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JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON. 
 
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 ~ , tCopyright, 1S75, by James R. Osgood & Co.*] 
 
 Grandmother's Story of Bunker-Hill Battle 
 
 \ AS SHE SAW IT FROM THE BELFRY. 
 
 BY OLIVER WEXDELL HOLMES. 
 
 'Tis like stirring living embers when, at eighty, one remembers 
 
 All the achings and the quakings o£ " the times that tried men's souls ; 
 
 When I talk of IF/ii^ 3.nd Tory, when I tell the /vVA-/ story. 
 
 To you the words are ashes, but to me they're burning coals. 
 
 I had heard the muskets' rattle of the April running battle ; 
 Lord Percy's hunted soldiers, I can see their red coats still ; 
 But a deadly chill comes o'er me, as the day looms up before me, 
 When a thousand men lay bleeding on the slopes of Bunker's Hill. 
 
 'Twas a peaceful summer's morning, when the first thing gave us warning 
 Was the booming of the cannon from the river and the shore : 
 " Child," says grandma, " what's the matter, what is all this noise and clatter .' 
 Have those scalping Indian devils come to murder us once more ? " 
 
 Poor old soul ! my sides were shaking in the midst of all my quaking. 
 To hear her talk of Indians when the guns began to roar : 
 She had seen the burning villa^, and the slaughter and the pillage. 
 When the Mohawks killed her father with their bullets through his door. 
 
 Then I said, " Now, dear old granny, don't you fret and worry any, 
 For I'll soon come back and tell you whether this is work or play ; vf, 
 There can't be mischief in it, so I won't be gone a minute " — 
 For a minute then I started. I was gone the live-long day. 
 
 No time for bodice-lacing or for looking-glass grimacing ; 
 Down my hair went as I hurried, tumbling half-way to my heels ; 
 God forbid your ever knowing, when there's blood around her flowing. 
 How the lonely, helpless daughter of a quiet household feels ! 
 
 In the street I heard a thumping ; and I knew it was the stumping 
 Of the Corporal, our old neighbor, on that wooden leg he wore, 
 \Vith a knot of women round him, — it was lucky I had found him. 
 So I followed with the others, and the Corporal marched before. 
 
 [* As this Poem is written expressly for this Memorial, and not intended for publication 
 elsewhere, the Publishers request that it be not copied or reprinted.! 
 
 ( A-42-t-^ 
 
/^ 
 
 They were making for the steeple, — the old soldier and his people ; 
 The pigeons circled round us as we climbed the creaking stair. 
 Just across the narrow river — oh, so close it made me shiver ! 
 Stood a fortress on the hill-top that but yesterday was bare. 
 
 Not slow our eyes to find it ; well we knew who stood behind it. 
 
 Though the earth-work hid them from us, and the stubborn walls were dumb : ^ ., 
 
 Here were sister, wife, and mother, looking wild upon each other, S^/'> 
 
 And their lips were white with terror as they said. The hour has Come ! _^fe; 
 
 The morning slowly wasted, not a morsel had we tasted, 
 And our heads were almost splitting with the cannons' deafening thrill. 
 When a figure tall and stately round the rampart strode sedately ; 
 It was Prescott, one since told me ; he commanded on the hill. 
 
 Every woman's heart grew bigger when we saw his manly figure, 
 With the banyan buckled round it, standing up so straight and tall ; 
 Like a gentleman of leisure who is strolling out for pleasure, 
 Through the storm of shells and cannon-shot he walked around the wall. 
 
 At eleven the streets were swarming, for the red-coats' ranks were forming ; 
 At noon in marching order they were moving to the piers ; 
 How the bayonets gleamed and glistened, as we looked far down, and listened 
 To the trampling and the drum-beat of the belted grenadiers ! 
 
 At length the men have started, with a cheer, (it seemed faint-hearted). 
 In their scarlet regimentals, with their knapsacks on their backs, 
 And the reddening, rippling water, as after a sea-fight's slaughte . 
 Round the barges gliding onw'ard blushed like blood along their t 
 
 So they crossed to the other border, and again they formed in order ; 
 And the boats came back for soldiers, came for soldiers, soldiers still : 
 The time seemed everlasting to us women faint and fasting, — 
 At last they're moving, marching, marching proudly up the hill. 
 
 We can see the bright steel glancing all along the lines advancing — 
 Now the front rank fires a volley — they have thrown away their shot ; 
 For behind their earthwork lying, all the balls above them flying. 
 Our people need not hurry; so they wait and answer not. 
 
 Then the Corporal, our old cripple, (he would swear sometimes and tipple), — 
 He had heard the bullets whistle (in the old French war) before, — 
 Calls out in words of jeering, just as if they all were hearing, ^- 
 ) And his wooden leg thumps fiercely on the dusty belfry floor: — 
 
 "Oh ! fire away, ye villains, and earn King George's shillin's, 
 But ye'll waste a ton of powder before a ' rebel ' falls ; 
 , You may bang the dirt and welcome, they're as safe as Dan'l Malcolm 
 Ten foot beneath the gravestone that you've splintered with your balls ! " 
 
 Idol Eopki/i':: Itaiv. Lik- 
 
t 
 
 In the hush of expectation, in the awe and treisiclation ^ C ( /^ 
 
 Of the dread approaching moment, we are well nigh breathless all ; ^' 
 Though the rotten bars are failing on the rickety belfry railing, 
 We are crowding up against them like the waves against a wall. 
 
 S Just a glimpse, (the air is clearer), they are nearer, — nearer, — nearer, 
 ^ When a flasli — a curling smoke-wreath — then a crash — the steeple shakes — 
 J The deadly truce is ended ; the tempest's shroud is rended ; 
 Like a morning mist it gathered, like a thunder-cloud it breaks ! 
 
