the rank of Putnam, according to the author’s own acknowledgment,
that Putnam was the commander of the battle. We now proceed to prove
it a third and fourth time, by his conduct in the battle, and the
evidence in the case. Our troops were well fed at Cambridge, through
contributions from the New England towns, who thought, with the old
general, that men fought best on full stomachs: but, after waiting two
months, they grew impatient for fighting; and Putnam’s whole soul was
with them. Notwithstanding Ward’s prudence, Putnam persuaded him at
last to grant him two thousand men to meet the enemy. The heights of
Charlestown were carefully reconnoitred by Putnam, fascines and empty
casks were prepared for intrenchments, and all the intrenching tools
far and near were collected; but enough only could be found for one
thousand men, and Prescott’s detachment was limited to that number
from necessity; but they were to be relieved in the morning by an
equal number in their places. The still more important preparation of
gunpowder was anxiously attempted, though nearly in vain. During the
turmoil of the day of battle, Putnam called on the Committee of Safety
to receipt for eighteen barrels of powder from Connecticut. He went on
to Breed’s Hill the night before the battle, and assisted in laying
out the intrenchments.[8] He likewise took his small soldiers’ tent
on to the ground, and Capt. Trevett says it was erected. This shows a
“foregone conclusion,” that he was to be indissolubly connected with
the expedition, and all its consequences. But, what was still more in
the spirit of the man, he prepared for himself a relay of horses for
the battle; and nothing more difficult: even Col. Prescott could not
find one for Maj. Brooks to ride to Cambridge, though he endeavored
to press one from the artillery. Putnam was the only officer mounted
in the battle, unless Maj. Durkee was part of the time, as one of
the documents relates. Durkee had been his intimate associate in the
previous war, as he was through that of the Revolution. By daylight on
the morning of the battle, Putnam sent to Gen. Ward for a horse, and
procured another himself; he seemed to consider this as important as
Richard did, when he exclaims, “My kingdom for a horse.” He went to
Breed’s Hill the night before the battle; and this he did under the
express agreement with Gen. Ward that he was to do so, and to have the
direction and superintendence of the whole expedition. For the minute
detail of Putnam’s conduct relative to the battle and connection with
it, we refer to our history and notes. The well–known, honorable, and
intelligent Col. Putnam, son of the general, who observes he was with
the army at the time of the battle, and afterwards an officer under
his father till near the close of the war, and during his whole life
frequently conversed on the subject of the battle with his father and
all others, wrote a memoir, which he communicated to the Monument
Association. Putnam, he says, early urged Ward to have the heights of
Charlestown fortified, who, with Warren, objected the want of powder
and battering cannon. Ward hoped for peace and reconciliation with the
enemy, and wished to continue on the defensive. Putnam said we should
gain peace only by the sword, and he wished only to draw out the enemy
so as to meet them on equal terms. He frequently reconnoitred the
heights; and, just before the battle, Ward agreed to put two thousand
men under him to form intrenchments and defend them. General Putnam
went with half this force to Breed’s Hill the night of the 16th,
repairing at dawn to Cambridge for the other thousand to relieve the
fatigue–party; but the cannonade of the enemy called him instantly
back. Gov. Brooks went on to the ground with Gen. Putnam, and was
present whilst he assisted in laying out the works. Col. Trumbull,
with the army at the time, says the detachment went under the command
of Gen. Putnam and Col. Prescott. Judge Grosvenor, an officer of the
army at the time, and in the detachment, says “Putnam was with them;
and, under his immediate superintendence, ground was broken and the
redoubt formed; and that he commanded the troops engaged afterwards.”
Pres. Stiles, of New Haven College, recorded in his Diary, that
Putnam took possession of Bunker Hill the night of the 16th. Pres.
Dwight, of the same college, says Putnam was the commander of the
battle. Rev. Dr. Whitney, the pastor and most intimate friend of Gen.
