BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL.
While Congress had been deliberating on the adoption of the army and
the nomination of a commander-in-chief, events had been thickening and
drawing to a crisis in the excited region about Boston. The provincial
troops which blockaded the town prevented supplies by land, the
neighboring country refused to furnish them by water; fresh provisions
and vegetables were no longer to be procured, and Boston began to
experience the privations of a besieged city.
On the 25th of May arrived ships of war and transports from England,
bringing large reinforcements, under Generals Howe, Burgoyne, and
Henry Clinton, commanders of high reputation. Inspirited by these
reinforcements, General Gage determined to take the field. Previously,
however, he issued a proclamation (12th June), putting the province
under martial law, threatening to treat as rebels and traitors all
malcontents who should continue under arms, together with their aiders
and abettors; but offering pardon to all who should lay down their
arms and return to their allegiance. From this proffered amnesty,
however, John Hancock and Samuel Adams were especially excepted.
This proclamation only served to put the patriots on the alert against
such measures as might be expected to follow, and of which their
friends in Boston stood ready to apprise them. The besieging force, in
the meantime, was daily augmented by recruits and volunteers, and now
amounted to about fifteen thousand men, distributed at various points.
About ten thousand belonged to Massachusetts, and were under the
command of General Artemas Ward, whose head-quarters were at
Cambridge. Another body of troops, under Colonel John Stark, already
mentioned, came from New Hampshire. Rhode Island furnished a third,
under the command of General Nathaniel Greene. A fourth was from
Connecticut, under the veteran Putnam. These bodies of troops, being
from different colonies, were independent of each other, and had their
several commanders. Those from New Hampshire were instructed to obey
General Ward as commander-in-chief; with the rest it was a voluntary
act, rendered in consideration of his being military chief of
Massachusetts, the province which, as allies, they came to defend.
There was, in fact, but little organization in the army. Nothing kept
it together and gave it unity of action but a common feeling of
exasperated patriotism.
The troops knew but little of military discipline. Almost all were
familiar with the use of fire-arms in hunting and fowling, but the
greater part were without military dress or accoutrements; most of
them were hasty levies of yeomanry, some of whom had seized their
rifles and fowling-pieces and turned out in their working clothes and
homespun country garbs. Such was the army spread over an extent of ten
or twelve miles, and keeping watch upon the town of Boston, containing
at that time a population of seventeen thousand souls, and garrisoned
with more than ten thousand British troops, disciplined and
experienced in the wars of Europe.
In the disposition of these forces, General Ward had stationed himself
at Cambridge, with the main body of about nine thousand men and four
companies of artillery. Lieutenant-general Thomas, second in command,
was posted, with five thousand Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode
Island troops, and three or four companies of artillery, at Roxbury
and Dorchester, forming the right wing of the army; while the left,
composed in a great measure of New Hampshire troops, stretched through
Medford to the hills of Chelsea.
We have already mentioned the peninsula of Charlestown (called from a
village of the same name), which lies opposite to the north side of
Boston. The heights which swell up in rear of the village overlook the
town and shipping. The project was conceived in the besieging camp to
seize and occupy those heights. A council of war was held upon the
subject. General Putnam was one of the most strenuous in favor of the
measure. Some of the more wary and judicious, among whom were General
Ward and Dr. Warren, doubted the expediency of intrenching themselves
on those heights and the possibility of maintaining so exposed a post.
Putnam made light of the danger. He was seconded by General Pomeroy, a
leader of like stamp, and another veteran of the French war. The
daring councils of such men are always captivating to the
inexperienced; but in the present instance they were sanctioned by one
whose opinion in such matters, and in this vicinity, possessed
peculiar weight. This was Colonel William Prescott, of Pepperell, who
commanded a regiment of minute men. He, too, had seen service in the
French war, and acquired reputation as a lieutenant of infantry at the
capture of Cape Breton. This was sufficient to constitute him an
oracle in the present instance. He was now about fifty years of age,
tall and commanding in his appearance, and retaining the port of a
soldier. His opinion, probably, settled the question; and it was
determined to seize on and fortify Bunker's Hill and Dorchester
Heights.
Secret intelligence hurried forward the project. General Gage, it was
said, intended to take possession of Dorchester Heights on the night
of the 18th of June. These heights lay on the opposite side of Boston,
and the committee were ignorant of their localities. Those on
Charlestown Neck, being near at hand, had some time before been
reconnoitered by Colonel Richard Gridley, and other of the engineers.
