that are arrived, to land as soon as the transports can get to the wharf, and to encamp on the ground marked out for them on the common. " Captain Handfield is appointed to act as assist- ant to the Deputy Quartermaster General, and is to be obeyed as such. "The ten eldest companies of grenadiers, and the ten eldest companies of light infantry, (exclu- sive of those of the regiments lately landed,) the 5th and 38th regiments, to parade at half after BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 89 eleven o'clock, with their arms, amunition, blan- kets, and the provisions ordered to he hooked this morning. They will march by files to the Long Wharf. " The 43d and 52d regiments, with the remain- ing companies of light infantry and grenadiers, to parade at the same time, with the same directions, and march to the North Battery. The 47th regi- ment and the 1st battalion of marines will also march, as above directed, to the North Battery, after the rest are embarked, and be ready to em- bark there when ordered. " The rest of the troops will be kept in readi- ness to march at a moment's warning. " 1 subaltern, 1 Serjeant, 1 corporal, 1 drummer and 20 privates, to be left by each corps for the security of their respective encampments. " Any man who shall quit his rank, on any pretence, or shall dare to plunder or pillage, will be executed without mercy. " The pioneers of the army to parade immedi- ately, and march to the South Battery, where they will obey such orders as they will receive from Lieut. Col. Cleveland . " The light dragoons, mounted, to be sent im- mediately to the lines, where they will attend and obey the orders of the officer commanding there. " Two more to be sent in like manner to head quarters. '* Signals for the boats, in divisions, moving to 90 BATTIJE OF BTJNKEE HILL. tlie attack on the rebels, entrenched on the Heights of Charlestown: June 17, 1775, (viz.) Blue flag, To advance. Yellow do. To lay on oars. Red do To land. "Heights of Charlestown, June 18th, at nine o'clock, morning. — General Howe's Orders. ' " The troops will encamp as soon as the equi- page can be brought up. " Tents and provisions may be expected whep the tide admits of transporting them to this side. " The corps to take the duty at the entrenchment near Charlestown Neck alternately. The whole (those on the last mentioned duty excepted,) to furnish the third of their numbers for work, with officers and non-commissioned officers in propor- tion, and to be relieved every four hours. " The parties for work to carry their arms, and lodge them securely while on that duty. " General Howe expects that all officers will exert themselves to prevent the men from strag- gling, quitting their companies or platoons, and, on pain of death no man to be guilty of the shame- ful and infamous practice of pillaging in the deserted houses. " When men are sent for water, not less than twelve, with a non-commissioned officer, to be «ent on that duty. BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. W "The 47th regiment to continue at the post they now occupy. " The soldiers are by no means to cut down trees, unless ordered. " General Howe hopes the troops will in every instance show an attention to discipline and reg- ularity on this ground, equal to the br^.very and intrepidity, he, with the greatest satisfaction, ob- served they displayed so remarkably yesterday. He takes this opportunity of expressing his public testimony of the gallantry and good conduct of the officers under his command during the action, to which he in a great measure ascribes the suc- cess of the day. He considers particularly in this light the distinguished efforts of the Generals Clinton and Pigot. " The corps of light infantry will relieve the grenadiers at the advanced entrenchment, this evening at seven. "When the 52d regiment encamp, an officer aad twenty men of that corps will remain at the post they now occupy. " As soon as the ground is marked out for the encampment, the several corps will immediately make necessary houses." "General Orders — Head Quarters. Boston, 19th June, 1775. "The Commander-in-Chief returns his most grateful thanks to Major General Howe, for the 92 BATTLE OF BUNKEE HILL. extraordinary exertion of his military abilities on the 17th instant. He returns his thanks also to Major General Clinton, and Brigadier General Pigot, for the share they took in the success of the day, as well as to Lieut. Colonels Nesbitt, Aber- crombie. Gunning and Clarke, Majors Butler, Williams, Bruce, Tupper, Spendlove, Smelt and Mitchel, and the rest of the officers and soldiers, who, by remarkable efforts of courage and gal- lantry, overcame every disadvantage, and drove the rebels from their redoubt and strong holds on the Heights of Charlestown, and gained a com- pleat victory. "June 27, 1775. " The preservation of the few houses left in Charlestown (as much as possible) unimpaired, being an important object, any of the soldiers detected in future in attempting shamefully to purloin any part of these buildings, will assu- redly be punished most severely. The General considers such instances of devastation and irreg- ularity a disgrace to discipline." Extract of a letter from General Gage to Lord Dartmouth : Boston, June 25, 1775. " The success, of which I send your lordship an account by the present opportunity, was very necessary in our present situation, and I wish most sincerely that it had not cost us so dear. BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 93 The number of killed and wounded is greater than our forces can afford to lose. The officers, who were obliged to exert themselves, have suf- fered very much, and we have lost some extremely good officers. The trials we have had, show the rebels are not the despicable rabble too many have supposed them to be ; and I find it owing to a military spirit, encouraged among them for a few years past, joined with an uncommon degree of zeal and enthusiasm, that they are otherwise. When they find cover they make a good stand ; and the country, naturally strong, affords it to them, and they are taught to assist its natural strength by art, for they entrench and raise bat- teries. They have fortified all the heights and passes around this town, from Dorchester to Med- ford or Mystick, and it is not impossible for them to annoy the Town. " Your lordship will perceive that the conquest of this country is not easy, and can be effected only by time and perseverance, and strong armies attacking it in various quarters, and dividing their forces. Confining your operations on this side only is attacking in the strongest part, and you have to cope with vast numbers. It might natu- rally be supposed, that troops of the nature of the rebel army would return home after such a check as they had got ; and I hear many wanted to go off, but care has been taken to prevent it; for any man that returns home without a pass, is immedi- 94 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. ately seized and sent back to his regiment. In all their wars against the French, they never showed so much conduct, attention and perseve- rance as they do now. I think it my duty to let your lordship know the true situation of affairs, that administration may take measures accord- ingly. " The people's minds are kept so much heated and inflamed, that they are always ripe for every- thing that is extravagant. Truth is kept from them, and they are too full of prejudices to believe it, if laid before them ; and so blind and bigoted, that they cannot see they have exchanged liberty for tyranny. No people were ever governed more absolutely than those of the American Provinces now are, and no reason can be given for their submission, but that it is a tj^ranny they have erected themselves, as they believe, to avoid great- er evils. General Gage to the Earl of Dartmouth. [From the London Gazette.] " Whitehall, July 25, 1775. " This morning arrived Captain Chadds, of His Majesty's ship Cerberus, with the following letter from the Hon. Lieut. General Gage, to the Earl of Dartmouth, one of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State." BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 96 " Copy of a letter from the Hon. Lieut. General Gage, to the Earl of Dartmouth, dated Boston, June 25, 1775. " My Lord : I am to acquaint your lordship of an action that happened on the 17th instant, between his Majesty's troops and a body of the rebel forces. " An alarm was given at break of day on the 17th instant, by a firing from the Lively, ship of war; and advice was soon afterwards received, that the rebels had broke ground, and were raising a battery on the heights of the peninsula of Charlestown, against the Town of Boston. They were plainly seen at work, and in a few hours a battery of six guns played upon their works. Preparations were instantly made for landing a body of men to drive them off, and ten companies of -grenadiers and ten of light infantry, with the fifth, thirty-eighth, forty-third and fifty-second bat- talions made a third line. The rebels upon the Heights were perceived to be in great force, and strongly posted — a redoubt, thrown up on the 16th, at night, with other works, full of men, defended with cannon, and a large body posted in the hou- ses in Charlestown, covered their right flank, and their centre and left were covered by a breastwork, part of it cannon proof, which reached from the left of the redoubt, to the Mystic or Medford river. " This appearance of the rebels' strength, and the, large columns seen pouring in to their assist- 96 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. ance, occasioned an application for the troops to be reinforced with some companies of light infan- try and grenadiers, the forty-seventh battalion, and the first battalion of marines ; the whole, when in conjunction, making a body of something above two thousand men . These troops advanced , formed in two lines, and the attack began by a sharp cannonade from our field pieces and howitzers ; the lines advancing slowly, and frequently halting to give time for the artillery to fire. The light infan- try was directed to force the left point of the breastwork, to take the rebel line in flank, and the grenadiers to attack in front, supported by the fifth and fifty-second battalions. These orders were executed with perseverance, under a heavy fire from the vast numbers of the rebels ; and not- withstanding various impediments before the troops could reach the works, (and though the left, under Brigadier General Pigot, who engaged also vnth the rebels at CharlestoA^ni, which at a critical mo- ment was set on fire,) the Brigadier pursued his point, and carried the redoubt. The rebels were then forced from other strong holds, and pursued till they were drove clear off' the peninsula, leaving five pieces of cannon behind them. " The loss the rebels sustained must have been considerable, from the great numbers they carried off during the time of the action, and buried in holes, since discovered, exclusive of what they suffered by the shipping and boats. Near one hundred were buried tho n^-rt dav after, and BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. W thirty found wounded in the field, three of whom are since dead. " I enclose your lordship a return of the killed and wounded of His Majesty's troops. " This action has shown the superiority of the King's troops, who, under every disadvantage, attacked and defeated above three times their number, strongly posted, and covered by breast- works. " The conduct of Major General Howe was conspicuous on this occasion, and his example spirited the troops, in which Major General Clin- ton assisted, who followed the reinforcement. And in justice to Brigadier General Pigot, I am to add, that the success of the day must, in a great measure, be attributed to his firmness and gallantry. " Lieutenant Colonels Nesbit, Abercrombde, Clarke ; Majors Butler, Williams, Bruce, Spend- love, Smelt, Mitchell, Pitcairn, and Short, ex- erted themselves remarkably; and the valor of the British officers and soldiers in general was at no time more conspicuous than in this action. " I have the honor to be, &;c., "Thomas Ga&e." [Then follows the return with the names of the officers, non-commissioned officers, and pri- vates, of the different corps, killed and wounded : subjoined is the ensuing summary.] 