Putnam, states explicitly Gen. Putnam’s own declaration to him, that
the detachment was at first put under his command, and that with
it he took possession of the hill, and ordered the battle from the
beginning to the end. “These facts,” he says, “Gen. Putnam himself
gave me soon after the battle, and also repeated them to me after his
life [by Humphreys] was printed.” This is in a note of Dr. Whitney
to his funeral discourse on Gen. Putnam, 1790, and repeated in his
letter, 1818. Col. Putnam, in his letter to me, confirms Dr. Whitney’s
declarations as to his father’s assertions. Frothingham thinks they
may have mistaken the general’s meaning. Col. Putnam’s reasons for
his accurate recollections, we have given. Dr. Whitney says, “Soon
after Bunker Hill Battle, I was at Cambridge some weeks chaplain to
Gen. Putnam’s regiment, resided in his family, and had peculiarly
favorable opportunities of learning, from him and others, in detail,
the things which took place in the battle from its beginning to its
end.” Dr. Aaron Dexter says, from memoranda written at the time, that
he was informed by the officers at Ward’s quarters the day after the
battle, that Putnam had command of all the troops that were sent
down over–night, and that might be ordered there the next day. Col.
Bancroft, the distinguished captain in the redoubt, says he was at
the laying–out of the works by Putnam, and that the rail breastwork
was formed and lined under the direction of Putnam. John Boyle, Esq.
of Boston, who was aide–de–camp to Gov. Hancock, in the expedition
to Rhode Island, writes in his Diary, 16th June, 1775: “Gen. Putnam,
with a detachment of about one thousand of the American forces, went
from Cambridge, and began an intrenchment on an eminence below Bunker
Hill.” Col. Samuel Ward, of Rhode Island, then a captain in the army
at Roxbury, writes, 20th June: “Putnam had a sore battle on Saturday.”
Ethan Clarke writes to Capt. Ward, “We hear that Putnam is defeated,
and Dr. Warren slain.” The most astonishing inadvertence of the author,
though mere inadvertence we believe, is his publishing two pages out
of Rivington’s Gazette of 3d August, 1775, and never hinting, that
in the same paper of 29th June, 1775, it is stated that “Putnam on
the evening of the 16th inst. took possession of Bunker Hill, and
began an intrenchment;” and this extract from Rivington was mentioned
in a publication of ours, which he had among our documents. Josiah
Cleveland’s[9] deposition says he was of Putnam’s regiment; went on
the night of the 16th, Putnam at their head, who with others directed
the works, and ordered the Connecticut and some Massachusetts troops
to make the breastwork at the rail–fence. Abner Allen,[10] of the
same regiment, in his deposition, says he went on the night before
the battle; Putnam was then and there called general, and acted as
such. Major Daniel Jackson, 16th June, 1775, then a sergeant in the
artillery, entered in his Diary, “Gen. Putnam with the army went to
intrench on Bunker Hill.” Trevett, senior captain of the artillery, the
day of the battle, inquired officially of Maj. Gridley, then in command
of all the artillery at Cambridge, and whose father was inferior to no
one in the councils of war, “Who had the command of the troops?” and
was informed by him, “Gen. Putnam.” “Then there is nothing to fear,” he
observed at the time. He consequently applied to Putnam for orders, and
received them. We have mentioned Putnam’s command over three regiments
from different provinces; and that, while “Gen. Ward was at Roxbury,
Gen. Putnam was commander–in–chief” at Cambridge. Gen. Dearborn,[11]
who was in the battle, represents Putnam as the authorized commander.
Our next witness is the Rev. Jos. Thaxter, of Edgarton, who, in
his letter A.D. 1818, says, “On the evening of the 16th June, Col.