It was determined to seize and fortify these heights on the night of
Friday, the 16th of June, in anticipation of the movement of General
Gage. Troops were drafted for the purpose, and Colonel Prescott, from
his experience in military matters was chosen by General Ward to
conduct the enterprise. His written orders were to fortify Bunker's
Hill, and defend the works until he should be relieved. Colonel
Richard Gridley, the chief engineer, was to accompany him and plan the
fortifications. The detachment left Cambridge about nine o'clock,
Colonel Prescott taking the lead. At Charlestown Neck they were joined
by Major Brooks, of Bridges' regiment, and General Putnam; and here
were the wagons laden with intrenching tools, which first gave the men
an indication of the nature of the enterprise.
Charlestown Neck is a narrow isthmus, connecting the peninsula with
the main land; having the Mystic River, about half a mile wide, on the
north, and a large embayment of Charles River on the south or right
side. It was now necessary to proceed with the utmost caution, for
they were coming on ground over which the British kept jealous watch.
They had erected a battery at Boston on Copp's Hill, immediately
opposite to Charlestown. Five of their vessels of war were stationed
so as to bear upon the peninsula from different directions, and the
guns of one of them swept the isthmus or narrow neck just mentioned.
Across this isthmus, Colonel Prescott conducted the detachment
undiscovered, and up the ascent of Bunker's Hill. This commences at
the Neck, and slopes up for about three hundred yards to its summit,
which is about one hundred and twelve feet high. It then declines
toward the south, and is connected by a ridge with Breed's Hill, about
sixty or seventy feet high. The crests of the two hills are about
seven hundred yards apart. On attaining the heights, a question rose
which of the two they should proceed to fortify. Bunker's Hill was
specified in the written orders given to Colonel Prescott by General
Ward, but Breed's Hill was much nearer to Boston, and had a better
command of the town and shipping. Bunker's Hill, also, being on the
upper and narrower part of the peninsula, was itself commanded by the
same ship which raked the Neck. Putnam was clear for commencing at
Breed's Hill, and making the principal work there, while a minor work
might be thrown up at Bunker's Hill, as a protection in the rear, and
a rallying point, in case of being driven out of the main work. Others
concurred with this opinion. Gridley marked out the lines for the
fortifications; the men stacked their guns; threw off their packs;
seized their trenching tools, and set to work with great spirit. So
spiritedly, though silently, was the labor carried on, that by morning
a strong redoubt was thrown up as a main work, flanked on the left by
a breastwork, partly cannon-proof, extending down the crest of Breed's
Hill to a piece of marshy ground called the Slough. To support the
right of the redoubt, some troops were thrown into the village of
Charlestown, at the southern foot of the hill.
At dawn of day, the Americans at work were espied by the sailors on
board of the ships of war, and the alarm was given. The captain of the
Lively, the nearest ship, without waiting for orders, put a spring
upon her cable, and bringing her guns to bear, opened a fire upon the
hill. The other ships and a floating battery followed his example.
Their shot did no mischief to the works. The cannonading roused the
town of Boston. General Gage could scarcely believe his eyes when he
beheld on the opposite hill a fortification full of men, which had
sprung up in the course of the night. He called a council of war. The
Americans might intend to cannonade Boston from this new
fortification; it was unanimously resolved to dislodge them. How was
this to be done? A majority of the council, including Clinton and
Grant, advised that a force should be landed on Charlestown Neck,
under the protection of their batteries, so as to attack the Americans
in rear and cut off their retreat. General Gage objected that it would
place his troops between two armies; one at Cambridge, superior in
numbers, the other on the heights, strongly fortified. He was for
landing in front of the works, and pushing directly up the hill; a
plan adopted through a confidence that raw militia would never stand
their ground against the assault of veteran troops.
The sound of drum and trumpet, the clatter of hoofs, the rattling of
gun-carriages, and all the other military din and bustle in the
streets of Boston, soon apprised the Americans on their rudely
fortified height of an impending attack. They were ill-fitted to
withstand it, being jaded by the night's labor, and want of sleep;
hungry and thirsty, having brought but scanty supplies, and oppressed
by the heat of the weather. Prescott sent repeated messages to General
Ward, asking reinforcements and provisions. Ward issued orders for
Colonels Stark and Read, then at Medford, to march to the relief of
Prescott with their New Hampshire regiments.
In the meantime, the Americans on Breed's Hill were sustaining the
fire from the ships, and from the battery on Copp's Hill, which opened
upon them about ten o'clock. They returned an occasional shot from one
corner of the redoubt, without much harm to the enemy, and continued
strengthening their position until about eleven o'clock, when they
ceased to work, piled their intrenching tools in the rear, and looked
out anxiously and impatiently for the anticipated reinforcements and
supplies. The tools were ultimately carried to Bunker's Hill, and a
breastwork commenced by order of General Putnam. The importance of
such a work was afterwards made apparent.