 Oh the sight our eyes discover as the blue-black smoke blows over ! 
 The red-coats stretched in windrows as a mower rakes his hay ; 
 Here a scarlet heap is lying, there a headlong crowd is flying 
 Like a billow that has broken and is shivered into spray. 
 
 Then we cried, " The troops are routed ! they are beat — it can't be doubted ! 
 God be thanked, the fight is over ! " — Ah ! the grim old soldier's smile ! 
 " Tell us, tell us why you look so ? " (we could hardly speak, we shook so^ 
 " Are they bpaten ? Are they beaten t Are they beaten 't " — " Wait a while." 
 
 '^i^''i:f^„ JJJ)^ 
 
 ~> 
 
 Oh the trembling and the terror ! for too soon we saw our error 
 They are battled, not defeated ; we have driven them back in vain : <Ul 
 And the columns that were scattered, round the colors that were tattered. 
 Toward the sullen silent fortress turn their belted breasts again. 
 
 .„..„_„.,..,,,...„...„.„,„„,:.,.„„ 
 
 They have fired the harmless village ; in an hour it will be down ! - ,, 
 
 The Lord in heaven confound thera, rain his fire and brimstone round them, — -"^ 
 The robbing, murdering red-coats, that would burn a peaceful town ! 
 
 They are marching, stern and solemn ; we can see each massive column 
 As they near the naked earth-mound with the slanting walls so steep. 
 Have our soldiers got faint-hearted, and in noiseless haste departed ? 
 Are they panic-struck and helpless ? Are they palsied or asleep ? 
 
 Now ! the walls they're almost under ! scarce a rod the foes asunder ! 
 Not a firelock flashed against them ! up the earthwork they will swarm ! 
 But the words have scarce been spoken, when the ominous calm is broken. 
 And a bellowing crash has emptied all the vengeance of the storm ! 
 
 So again, with murderous slaughter, pelted backwards to the water. 
 
 Fly Pigot's running heroes and the frightened braves of Howe ; 
 
 And we shout, " At last they're done for, it's their barges they have run for : 
 
 They are beaten, beaten, beaten ; and the battle's over now I " 
 
 And we looked, poor timid creatures, on the rough old soldier's features, 
 J Our lips afraid to question, but he knew what we would ask : 
 " Not sure, " he said ; " keep quiet, — once more, I guess, they'll try it — 
 Here's damnation to the cut-throats ! " then he handed me his flask. 
 
Saying, " Gal, you're looking shaky ; have a drop of old Jamaiky ; 
 I'm afeard there'll be more trouble afore the job is done ; " -S^^ 
 
 So I took one scorching swallow ; dreadful faint I felt and hollow, , — 
 
 Standing there from early morning when the firing was begun. 
 
 /All through those hours of trial I had watched a calm clock dial, 
 As the hands kept creeping, creeping, — they were creeping round to four, 
 When the old man said, " They're forming with their bagonets fixed for stormiii; 
 It's the death-grip that's a coming, — they will try the works once more." 
 
 With brazen trumpets blaring, the flames behind them glaring, 
 The deadly wall before them, in close array they come ; 
 Still onward, upward toiling, like a dragon's fold uncoiling, — 
 Like the rattlesnake's shrill warning the reverberating drum ! 
 
 Over heaps all torn and gory — shall I tell the fearful story, 
 How they surged above the breastwork, as a sea breaks over a deck ; 
 How driven, yet scarce defeated, our worn-out men retreated, 
 '^''^^^With their powder-horns all emptied, like the swimmers from a wreck? 
 
 It has all been told and painted ; as for me, they say I fainted, 
 And the wooden-legged old Corporal stumped with me down the stair. 
 When I woke from dreams affrighted the evening lamps were lighted, — 
 ^ On the floor a youth was lying ; his bleeding breast was bare, 
 
 s'-J' ^ / And I heard through all the flurry, " Send for Warren ! hurry ! hurry ! 
 J J Tell him here's a soldier bleeding, and he'll come and dress his wound ! " 
 ». Ah, we knew not till the morrow told its tale of death and sorrow, 
 How the starlight found him stiffened on the dark and bloody ground. 
 
 Who the youth was, what his name was, where the place from which he came was, 
 Who had brought him from the battle, and had left him at our door, 
 He could not speak to tell us ; but 'twas one of our brave fellows, 
 '_^ As the homespun plainly showed us which the dying soldier wore. 
 
 For they all thought he was dying, as they gathered round him crying, 
 And they said, " Oh how they'll miss him ! " and, " What will his mother do ? 
 Then, his eyelids just unclosing like a child's that has been dozing. 
 He faintly murmured, " Mother ! " and — I saw his eyes were blue, 
 
 — " Why grandma, how you're winking ! " — Ah, my child, it sets me thinking 
 
 Of a story not like this one. Well, he somehow lived along ; 
 
 So we came to know each other, and I nursed him like a — mother. 
 
 Till at last he stood before me, tall, and rosy-cheeked, and strong. 
 
 And we sometimes walked together in the pleasant summer weather ; 
 — " Please to tell us what his name was ? " — Just your own, my little dear, 
 There's his picture Copley painted : we became so well acquainted. 
 That — in short, that's why I'm grandma, and you children all are here ! 
 
_^ FTER the retreat of the British from Concord and Lexington, on 
 ^ the 19th of April, the provincial militia closed in around Boston, 
 and began to learn soldiering in earnest. The right wing of the 
 " rebel " army rested at Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, under com- 
 mand of Gen. John Thomas ; the centre at Old Cambridge, under 
 command of Gen. Artemas Ward, the chief ofificer of the army ; 
 and the left, at Medford, Charlestown, and Chelsea, under command 
 (apparently) of Gen. Israel Putnam. The returns, June 9, show a 
 total force of 7,644 men. 
 