Prescott and Col. Bridge, with their regiments, under the direction of
Gen. Putnam, took possession of Breed’s Hill, and threw up a fort or
intrenchment.” We have looked in vain into the author’s book for the
name of Thaxter, that most venerable and interesting old man eloquent,
and minister of the Most High, who, at the time of the battle, was
chaplain in the army, and, while the battle raged, was wrestling with
the Lord in prayer for victory; and, in 1825, with head as white
and heart as unsullied as the driven snow, appeared again on the
battle–field at the jubilee, and laying of the corner–stone for the
monument, to bear up to the throne of grace the thanks of the hundred
thousand who were present, for the very success that he had prayed for
in ’75. The author has devoted twenty–two pages to this jubilee and
monument, without one syllable to spare for the patriotism, eloquence,
and unction of this most interesting relic of olden time, or for the
mention of any religious service whatsoever on the occasion. He dwells
on Webster’s eloquent address to the sovereign people, without the
slightest notice of any address to the Sovereign of the universe. The
neglect of all religious service on the occasion will be considered,
by all those who give credit to the author’s history, as a serious
imputation on our national character.
All this perfectly decisive testimony of Putnam’s command is fully
confirmed by the whole of his conduct during the day after he left Gen.
Ward at dawn, who promised to send on a reinforcement. The breastwork
at the rail–fence was built under Putnam’s orders by the Connecticut
and a few Massachusetts troops, though Frothingham does not give him
the credit of it. He acknowledges it was built by Knowlton and the
troops under him, and that Judge Grosvenor says Gen. Putnam placed
them there. Adj.–Gen. Keyes, then lieutenant in Grosvenor’s company,
says the same. Col. Putnam’s memoir states that his father placed
them there, and ordered them to make the best preparation in their
power for defence. Col. Bancroft and Mr. Josiah Cleveland,[12] as
mentioned before, and Messrs. Aaron Smith[13] and William Low,[14] all
of them present and in the battle, say expressly Putnam built it; and
Low adds, Putnam took a rail on his shoulder, and ordered every man
to do the same and build the breastwork. Greater service than this
was never performed by Putnam for his country, nor greater service
by him or any one at Bunker Hill. There were ingenuity, knowledge of
position, and generalship in it, that have secured for him immortal
honor, and the warmest gratitude of all his countrymen to the latest
posterity. Without this defence, the overwhelming force of the enemy
would have flanked, surrounded, and vanquished our ill–equipped troops
instantly. There was scarcely a regiment, corps, or individual of the
army, that Putnam did not personally command, direct, or encourage.
The reinforcements not arriving, he galloped back to Ward’s quarters
to obtain them. He ordered Doolittle’s regiment[15] to go on at nine
o’clock; ordered Stark’s regiment to the lines, and reserved a part
of it to intrench on Bunker Hill; led on Woodbridge’s and Brewer’s
regiments; ordered Gardner’s to build intrenchments on Bunker Hill; he
ordered the companies of Little’s regiment to their posts; and Ford’s
company of Bridge’s regiment he ordered to draw Callender’s deserted
cannon to the line. Ford, though no submissive man, obeyed with the
greatest reluctance, his company being infantry, and Putnam fired the
pieces himself; some of the soldiers exclaiming that he made a lane,
others a furrow, through the enemy. He beat, cut, and thrust with his
sword a number of the soldiers who were backward and cowardly, broke
his sword over a dastardly officer of Gerrish’s regiment, and compelled
Capt. Callender to do his duty by threatening him with instant
death. During the raging of the battle, frothing at the mouth from
his vociferations, and his horse covered with foam, he was galloping
from end to end of the line, encouraging, directing, and commanding
everybody. My townsman Bagley, who was fighting at the time at the
breastwork, and others, say, in their simple language, “he had a very
encouraging look.” In the language of one of Shakspeare’s characters,—
“He outfaced the brow of bragging horror;
So that inferior men, who borrow their behavior
From the great, grew great by his example,
And put on the spirit of dauntless resolution.”
And we say the same of Prescott. When Putnam could no longer prevent
the retreat of his troops, he was one of the last in the rear. He told
Whittemore, an old companion of the former war, he would rally again
directly, as he attempted to do at his slight intrenchments on Bunker
Hill, where he obstinately remained till even the Leonidas company
of Charlestown, and Trevett’s noble corps, left him alone. But, even
then, Gen. Putnam it was who saved the honor of his country, as he had
already secured for her all the advantages of victory in the battle, by
rallying his troops again on Prospect Hill within cannon–shot of the
enemy, who did not dare to follow him; and he made a drawn battle of it.