About noon the Americans descried twenty-eight barges crossing from
Boston in parallel lines. They contained a large detachment of
grenadiers, rangers, and light infantry, admirably equipped, and
commanded by Major-general Howe. A heavy fire from the ships and
batteries covered their advance, but no attempt was made to oppose
them, and they landed about one o'clock at Moulton's Point, a little
to the north of Breed's Hill. Here General Howe made a pause. On
reconnoitering the works from this point, the Americans appeared to be
much more strongly posted than he had imagined, and he immediately
sent over to General Gage for more forces. While awaiting their
arrival, refreshments were served out to the troops. The Americans
meanwhile took advantage of the delay to strengthen their position.
The breastwork on the left of the redoubt extended to what was called
the Slough, but beyond this, the ridge of the hill, and the slope
toward Mystic River, were undefended, leaving a pass by which the
enemy might turn the left flank of the position, and seize upon
Bunker's Hill. Putnam ordered his chosen officer, Captain Knowlton, to
cover this pass with the Connecticut troops under his command. A novel
kind of rampart, savoring of rural device was suggested by the rustic
general. About six hundred feet in the rear of the redoubt, and about
one hundred feet to the left of the breastwork, was a post and
rail-fence, set in a low foot-wall of stone, and extending down to
Mystic River. The posts and rails of another fence were hastily pulled
up, and set a few feet in behind this, and the intermediate space was
filled up with new mown hay from the adjacent meadows. This double
fence, it will be found, proved an important protection to the
redoubt, although there still remained an unprotected interval of
about seven hundred feet.
While Knowlton and his men were putting up this fence, Putnam
proceeded with other of his troops to throw up the work on Bunker's
Hill, despatching his son, Captain Putnam, on horseback, to hurry up
the remainder of his men from Cambridge. By this time Stark made his
appearance with the New Hampshire troops, five hundred strong. Putnam
detained some of Stark's men to aid in throwing up the works on
Bunker's Hill, and directed him to reinforce Knowlton with the rest.
About two o'clock, Warren arrived on the heights, ready to engage in
their perilous defence, although he had opposed the scheme of their
occupation. He had recently been elected a major-general, but had not
received his commission. Putnam offered him the command at the fence;
he declined it, and merely asked where he could be of most service as
a volunteer.
The British now prepared for a general assault. An easy victory was
anticipated; the main thought was, how to make it most effectual. The
left wing, commanded by General Pigot, was to mount the hill and force
the redoubt, while General Howe, with the right wing, was to push on
between the fort and Mystic River, turn the left flank of the
Americans, and cut off their retreat. General Pigot, accordingly
advanced up the hill under cover of a fire from field-pieces and
howitzers planted on a small height near the landing-place on
Moulton's Point. His troops commenced a discharge of musketry while
yet at a long distance from the redoubts. The Americans within the
works, obedient to strict command, retained their fire until the enemy
were within thirty or forty paces, when they opened upon them with a
tremendous volley. Being all marksmen, accustomed to take deliberate
aim, the slaughter was immense, and especially fatal to officers. The
assailants fell back in some confusion; but, rallied on by their
officers, advanced within pistol shot. Another volley, more effective
than the first, made them again recoil. To add to their confusion,
they were galled by a flanking fire from the handful of Provincials
posted in Charlestown. Shocked at the carnage and seeing the confusion
of his troops, General Pigot was urged to give the word for a retreat.
In the meantime, General Howe, with the right wing, advanced along
Mystic River toward the fence where Stark, Read, and Knowlton were
stationed, thinking to carry this slight breastwork with ease, and so
get in the rear of the fortress. His artillery proved of little avail,
being stopped by a swampy piece of ground, while his columns suffered
from two or three field-pieces with which Putnam had fortified the
fence. Howe's men kept up a fire of musketry as they advanced; but not
taking aim, their shot passed over the heads of the Americans. The
latter had received the same orders with those in the redoubt, not to
fire until the enemy should be within thirty paces. When the British
arrived within the stated distance a sheeted fire opened upon them
from rifles, muskets, and fowling-pieces, all levelled with deadly
aim. The carnage, as in the other instance, was horrible. The British
were thrown into confusion and fell back; some even retreated to the
boats.
There was a general pause on the part of the British. The American
officers availed themselves of it to prepare for another attack, which
must soon be made. Prescott mingled among his men in the redoubt, who
were all in high spirits at the severe check they had given "the
regulars." He praised them for their steadfastness in maintaining
their post, and their good conduct in reserving their fire until the
word of command, and exhorted them to do the same in the next attack.
Putnam rode about Bunker's Hill and its skirts, to rally and bring on
reinforcements which had been checked or scattered in crossing
Charlestown Neck by the raking fire from the ships and batteries.