9 98 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. " Total, — one Lieutenant Colonel, two Majors, seven Captains, nine Lieutenants, fifteen Ser- geants, one Drummer, one hundred and ninety- one rank and file, killed ; three Majors, twenty- seven Captains, thirty-two Lieutenants, eight Ensigns, twenty Sergeants, twelve Drummers, seven hundred and six rank and file, wounded." [The above summary was not strictly accurate, nor complete. Of course, very many of the wounded died soon after this account was written. The whole number of the killed and wounded w^as afterwards estimated by the British at 1054. Some of their men were missing after the battle, who were supposed to have deserted to the Americans.] " Observations on the government account of the late action near Charlestown." [From the Op- position journals.] " London, August 1, 1775. " There are two sorts of persons who always persevere uniformly, and without shame, in one unvaried line of conduct, regardless of the con- tempt and detestation of mankind. The sorts I mean are the thorough virtuous, and the thorough scoundrel. " To one of these classes most evidently belong the ministers, who settled the account which they have given us in last Tuesday's Gazette. BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 99 " The action near Boston, happened on the * 17th of June,' yet General Gage's letter is dated eight days after, on the ' 25th of June.' " By this letter it appears that it has cost one thousand and sixty-four of the troops, killed and wounded, to destroy a redouht thrown up only the overnight, i. e., on the 16th of June. " The loss of the provincials, the letter says, ' must have been considerable ;' yet eight days after the action, the General, though completely victorious, can tell us only of ' one hundred ' buried, and ' thirty' wounded. " But ' they had carried off great numbers dur- ing the time of the action.' Did they so ? That is no great sign of flight, confusion, and defeat. " But ' they buried them in holes.' Really ! why, are our soldiers buried in the air ? " But ' the King's troops were under every disadvantage.' So truly it seems; for in the same letter we are told ' that they had a propor- tion of field artillery, and landed on the peninsula without opposition, and formed as soon as landed, under the protection of some ships of war, armed vessels, and boats, by whose fire the rebels were kept within their works.' " But ' this action has shown the superiority of the King's troops.' Has it, indeed? How? Why they (with a proportion of field artillery, and with the assistance of ships, armed vessels, 'and boats, and with the encouragement of certain and speedy 100 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. reinforcements, if necessary,) attacked anc de- feated 'above three times their own numbers.' What, three times their own numbers? Of whom, pray? Of French or Spanish regu- lars ? No, of the Americans. Of the Americans ! What, of those dastardly, hypocritical cowards, who, (Lord Sandwich knows,) do not feel bold enough to dare to look a soldier in the face I Of those undisciplined and spiritless Yankees, who were to be driven from one end of the continent to the other, with a single regiment ! What, of those skulking assassins, who can only fire at a distance, from behind stone walls and hedges ! Good God! Was it necessary to defeat these fellows, that the troops should be ' spirited ' by the example of General Howe, assisted by Gen- eral Clinton ! And can it be, that Lieutenant Colonels Nesbit, Abercrombie, and Clarke ; Ma- jors Butler, Williams, Bruce, Spendlove, Smelt, Mitchell, Pitcairn, and Short, should be forced to exert themselves remarkably, against such pol- troons ! Is it possible that this could be an affair in which ' the valor of the British officers and soldiers, in general, was as conspicuous as at any time whatever,' and notwithstanding all this, that the success, in a great measure, should be attributed to the firmness and gallantry of Gen- eral Pigot ! "Good'God! is it come to this at last? Can the regulars, with all these exertions, only defeat BATTLE OF BUNKEK HILL. IM three times their own number of undisciplined cowards? and that, too, at the expense of one thousand and sixty-four, (that is, more than one- half,) killed and wounded, out of something above two thousand ? "Is every redoubt which the Americans can throw up in a short summer night, to be demol- ished at this expense ? How many such victories can we bear ? " Alas I When I read in the General's letter the regular and formidable preparations for attack; ' ten companies of grenadiers, ten of light infantry, with the fifth, thirty-eighth, forty-third, and fifty- second battalions, with a proportion of field artil- lery, under the command of Major General Howe and Brigadier General Pigot;' and these 'landed on the peninsula under the protection of ships of war, armed vessels, and boats,' and their dreadful fire ; when I had read this, I concluded that the next lines would inform us of the immediate and precipitate flight of the Yankees. Judge, then, of my surprise when I read that (instead of being at all dismayed or struck with the Sandwich panic,) ' large columns ' of these cowards ' were seen pouring in to their assistance.' " Well, but then comes ' an application for the troops to be reinforced with some companies of light infantry and grenadiers, the forty-seventh battalion, and the first battalion of marines.' They will certainly, thought I, scamper away 9=^ 102 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. now. Alas ! no. They stay and fig-lit. And to complete my astonishment, I cannot find in Gen- eral Gage's letter, where our troops were when he wrote, nor what became of them after the action ; whether they are returned to Boston, or have ventured to encamp without the town; what prisoners they have taken ; what advantages (be- sides five pieces of cannon,) result from this bloody action ; whether the war is now at an end, or what the troops propose to do next. " To be serious, I am, for my own part, con- vinced that the event of this execrable dragooning is decided ; and that before winter, there will not be a single soldier of Lord Bute's and Lord Mansfield's mercenary troops left upon the conti- nent of America. " With what consolation those noble lords will v/ipe away the tears of the widow and orphans, (as well English as American,) which these bloody Stuart measures have occasioned, I can- not tell ; but I knov7 that my eyes will gush out with joy when they see the authors of our domes- tic miseries receive (what I believe they will soon receive) their just reward." Further observations. " I have the highest idea of General Howe's military character, yet cannot help wondering how he came to sufller the provincials to escape, an& even carry off their dead, when drove from their strong lines ; for 1 conceive it very easy to have destroyed the BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. lOB whole body, after dislodging them so suddenly from their intrenchments, if Mr. Gage is suffered to tell the story right. I can't help observing, also, that I never before heard of so many men, in proportion to the number, being killed and wounded from redoubts made in four hours, and from six pieces of cannon only, in those redoubts, to oppose above one hundred pieces. I therefore suspect that the disagreeable scene is not unfolded. " One or both of the following conclusions must be drawn from this narration : the Ameri- cans are either the cleverest fellows in the world at making strong lines in three or four hours, or the most desperate enemy in defending them; for, by Mr. Gage's account, they killed and wounded near half his army in marching up about three hundred yards under a complete train of artillery, and all the fire of the navy to cover them ; which, by this account, is a new instance of successful defence from one night's labor. Hah, Gad ! by this rule, the Americans will put our whole army into the grave or hospitals in three or four nights' work, and an hour's fire in each morning. I do not remember precisely, but am apt to believe that there were not so many officers killed and wounded at the battle of Min- den, though the English regiments sustained the ^orce of the whole French army for a consider- able time. A six-gun battery, the productim of a night's digging, had there been ten thcusan I men 104 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. to protect it, could never have made such havoc against a vast train of artillery, and the irresist- ible fire of our ships, which would sweep all before them, from every acre of that peninsula. But the true story is not told. A Methodist sec- retary and a Scotch printer can do more than our people ; they pay off the sins of omission and commission of the day, by a long prayer at night, and thus settle accounts between God and the people in an hour's devotion." " London, August 8, 1775. " The account of the late action between the Americans and the troops of General Gage, is one of the most evasive and unsatisfactory that ever yet obtruded on the public, even through the channel of a ministerial paper ; and yet it is every way worthy of the victory which it affects to describe. ' The General sent out ' something above two thousand men,' of whom, something above half, (i. e., 1053,) are either killed or wounded. The General, however, takes care not to mention how many hours were employed in the prosecution of this hopeful business, but, nevertheless, pretends to tell us that great num- bers of the enemy were destroyed ; and seems to have employed his soldiers in digging up such as BATTLE OF BCTNKETl HILL. 105 were bnried in holes, that he might have power to ascertain the value of his conquest. " With all the vanity of a military man he praises the conduct of the officers under his com- mand ; hut prudently omits to say whether any such advantage has been gained as may make up for the loss of one Lieutenant Colonel, two Majors, seven Captains, nine Lieutenants, fif- teen Sergeants, one Drummer, one hundred and ninety-one rank and file, killed; and three Ma- jors, twenty-seven Captains, thirty-two Lieuten- ants, eight Ensigns, forty Sergeants, twelve Drummers, and seven hundred and six rank and file, wounded, and unfit for service. In short, if, every time the General sends out his brace of thousands, the one half of them shall either drop or be rendered useless, we shall soon see an end to the war in America, but it cannot be ex- pected to terminate in our own favor. ^ " The ministry received this account several days before it was announced, but were either unable or unwilling to cook it up for the public, till after their despatches had been sent away. The printer may rely on this assurance from one whose private letters will always reach him unexamined and uncastrated by the spies of government. General Gage is but too well con- vinced that such another victory would oblige him to re-embark his troops and sail immediately 106 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. for England, without attempting any further re- duction of the Americans. " The Captain who brought these despatches from Boston, was commanded to declare he had great news of the defeat of the Americans, though he had assured many people, in the towns through which he passed on his way to London, that he w^as afraid the accounts he brought would throw the whole nation into disorder, and direct its ven- geance on the advisers of hostile measures in America." General Burgoyne to Lord Stanley : " Boston, June 25, 1775. " Boston IS a peninsula, joined to the main land only by a narrow neck, which, on the first trou- bles, General Gage fortified; arms of the sea and the harbor surround the rest on the other side. On one of these arms, to the north, is Charles- town ; or rather was, for it is now rubbish; and over it is a large hill, which is also (like Boston) a peninsula. To the south of the town is a still larger slope of ground, containing three hills, joining also to the main by a tongue of land, and called Dorchester Neck. The Heights, as above described, both north and south, (in the soldier's phrase,) command the town ; that is, give an opportunity of erecting batteries above any that you can make against them, and consequently are much more advantageous. It was absolutely BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 107 necessary we should make ourselves masters of these Heights, and we proposed to begin with Dorchester ; because, from the particular situation of batteries and shipping, (too long to describe, and unintelligible to you if I did,) it would evidently be effected without any considerable loss. Every- thing, was accordingly disposed ; my two col leagues and myself (who, by the by, have never differed in one jot of military sentiment) had, in concert with General Gage, formed the plan. Howe was to land the transports on the point ; Clinton in the centre, and I was to cannonade from the causeway or the Neck ; each to take advantage of circumstances. The operations must have been very easy. This was to have been exe- cuted on the eighteenth. On the seventeenth, at dawn of day, we found the enemy had pushed intrenchments with great diligence during the night, on the Heights of Charlestown, and we evidently saw that every hour gave them fresh strength. It therefore became necessary to alter our plan, and attack on that side. Howe, as second in command, was detached with about two thousand men, and landed on the outward side of the peninsula, covered with shipping and without opposition ; he was to , advance from thence up the hill, which was over Charlestown, where the strength of the enemy lay ; he had under him Brigadier General Pigot. Clinton and myself took our stand (for we had not any fixed post) in 108 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. a large battery directly opposite to Charlestown, and coinmanded it, and also reaching the heights above it, and thereby facilitating Howe's attack. Howe's disposition was exceedingly soldier-like ; in my opinion it was perfect. As his first arm advanced up the hill they met with a thousand impediments from strong fences, and were much exposed. They were also exceedingly hurt by musketry from Charlestown, though Clinton and 1 did not perceive it till Howe sent us word by a boat, and desired us to set fire to the town, which was immediately done ; we threw a parcel of shells, and the whole was instantly in flames. Our battery afterwards kept an incessant fire on the Heights ; it was seconded by a number of frigates, floating batteries, and one ship-of-the-line. And now ensued one of the greatest scenes of war that can be conceived : if we look to the Heights, Howe's corps ascending the hill, and in the face of intrenchments, and in a very disadvantageous ground, was much engaged ; to the left, the enemy pouring in fresh troops by thousands, over the land and the arm of the sea, our ships and float- ing batteries cannonading them ; straight before us a large and noble town in one great blaze — the church steeples being timber, were great pyra- mids of fire above the rest ; behind us, the church steeples and heights of our own camp, covered with spectators of the rest of our army, which was engaged ; the hills round the country covered BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 109 with spectators, the enemy all in anxious suspense, the roar of cannon, mortars and musketry, the crash of churches, ships upon the stoclis, and whole streets falling together, to fill the ear; the storm of the redoubts, with the objects above described, to fill the eye ; and the reflection that, perhaps, a defeat was a final loss to the British Empire in America, to fill the mind; made the whole a picture and a complication of horror and importance beyond anything that ever came to my lot to be v/itness to. I much lament Tom's [the Honorable Thomas Stanley, Esquire, nephew to General Burgoyne, and brother to Lord Stanley, a volunteer in the army] absence ; it was a sight fqr a young soldier that the longest^ service may not furnish again ; and had he been with me, he would likewise have been out of danger; for, except two cannon balls that went a hundred yards over our heads, we were not in any part of the direction of the enemy's shot. A moment of the day was critical ; Howe's left were staggered ; t^yo battalions had been sent to