Seventy–five years since, the Battle of Bunker Hill was fought. Who
the commander was has ever since remained a mystery. Maj.–Gen. Ward
was the commander–in–chief of the army at Cambridge; Maj.–Gen. Warren,
the next; Brig.–Gen. Putnam, the third in command; and Col. Prescott,
another officer of the army. Gen. Ward, from headquarters, ordered the
preparations for the battle, and the general movements and disposition
of the troops during the day. But, from want of staff officers, he
was unable to ascertain or to direct the particular movements and
manœuvres of the troops during the day. He was the commander
of the general movements out of the field. Had Napoleon, with his
numerous staff, been in Ward’s place, history, without hesitation,
would have recorded him the commander. Warren[16] was on the field,
and, notwithstanding he declined to issue any orders, was authorized
so to do whenever he pleased. His situation was nearly identical with
that of the admiral, who declined giving any orders to his fleet,
and merely directed that “every commander of a ship should kill his
own bird.” Warren, then, was the authorized, and for many years the
supposed commander, as he was the distinguished hero, martyr, and
volunteer of the battle. Gen. Putnam was the actual, and, on Warren’s
declining, the authorized commander of Bunker Hill Battle. He was “the
bright particular star,” to which, during all the storm and tempest of
the battle, every eye was turned for guidance and for victory. Col.
Prescott[17] was commander at Bunker Hill the night before the battle,
and the next day till Gen. Putnam came on with the reinforcements; and,
during the battle, the commander at the redoubt. He erected his works
with his detachment of one thousand men, under a sheet of fire from the
enemy like a volcano, and defended them afterwards most heroically to
the latest moment of desperation. He immortalized his name. There were,
then, four who in some sense participated in the command of Bunker Hill
Battle; hence the multiplied mistakes on the subject. It may be equally
impossible to demonstrate who was exclusively the commander, as to
discover the author of Junius, or birthplace of Homer. It was our duty
not the less to make the attempt; as we have done with the greatest
diffidence, considering it a forlorn hope.
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
PAGE 7.
According to Hon. Jos. Allen, late of Worcester, Samuel Adams, the
proscribed patriot, said, “I have heard some people find fault with
Gen. Ward, for intrenching on Breed’s Hill, so near the enemy,
without any fortifications in their rear; but the world does not
know how much that man is to be justified for so doing; for he had
secret intelligence from Boston, by means of spies, that the British
were about to take possession of Dorchester Heights; and, to divert
them from their object, a close approach to the enemy was made by
intrenching on Breed’s Hill, which had the desired effect, until the
provincials could take possession of Dorchester Heights.”
PAGE 12.
Col. Sargent was born at Salem, in 1745, but resided in early life
at Cape Ann, and was rugged as the rocky mountains there. From his
continual intercourse, by sea, between the Cape and the Capital, he
acquired the additional roughness and hardihood of the mariner, and was
not mollified by his fierce disputes with the government and tories
in Boston. His schooling in the tented field lent the last finish to
his character: he was a perfect Ironsides, and loved fighting as he
loved his eyes. Learning from his brother, who was a tory, that he was
proscribed by Gov. Hutchinson, he made his escape into New Hampshire,
where he raised a regiment, to repay the governor’s compliment, by
assisting to blockade Gov. Gage. When Washington departed for New York,
Sargent remained at Boston under Gen. Ward, who, Sargent says, knowing
his opinion of him, placed him as far off as he could, in command of
the castle and islands. Though the British had been driven off, he
contrived to find fighting, which he thus describes:—
“Early in April, on Fast Day, while we were going to meeting, an alarm
gun was fired from the Castle. I repaired to Long Wharf, and manned
my barge with forty men. Proceeding down, I observed a ship and three
schooners making for Shirley Point, and immediately proceeded to
Pudding Point Channel, and took charge of piloting her through the
Narrows. But Mr. Knox and Capt. D. Martin coming on board, Knox being
the branch pilot, I gave up my command, and in a few moments he ran the
ship on a spit of sand, which I cautioned him of. We then collected all
the boats, and loaded with powder from the ship, and sent them to town.