 To keep up the enthusiasm of the men, and gratify their desire 
 to come in contact with the enemy, numerous expeditions were organized to attack the out- 
 posts, and seize the supplies of live-stock and hay which had been gathered on the islands 
 in Boston Harbor. On the 27th of May, quite an important engagement took place on 
 Noddle's Island, now East Boston, which the patriotic inhabitants of that locality desire to 
 have recorded by the historian as the second battle of the Revolution. Col. Stark, who 
 afterwards made his name famous at the battle of Bennington, was sent with a detachment 
 of about three hundred men to drive, the cattle and sheep from Noddle's and Hogg Islands 
 across Chelsea Creek, which was fordable at low water. While engaged in executing their 
 instructions, they were discovered by the guard of marines. The British admiral hoisted a 
 red flag at the mainmast-head ; and an armed schooner and sloop were sent up Chelsea 
 Creek to cut off the return of the marauders. A force of grenadiers was sent to aid the 
 marine guard on Noddle's Island ; and Col. Stark was forced to retreat to Hogg Island 
 (now Breed's), and thence to the mainland; but he succeeded in carrying off a large part of 
 the live-stock. The schooner continued to fire at the provincials after they had drawn up 
 on Chelsea Neck ; and Gen. Putnam, who smelt the battle afar off, came up with re-enforce- 
 ments, and opened a brisk fire in return. Being unable to get the schooner out of range, 
 the crew were forced to abandon her, and she fell into the possession of the provincials, 
 
 VIEW OF THE BRITISH LINES ON BOSTON NECK. 
 
 with all her equipments and stores, — four six-pounders, twelve swivels, and some small- 
 arms. Only three or four of the provincials were wounded. The loss of the British was 
 greatly exaggerated at the time. Gage's official report states that " two men were killed, 
 and a few wounded." " The New Hampshire Gazette," under date of June 2, 1775, reported 
 
 Copyright, 1S75, by James R. Osgood & Co. 
 
CANNON WITHOUT TRUNNIONS, USED BEFORE BOSTON. 
 
 that " 'Tis said between 2 and 300" [a safe way of putting it] " Marines and Regulars were 
 Killed and Wounded, and that a place was dug in Boston twenty-five feet square to bury 
 their dead." One man asserted that he saw sixty-four dead men landed at Long Wharf 
 from one boat. 
 
 Thus Trumbull, in McFingal : — 
 
 " Nay, stem with rage grim Putnam boiling, And menaced Gage, unless he'd flee, 
 
 Plundered both Hogg and Noddle Island, To drive him headlong to the sea ; 
 
 Scared troops of Tories into town, As once, to faithless Jews a sign. 
 
 Burned all their hay and houses down, The De'el, turned hog-reeve, did the swine." 
 
 In the latter part of May 
 the British troops were re- 
 enforced by arriv.ils from 
 England, by which their total 
 force in Boston was increased 
 to about ten thousand men. 
 Howe, Clinton, and Bur- 
 goyne, three of the ablest 
 and most experienced gene- 
 rals in his Majesty's service, 
 arrived in " The Cerberus " 
 on the 25th of that month. 
 When Burgoyne was told that Boston was surrounded by the provincials, he said, " What ! 
 ten thousand peasants keep five thousand king's troops shut up ! Let us get in, and we'll 
 soon find elbow-room." Ever after, the general "went by the nanje of "Elbow-room." 
 With the arrival of these additions to his force, Gage determined to assume the offensive. 
 As a preUminary, he issued a proclamation on the 12th of June, declaring martial law, and 
 designating those who were in arms as rebels and traitors. Pardon was offered to such as 
 should lay down their arms, e.xcepting only Samuel Adams and John Hancock, whose 
 offences were " of too flagitious a nature to admit of any other consideration than that of 
 condign punishment." 
 
 On the 13th of June, the Committee of Safety at Cambridge received information that 
 Gage proposed to occupy the heights at Dorchester (now Telegraph Hill, South Boston), 
 and Bunker Hill in Charlestown. On the isth, the committee resolved that it was important 
 to the safety of the colony that Bunker Hill should be occupied, and securely kept and 
 defended ; and the Council of War was accordingly recommended to post sufficient forces 
 there. The question of occupying Dorchester Heights was left to the discretion of the 
 council. 
 
 On the 1 6th of June, the provincial commanders proceeded to act on this recommendation. 
 A part of the Massachusetts regiments, under the command of Cols. Prescott, Frye, .and 
 Bridge, numbering about nine hundred men, a detachment of two hundred Connecticut men, 
 and Capt. Gridley's company of artillery, containing 
 forty-nine men with two field-pieces, were ordered to 
 parade at six o'clock in the evening on Cambridge 
 Common, provided with intrenching tools, packs, and 
 blankets, and with provisions for twenty-four hours. 
 The troops being assembled and drawn up in order, 
 Pres. Langdon of Harvard College made a prayer. 
 The detachment was placed under the command of Col. 
 WiUiam Prescott of Pepperell, in Middlesex County ; 
 and at nine o'clock it began the march toward Charles- 
 town Neck, headed by two sergeants carrying dark- 
 lanterns. Some of the men wore a simple uniform : 
 
 THE GLASGOW" FRIGATE. 
 
others were dressed in their Sunday suit of homespun cloth. Their guns were of different 
 patterns and sizes. Some had cartridge-boxes : others carried their ammunition in the old- 
 fashioned powder-horns and pouches. Col. Prescott wore a three-cornered hat, and a linen 
 blouse described by some of his men as a "banyan." 
 