Before many could be brought to the scene of action the British had
commenced their second attack. They again ascended the hill to storm
the redoubt; their advance was covered as before by discharges of
artillery. Charlestown, which had annoyed them on their first attack
by a flanking fire, was in flames, by shells thrown from Copp's Hill,
and by marines from the ships. The thunder of artillery from batteries
and ships, the bursting of bomb-shells; the sharp discharges of
musketry; the shouts and yells of the combatants; the crash of burning
buildings, arid the dense volumes of smoke, which obscured the summer
sun, all formed a tremendous spectacle.
The American troops, although unused to war, stood undismayed amidst a
scene where it was bursting upon them with all its horrors. Reserving
their fire, as before, until the enemy was close at hand, they again
poured forth repeated volleys with the fatal aim of sharpshooters. The
British stood the first shock, and continued to advance; but the
incessant stream of fire staggered them. Their officers remonstrated,
threatened, and even attempted to goad them on with their swords, but
the havoc was too deadly; whole ranks were mowed down; many of the
officers were either slain or wounded, and among them several of the
staff of General Howe. The troops again gave way and retreated down
the hill.
A third attack was now determined on, though some of Howe's officers
remonstrated, declaring it would be downright butchery. A different
plan was adopted. Instead of advancing in front of the redoubt, it was
to be taken in flank on the left, where the open space between the
breastwork and the fortified fence presented a weak point. It having
been accidentally discovered that the ammunition of the Americans was
nearly expended, preparations were made to carry the works at the
point of the bayonet. General Howe, with the main body, now made a
feint of attacking the fortified fence; but, while a part of his force
was thus engaged, the rest brought some of the field-pieces to
enfilade the breastwork on the left of the redoubt. A raking fire soon
drove the Americans out of this exposed place into the enclosure. The
troops were now led on to assail the works. The Americans again
reserved their fire until their assailants were close at hand, and
then made a murderous volley, by which several officers were laid low,
and General Howe himself was wounded in the foot. The British soldiery
this time likewise reserved their fire and rushed on with fixed
bayonet. Clinton and Pigot had reached the southern and eastern sides
of the redoubt, and it was now assailed on three sides at once.
Prescott ordered those who had no bayonets to retire to the back part
of the redoubt and fire on the enemy as they showed themselves on the
parapet. The Americans, however, had fired their last round, their
ammunition was exhausted; and now succeeded a desperate and deadly
struggle, hand to hand, with bayonets, stones, and the stocks of their
muskets. At length, as the British continued to pour in, Prescott gave
the order to retreat. His men had to cut their way through two
divisions of the enemy who were getting in rear of the redoubt, and
they received a destructive volley from those who had formed on the
captured works. By that volley fell the patriot Warren, who had
distinguished himself throughout the action.
While the Americans were thus slowly dislodged from the redoubt,
Stark, Read and Knowlton maintained their ground at the fortified
fence; which, indeed, had been nobly defended throughout the action.
The resistance at this hastily constructed work was kept up after the
troops in the redoubt had given way, and until Colonel Prescott had
left the hill; thus defeating General Howe's design of cutting off the
retreat of the main body; which would have produced a scene of direful
confusion and slaughter. Having effected their purpose, the brave
associates at the fence abandoned their weak outpost, retiring slowly,
and disputing the ground inch by inch, with a regularity remarkable in
troops many of whom had never before been in action.
The main retreat was across Bunker's Hill, where Putnam had endeavored
to throw up a breastwork. The veteran, sword in hand, rode to the rear
of the retreating troops, regardless of the balls whistling about him.
His only thought was to rally them at the unfinished works. It was
impossible, however, to bring the troops to a stand. They continued on
down the hill to the Neck and across it to Cambridge, exposed to a
raking fire from the ships and batteries, and only protected by a
single piece of ordnance. The British were too exhausted to pursue
them; they contented themselves with taking possession of Bunker's
Hill, were reinforced from Boston, and threw up additional works
during the night.
Thus ended the first regular battle between the British and the
Americans, and most eventful in its consequences. The former had
gained the ground for which they contended; but, if a victory, it was
more disastrous and humiliating to them than an ordinary defeat.
According to their own returns, their killed and wounded, out of a
detachment of two thousand men, amounted to one thousand and
fifty-four, and a large proportion of them officers. The loss of the
Americans did not exceed four hundred and fifty.
To the latter this defeat, if defeat it might be called, had the
effect of a triumph. It gave them confidence in themselves and
consequence in the eyes of their enemies. They had proved to
themselves and to others that they could measure weapons with the
disciplined soldiers of Europe, and inflict the most harm in the
conflict.
Among the British officers slain was Major Pitcairn, who, at
Lexington, had shed the first blood in the Revolutionary war. In the
death of Warren the Americans had to lament the loss of a
distinguished patriot and a most estimable man. It was deplored as a
public calamity. He was one of the first who fell in the glorious
cause of his country, and his name has become consecrated in its
history.