There were then lying in Nantasket Road, the ‘Rainbow,’ of fifty guns;
‘Dawson,’ of fourteen; and a schooner, tender to the ‘Rainbow.’ They
made no attempt to succor the ship during the day; but I expected they
would in the night, and warned Capt. Mugford and the other captains
to be very vigilant. I left on board the ship a captain and two
subalterns, with forty men, and returned to my quarters. In the night,
the British attempted to retake the ship, or destroy her. They came
with five boats full of men, and the largest laid the ship alongside.
Credit is due to Daniel Malcom, who threw a rope over the boat’s
mainmast, and hauled her in till her halyards could be seized by those
on board the ship; by which the boat was filled and sunk, and sixty
men were put to their paddles, most of whom were drowned. A heavy fire
from our soldiers obliged them to make a shameful retreat. They fired
a great number of shot at _us_ without effect. She was a most valuable
prize, being fully loaded with military stores. We were very short of
them, and Lord North could not have done us a greater service.”
The next day, Gen. Ward inquired whether Sargent could drive the enemy
from Nantasket. He informed him, that his cannon were too small; but,
Ward wishing him to make the experiment, he repaired in the night to
Long Island with three hundred men, erected breastworks before light,
and in the morning saluted the “Rainbow” with a shot, which struck
her on the quarter, carrying away some of her upper works; and excited
so great a panic in the enemy, that they instantly towed out, and,
the wind springing up, sailed off with the utmost despatch. Sargent,
satisfied with their movements, was too prudent to betray his weakness
by firing a second time. Crowned with these victories, in July, 1776,
he left Boston for New York, with the only full regiment then formed,
numbering, officers and men, seven hundred and twenty–seven. And, by
December, he had used up this regiment, by continual and desperate
fighting, at Harlem Heights, Fort Washington, White Plains, and by
casualties; one hundred and ninety–five of them only were left, to
tell the melancholy fate of their comrades. So ardent was Sargent’s
patriotism, that, many years after the peace, being in Boston on
Sunday, he went to church with his half–brother, Daniel Sargent, Esq.
and took his seat, before he perceived that his own brother, from
Halifax, who had been a tory and refugee, was in the same pew with
him. The moment he discovered this, he seized his three–cornered hat,
and stalked out of church; vociferating afterwards, that the same roof
should never cover such a—— tory as his brother was, and himself. He
died 1828.
PAGE 18.
The following description of Putnam was not intended for publication;
but that lends it the highest interest. Judge Dana, a senator of the
United States from Maine, was a grandson of Putnam, and remarks in
his letter, 1818, that he had just been to visit his aunt Waldo, Gen.
Putnam’s daughter; and then gives the following description of the
general:—
“In his person, for height, about the middle size; very erect;
thickset, muscular, and firm in every part. His countenance was open,
strong, and animated; the features of his face large, well–proportioned
to each other, and to his whole frame; his teeth fair and sound till
death. His organs and senses were all exactly fitted for a warrior; he
heard quickly, saw to an immense distance; and, though he sometimes
stammered in conversation, his voice was remarkably heavy, strong,
and commanding. Though facetious and dispassionate in private, when
animated in the heat of battle, his countenance was fierce and
terrible, and his voice like thunder. His whole manner was admirably
calculated to inspire his soldiers with courage and confidence, and
his enemy with terror. The faculties of his mind were not inferior to
those of his body; his penetration was acute, his decision rapid, yet
remarkably correct; and the more desperate his situation, the more
collected and undaunted. With the courage of a lion, he had a heart
that melted at the sight of distress; he could never witness suffering
in any human being, without becoming a sufferer himself; even the
operation of blood–letting has caused him to faint. In viewing the
field of battle, his distress was exquisite, until he had afforded
friend or foe all the relief in his power. Once after a battle, on
examining a bullet–wound through the head of a favorite officer, Capt.