 Thackeray begins his story of " The Virginians " with these words : " On the library wall 
 of one of the most famous writers of America, there hang two swords, which his relatives 
 wore in the great war of Independence. The one sword was gallantly drawn in the service 
 of the king : the other was the weapon of a brave and honored republican soldier." The 
 royalist was Capt. Linzee, commander of " The Falcon " sloop-of-war that cannonaded the 
 works on Breed's Hill : the republican was this same Col. Prescott, now on his way to 
 throw up the works on Breed's Hill ; and the library was that of the historian, — William 
 Hickling Prescott. The swords now hang on the walls of the Massachusetts Historical 
 Society's library. 
 
 The men were not aware of their destination until they reached the Neck. The strictest 
 silence was maintained in order not to alarm the enemy. At Bunker Hill they halted, and a 
 consultatioil was held among the officers. Col. Richard Gridley, the chief engineer of the 
 provincial army, and a veteran of the French wars, was present to mark out the lines of 
 the intended fortifications. Gen. Putnam, who had joined the expedition at some point on 
 the march, w'as also present. 
 
 
 Col. Prescott, in a letter to John Adams, then attending the Continental Congress at 
 Philadelphia, states that he received orders to march to Breed's Hill. Most of the officers 
 were in favor of taking position at Bunker Hill, as being the safer and more commanding of 
 the two ; but the urgency of one officer carried the councils ; and Col. Gridley proceeded to 
 give the lines for a redoubt, on the summit of Breed's Hill, distant about three miles, by the 
 travelled way, from Cambridge Common. The accompanying plan shows, with substantial 
 correctness, the topography of the peninsula and its surroundings, and the position of the 
 fortifications. 
 
6'J 
 
 ^ABji^^ ^^P-^^ 
 
 THIS PLAN AND PICTURE OF THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL IS 
 TAKEN FROM AN ORIGINAL MAP IN THE POSSESSION OF THE 
 PUBLISHERS, WHICH WAS PUBLISHED IN LONDON, IN SEP- 
 TEMBER, 1775. 
 
 It was " nearly twelve o'clock," according to 
 the report of the Committee of Safety, " before 
 the works were entered upon." It was a kind 
 of work (i.e., the use of the spade and pick-axe) 
 to which most of the men were accustomed ; 
 
 and the energy with which it was prosecuted soon gave an astonishing result. It was a 
 clear starlight night. Twice before dawn, Prescott went down to the shore, where he had 
 posted a few men to prevent a surprise. As the hours struck, he could hear the prolonged 
 cry of "All's well ! " from the enemy's guards, and could see in the distance the black forms 
 of the British men-of-war, now peacefully reposing on their dimly-outlined sliadows, but 
 soon to be rocked by the awakening of their dormant thunders. 
 
 " The Somerset," of sixty-eight guns, the largest of the ships, lay in the ferry-way, about 
 in the line of the present Charles-river bridge ; " The Lively," of twenty guns, lay off the 
 present site of the Navy Yard ; " The Falcon " (number of guns not given) lay off the north- 
 eastern point of Charlestown ; " The Symmetry " (a transport), of twenty guns, lay pretty 
 well up towards the Neck, about on the line where the Boston and Maine Railroad passes 
 between Charlestown and Somerville. " The Glasgow," of twenty guns, lay in the channel 
 of the river east of Craigie's Bridge. Two floating-batteries were stationed during the fore- 
 noon near the present site of the State Prison. On Copp's-hill burial ground, at the North 
 End of Boston, there was a battery of brass twenty-four pounders and howitzers, which 
 faced to the north-west, about on the present line of Snowhill Street, and distant in a 
 
ft, 
 
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 ^ 
 
 5ltinc Grave lofcel rtee^| 
 
 Cof.' DmJ] EL MaLCOM M^a'- 
 
 who df%aTrfa Ih.s Life 
 ocfotej- 23*^ '7^9 
 Aged 4^ Years 
 a Irue Jon of Lihtiiy 
 a frittid'to «ir Tublidt 
 atltiiiny to of\^LsioTv 
 ajiA ojic of -ftp fnrcnioXt 
 la OjifLoIinp-ttfiiltveimeirft 
 
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 the north battery, - 
 three days' rations 
 
 straight line from the American redoubt, a Httle more than half a 
 
 mile. Beneath " the king's artillery " there lay buried the remains of 
 
 patriotic men, whose early teaching had led to this hostile array. 
 
 To one true "son of liberty," whose epitaph is here inserted, and 
 
 whose gravestone was vindic- ,,,—,-. 
 
 tively made a target for mus- 
 ket-practice by the British 
 
 soldiers. Dr. Holmes refers in 
 
 his poem. 
 