reinforce them, but we perceived them on the beach, seeming in embarrassment what way to march. Clinton, then, next for business, took the part, without wait- ing for orders, to throw himself into a boat to head them ; he arrived in time to be of service ; the day ended with glory, and the success was niost important, considering the ascendency it gave the regular troops ; but the loss was upcom- 10 110 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. mon in officers for the numbers engaged. Howe was untouched, but his aid-de-camp, Sherwin, was killed ; Jordan, a friend of Howe's, who came engage le de c(Bur, to see the campaign, (a ship- mate of ours on board the Cerberus, and who acted as aid-de-camp,) is badly wounded. Pigot was unhurt, but he behaved like a hero. You will see the list of the loss. Poor Colonel Aber- crombie, who commanded the grenadiers, died yesterday of his wounds. Captain Addison, our poor old friend, who arrived but the day before, and was to have dined with me on the day of the action, was also killed ; his son was upon the field at the same time. Major Mitchell is but very slightly hurt ; he is out already. Young Chet- wynd's wound is also slight. Lord Percy's regi- ment has suffered the most, and behaved the best ; his lordship himself was not in the action. Lord Rowden behaved to a charm ; his name is estab- lished for life." [Observations on the above, in the Opposition paper, addressed] " To General Burgoyne : " Sir : In reading the newspapers, I find an extract of a letter, which it is said you wrote a few days after the battle of Charlestown, to a noble Lord in England ; and I take notice you close your narration of that important day's work, by saying, ' the day ended with glory.' BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. Ill " As I am totally at a loss to know what part of the day's conduct was crowned with so much * glory ' on your part, permit me, sir, to inquire whether it was such a ' glorious ' achievement, for upwards of two thousand regular disciplined troops, heing the flower of the British army, headed by the most approved and experienced generals, with part of the train of artillery, sup- ported and covered with one ship-of-the-line, a number of frigates and floating batteries, and a large battery on Copp's Hill, in which General Clinton and you took your stand, and which com- manded the town, to dislodge a much inferior number of American militia, from a slender de- fence which they had but four hours to prepare, for it was twelve o'clock before either spade or pick- axe entered the ground, and the Lively, ship-of- war, fired upon them at four next morning, and soon after the battery above mentioned began to play ? " Was it, indeed, such a ' glorious ' action, with all this tremendous apparatus of war, and under all these advantageous circumstances, in the space of twelve hours to kill seventy-seven, and wound two hundred and seventy-eight Americans, (twenty- eight of whom were captivated,) and take five small pieces of cannon, which they had not time to place ? Nor was all this effected till they had sustained your fire from four o'clock in the morn- ing till four o'clock in the afternoon ; being then quite worn down with fatigue, and their ammu- nition wholly expended, were obliged to retreat. 112 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. " Your representation of the transactions of that day, does the Americans an honor you never intended. All Europe will revere the fortitude, and stand surprised at the firmness and valor, of this handful of brave, though undisciplined men. " Or was it, indeed, such a ' glorious ' sight to view the field stre^ved with the mangled corpses of a few brave and virtuous Americans ? Or to see the agonies and hear the piercing shrieks and dying groans of Abercrombie, Pitcairn, and above a thousand others of those who Avere brought hither to crush the rising liberty of America, but who now lay weltering in their gore ? Or to behold the inexpressible anguish of the widows and orphans made by that day's wicked attempt to enslave America ? " If such a scene as this is * glorious ' in your eyes, Americans are of opposite sentiments ; they lament the loss of those brave Britons, whose life and blood should have been reserved for a cause of justice against the natural enemies of Englishmen. Americans mourn over the wounds you compel them to give, and heartily sympathize with those widows and orphans you forced them to make. " But perhaps it was your laying Charlestown in ashes, that has elated your mind, and led you to conclude that ' the day ended with glory.' Remember, sir, any parricide, any assassin, the greatest of villains, with proper materials, can set BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 113 wooden buildings on fire, especially when they themselves are as far out of danger as you were at that time. " Was it, indeed, ' glorious ' to see whole streets falling together in flaming ruins, owned by subjects second to none for their loyalty to the monarch of Britain, who, by the way, have now sprung to their arms, determined to check the bloody career of ministerial vengeance, or perish in the attempt ? " Was there any necessity, from the exigency of the day, for this wanton waste of English property, to the amount of one hundred thousand pounds sterling? You yourself acknowledged that neither Clinton nor you perceived any firing from the town of Charlestown, on the troops under Lord Howe ; nor did anybody else see any ; for I now appeal to his lordship's candor, whether it was possible that his troops could have been an- noyed by the Americans from any of the houses in Charlestown, provided those houses had been full of them ? The town of Charlestown was always in your power, and you might have set it on fire at any hour when you pleased. " Would it not have been less inglorious to have reserved it for the use of your own troops, who have since loaded you with many a curse, while suffering in cold and rain, for want of being covered in those very buildings you de- stroyed ? 10* 114 BATTLE OF feUNKER HILL. " If this is your idea of ' glory,' I shall think i-hat this, and the martial soul you discover, in lamenting the absence of your nephew, Thomas Stanley, Esquire, because you were out of the direction of the American shot, pretty near of a piece. " Liberty, peace and glory, to both countries j is the voice of America." Extract of a letter from Mr. Grant, one of the surgeons of the British Military Hospital in Boston, to a friend in "Westminster, dated June 23, 1775. " I have scarce time sufficient to eat my meals ; therefore you must expect but a few lines. I have been up two nights, assisted with four mates, dressing our men of the wounds they received the last engagement. Many of the wounded are daily dying, and many must have both legs am- putated. The provincials had either exhausted their ball, or they were determined that every wound should prove mortal. Their muskets were charged with old nails and angular pieces of iron ; and from most of our men being wounded in the legs, we are inclined to believe it was their design, not wishing to kill the men, but leave them afe burdens on us, to exhaust our provisions and engage our attention, as well as to intimidate the rest of the soldiery." BAtTLE OP BUNKER HILL. 116 Extract of a letter from an officer of rank to a gentleman in London, dated, Boston, June 18, 1775. " We left Cork early in April, and after a very- tedious and disagreeable passage of seven weeks, arrived here on the sixteenth day of this month. On our landing, we found everything in the utmost confusion, partly arising from the mur- murs of the soldiery ; the difference of opinion among the superior officers; the want of fresh provisions ; the general unhealthiness of the troops, and, above all, the misery of the wretched inhabitants, destitute of food, raiment, or property. Whether it was an aggregate of all these, or a weakness arising from a sea-sickness, which com- menced at the cove of Cork, and only left me on my landing, I will not pretend to say, but I have been totally confined to my room since last Sat- urday. Yesterday morning, the troops were ordered under arms at three o'clock, on a boat being sent from one of the ships of war to ac- quaint us that the provincials were raising works in order to besiege us, and put us between cross fires. Feeble as I was, I arose and dressed my- self, and went down to the head-quarters to offer my service. There were two reasons, however, which prevented their acceptance; one was the state of my health, the other that the regiment I belonged to was not ordered out. The troops destined for that service were landed on the 116 BATTLE OF BUNKER Hli^L. Charlestuwn side between eight and nine o'clock j but on account of the number of the provincials, the troops did not begin the attack for a consid- erable time. In the prodigious confusion this place is now in, all I can tell now is, that the troops behaved with the most unexampled bra- very, and after an engagement of nearly five hours, we forced the provincials from their posts, redoubts, and intrenchments, one by one. This victory has cost us very dear, indeed, as we have lost some of the best officers in the service, and a great number of private men. Nor do I see that we enjoy one solid benefit in return, or are likely to reap from it any one advantage w^hatever. We have, indeed, learned one melancholy truth, w^hich is, that the Americans, if they were equally well commanded, are full as good soldiers as ours ; and as it is, are very little inferior to us, even in discipline and steadiness of countenance. This sudden, unexpected affair, has had, however, one good effect upon me, for I find myself much better. " P. S. Since I wrote the above, I fell into conversation with a gentleman who was present in both actions, and who told me that the King's troops must have -been totally destroyed in each, had the provincials known their own strength, particularly on the former's return from Lexing- ton to Boston, on *.he 19th of April." BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 117 Extract of a letter frotn an officer on board one ot the King's ships at Boston, to his friend in London, dated June 23, 1775. " On the evening of the sixteenth we were informed that the provincials were erecting a battery on the Heights near Charlestown, and that they intended from thence to bombard the town of Boston. Early on the seventeenth, we were alarmed with an account that they had been at work upon it all night, and had nearly completed it. We were immediately ordered to land some battalions, and in the meantime our great guns were fired against those who appeared to be busily employed at the battery. Whether our shot did not reach far enough to create any confusion among them, or it was owing to their resolution, I cannot say ; but certain it is, that the moment they discovered the landing of our troops, they formed in order of battle, and so far from retreating, as we expected, they marched towards us with the utmost coolness and regu- larity. Nothing can exceed the panic and appa- rent dislike of most of the King's troops to enter into this engagement ; even at the landing, sev- eral attempted to run away, and five actually took to their heels in order to join the Americans, but were presently brought back, and two of them were immediately hung up in terrorem to the rest. They, for the most part, openly express a dislike to the service in which they are engaged, 118 BATTLE OF lUNKER HILL. and nothing but the fear of military punishment prevents their daily deserting. The generals, perceiving the strength and order of the provin- cials, ordered a reinforcement to join the -troops already landed, but before they came up, the can- nonading on both sides began. The provincials poured down like a torrent, and fought like men who had no care for their persons; they disputed every inch of gTound, and their numbers were far superior to ours. The King's troops gave way several times, and it required the utmost efforts of the generals to rally them. At the beginning of the engagement, many of them absolutely turned their backs, not expecting so hot a fire from the Americans ; the latter feigned a retreat, in order, as we suppose, to draw our troops after them, and by that means to cut them in pieces ; and we are informed that General Ward had a reserve of four thousand men for that purpose. The King's troops, concluding that the Americans quitted the field through fear, pursued them under that apprehension, but did not proceed far enough to be convinced by that fatal experience, which was, as Ave hear, designed for them, of their mis- take. The engagement lasted upwards of four hours, and ended infinitely to our disadvantage. The flower of our army are killed or wounded. During the engagement, Charlestown was set on fire by the King's troops, in order to stop the progress of the provincials, who, after their sham BATTLE OF BUNKEE HILL. 119 retreat, returned to attack them ; but I think it was a wanton act of the King's troops, who cer- tainly, after they had joined the main body of our army, had no occasion to take that method of retarding the return of the Americans, who, upon perceiving that General Ward stood still with his reserve, laid aside their intentions. " Our troops are sickly, and a great number are afflicted with the scurvy, occasioned by the want of fresh provisions. I heartily wish myself with you and the rest of my friends, and the first op- portunity that offers, I will sell out and return, for at the best, only disgrace can arise in the service of such a cause as that in which we are engaged. The Americans are not those poltroons I myself was once taught to believe them to be ; they are men of liberal and noble sentiments ; their very characteristic is the love of liberty ; and though I am an officer under the King of Great Britain, I tacitly admire their resolution and perseverance against the present oppressive measures of the British Government." Extract of a letter from a merchant in Boston to his brother in Scotland, dated June 24, 1775. "From the nineteenth of April to the seven- teenth of June, nothing very material has hap- pened. On the twelfth of June the General 120 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. Issued a pn^damation offering his Majesty's most gracious pardon to all