Whiting, who died on the field, he fainted, and was taken up for dead.
Martial music roused him to the highest pitch; while solemn, sacred
music set him into tears. In his disposition he was open and generous,
almost to a fault; he never disguised; and in the social relations of
life he was never excelled.”
PAGE 29.
One of the most magnificent monuments that ever bore the name of any
man, and which will transmit the name of Warren, in grateful and
glorious remembrance, down to the latest posterity, has been erected
in Boston Harbor. Fort Warren, for strength, grandeur, and scientific
perfection, is one of the masterpieces of military art; and it will
be highly gratifying to all the countrymen of Col. Thayer,—that
most amiable, scientific, and distinguished engineer, by whom it
was constructed,—that his name will be for ever so honorably and
deservedly associated with that of Warren. Both were born in the
vicinity of Boston.
PAGE 30.
If we may be excused for speaking from a very slight experience, we
should say, there is no reason to suppose that any of Ward’s orders to
his officers, on the occasion of the battle, were in writing. In 1814,
when the British forces, freed from European service, were pouring
into Canada, and apprehensions were entertained that they would make
their way into our country, we joined the army under Gen. Izard, on
the Champlain frontier, as one of the Massachusetts volunteers, and
served in his staff through the campaign as topographical engineer.
The general was soon ordered to the Niagara frontier, to save
Gen. Brown from Drummond’s superior force, which we found posted
on the north bank of the Chippewa River, and with very formidable
fortifications along the southern shore likewise. Gen. Izard, finding
that the enemy’s position was unassailable in front, was desirous of
discovering whether the British fleet, with the large frigate they
had been building, which was to give them the mastery over Commodore
Chauncey, was out on Lake Ontario, so as to prevent him from getting
on the enemy’s flank or rear. To gain this information, he ordered
me, and not in writing, to go with a small detachment of infantry
across the Niagara River in a boat, and proceed to the vicinity of
Lake Ontario, to obtain the requisite information. That region was
abandoned to the enemy, and deserted by all the Americans, excepting a
few men who frequented it occasionally, to look after their property,
though their fine crops were rotting on the ground. We embarked on
the Canada side of the Niagara; and, as we neared the opposite shore,
we were challenged by a body of musketeers demanding who we were.
Neither party had any uniform, or other badge of nationality; and
as they, being on _terra firma_, had us at a great disadvantage, my
tactic was to gain time, while we were fast approaching the shore.
But as I was only a soldier “by the book,” and very little of that,
I was confounded with my situation. Having often pondered on Maj.
André’s egregious indiscretion, in disclosing to his captors who he
was, in place of claiming to be an American, which would have insured
his safety, I was disposed to avoid his mistake, and pass our party
off for English. But no simile goes on all–fours. In our case, had I
guessed wrong as to their character, they would have responded with
their guns. To gain time, I cried out, “Friends!” but that trick did
not take; their muskets were levelled at us, and they swore they would
fire, if we did not answer them directly. We were prepared for them,
and I was compelled to show our colors. I cried out, “Americans!”
when they hailed us, “Brothers!” to our great delight. We soon
gained the information we were in pursuit of, and had the melancholy
though magnificent view, with our glass, of the British fleet in the
offing, on Lake Ontario. We reported these unpleasant tidings to
Gen. Izard; and his whole plan of campaign was frustrated, and the
war virtually over. The general, in his dilemma, consulted one of
the most distinguished officers in the army, and as great a military
genius probably as the world has produced,—young Col. M’Cree, of the
engineers. On our arrival at Fort Erie, we found him in Gen. Brown’s
staff; and he had really been the principal staff on which Brown had
leaned to gain his brilliant success on the Niagara frontier. Gen.