 At break of day, the guard 
 
 of marines on board " The 
 
 Lively " saw rising on the 
 
 height above them the form 
 
 of an earthwork, which was 
 
 being rapidly enlarged and 
 
 strengthened. The alarm was 
 
 instantly given ; and in a few 
 j minutes the stillness of the 
 ^ summer morning was broken 
 -_ by the rapid discharge of heavy 
 
 J ordnance. The town and the surrounding country soon presented an 
 ^ animated appearance. The people clambered to the roofs of their 
 ] houses, the steeples of the churches, or gathered on the hilltops, and 
 = anxiously scanned the movements of the hostile forces. The firing 
 : from " The Lively " was stopped for a time by order of Admiral 
 -, Graves, but was soon resumed ; the other vessels lying in the stream, 
 = and the Copp's-hill battery, taking part. A council of war was called 
 S by Gage ; and it was decided to attack the " rebel " works in front, 
 = and carry them by assault. Clinton was for taking them in the rear 
 5 by landing a force at the Neck, and thereby cutting off their retreat ; 
 i but Gage rejected his advice, fearing that his troops would be caught 
 
 I between the American forces at Cambridge and the detachment on 
 the peninsula. If Clinton's advice had been followed, and the move- 
 ment supported by a naval force on the Mystic River, where vessels 
 could haul in very near the Neck, we should have had a very different 
 story to tell to-day. Gen. Ward was in such a state of apprehension 
 for the safety of his centre, that he would probably have left the 
 Charlestown detachment to surrender or die. It is somewhat sur- 
 prising that the British commanders failed to send any naval force up 
 the Mystic, where they could have raked the Neck so effectually as 
 to have prevented the Americans from being re-enforced, or from 
 retreating successfully. The fire from " The Glasgow " and " Sym- 
 metry," and the floating-batteries in Charies River, was at such long 
 range, that it did not seriously interfere with the passage of troops 
 across the Neck. 
 
 Soon after twelve o'clock, several regiments of grenadiers and light 
 infantry embarked at Long Wharf in barges, and were landed, under 
 cover of a heavy fire from the fleet, at Moulton's Point, about at the 
 northerly end of the present rope-walk in the Navy- Yard. The boats 
 were then sent back for another detachment, which was waiting at 
 - now Battery Wharf. The troops were in heavy marching-order, with 
 
 II their knapsacks. Major-Gen. William Howe (brother of Lord Howe) 
 
had the chief command, Gen. Pigot being the next in rank. The two detachments first sent 
 over numbered about two thousand men. After reconnoitring the works, Howe sent for 
 re-enforcements ; and about a thousand additional men, who had been held in readiness at 
 Battery Wharf, were sent over, and landed at a point near the westerly end of the present 
 Navy- Yard, whence they were to march directly for the redoubt. 
 
 During the morning, the Americans had been strengthening their works. The redoubt 
 was about eight rods square, the front overlooking the village at the foot of the hill. The 
 top of the parapet was about six feet from the level of the ground. Wooden platforms were 
 placed on the inner sides for the men to stand upon while firing. A breastwork was carried 
 from a point near the north-east corner, in the direction of the Mystic River, for a distance 
 of about one hundred yards. 
 
 One small cannon was mounted in a corner of the redoubt, and fired a few times ; but its 
 shots were ineffective. The firing from the ships and batteries did not at first interfere 
 
 ness and self-possession, while the can- 
 non-balls ploughed up the ground within 
 a few feet of him. It was at this moment 
 that Willard, his brother-in-law, who was 
 in company with Gage, inspecting the 
 
 _^ - -^ _ position from 
 
 the Boston side, 
 recognized him 
 by the aid of a 
 telescope, and 
 pointed him ou^t 
 to the British 
 governor. "Will 
 he fight? "asked 
 Gage. " To the 
 last drop of his 
 blood," was the 
 reply. 
 
 Gen. Putnam, 
 who had re- 
 turned to Cam- 
 bridge during 
 the night, came 
 back in the fore- 
 noon, and, see- 
 ing that the 
 
 American position would soon be attacked, ordered the intrenching tools to be carried back 
 to Bunker Hill for the purpose of throwing up breastworks there, and sent an urgent request 
 to Cambridge for re-enforcements and provisions. Many of the men had neglected to take 
 their rations as ordered, and were, consequently, suffering from lack of food, and from their 
 severe labors. Moreover, the day was intensely hot, and it was difficult to obtain drinking- 
 water. Private Peter Brown, writing to his mother a few days after the battle, took a very 
 gloomy view of affairs at this stage. He says, " The danger we were in made us think there ■ 
 was treachery, and that we were brought here to be all slain. And I must and will venture 
 to say there was treachery, oversight, or presumption in the conduct of our officers." 
 
 Prescott objected to send any of his men to Bunker Hill with the tools, saying they would 
 not return ; but Putnam assured him that they should. It turned out as Prescott predicted : 
 the men seized the opportunity to make the best of their way back to Cambridge, leaving the 
 tools at Bunker Hill to fall into the' hands of the enemy. 
 
 seriously with the work on the intrench- 
 ments. Later, as they .got the range, it 
 was found necessary to withdraw the 
 men from the front, and shelter them 
 behind the embankments. One man 
 was killed, and 
 his comrades in 
 sisted on having 
 the chaplain de- 
 liver a prayer 
 before the body 
 was committed 
 to the earth ; but 
 Prescott put a 
 peremptory stop 
 to the proceed- 
 ings, and then 
 to ■ prevent a 
 panic, mounted 
 the parapet, and 
 walked leisurely 
 to and fro, in 
 specting the 
 works, and giv 
 ing his orders 
 with perfect cool- 
 
 THE PROVINCE HOUSE, RESIDENCE OF GEN. GAGE. 
 
To the urgent demands sent to Gen. Ward, early in the day, for re-enforcements, he 
 assented only so far as to permit a portion of Stark's regiment of New Hampshire men to 
 go forward, giving, as a reason for his refusal to furnish a larger number, that it would be 
 unsafe to weaken his centre until the intentions of the enemy were more clearly revealed. 
 When the landing was effected at Moulton's Point, Gen. Ward hastened to send a large jjart 
 of his force to Charlestown ; but it does not appear that any considerable number crossed 
 the Neck in season to take part in the fight. It is estimated that the numljer of the provin- 
 cial troops assembled in Charlestown at this time was between fifteen hundred and two 
 thousand. 
 