who would lay down arms and return to their duty, excepting two of the ringleaders ; and likewise establishing martial law in this province while this unnatural rebel- lion exists ; bu.t no regard was paid to this. " On the seventeenth instant, at daylight, it was observed by some of the ships of war, that the rebels had thrown up an intrenchment on a hill on the other side of the river, about one mile from this town. The alarm about this new movement of theirs was general ; for from this, if they were suffered to go on, they could beat down or burn the town. At nine o'clock, a battery on an emi- nence in this town, directly opposite to their works, began to play upon them, but found they could not dislodge them. " The rebels fired a few shots into this town, and then desisted, for their shot did no execution. Eighteen hundred of the best of the troops were immediately ordered to embark on board of boats and go and engage them, under the command of General Howe. About three o'clock they landed on the other side, about half a mile from the rebels, under the cover of five or six ships of war. who kept a continual fire on the ground between the place of landing and the enemy, who chose to lie close in their breastworks all this time. As soon as the troops had got themselves in order, they began to advance, cannonading all the way BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 121 • till they came within gunshot. Charlestown, on the foot of the hill, consisting of about two hun- dred houses, was set on fire by the fort on this side, at the instant the engagement began, whose flames raged in the most rapid manner, being chiefly of wood. Sure I am, nothing ever has been, or can be, more dreadfully terrible, than what was to be seen and heard at this time ! The most incessant discharge of guns that ever was heard with mortal ears continued for three quar- ters of an hour, and then the troops forced their trenches, and the rebels fled. " The place where the battle was fought, is a peninsula of a mile long, and a half broad, and the troops drove them over the Neck and kept the island. All this was seen from this town. " A very small part of the enemy's intrench- meAts was seen on this side, it being only thought t& be the work of a night ; but their chief breast- Works w^ere on the other side of the hill ; it was found to be the strongest post that w^as ever occu- pied by any set of men, and the prisoners that were taken, say they were nine thousand strong, [!] and ha.d a good artillery. [!] Five cannons were takeil. The spirit and bravery that the British troops exhibited on this occasion, I suppose is not id be surpassed in any history. But oh ! the rnelancholy sight of killed and wounded that was ^en on that day ! In four hours after theii' landing, not less than five hundred wounded were 11 122 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. relanded here, and one hundred and forty were left dead on the field, amongst whom was a large proportion of brave officers, viz., thirty-six killed, and forty-four wounded; three hundred of the rebels were killed, and thirt^r-six wounded left on the field, but they carried off great numbers of their wounded on their retreat. To the great sat- isfaction of all good men. Doctor Warren was slain, who was one of their first and greatest leaders. " Early next morning I went over and saw the field of battle, before any of the dead were buried, which was the first thing of the sort that I ever saw, and I pray God I may never have the oppor- tunity of seeing the like again. The rebels are employed since that day fortifying all the hills and passes vrithin four miles, to prevent the troops from advancing into the country. We hourly expect the troops to make a movement against them, but they are too few in number, not less than twenty thousand being equal to the task. I cannot help mentioning one thhig, which serves to show the hellish disposition of the accursed rebels: by parcels of ammunition that were lefl on the field, their balls were all found to be poisoned. [!] " Thus, brother, I have endeavored to give you a short account of the desperate state of matters here since my last, and shall sum up the whole with one single observation, viz., the delusion that BATTLE OP BUNKER HILL. 123 reigns here is as universal and as deeply rooted as can be found in the annals of mankind ; and of all other rebellions that ever existed in the world, it is the most unprovoked. " I am, &c." [The following letter, written by Henry Hulton, Esq., Commissioner of his Majesty's Customs at Boston, is a precious specimen of that arro- gance and impertinence with much of which our fathers were insulted. Let the reader mark the amiable spirit of the writer when he reasons that it is a dreadful thing to kilt Englishmen, or to make English widows and orphans, but that to do the iame with regard to Americans is but a pleasant pastime.] " Boston, June 20, 1775. " Dear Sir : I had the favor of a letter from you about two months ago. For these two months past our situation has been critical and alarming, the town being blockaded, and the whole country in arms all around us. The people have not only cut us off from all supplies, but they do their utmost to prevent any kind of provision being brought us from the neighboring ports ; and as we were surprised into these circumstances, I wonder we have held out so long as we have done. We have bread, salt meat, and fresh fish, and there 124 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. appears no distress for want of subsistence Many thousands of the inhabitants abandoned their dwellings, in apprehension that a speedy destruction would fall on the place ; and, indeed, we have been wonderfully preserved. The afiair of the 19th of April prevented the execution of a diabolical plot, and had not the troops gone out on the 17th instant, it is probable that the town at this hour would have been in ashes. The rein- forcement to the army from England came very timely, for the generals only awaited the arrival of these regiments to enter upon action. " We are now very anxious for the arrival of the second division, and I am afraid it will be necessary to have another to that, before the army can operate effectually round this place. The country is very strong by nature, and the rebels have possessed themselves of all the advantageous posts, and have thrown up intrenchments in many parts. From the heights of this place, we have a view of the whole town, the harbor, and country round for a great extent, and last Saturday I was a spectator of a most awful scene my eyes ever beheld. On the morning of the 17th, it was ob- served that the rebels had thrown up a breast- work, and were preparing to open a battery upon the Heights above Charlestown, from whence they might incommode the shipping, and destroy the north part of Boston. Immediately a cannon- ading began from the battery in the north part of Bi.TTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 125 the town and the ships of war, on those works, and on the enemy, wherever they could be dis- covered within reach of their guns. Soon after eleven o'clock, the grenadiers, light infantry, ma- rines, and two battalions marched out of their encampments, and embarked in boats, and before high water were landed on a point of land to the eastward of Charlestown, and they immediately took post on a little eminence. Great was our trepidation lest they should be attacked by supe- rior numbers, before they could be all assembled and properly prepared, but more boats arrived, and the whole advanced, some on the other side, round the hill where the battery was erected, and some through part of Charlestown. On that side of the hill which was not visible from Boston, it seems very strong lines w^ere thrown up, and were occupied by many thousands of the rebels. The troops advanced with great ardor towards the intrenchments, but were much galled in the assault, both from the artillery and the small arms, and many brave officers and men were killed and wounded. As soon as they got to the intrench- ments, the rebels fled, and many of them were killed in the trenches and in their flight. The marines, in marching through part of Charles- town, were fired at from the houses, and there fell their brave commander, Major Pitcairn. His son was likewise wounded. Hearing his father was killed, he cried out, ' I have lost my father;* 11# 126 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. immediately the corps returned, 'We have lost our father.' How glorious to die with such an epitaph ! " Upon the firing from the houses, the town was immediately set in flames, and at four o'clock, we saw the fire and the sword, all the horrors of war raging. The town was burning all the night; the rebels sheltered themselves in the adja- cent hills, and the neighborhood of Cambridge, and the army possessed themselves of Charles- town Neck. We were exulting in seeing the flight of our enemies, but in an hour or two we had occasion to mourn and lament. Dear was the purchase of our safety ! In the evening the streets were filled with the wounded and the dy- ing ; the sight of which, with the lamentations of the women and children 'over their husbands and fathers, pierced one to the soul. We were now every moment hearing of some officer, or other of our friends and acquaintance, who had fallen in our defence, and in supporting the honor of our country. General Howe had his aid-de- camp wounded, who is since dead. The Major and three Captains of the 52nd were killed, or died of their wounds, — most of the grenadiers and light infantry, and about eighty officers, are killed and wounded. The rebels have occupied a hill about a mile from Charlestown Neck ; they are very numerous, and have thrown up intrench- ments, and are raising a redoubt on the higher BATTLE OF BUNKER IHLL. 127 part, whilst the ships and troops cannonade them wherever they can reach them. In the same manner, on the other side of Boston Neck, on the nigh ground above Roxbury meeting [house,] the rebels are intrenching and raising a battery. Such is our present situation. In this army are many of noble family, many very respectable, virtuous, and amiable characters, and it grieves one, that gentlemen, brave British soldiers, should fall by the hands of such despicable wretches as compose the banditti of the country; amongst whom there is not one that has the least preten- sion to be called a gentleman. They are a most rude, depraved, degenerate race, and it is a mor- tification to us that they speak English, and can trace themselves from that stock. " Since Adams went to Philadelphia, one War- ren, a rascally patriot and apothecary of this town, has had the lead in the Provincial Con- gress. He signed commissions, and acted as President. This fellow happily was killed, in coming out of the trenches the other day, where he had commanded and spirited the people, &c., to defend the lines, which, he assured them, were impregnable. You may judge what the herd must be when such a one is their leader. Here it is only justice to say that there are many wor- thy people in this province, but that the chief of them are now in Boston, and that amongst the 128 BATTLE OF BUNKER tilLL. gentlemen of the Council, particularly, are many- respectable and worthy characters. " I beg my compliments to Mrs. N. and all friends with you, and remain, with great regard, " Dear sir, yours, "H. H." [Henry Hulton, Commissioner of the Customs at Boston.] PART II. AMERICAN DOCUMENTS. in IVIassachusetts Committee of Safety, Cam- bridge, June 15, 1775. '* Whereas, it appears of importance to the safety of this colony, that possession of the Hill called Bunker's Hill, in Charlestown, be securely kept and defended, and also some one hill or hills on Dorchester Neck be likewise secured; therefore, " Resolved, unanimously, That it be recom- mended to the Council of War, that the above mentioned Bunker's Hill be maintained by suffi- cient force being posted there ; and as the partic- ular situation of Dorchester Neck is unknown to this Committee, they desire that the Council of War take and pursue such steps respecting the same, as to them shall appear to be for the secu- rity of this colony." " June 17, 1775. " The following order was issued to the towns in the vicinity of Boston. " To the Selectmen of the town of ..... " Gentlemen : You are ordered mstantly to 130 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. send all the town stock of powder you have to the town of Watertown, saving enough to furnish one pound to each soldier." " July 18, 1775. " This Committee have with great concern considered the advantages our enemies will de- rive from General Gage's misrepresentations of the battle of Charlestown, unless counteracted by the truth of that day's transactions being fairly and honestly represented to our friends and others in Great Britain ; therefore, " Resolved, That it be humbly recommended to the honorable Congress now sitting at Water- town, to appoint a committee to draw up and transmit to Great Britain, as soon as possible, a fair, honest, and impartial account of the late battle of Charlestown, on the 17th ultimo, so that our friends and others in that part of the world, may not be in any ^degree imposed upon by General Gage's misrepresentations of that day's transactions, and that they also be a Standing Committee for that purpose." "July 11, 1775. " The honorable, the Congress of this colony, having passed a resolve that this Committee be appointed to draw up and transmit to Great Brit- ain a fair and impartial account of the late battle of Charlestown, as soon as possible ; this Com- BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 131 mittee being exceedingly crowded with business ^ therefore, " Resolved, That the Rev. Dr. Cooper, Rev. Mr. Gardner, and the Rev. Mr. Peter Thacher, be desired to draw up a true state of said action, as soon as may be, and lay it before this Committee." In Committee of Safety, July 25, 1775. " In obedience to the above order of Congress^ this Committee have inquired into the premises, and upon the best information obtained, find that the commanders of the New England army, had, about the 14th ult., received advice that General Gage had issued orders for a partjr of the troops under his command to post themselves on Bunker's Hill, a promontory just at the entrance of the