Izard was desirous of reaping the same advantage from M’Cree, who
advised to a very ingenious and scientific expedient to extricate the
general from his embarrassment. It was to construct a floating bridge
at some distance above the enemy, on our side of the Chippewa, with
one end fastened on our side, while the rest of the bridge was to be
floated off into the river; and the other end, when the current had
carried it to the opposite shore, to be attached there, for our army
to pass over. But Gen. Brown, once relieved by Izard from Drummond’s
superior force, seemed not at all disposed to assist him to gain any
laurels in return. There was a marked jealousy and coldness between
those officers, that precluded any joint enterprise of theirs from
succeeding.
Brig.–Gen. Totten, now head of the engineer department, was a young
engineer in Gen. Izard’s staff, and gained his first laurels at
Plattsburgh. The forts he built there would have done him honor,
even had he then gained his present high advancement. With the most
unmanageable material, the sand of Plattsburgh, he contrived, with
the aid of carpentry, to construct his forts with a skill, science,
and ingenuity that would have rendered them impregnable, Gen. Izard
declared, against the overwhelming force of Prevost, even if it had not
been crippled by the naval victory of the gallant Com. M’Donough. When
we left Plattsburgh for Fort Erie, Totten remained behind to test and
fight his own works, which he did with great _éclat_. Winstanley, the
gallant civil engineer, who bravely dared to prove his own light–house
against as fierce an elemental strife as ever raged, fell a noble
sacrifice to an inscrutable decree of Providence; but Totten, more
fortunate, found his works were not to be subdued by man.
PAGE 30.
The author thinks we are mistaken as to the number of cannon belonging
to the corps of artillery at Cambridge. Our informants, in 1818, were
Col. Popkin and Capt. Trevett, captains in the corps; and they are
so well known yet, from their high character, and the public stations
they held, that we need say no more of their testimony. Capt. Trevett
will be recollected as the distinguished officer in the battle, and
for a great number of years commander of the revenue cutter at Boston.
Col. Popkin was born at Boston, of Welsh descent. He had been in
Paddock’s corps, was a major in Greaton’s regiment, and in the battle
of White Plains; in the engagements at Saratoga as Aid to Gen. Lincoln;
afterwards lieutenant–colonel of artillery under Crane, and left the
army at the peace a colonel. He was a custom–house officer under Gen.
Lincoln, in 1789, and remained in office till his decease, 1827, aged
eighty–four. He was father of the learned, beloved, and respected
Professor John S. Popkin, of Harvard University, for more than half a
century past dear to all the friends of that institution, and whose
sermons would do honor to any man.
PAGE 30.
Gen. Burbeck, who was with the army at the time of the battle, says,
the following is an accurate description of Col. Prescott:—“Figure to
yourself a man of sixty, six feet high, and somewhat round–shouldered,
sunburned from exposure, with coarse leather shoes, and blue stockings,
coarse home–spun cloth small–clothes, a red waistcoat, and a calico
banian, answering to the sack worn at the present day, a three–cornered
hat with a red cockade, and a bandoleer, or belt, with a sword hung
high up under the left arm. You will say that it is a complete
caricature; but such was the fact, and such was the dress of the heroes
who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill.”
“On the day of the battle,” Burbeck says, “Gen. Putnam rode between
Charlestown and Cambridge without a coat, in his shirt sleeves, and
an old white felt hat on, to report to Gen. Ward, and to consult on
farther operations.”[18]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The regular number to line the front of the redoubt would be 132.
[2] The author’s mode of stating evidence, by this extract of a note
out of a whole trial, equals the clergyman who fulminated the following
text against the flaunting top–knots our foremothers wore on their
heads:—“Top–knot, come down,” leaving out the other words of “Let
him on the house–top not come down.” Colman, in his “Broad Grins,”
describes a very large man as three single gentlemen rolled into one:
our author has contrived to roll up most of Scammans’s officers, who
testify in his case, into a single witness. Page 164.
[3] Page 168. Note 1.
[4] Hon. Daniel Sargent.