 About eleven o'clock in the forenoon, " Doctor-General Warren," as the English called 
 him, arrived at the redoubt. He had been elected major-general three days before, and had 
 acted as presiding officer of the Provincial Congress at Watertown on the preceding day. 
 Not liaving received his commission, he came with a musket, prepared to serve in the ranks. 
 According to a statement made in 1S43 by Needham Maynard, who says he acted as aide to 
 Warren, the officers pressed him to assume command, saying, " We are all colonels here, 
 and one colonel is as good as another." Warren then said, " If you will continue to act as 
 
 Hor^IESTEAD OF COL. PRESCOTT, AT PEPPEEELL, MASS. 
 
 a council, I will give you my views as commander, and, if you approve of them, they can go 
 as commands." This was assented to ; and Maynard claims to have been the bearer of 
 suggestions from Warren to the other officers, who received them as orders. This story is 
 somewhat questionable. Putnam's admirers claim that he had the general command, 
 although he did not interfere with Prescott at the redoubt. The most probable story is, that 
 the men immediately around Warren took his orders when he chose to give any ; that the 
 general disposition of affairs at the redoubt and the breastwork was in the hands of Pres- 
 cott, who originally had command of the whole detachment, and who had not been super- 
 seded ; and that Putnam controlled matters at the rail-fence (of which we shall presently 
 have something to say), when he was not galloping to and fro between that point and the 
 Neck. It does not appear from any of the official accounts that colors were borne by either 
 side : but some of the survivors in their old age have imagined that they fought under a blue 
 flag, quartered in one corner by the cross of St. George, the upper quartering ne.xt the staff 
 bearing the representation of a pine-tree. 
 
 Between two and three o'clock, the British — having been re-enforced, as we have stated, 
 
ATTLE OF BUNKER S HILL, AND BURNING OF CHARLESTOWN, FROM A CURIOUS OLD PRINT. 
 
 by the landing of a detachment near the village of Charlestown — began to move on the 
 American works. The left, under the command of Gen Pigot, was directed against the 
 redoubt and the breastwork ; the right, under Howe, moved along the margin of the Mystic, 
 with an evident intention of flanking the American works. Prescott (some say Putnam), 
 seeing this movement, detached a body of Connecticut infantry, and Capt. Gridley's artillery, 
 with instructions to extend the lines to the shores of the Mystic," and prevent the left from 
 being turned. They took up a position near the base of Bunker Hill, leaving a gap of 
 twenty-five or thirty rods between their right and the northerly end of the breastwork ; the 
 left extending to the shore. The position was well chosen. There was a low stone wall in 
 front of them, with rails mounted on the top. Other fences in the vicinity afforded materials 
 for erecting a temporary structure just in front of, and parallel with, the wall. Into the 
 space between the two, new-mown hay was thrown, furnishing quite an effective protection 
 against infantry-fire. Col. Stark's men, on arriving, took position here ; also Col. George 
 Reed's regiment of New Hampshire men. Gen. Seth Pomeroy, an old soldier who had 
 been in the French wars, joined these men, and, although superior in rank to Prescott, he 
 carried a musket, and fought as a volunteer in the lines. His appearance was hailed with 
 great enthusiasm. Many of the men were supplied with weapons of Pomeroy's manufac- 
 ture ; and a historian of the time says, " Had Vulcan himself supplied the Grecians with his 
 celestial armor, and appeared in their ranks, they would not have been more certain of 
 victory." 
 
 Just as the British movement began, it was discovered that the artillery had been supphed 
 with balls too large for the guns. The pieces were then charged with grape ; but the dis- 
 tance at which they were stationed, on account of the miry condition of the ground between 
 Moulton's Hill and the intrenchments, rendered their fire for the time ineffective. As the 
 extreme left of the British approached the village of Charlestown, it was annoyed by firing 
 from the houses. Word was sent, or signal made (most probably the latter), to set the town 
 on fire ; and the mortar on Copp's Hill fired a carcass (a case filled with combustibles), which 
 fell short. Another was fired, which took effect ; and a detachment from " The Somerset," 
 landing at the same time, set fire to other parts of the town. It was expected that the 
 smoke would be driven through the American lines, and thereby obscure the approach of 
 the British troops ; but the wind appears to have shifted suddenly, and carried it in a con- 
 trary direction. 
 
 At this moment the scene was one long to be remembered. The tall genadiers in brilliant 
 
GENERAL GAGE, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE 
 BRITISH ARMY. 
 
 uniform, their polished arms ghstening in the mid-day 
 sun, marching slowly but confidently up to the rudely- 
 constructed works, behind which the ill-dressed and 
 half-awed " rebels " stood nervously handling their 
 antiquated muskets ; the continuous roar of the heavy 
 guns from the batteries and the ships-of-war along the 
 shore ; the crackling of the flames ascending from the 
 burning town ; the thousands of spectators gathered 
 on the housetops and hillsides to witness a conflict 
 which might decide the fate of a continent, — all com- 
 bined to make the scene one of unequalled grandeur 
 and importance. The impending conflict was not, on 
 the whole, to be an unequal one. What the provin- 
 cials lacked in experience and discipline, they made 
 up, in part at least, by their superior skill as marks- 
 men, and by their enthusiastic belief in the justice of 
 their cause. They were behind earthworks, which, if 
 rudely constructed, were yet sufficient to protect them 
 against the close fire of infantry and the long-range fire of artillery. The British were 
 superior in numbers and in the character of their arms ; but the fire of their infantry was 
 mostly thrown away, as they discharged their guns while holding them at the side, in the 
 position of the bayonet charge. The chief advantage possessed by the British was in their 
 artillery, which, up to this time, had not done much execution, but which was, by and by, 
 to turn the scale in their favor. Gen. Burgoyne, who was watching the field at this time 
 from Copp's Hill, says in a letter to Lord Stanley, " Howe's disposition was extremely 
 soldier-like : in my opinion it was perfect." But subsequent events, on another field, showed 
 that Burgoyne was not a good judge. 
 