peninsula of Charlestown, which orders were soon to be executed. Upon which it was deter- mined, with the advice of this Committee, to send a party, who might erect some fortifications upon said hill, and defeat this design of our enemies. Accordingly, on the 16th ult., orders were issued that a detachment of one thousand men should that evening march to Charlestown, and intrench upon that hill. Just before nine o'clock they left Cambridge, and proceeded to Breed's Hill, situ- ated on the farther part of the peninsula next to Boston ; for, by some mistake, this hill was marked out for the intrenchment instead of the other. Many things being necessary to be done 132 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. preparatory to tlie intrenchments being thrown up, (which could not be done before, lest the enemy should discover and defeat the design,) it was nearly twelve o'clock, before the works were entered upon; th^y were then carried on with the utmost diligence and alacrity, so that by the dawn of the day they had thrown up a small redoubt, about eight rods square. At this time a« heavy fire began from the enemy's ships, a num- ber of floating batteries, and from a fortification of the enemy's upon Copp's Hill, in Boston, directly opposite to our little redoubt. An inces- sant shower of shot and bombs was rained by these upon our works, by which only one man fell ; the provincials continued to labor indefati- gably till they had thrown up a small breastwork, extending from the east side of the redoubt to the bottom of the hill, but were prevented completing it by the intolerable fire of the enemy. " Between twelve and one o'clock, a number of boats and barges, filled with the regular troops from Boston, were observed approaching towards Charlestown. These troops landed at a place called Morton's Point, situated a little to the east- ward of our works. This brigade formed upon their landing, and stood thus formed till a second detachment arrived from Boston to join them. Having sent out large flank guards, they began a very slow march towards our lines. At this instant smoke and flames were seen to arise from I BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 138 the town of Charlestown, which had been set on fire by the enemy, that the smoke might cover their attack upon our lines, and perhaps with a design to rout or destroy one or two regiments of provincials who had been posted in that town. If either of these was their design, they were disappointed, for the wind, shifting on a sudden, carried the smoke another way, and the regi- ments were already removed. The provincials, within their intrenchments, impatiently awaited the attack of the enemy, and reserved their fire till they came within ten or twelve rods, and then began a furious discharge of small arms. This fire arrested the enemy, which they for some time returned, without advancing a step, and then re- treated in disorder, and with great precipitation, to the place of landing ; and some of them sought refuge even within their boats. Here the officers were observed, by the spectators on the opposite shore, to run down to them, using the most pas- sionate gestures, and pushing the men forward with their swords. At length they were rallied, and marched up with apparent reluctance towards the intrenchment. The Americans again reserved their fire until the enemy came^ up within five or six rods, and a second time put the regulars to flight, who ran in great confusion towards their boats. Similar and superior exertions were now necessarily made by the officers, which, notwith- standing the men discovered an almost insuper- 12 134 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. able reluctance to fighting in this cause, were again successful. They formed once more, and having brought some cannon to bear in such a manner as to rake the inside of the breastwork from one end of it to the other, the provincials retreated within their little fort. The ministerial army now made a decisive effort ; the fire from the ships and batteries, as well as from the can- non in front of their army, was redoubled. The officers in the rear of their army were observed to goad forward the men with renewed exertions, and they attacked the redoubt on three sides at once. The breastwork on the outside of the fort was abandoned; the ammunition of the provin- cials was expended, and few of their arms were fixed with bayonets. Can it then be wondered that the word was given by the commander of the party, to retreat ? But this he delayed till the redoubt was half filled with regulars, and the provincials had kept the enemy at bay some time, confronting them with the butt end of their muskets. " The retreat of this little handful of brave men would have been effectually cut off, had it not happened that the flanking party of the enemy, which was to have come up on the back of the redoubt, was checked by a party of prcyincials, who fought with the utmost bravery, and kept them from advancing farther than the beach. The engagement of these two parties was kept BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 135 up with the utmost vigor ; and it must be ac- knowledged that this party of the ministerial troops evidenced a courage worthy of a better cause. All their efforts, however, were insuffi- cient to compel the provincials to retreat, till their main body had left the hill. Perceiving this was done, they then gave ground, but with more reg- ularity than could be expected of troops who had no longer been under discipline, and many of whom never before saw an engagement. " In this retreat, the Americans had to pass over the Neck, which joins the peninsula of Charlestown to the main land. This Neck was commanded by the Glasgow man-of-war, and two floating batteries, placed in such a manner as that their shot raked every part of it. The incessant fire kept up across this Neck, had, from the beginning of the engagement, prevented any con- siderable reinforcement from getting to the pro- vincials upon the hill, and it was feared would cut off their retreat, but they retired over it with little or no loss. " With a ridiculous parade of triumph, the ministerial troops again took possession of the hill, which had served them as a retreat in their flight from the battle of Concord. It was ex- > pected that they would prosecute the supposed advantage they had gained, by marching imme- diately to Cambridge, which was distant about two miles, and which was not then in a state of 136 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. defence. This they failed to do. The wonder excited by such conduct soon ceased, when, by the best accounts from Boston, we were told that of three thousand men who marched out upon this expedition, no less than fifteen hundred (ninety-two of whom were commissioned officers,) were killed or wounded, and about twelve hun- dred of them either killed or mortally wounded. Such a slaughter was perhaps never before made upon British troops in the space of about an hour, during which the heat of the engagement lasted, by about fifteen hundred men, which were the most that were at any time engaged on the Amer- ican side. " The loss of the New England army amounted, according to an exact return, to one hundred and forty-five killed and missing, and three hundred and four wounded. Thirty of the first were wounded and taken prisoners by the enemy. Among the dead was Major General Joseph War- ren ; a man whose memory will be endeared to his countrymen, and to the Avorthy in everj" part and age of the world, so long as virtue and valor shall be esteemed among mankind. The heroic Colonel Gardner, of Cambridge, has since died of his wounds ; and the brave Lieut. Colonel Parker, of Chelmsford, who was wounded and taken prisoner, perished in Boston jail. These three, with Major Moore, and Major McClary, who nobly straggled in the cause of tl^eir coun- BATTLE OF BUNKEU HILL. 137 try, were the only officers of distinction which we lost. Some officers of great worth, though infe- rior in rank, were killed, whom we deeply lament ; but the officers and soldiers in general who were wounded, are in a fair way of recovery. " TJie town of Charlestown, the buildings of which were in general large and elegant, and which contained effects belonging to the unhappy sufferers in Boston, to a very great amount, was entirely destroyed; and its chimneys and cellars now present a prospect to the Americans, exciting an indignation in their bosoms which nothing can appease but the sacrifice of those miscreants who have introduced desolation and havoc into these once happy abodes of liberty, peace and plenty. " Though the officers and soldiers of the min- isterial army meanly exult in having gained this ground, yet they cannot but attest to the bravery of our troops, and acknowledge that the battles of Fontenoy and Minden, according to the numbers engaged, and the time the engagement continued, were not to be compared with this ; and, indeed, the laurels of Minden were totally blasted in the battle of Charlestown. The ground purchased thus dearly by the British troops, affords them no ad- vantage against the American army, now strongly intrenched on a neighboring eminence. The Continental troops, nobly animated from the just- ice of their cause, sternly urge to decide the con- test by the sword; but we wish for no farther 12=^ I3S BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. effusion of blood, if the freedom and peace of America can be secured without it. But if it must be otherwise, we are determined to struggle. We disdain life without liberty. " 0, Britons ! be wise for yourselves before it is too late, and secure a commercial intercourse with the American colonies before it is forever lost ; disarm your ministerial assassins ; put an end to this unrighteous and unnatural war, and suffer not any rapacious despots to amuse you with the unprofitable ideas of your right to tax and officer the colonies, till the most profitable and advantageous trade you have is irrecoverably lost. Be wise for yourselves, and the Americans will contribute to and rejoice in your prosperity. " J. Palmer, per order. ''^ " In regard to what I know of the setting fire to Charlestown, on the 17th of June, is — I was on Copp's Hill, at the landing of the troops in Charlestown ; and about one hour after the troops were landed, orders came down to set fire to the town, and soon after a carcass was discharged from the Hill, which set fire to one of the old houses, just above the ferry-ways ; from that, the meeting-house and several other houses were set on fire by carcasses ; and the houses at the eastern end of the town were set on fire by men landed out of the boats. William Cockran." BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 139 " Middlesex ss., August 16, 1775. *'Then William Cockran personally appeared before me, the subscriber, and made solemn oath to the truth of the within deposition. "James Otis, { A Justice of the Peace, through the Province of I Massachusetts Bay, in New England.''' [The foregoing account of the battle of Charles- town was transmitted to London, soon after the date, accompanied with a letter to Arthur Lee, Esq., of which the following is a copy, viz. :] " In Committee of Safety, Watertown, July 25, 1775. " Sir : The Committee of Safety of this Colo- ny, having been ordered by the honorable Provin- cial Congress to draw up and transmit to Great Britain a fair and impartial account of the la,te battle of Charlestown, beg leave to enclose the same to you, desiring you to insert the same in the public papers, so that the European world may be convinced of the causeless and unexam- pled cruelty with which the British ministry have treated the innocent American Colonies. " We are, sir, with great respect, your most humble servant, " J. Palmer, per order. "To Arthur Lee, Esq., at London." 140 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. " In Massachusetts Provincial Congress, June 20 1775. " The committee appointed to prepare a letter to the Continental Congress, reported. The report was read, paragraph by paragraph, and accepted, and ordered to be transcribed, authenticated, and sent forward, and is as follows : " To the Honorable, the Continental Congress, now sitting at Philadelphia. " May it please your honors : " We think it our indispensable duty to inform you that reinforcements from Ireland, both of horse and foot, being arrived, (the number un- known,) and having good intelligence that General Gage was about to take possession of the advan- tageous posts in Charlestown and on Dorchester Point, the Committee of Safety advised that our troops should prepossess them, if possible. Ac- cordingly, on Friday evening, the 16th instant, this was effected by about twelve hundred men. About daylight on Saturday morning their line of circumvallation, on a small hill south of Bun- ker's Hill, in Charlestown, was closed. At this time the Lively, man-of-war, began to fire upon them. A number of our enemy's ships, tenders, cutters and scows, or floating batteries, soon came up, from all which the fire was general by twelve o'clock. About two the enemy began to land at a point which leads out towards Noddle's Island, BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 141 and immediately marched up to our mtrench- ments, from which they were twice repulsed ; but in the third attack forced them. Our forces, which were in the lines, as well as those sent for their support, were greatly annoyed on every side, by balls and bombs from Copp's Hill, the ships, scows, &;c. At this time the buildings in Charlestown appeared in flames, in almost every quarter, kindled by red-hot balls, and are since laid in ashes. Though this scene was most hor- rible, and altogether new to most of our men, yet many stood, and received wounds by swords and bayonets, before they quitted their lines. At five o'clock the enemy were in full possession of all the posts within the isthmus. In the evening and the night following. General Ward extended his intrenchments before made at the stone house, over Winter Hill. About six o'clock, P. M., of the same day, the enemy began to cannonade Roxbury from Boston Neck, and elsewhere, which they continued twenty-four hours with little spirit and less effect. " The number of killed and missing, on our side, is not known, but supposed by some to be about sixty or