 The British advance was impeded on the right by fences and tall grass, on the left by 
 the low marshy grounds around the brickkilns. The men were mucli burdened by the 
 weight of their knapsacks and arms, and by the extreme heat of the day. The engage- 
 ment was begun by Pigot's forces on the left face of the redoubt, and the front of the 
 breastwork. They fired as they advanced ; but there was no response, except a few 
 scattering shots, until they came within ten or twelve rods of the works, when there was 
 a simultaneous discharge from the American 
 Hues, before which the front ranks went 
 down as though blasted by an unseen power. 
 This unequal contest was maintained for a 
 few minutes ; and then Gen. Pigot ordered 
 his men to fall back out of range. The re- 
 sult was received by the Americans with 
 cheers. 
 
 By this time the right wing was engaged 
 at the rail-fence, and at the gap where the 
 American artillery had been stationed. The 
 same tactics were pursued there that had 
 been so successful at the main works. The 
 British were allowed to approach within easy 
 range, and were then swept down by the 
 fatal precision of the American fire. They 
 wavered for an instant, and then fell back in 
 confusion. The men behind the intrench- 
 ments could hardlv be restrained bv their 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL HOWE. 
 
officers from sallying out, and falling on the enemy in open 
 field. Private Brown was more cheerful at this time, and 
 tells his mother, that, "when the enemy came to swallow us 
 up, they found a choaky mouthful." 
 
 The British ranks were soon re-formed. Tliey again ad- 
 vanced to the attack, both on the right and left ; but, although 
 they held their ground for a time, the deadly tire from the 
 American marksmen hurled them back a second time. The 
 officers who formed Gen. Howe's immediate staff had all been 
 killed or wounded ; but with a noble courage he stood out 
 defiantly conspicuous, " his silk stockings dyed with the blood 
 of his followers," and strove to stay the retreat. 
 
 Perhaps the fire of the "reb- 
 els " was diverted from him by the remembrance of a monu- 
 ment, which, sixteen years before, the Great and General Court 
 of the Province of Massachusetts Bay had caused to be placed 
 in Westminster Abbey : " To the memory 
 of George, Lord Viscount Howe, brigadier- 
 general of his Majesty's forces in North 
 America, who was slain July 6, 1758, on 
 the march of Ticonderoga ; in testimony of 
 the sense they had of his services and mili- 
 tary virtues, and of the affection their officers and 
 soldiers bore to his command." 
 
 Up to this time the losSes on the American side 
 had been very small. There was now a considera- 
 ble interval before the attack was renewed. The 
 British troops were disheartened, and indisposed to 
 make a third attempt. A small re-enforcement from 
 the marine corps was sent over ; and Clinton, 
 watching the progress of the fight from Copp's Hill, 
 and seeing the desperate situation of affairs, crossed 
 over alone in a boat, and offered his services to 
 Howe as a volunteer. Whether it was owing to 
 Clinton's counsels, or whether the commander had 
 learned something from his terrible e.xperience of the 
 previous half-hour, the next movement was more 
 wisely- 
 planned. The artillery was ordered forward to 
 take position in the gap between the rail-fence 
 and the breastwork, and enfilade the right of the 
 American lines. The infantry were ordered to lay 
 aside their heavy equipments, advance in column 
 instead of in line, reserve their fire until the last 
 moment, and then scale the embankment, and use 
 the bayonet. 
 
 The American officers saw these preparations 
 with a feeling that the deadliest struggle of the day 
 was yet to come ; but most of them kept a bold 
 front, and encouraged their men with the statement 
 that one more repulse would decide the battle. The 
 principal danger which they had to fear was, that 
 
 GENERAL JOSEPH W.\EREN. 
 
 
 'Pil-n^M^^ 
 
WARREN S BIRTHPLACE. 
 
 the ammunition, of whicli there was now 
 a very limited suppl}-, would give out en- 
 tirely before the advance of the enemy 
 was checked. As but few of their mus- 
 kets had bayonets, they would, in that 
 event, be powerless to resist the onset. 
 The American artillery had been of little 
 practical use during the day, owing to the 
 incompetency of the officers who had 
 charge of it. In this last encounter it 
 bore no part. 
 
 The weight of the attack was directed 
 against the breastwork and the redoubt. Howe led the attack against the former ; and 
 Clinton and Pigot, against the latter. The Americans received them with a deadly volley, 
 at twenty yards' distance ; but, without returning it, the men pressed forward. At this 
 moment the artillery succeeded in taking position at the gap, speedily drove off the defenders 
 of the breastwork by a raking fire, and sent their balls through the sallyport into the redoubt. 
 The British left now pressed forward on three sides of the redoubt, and began to scale the 
 embankment. For a while it was contested with savage energy. Among the first to mount 
 the parapet was Major Pitcairn of the marine corps, the second in command of the expedi- 
 tion to Concord and Lexington. It is said that he shouted, " The day is ours ! " when he 
 fell back, mortally wounded, into the arms of his son. He was shot by a colored soldier 
 named Salem. 
 