seventy, and by some considerably above that number. Our most worthy friend and President, Doctor Warren, lately elected a Major General, is among them. This loss we feel most sensibly. Lieut. Colonel Parker, and Major Moore, of this Colony, and Major McClary, from 142 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. New Hampshire, are also dead. Three colonels, and perhaps one hundred men, are wounded. The loss of the enemy is douhtless great. By an anonymous letter from Boston, we are told that they exult much in having gained the ground, though their killed and wounded amount to about one thousand; hut this account exceeds every other estimation. The number they had engaged is supposed to be between three and four thousand. If any error has been made on our side, it was in taking a post so much exposed." [The above was received and read in the Con- tinental Congress, June 27.] " Account of an engagement at Charles town, be- tween about three thousand of the King's regu- lar troops, and about half that number of Pro- vincials, on Saturday, the 17th of June. 1775. •' On Friday night, June sixteenth, fifteen hun- dred of the provincials went to Bunker's Hill, in order to intrench there, and continued intrench- ing till Saturday, at ten o'clock, when two thou- sand regTilars marched out of Boston, landed in Charlestown, and, plundering it of all its valuable effects, set fire to it in ten different places at Dnce. Then dividing their army, one part of it marched up in front of the provincials' intrenchments, and began to attack the provincials at long shot ; the other part of the army marched round the BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. .43 town of Charlestown, under cover of the smoke occasioned by the town. The provmcial sentries discovered the regulars marching upon their left wing. Upon notice of this, given by the sentry to the Connecticut forces posted on that wing, Captain Nolton [Knowlton] of Ashford,' with four hundred of said forces, immediately repaired to and pulled up a post and rail fence, and carrying the posts and rails to anot4ier fence, put them together for a breastwork. Captain Nolton gave orders to the men not to fire till the enemy had got within fifteen rods, and then not till the word was given. At the word being given, the enemy fell surprisingly. It was thought, by spectators who stood at a distance, that our men did great execution. The action continued about two hours, when the regulars on the right wing were put into confusion and gave way. The Connecticut troops closely pursued them, and were on the point of pushing their bayonets, when orders were received from General Pomeroy, for those who had been in action two hours, to fall back, and their places to be supplied by fresh forces. These orders being mistaken for a direction to retreat, our troops on the right wing began a general retreat, which was handed to the left, the princi- pal place of action, where Captains Nolton, Ches- ter, Clarke and' Putnam, had forced the enemy 10 give way and retire before them for some con- siderable distance, and being warmly pursuing 144 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. the enemy, were with difficulty persuaded to retire ; but the right wing, by mistaking the orders, having already retired, the left, to avoid being encircled, were obliged to retreat ; and, with the main body, they retreated with precipitation across the causeway to Winter Hill, in which they were exposed to the fire of the enemy from their shipping and floating batteries. We sustained our principal loss in passing, the causeway. The enemy pursued our troops to Winter Hill, where the provincials, being rein- forced by General Putnam, renewed the battle with great spirit, repulsed the enemy with great slaughter, and pursued them till they got under cover of their cannon from the shipping, when the enemy retreated to Bunker's Hill, and the provincials to Winter Hill, where, after intrench- ing and erecting batteries, they on Monday began to fire upon the regulars on Bunker's Hill, and on the ships and the floating batteries in the har- bor, when the express came away. The number of the provincials killed is between forty and seventy ; one hundred and forty wounded ; of the Connecticut troops sixteen were killed ; no officer among them was either killed or wounded, except Lieutenant Grosvenor, who is wounded in the hand. A colonel or lieutenant colonel of the New Hampshire forces is among the dead. It is also said that Dr. Warren is undoubtedly among BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 145 the slain The provincials lost three iron six pounders, some intrenching tools, and knapsacks. " The number of regulars that first attacked the provincials on Bunker's Hill, was not less than two thousand. The number of provincials was only fifteen hundred, who, it is supposed, would soon have gained a complete victory, had it not been for the unhappy mistake already mentioned. The regulars were afterwards reinforced with a thousand men. It is uncertain how great a num- ber of the enemy were killed or wounded ; but it was supposed, by spectators who saw the whole action, that there could not be less than four or five hundred killed. Mr. Gardner, who got out of Boston on Sunday evening, says that there were five hundred wounded men brought into that place the morning before he came out." "This account was taken from Captain Elijah Hide, of Lebanon, who was a spectator on Winter HiH, during the whole action." * pplonel John Stark to New Hampshire Congress. " Medfqkd, June 19, 1775. ^* Sir : I embrace this opportunity, by Colonel Holland, to give you some particular information of an engagement or battle, which happeped on the seventeenth instap,'t, feetwe^itllJS j^i^^sji.^jijpops 13 146 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. and tl e Americans. On the sixteenth instant, at evening, a detachment of about twenty-five hun- dred men, of the Massachusetts forces, marched by the General's order, to make an intrenchment on a hill in Charlestown, called Charlestown Hill, near Boston, where they intrenched that night without interruption, but were attacked on the seventeenth, in the morning, by the shipping in Charlestown river and batteries in Boston, very warmly. Upon which I w^as required by the General to send a party, consisting of two hun- dred men, with officers, to their assistance ; which order I readily obeyed, and appointed and sent Colonel Wyman commander of the same ; and about two o'clock in the afternoon, express orders came for the whole of my regiment to proceed to Charlestown, to oppose the enemy, who were landing on Charlestown Point. Accordingly, we proceeded, and the battle soon came on, in which a number of officers belonging to my regi- ment were killed, and many privates killed and wounded. " The officers who suffered were, Major McCla ry, by a cannon ball ; Captain Baldwin and Lieu tenant Scott, by small arms. The whole number including offic^ers, who were killed and missing, fifteen; those who were wounded, forty-five ^ killed, wounded, and missing, sixty. " By Colonel Read's desire, I transmit the account of the suflferers in his regiment, who were BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 147 in battle. Killed, three ; wounded, twenty-nine ; missing, one ; killed, wounded, and missing, thirty- three. " But we remain in good spirits as yet, being well satisfied that where we have lost one, they have lost three. I would take it as a favor, if the Committee of Safety would immediately re- commend to the several towns and parishes in the province of New Hampshire, the necessity of stop- ping and sending back all the soldiers belonging to the New Hampshire forces, (stationed at Med- ford,) they may find there from the army, not having a furlough from the commanding officer. " I am, Sir, with great respect, yours and the country's, to serve in the common cause, "John Stark." " Thaddeus Burr to General Wooster. " Fairfield, June 25, 1775 ; 12 o'clock. " Sir : Captain Jonathan Maltbie, who went express from here last Sabbath, has this day returned from Watertown, which place he left last Thursday at four o'clock, afternoon, and the intelligence brought by him being so direct, I thought it my duty to forward it to you, which is as follows viz. : 148 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL, " Copy of a letter from Mr. Isaac Lothrop, one ©f the Provincial Congress, at Watertown. Watertown, June 22, 1775. " Before this reaches you, you will doubtless hear of the engagement of last Saturday, between our troops and those of the army at Boston : but lest you should not be well informed, I will now undertake to give you as regular an account as can at present be obtained. Last Friday even- ing, a detachment from the camp at Cambridge marched to Charlestown, and there took posses- sion of Breed's Hill, about half a mile from the ferry ; their intrenching tools not coming up in season, it was twelve o'clock before they began their works. As soon as daylight appeared, they were discovered from Boston, when the men-of- war in the ferry, the battery from Copp's Hill, and the floating batteries, kept up a continual cannonading and bombarding, which fortunately did but little execution, although our intrench- ments were far from being completed. This con- tinued till about two o'clock, when a large army of between four and five thousand men, (as we since hear from Boston,) under the command of General Howe, landed on the back of the hill, and marched up with great seeming resolution towards our lines. Our men reserved their fire till the enemy had advanced very near, when a general engagement ensued. The fire from our lines was so excessively heavy, and made such a BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 149 terrible slaughter, as obliged the enemy twice to give way, although many of their officers stood in the rear with their swords pointed at their backs, ready to run them through. Our men kept up a continual blaze upon them for about an hour, with such execution as is scarce credible. The enemy then came on the flanks, marched up, and forced their way over the ramparts with fixed bayonets, cutlasses, and hand-grenades, which obliged our little brave army, consisting only of about five hundred men at most, to retreat. " The town of Charlestown was fired in various parts during the action, and is now consumed to a wretched heap of rubbish. I kept my ground at Watertown, but what with the thundering of can- non and small arms, the conflagration of Charles- town, the waggons and horse-litters, with the wounded men coming to the hospital in this town, and the streaming of expresses to and fro, exhib- ited such an awful scene as I pray God Almighty I may never again behold. The brave and worthy Doctor Warren was killed, stripped, and buried, within the intrenchment. " Our numbers killed are not yet known; but by the best account I can obtain, it will not much exceed fifty, and the wounded short of a hundred. Several credible persons have since made their escape by water from Boston, some of whom I well know. The latest out says, that upvvards of fourteen hundred of the enemy were killed and 13=^ m BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. #5toded, with eighty-four officers; and that twenty-eight of our men were made prisoners, and the enemy had buried forty-one of our dead. All agree that the loss of the enemy in killed and wounded is more than one thousand. General Howe says, you may talk of your Mindens and your Fontenoys, &c., but he never saw nor heard of such carnage in so short a time. All the sur- geons in the army, with what they could get in Boston, were not sufficient to dress the wounded. Although they were twenty-four hours, night and day, in removing them from Charlestown, with the assistance of many of the inhabitants of Bos- ton, whom they pressed into the service, many died in the streets, on their way to the hospitals. " N. B. Doctor Mather had his whole furni- ture, with his library, plate, &c., consumed in the fire at Charlestown. " I have employed Mr. Samuel Penfield to go with this ; if you think it proper to forward this ac- count to New York, he will be ready to serve you. " You will excuse my sending it open, as I rthink it best for every one to know with what btavery our men have acted, and how God in his providence seems to appear for us. " Mr. Penfield will also hand you a paper from 'Cambridge, which contains some particulars. " I am, in the utmost haste. Sir, your friend and humble servant, " Thaddeus Buss. **To General Wooster, at Greenwich." BATTLE 0? SUKEEK HILL. 151 Let4er from Rev^ Andrew Eliot, Pastor of the New North Church in Boston, to Rev. Isaac Smith, of Boston, then in London. " Boston, June, 19, 1775. " My dear Sir : According to your desire, I write without ceremony, to acquaint you with the state of things in Boston. You left us shut up, and the people removing from the place as fast as they were permitted. I am told that more than nine thousand are removed; many more were pre- paring to follow, but passes have been stopped for some time. So that thousands are detained who desire to go, among whom I am one. I tarried purely out of regard to the inhabitants who were left, that they might not be without ordinances and worship in the way which they choose. It is now, perhaps, too late to think of removing, as all communication is at present stopped. " The last Saturday gave us a dreadful speci- men of the horrors of civil war. Early on Sat- urday morning, we were alarmed by the firing of cannon from the fort which is erected on Gopp's Hill, and from the ships which lie in Charles river. Upon inquiry it was found that the pro- vincials had been forming lines on a hill below the hill in Charlestown, commonly called Bun- ker's Hill. This intrenchment was calculated ex- ttemely well to annoy Boston, and the ships in the harbor. About one o'clock a large body of British troops set off from Boston to attack these 152 BATTLE OF BUNKEE HILL. lines. About three o'clock the engagement began, and lasted perhaps an hour. Great part of the time the firing seemed incessant. It seems the troops stormed the lines, and, after a warm opposition, carried them. Perhaps there has seldom been a more desperate action. As the provincials were up to the chin intrenched, they made a great slaughter of the King's troops before they (the provincials) retreated. How many were killed. on each side, it is impossible for me to say. It is generally agreed that 80 or 90 officers were killed or wounded on the side of the regulars. It was a new and awful spectacle to us to have men car- ried through the streets groaning, bleeding, and dying. Some of the best officers are taken off, and some hundreds of the privates. The attack was commenced by General Howe. How the provincials have suffered, is not yet known ; nor, indeed, shall I pretend to give a particular account of this terrible scene. You must take this from the prints. Dr. Warren is among the slain. It is said he had the chief direction of the defence ; if this is true, it seems to me he was out of his line. " Since this action the King's troops have taken possession of Bunker's Hill, and fortified it strongly. On the other side, the provincials are intrenching themselves on the hill back of the road in Charlestown, just beyond the two mile stone. " Amidst the carnage o.' Saturday, the town of BAtTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 1^ G'harlestown was set on fire, and I suppose every dwelling-house and every public building is con- ^tinied, till you have passed the passage to the mills, and are come to the houses where WoodSy the baker, dwelt. You may easily judge what distress we were in to see and hear Englishmen destroying one another, and a town with which we have been so intimately connected, all in flames. We are left in anxious expectation of the event, God grant the blood already spilt may suffice,— but this we cannot reasonably expect. May we be prepared for every event. " It is talked that a further attack will be made on the provincials, but I cannot pretend to guess what will be the motion on either side, though every one I meet seems to be as able to tell as if they were admitted into the Council of War. •^ ,A£. Ol{* •44' ^ W TV* W TV* 'TV' " I forgot to mention that a few days before the action, the Governor issued a proclamation, oflfer- ing pardon to all that would lay down their arms except Samuel Adams and John Hancock, and at the same time putting us under martial law. It would be a great comfort to me if I could leave the town, but I submit to what God is pleased to order. ^^ -^ ^ -^ ^SL, •W* TV* *7S» •Ti* W " I write in great haste and perturbation of mind. You will, therefore, excuse every impro- priety, and will not wonder I do not write more 154 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. in this very critical day. But however Provi- dence may dispose of me, that you may enjoy every blessing you can yourself desire, is the ear- nest prayer of your sincere friend and humble servant. Andrew Eliot. " P. S. June 22. — Things have been pretty quiet since the above. We have no communica- tion with those on the other side of the water, but can perceive they are fortifying at Chelsea, Mai- den, Winter Hill, the hills in Roxbury, Dorchester, and where not 1 Every inch of ground will be disputed. Can no way be found to accommodate these unhappy differences ? The God of heaven preserve us ! — it is an inexhaustible source of comfort that the government of the world is just where it is. A. E." Section of the rf " a\ 1 1 V - ii 1 1 ' i 1 ' i|pg|i ^ fp iii ,' 1 .| 'jira^l Jj^SL - .Jaii : ' ii[!^g z l[[l7f--r'Ttej) 1"^|t - I^ffe - ! 1 .i* S '(itindB 1 '['..i.'i ' i' iCT 1 V.I. 1 ,1 ^hj!] [■|"!",' i ,1 /' [; ~j 1 v\%\ ' 1 ' i!'''i''! 1 1 ^1 ' g' if-|i!i 1 - t^^r I 1 irolji ' 1 ' 1^ 1 liK'i ' 1 ' ifftii 1 liiiiiiilj ' i ' liiifi 1 - mS^ i-y - - rSSIfT - - ri^aj Ij - lii^S^ — ! ^ ^^^jr =1 ZI S —I 13 p^ 1- n jipi^pl '■ — l|i|H-r^^ =n iifeiH iiii 1 ^m:^ Mon-umeirt , THE MONUMENT UPON BREED'S HILL. The imposing structure which now rises upon the Heights of Charlestown, marks the summit where the small redoubt was thrown up by the American patriots, on the night of the 16th of June, 1775. The battle has so long been associ- ated with the name of Bunker's Hill, that it seems now almost vain to attempt to make the correction, which, indeed, some may think wholly unimpor- tant. The probability is that Breed's Hill was considered generally as only a spur of Bunker's Hill, and was not distinguished by name, except among the residents in Charlestown and those familiar with the localities of the spot. There are charts and views of the town, taken before and after the battle, in which the lesser summit appears without any designation. As soon as the spot became famous, this confusion of the names began to be manifest ; and the fact is worthy of notice only as it presents an instance that ena- 156 BUNKFA HILL MONUMENT. bles US to account for the disputes which, in the absence of historic documents, have been attached to other famous spots on the surface of the earth. To perpetuate the memory of such localities, and to secure them against the dubious haze with which the lapse of time invests them, is perhaps the best argument which can be adduced for the erection of costly monuments. Still, there will be, as there now is, a great difference of opinion as to the expediency of such structures. The open battle field, undisturbed and unaltered through all time, would be for many far preferable to any riiomiment. Previous to the erection of the granite monu- ment on Breed's Hill, the summit was distin- guished by a small column in honor of Major General Warren, who was regarded as the most eminent and deserving of the martyrs of liberty that fell there. His body was identified, on the morning after the battle, by Doctor Jeffries, of Boston, an intimate acquaintance of the patriot. The British regarded this victim as paying the price of the multitude of their own slain, and the spot where they interred him, was marked. After the evacuation of Boston, by the British troops, and the return of its citizens to their homes, the friends of Warren disinterred his remains. They were taken from the hill, and on the eighth of April, 1776, being carried in procession from the Jj^^presentatives' Chamber to King's Chapel, were ' BUN«ER HILL MONTTMENT. 157 buried with all military honors and those of Ma- sonry. Prayers were oifered on the occasion, by the Rev. Dr. Cooper, and a funeral oration was delivered by Mr. Perez Morton, in which he boldly and earnestly urged an entire separation from Great Britain, as the right and duty of the colonists. The remains of General Warren now rest within the cemetery beneath St. Paul's church. At the time of his death, Warren was Grand Master of Freemasons, for North America ; and as such, it seemed to the members of his order that they owed to him some tribute of respectful regard. No monument had been erected on the spot where he fell in behalf of his country, and measures were therefore instituted for this double purpose. A lodge of Freemasons \vas constituted in Charlestown, in 1783, and from its funds a mon- umental column was erected to the memory of Warren, in 1794, on land given by the Hon. James Russell. It was composed of a brick pe- destal eight feet square, rising ten feet from the ground, and supporting a Tuscan pillar, of wood, eighteen feet high. This was surmounted by a gilt urn, bearing the inscription — " J. W., aged 35," entwined with Masonic emblems. On the south side of the pedestal was the following inscription: 14 158 BUNKER HILL MONUJJKNT " Erected A. D. MDCCXCIV., By King Solomon's Lodge of Free Masons, constituted in Charlestown, 1783, In Memory of Major General Joseph Warren, and his Associates, vvho were slain on this memorable spot, June 17, 1775. None but they who set a just value upon the blessings of liberty are worthy to enjoy her. In vain we toiled ; in vain we fought ; we bled in vain; if you, our offspring, want valor to repel the assaults of her invaders. Charlestown settled, 1628. Burnt, 1775. Rebuilt, 1776." This column stood without the redoubt, and on the spot where Warren was believed to have fallen. It remained for forty years, and was so much defaced by time that it was removed when the present granite structure was contemplated. The remembrance of it will be cherished by those who were familiar with it from a distance, or near at hand. The erection of a substantial monument on this summit had long been desired and contemplated. It was thought to be due as a tribute of respect to the patriots who, in an early day of the Revolu- tion, risked all that was dear to them as individu- als, on a fearful hazard, for the good of their BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. 159 common country. We must suppose and believe that in the awful strife, amid the shrieks and groans of battle, and in sight of the homes which these patriots loved, some better feeling than that of brute courage, or thirst for blood, an- imated them. How much of their fortitude they borrowed from the conviction that their country would honor their memory, and that their children would mark the spot where they suffered, we may only imagine. The objection which many conscientious persons feel -to such a com- memoration, seems to be founded on the belief that a battle monument is designed to perpetuate the feelings of animosity and strife between the de- scendants of the contending parties. But this is an error ; and the disapprobation of monumental structures, founded 'upon such a misconception, would equally apply to all histories and delinea- tions of battles. We wish to express our grateful sense of the devotion and bravery of those who bore severe sufferings to relieve us of lighter burdens. All that we desire to commemorate by the towering pile now reared on the battle-field, is patriotism and self-sacrifice. We believe the cause was just ; the Briton may regard it oth- erwise; but we may alike stand upon the spot and honor the heroism of its victims, without the rising of one vengeful feeling. It was the general opinion that if any monu- ment were to be erected, it should be a substantial 160 BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. one, which should do credit to its builders, and to their fathers ; and instead of being reared at the expense of a few wealthy men, or at public cost, should be a free-will offering from all the citizens of this Commonwealth, and of its sister Common- wealths, according to their means. The result has been such as to make it probable that there is not a structure in this country on which the free contributions of so many individuals have been expended as upon this. Subscriptions were first asked for in the year 1824. An Association, called " The Bunker Hill Monument Association," was formed, membership of which was to be enjoyed by those who subscribed five dollars. An engraved diploma was their certificate, and their names were inscribed upon the parchment records deposited within the corner-stone. Some incident or circumstance which should connect an enthusiastic feeling with the com- mencement of the work, was felt to be necessary. An occasion and opportunity for this presented itself on the visit of the Marquis de La Fayette, our honored General, to this land, whose battles he had fought with the ardor of youthful heroism, and whose prosperity was dear to him to the last day of his life. In the midst of his triumphant progress through the country, his services were en- listed in this work. Though the plan of the struc- ture had not at this time been decided upon, yet it was thouofht most desirable chat the ceremonies BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. 161 of laying the corner-stone should be performed by and in the presence of the guest of the nation. Accordingly, on the 17th of June, 1825, it being the fiftieth anniversary of the battle, this desire was gratified. In the midst of an immense con- course of people, the ceremonies were performed. By advertisements and invitations previously in- serted in the newspapers, the veterans who sur- vived the day of slaughter were earnestly desired, free of all charge to themselves, to come from their homes, however distant, and present them- selves, in one venerable group of worthies, to receive the grateful offering of a free people, on the first jubilee of the battle. In the multitude that answered these invitations the number of those who were actually engaged in the battle could not be ascertained, as some were of the reinforcements, who did not enter the field, some belonged to regiments or companies then at hand, but not ordered for the occasion, and others were near or distant spectators of the action. Enough there were of the true remnant to show their scars and recount the scenes the memory of which the lapse of fifty years had not dimmed. The younger survivors of the band professed them- selves still ready for service, should like occasion demand it ; nor, among those whose feeble limbs tottered under the heaviest burden of years, was there one whose chilled blood did not glow over the s^ds of the battle-field, while the starting tear 14# 103 BUNKER HILL MaUUJ^NT. teld that they were thinking of their companions in arms. They were eloquently and touchingly addressed by the Hon. Daniel Webster, the orator of the occasion. La Fayette, standing as one in that group of survivors, and regretting that the honor did not of right belong to him, laid with his own hands the comer-stone of the projected monument. Masonic ceremonies were connected with the occasion. , We cannot, however, attribute to La Fayette the honor of having laid the comer-stone of the present structure. The office in which he utb© enlisted was a matter of mere form; no plan having been selected, of course no adequate foun- da/tion was made. The stone which had been laid by La Fayette, was afterwards put into the centre of the foundation ; and the box of depos- ites which it contained, was taken out and en- closed in the present corner-stone, which is at the north-eastern angle of the structure, .looking towards the point of landing of the enemy. The plan of the monument was devised by Mr. Solo- mon Willard, of Boston, a distinguished architect ; and his original design, followed throughout, has been brought to a successful completion. The plan having been decided upon, the work was resumed about the middle of March, 1827, by the excavation of a new foundation. A quarry of sienite granite, situated at Quincy, eight miles distant, had been purchased and wrought upon BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. 