 The Sixty-third Regiment of grenadiers claim the honor of first entering the redoubt. 
 The defenders were now without ammunition, the powder for the last shots having been 
 taken from artillery cartridges. Stones were used by some ; muskets were clubbed ; and 
 for a brief space a hand-to-hand conflict ensued. As soon as the British had full possession 
 of the parapet, they poured over into the interior in such numbers, and used their bayonets 
 with such fatal effect, that Prescott saw no alternative but to order a retreat. His men 
 escaped the best way they could, — some over the top, and others through the passageway. 
 Prescott's " banyan " and waistcoat were pierced and rent by the British bayonets ; but he 
 escaped without bodily injury. After leaving the redoubt, the men had to fight their way 
 through the British troops, which, having carried the breastwork, were pressing forward to 
 form a junction with the left wing, which had swung round to the northerly side. It was at 
 that point that they suffered the heaviest losses ; and it was then that Warren fell. A ball 
 struck him in the forehead, a few rods from the redoubt. There was a popular story, at a 
 later day, and Trumbull perpetuated it in his great painting, that Major Small, who was in 
 
 command of the last re-enforce- 
 
 W^^^^^^^¥^^m^^F^^U^-^^{J^-^^ Mf :mSSM "^si' °f ™^""« ssnt from Bos- 
 '- „. _,-„,--= . — ^.- — ._ ,.. .^. — ,.. ,__=;^a;,l ^Qj,^ tried to save Warren's life, 
 
 and that he ran to shield him 
 when he fell ; but the story was 
 afterwards authoritatively denied. 
 The general's body was not dis- 
 covered until the following day, 
 when Dr. Jeffries visited the 
 grounds. 
 
 The men at the rail-fence had 
 not been overcome by the dem- 
 onstration made against them, 
 and they maintained their ground 
 
 ROOM AT WATERTOWN -WHERE WARREN BREAKFASTED JUNE 17, 1775. UUtU the maiU body Of tllCir COm- 
 
racks from the redoubt and the breastwork had left 
 the hill. "They then," says the report of the Com- 
 mittee of Safety, " gave ground, but with more reg- 
 ularity than could be expected of troops who had 
 no longer been under discipline, and many of whom 
 had never before seen an engagement." 
 
 Putnam appears to have assumed the 'general 
 command at this time, and was conspicuous in try- 
 ing to check the retreat. Riding furiously up and 
 down among the men, he alternately threatened 
 and entreated. It was useless, however, to attempt 
 to make a stand in an open field which was raked 
 by the fire of light artillery, and the guns in the 
 river on the westerly side of the peninsula. The 
 partial stand which was made at the brow of Bun- 
 ker Hill caused a heavy loss. Clinton was for fol- 
 lowing up the blow, and attacking the headquarters 
 at Cambridge ; but a large portion of Gage's effec- 
 tive force had been in the fight, and had suffered such 
 heavy losses, that they were in no condition to make 
 an active pursuit. They look possession of Bunker 
 Hill, and there lay on their arms during the night. Putnam collected as many of the fugi- 
 tives as possible, and established himself on Prospect Hill, about a mile and a half in the 
 rear. Of the six field-pieces carried into the fight, only one was saved. After leaving the 
 redoubt. Col. Prescott hurried to Cambridge, and, after giving vent to his indignation at not 
 being properly re-enforced, pressed Gen. Ward to let him have fifteen hundred men, and re- 
 take the hill. " He had not," says Col. Swett, " done enough to satisfy himself, though he 
 had done enough to satisfy his country. He had not, indeed, secured final victory ; but he 
 had secured a glorious immortahty." 
 
 From the beginning of the attack on the intrenchments, until the taking of the redoubt, 
 only about an hour and a quarter elapsed. In that brief time, the British had lost in killed 
 and wounded, according to Gage's report, 1,054 men- The loss in commissioned officers 
 had been especially severe, as the Americans had " aimed at their handsome coats." One 
 lieutenant-colonel, two majors, and seven captains were killed, and seventy other commis- 
 sioned officers were wounded. The American loss, according to an exact return, was 145 
 killed and missing, and 304 wounded. The result was justly regarded at the time, both at 
 home and abroad, as a substantial victory for the Americans. tames m bugbee. 
 
 GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAI\L 
 
THE CROSSED SWORDS.* 
 
 SwDRDS crossed, — but not in strife ! 
 The chiefs who drew them, parted by the space 
 Of two proud countries' quarrel, face to face 
 Ne'er stood for death or life. 
 
 Swords crossed, that. never met 
 While nerve was in the hands that wielded them ; 
 Hands better destined a fair family stem 
 On those free shores to set. 
 
 Kept crossed by gentlest bands ! 
 Emblems no more of battle, but of peace ; 
 And proof how loves can orow and wars can cease, 
 Their once stern symbol stands. 
 
 It smiled first on the array 
 
 Of marshalled books and friendliest companies ; 
 And here, a history among histories, 
 It still shall smile for aye. 
 
 See that thou memory keep. 
 Of him the firm commander ; and that otlier. 
 The stainless judge ; and him our peerless brother, - 
 All fallen now asleep. 
 
 Yet more : a lesson teach. 
 To cheer the patriot-soldier in his course. 
 That Right shall triumph still o'er insolent Force ; 
 That be your silent speech. 
 
 Oh, be prophetic too ! 
 
 And may those nations twain, as sign and seal 
 Of endless amity, hang up their steel, 
 As we these weapons do ! 
 
 The archives of the Past, 
 
 So smeared with blots of hate and bloody wrong, 
 Pining for peace, and sick to wait so long, 
 Hail this meek cross at last. 
 
 * These apt and touching lines, which are here quoted from Ticknor's " Life of W. H. Prescott," were 
 written by the late Rev. Dr. N. L. Frothingham, on the occasion of the presentation to the Massachusetts 
 Historical Society of the famous weapons which are represented at the top of page 5 of this brochure.