148 during the previous spring. The stone used for the foundation, and for the first forty feet of the structure, was transported from the quarry on a railway to the wharf in Quincy, where it was put into flat-bottomed boats, towed by steam power to the wharf in Charlestown, and then raised to the Hill by teams moving upon an inclined plane. The repeated transfer of the stones, necessary in this mode of conveyance, being attended with delay, liability to accident, and a defacing of the blocks, was abandoned after the fortieth foot was laid, and the materials were transported by teams, directly from the quarry to the hill. Some of the blocks present dark stains upon their sur- faces, caused by the presence of iron. Sometimes, in the process of hewing and hammering, these stains would disappear, but for a season they seem to grow brighter by exposure to the air, and then by process of time, the influence of the atmosphere, the weather, and the winter frost, they gradually fade away. Several of these stains appear upon the last half of the structure, but it is believed they will slowly disappear. The application of any chemical agent for their removal would not be advisable ; indeed, some persons think they add to the beauty of a granite pile, when sparingly distributed over it. No one can stand and look at the structure, or scan it with a close observation, without being impressed with the wonderful mathematical accuracy whidt 164 BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. distinguishes it. The joints of the stones seem to be chiselled with great exactness, as if they were worked with all the ease with which the carpenter shapes his wood; and the diminution of the obelisk, a work of extreme difficulty, has been faultlessly executed. A slight failure or error in either of these particulars would have been a hideous deformity, and would have en- dangered the stability of the structure. We rely for its permanence upon its mathematical accu- racy, as much as upon the solidity of its materials. The distinguished honor of having thus with scientific precision begun and completed the im- posing structure, belongs to Mr. James Savage, of Boston. Of many great public works, the builder has been wholly forgotten ; of others, the credit has been withheld from the mechanical geniuses who executed them, and has been all bestowed upon those who have drafted the plan upon paper. But to execute such a work, how- ever skilfully it may have been planned, demands a rare union of talents. To take in the concep- tion, to comprehend its details, to criticise its excellences or defects, to suggest improvements, to invent facilities, to combine two or more objects, and then to watch each laborious process, guard- ing against accidents and mistakes ; to do all this, requires one who is much more than a mechanic. In such a structure as the monu.nent, though it is very simple, patience, care, skill and ingenious BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. 165 device were continually needed. Mr. Savage possessed all the requisite qualifications, and his name ought to go down to posterity with the monument. Those who watched the rising of the pile, could not fail to observe his unwearied and unerring interest in his work. He might be seen above or below, as occasion called for him ; now superintending the setting of a step ; now suspended upon a plank at a dizzy eminence outside the structure ; now testing the strength of a fastening, or, with his hand upon the bell- wire, sending notice to the engine to rest, just as a ponderous stone, poised high in air, was gently weighing over the upper courses of the obelisk. And to complete the effect of his presence of mind and skill, there was no haste or bustle in his movements, and he was ready to answer the questions of every visitor. But one accident occurred during the whole work. A laborer, while engaged in laying the last stone of the twelfth course, on the south-west corner, was pushed off and killed. The whole structure was made under the superintendence of Mr. Savage, under three dif- ferent contracts. At first he was engaged as builder by Mr. Willard, the architect, and fur- nished the materials and the labor. This arrange- ment continued during the years 1827 and 1828, when the foundation and fourteen courses of the superstructure were laid. In August, 1828, the 3.66 BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. work was suspended on account of deficiency of funds, about $56,000 having been expended, in- cluding the purchase of the right in the quarry for all the necessary materials, the gearing at the wharves and on the hill, which was complicated and expensive, but not including the purchase of •the land. In the summer of 1834, the work was resumed. Mr. Savage, being still employed by Mr. Willard, was obliged, on account of an engagement for service under the United States government, to commit the oversight of the work to Mr. Charles Pratt, though by occasional visits he continued to superintend V and direct it. Sixteen more courses were laid, when the work was again closed for want of funds, in 183-5 ; about $20,000 more having been expended. Depression in all the interests of trade and business, a derangement in the financial affairs of the country, and a gen- eral opinion that the large sums of money already collected had not been judiciously or economically expended, will account for the delay in the com- pletion of the work. Probably, however, the durability of the structure was rather advanced than injured by the pause of a few years. Sug- gestions were occasionally offered that the work might be brought to a point at its then existing elevation, but it was thought better to wait in hope, under the conviction that it would one day be completed according to the original plan. BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. 167 The happy suggestion, which was offered for the sake of meeting the pecuniary want, and which, as soon as it was uttered, everybody knew would be triumphantly realized, came from the weaker sex, who had no hand, though they had much heart, in the fighting which had immortal- ized the summit. It was proposed that a public Fair should be held in the city of Boston, and that every female in the United States of America, who desired the honor, should work with her own hands, and contribute with her own means, to furnish the Fair, the other sex being, of course, allowed to contribute what they pleased, and being expected to purchase with liberality. The plan was most successful. A brilliant and daz- zling display, as well as an exhibition of the re- sults of devoted industry and cunning ingenuity, of which we have, at least, as much reason to feel proud, as of the battle, attested that the call was not made in vain. The Pair was held in Boston in September, 1840, and its proceeds, with a few munificent private donations, which should be considered as depending upon it, put within the hands of the Committee of the Bunker Hill Asso- ciation, a sum sufficient to complete the great object. . Mr. Savage, by a contract with the Building Committee, was engaged, in the autumn of 1840, to complete the work for $43,800. He resumed his labor by laying the first stone on May 2, 1841, and finished it with entire success, by t8S BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. depositing the apex on July 23, 1842. The last stone was raised at six o'clock in the morning of that day, with the discharge of cannon; Mr. Edward Games, Jr., of Charlestown, accompany- ing it in its ascent, and waving the American flag during the process. The section of the Monument which accompa- nies this description, will convey an idea of the mode of its construction. The foundation, lying twelve feet helow the hase of the structure, is composed of six courses of fair split stones. The lower tier rests upon a bed of clay and gravel which composes the soil of the hill ; great pains having been used in loosening the earth, and in puddling and ramming the stones. The founda- tion is laid in lime mortar ; the other parts of the structure with lime mortar mixed with cinders and iron filings, and with Springfield hydraulic ce- ment. Below the base the four faces of the foun- dation project into a square of fifty feet, leaving open angles at the corners, so that these projec- tions act as buttresses. There are ninety courses of stone in the whole structure, eighty-four of them being above the ground, and six of them below. The base is thirty feet square ; in a rise of two hundred and eight feet, the point where the formation of the apex begins, there is a dimi- nution of fourteen feet, seven and a half inches. The net rise of the stone from the base to the apex, is two hundred and nineteen feet and ten BUNEEE HILL MONUMENT. 169 mches, the seams of mortar making the whole elevation two hundred and twenty-one feet. Perpendicular dowels, called Lewis's Clamps, were used to hind the first four courses ahove the base. This* was done chiefly as an experiment, but being found to be useless and expensive, the method was abandoned. The several stones which compose each course, are clamped together by flat bars of iron, fourteen inches long, the ends being turned at right angles and sunk in the granite five -eighths of an infeh. There are four faces of dressed stone in the structure, besides the steps w^hich wind around the cone within, viz., the exterior and the interior sides of the monument, and the exterior and the interior of the cone within it. Twelve stones compose the exterior, and six large circling stones the interior of each course of the shaft ; to each course of the shaft, there are two courses of the cone, each being composed of six stones, and four steps answer to each course of the exterior of the shaft. Each of the first seventy-eight courses of the exterior of the shaft is two feet eight inches in height; of the next five courses, those compos- ing the point, the height of each is one foot eight inches ; the cap or apex is a single stone of three feet six inches in height. The exterior diameter of the cone at the base, is ten feet, the interior diameter, seven feet; at the top of the cone the exterior diameter is six 15 170 BUNKER HILL M0NTI3IENT. feet three inches, the interior diameter, four feet two inches. The cone is composed of one hun- dred and forty-seven courses of stone, each course being one foot four inches in height. The elliptical chamber at the top is seventeen feet in height and eleven feet in diameter, with four windows, each two feet eight inches in height, and two feet two inches in breadth. There are numerous apertures in the cone, and eight in the shaft, besides the door and the win- dows. The windows are closed with iron shut- ters. At the door-way, the walls of the shaft are six feet in thickness. There are two hundred and ninety-four steps in the ascent., In fulfilling his third and final contract, Mr. Savage removed the gearing which had previously been used, and substituted a steam engine of six horse power, and an improved and ingenious boom derrick of his ovm invention. Through two apertures in the cone he passed a strong beam, in which the foot of the derrick was inserted, turn- ing on a pivot. This was raised with the comple- tion of each four courses of the exterior. A projecting arm attached to the boom extended far enough to clear the base of the monument, and was slightly inclined downwards. The ropes passed through shives at the top of the boom and the extremity of the lever, and when the stone was poised at its elevation, it was drawn in by means of a wheel carriage on the lever, which BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. 171 was turned upon the pivot to either side, and the load was deposited. The steam engine was di- rectly in the rear of the monument, and the ropes passed down through the cone, and out at the door-way. A bell wire, passing up by the ropes, communicated instantaneously with the engine, and directed its motions. A platform staging, bound around the monument by cogs adapted to its gradual diminution, and raised with each two courses of the exterior, served as a standing place for the masons who pointed the work outside. This apparatus served till it was necessary to cover over the chamber at the top, when, of course, the boom derrick and cone could be used no longer. The last work of the derrick was to draw up a stout oaken beam, which was passed through two of the windows, and two masts, which being rigged over the projections of the beam and lopped over the side of the monument, the re- maining stones were slowly, but safely raised, and then, the masts being righted perpendicularly, they were, deposited in their places. The steady industry of the engine, and the cautious oversight of Mr. Savage, made these last operations exceed- ingly and intensely interesting. It was at first proposed, that the raising and depositing of the last stone should be attended with parade, for- mality, and a public celebration. But this was wisely discountenanced by Mr. Savage, who knew that the caution and care and presence of mind 1^2 BXmKER HILL MONU^MDE-NT. which were requisite, would be best secured >by quiet, and a degree of privacy. Accordingly, the last stone was raised, as we have said, at six o'clock, on the morning of the 23d of July, 1842, in presence of the officers of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, and a few other spectators. On the 17th of the previous June, before the chamber at the top had been covered over, a can- non which had been raised on the preceding evening, sent forth its volleys in a national salute. Those who enjoyed the view from the unclosed chamber, or from the top of the structure before the last stone was laid, seemed to feel a disappoint- ment when the view was contracted into the range of vision as confined by the narrow windows. But this feeling will not afTect those who look for the first time through the windows over a scene which unites the sublime and the beautiful, which embraces ocean, islands, mountains, woods and rivers, cities and villages, churches and school- houses, palaces and happy cottage homes of con- tented industry, free from the sceptre of an earthly monarch, but, therefore, all the more bound in allegiance of gratitude and reverence to the King of kings. V 'iiinfat ijnoqijTAL *s3193ai V ■^ —JO— "^^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 011800 454 1 :V,, I (111 it I