General Henry Clinton, and General John Burgoyne, with several
thousand troops to carry on the war. Every morning Miss Newville heard
the drums beating the reveille and in the evening the tattoo. Many
officers called at the hospitable home of Honorable Theodore Newville
to enjoy the society of his charming daughter, who received them with
grace and dignity.
With no fresh provisions in the market, the dinners given by Mr.
Newville to the generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne was not so
elaborate as that to Lord Upperton, but more appetizing than those on
shipboard while crossing the Atlantic. It was a pleasure to General
Howe to escort Miss Newville to the dining-room, sit by her side, and
listen to a voice that charmed him by its purity and sweetness. A
lady so highly endowed, and with such grace of manner, would adorn any
home,--even the drawing-room of her majesty the queen.
The home of Mrs. Martha Duncan, with its shrubbery and garden neatly
kept, was selected by General Howe as a residence. He hoped it would
not greatly inconvenience her; he would gladly remunerate her for any
trouble he might make. It would be a pleasure to have her for a
hostess. His own servant would attend to his personal wants.
"Of course, mother," said Abraham, "we cannot prevent him from taking
possession of our home; we may as well make the best of it, accept the
inevitable, and spoil the Egyptians if we can. He seems to be a
gentleman, a man of honor, and will, doubtless, pay us well. Besides,
possibly we may learn something that can be turned to good account, if
we keep our eyes and ears open, and our wits about us."
"It will be only a plain table, my lord, I can provide. Since the
provincials have closed around us, the market has been bare of
provisions," said Mrs. Duncan.
"I am aware of it, madam, but I doubt not you will be able to furnish
appetizing food, possibly a joint of roast mutton from the flocks of
sheep accessible to us on the islands in the harbor, a fresh mackerel
or cod. We are not yet shut in from the sea, and possibly we may soon
have free access to the surrounding country, for I hear there is much
discontent among the provincials, and their numbers are rapidly
melting away, now that the first excitement is over," responded Lord
Howe.
"Possibly I may be able to provide early vegetables,--lettuce,
dandelions, greens, asparagus, and water-cresses, my lord, if you will
allow my negro servant, Cato, to pass the patrol to Charlestown," said
Mrs. Duncan.
"I will give him such permission," he replied, writing a pass,
directing the sentinels along the wharves, and the marine patrol in
the harbor, to pass the negro servant, Cato.
Not only Cato, but Mrs. Duncan and her son, Abraham, ship-carver and
artist, were attentive to the wants of General Howe, receiving shining
guineas in return. It was a pleasure to the British commander, just
arrived from England, to talk with a young gentleman so well informed
and of such attainments as the son of his hostess.
"I dare say, Mr. Duncan, you are quite well acquainted with the
country around Boston?" said his lordship.
"I have been up the Charles and Mystic by boat many times, my lord,
and visited Cambridge to enjoy the festivities of Class Day, and the
orations of graduates at Commencement. I have rambled the Roxbury
fields and pastures for strawberries, and am pretty well acquainted
with the various localities."
General Howe spread out a map and asked many questions in regard to
the surrounding hills, valleys, woods, and cleared lands. He was
surprised to see how well Mr. Duncan could sketch them in with his
pencil upon the map which Ensign De Berniere had drawn. Lord Howe
introduced him to Generals Pigot and Clinton, who were pleased with
the intelligent replies to their questions.
There came a day in June when Abraham heard General Howe say to the
other commanders that the Charlestown Hills ought to be occupied at
once, for fear the rebels might seize them. Were they to do so, Boston
might be bombarded, and the ships driven from their anchorage.
"Doctor Warren and General Ward ought to know that," Abraham said to
himself.
There were only a few words in the letter which Abraham Duncan tucked
under the cuff of Cato's coat-sleeve the next morning, when he stepped
into his boat to cross the river and gather young asparagus and
water-cresses for General Howe's dinner. Cato was directed to hand the
slip of paper to Deacon Larkin's negro, Jim, who would know what to do
with it.
Faithful and true to their kind-hearted masters were Cato and Jim,
passing the letter from hand to hand, till it reached Doctor Joseph
Warren in consultation with General Artemus Ward and the committee of
safety in Cambridge.
"Bunker's Hill is to be occupied at once."[67]
[Footnote 67: The two eminences in Charlestown were named Breed's and
Bunker's Hill respectively,--that upon which the redoubt was
constructed was Breed's Hill; the rail fence behind which the troops
from New Hampshire fought was on the slope of Bunker's Hill.]
That was all, except an ink blot.
"It is authentic,--from a trustworthy Son of Liberty," said Doctor
Warren.
"It has no signature," said General Ward.
"Therefore is not treasonable. Besides, it does not state who is to
occupy Bunker's Hill,--the British or ourselves," the doctor replied.
"How do you know it is genuine--from the writing?"
"No; the hand is disguised. Nevertheless, I know the writer. He
informs me that the British intend to take possession of Charlestown
Heights."[68]
[Footnote 68: General Gage at the outset saw the value of Charlestown
Heights from the military standpoint, but was not able to make any
movement to take possession of the ground till the arrival of his
reinforcements.]
"Are you sure it is authentic information?"
"I have no doubt of it. The writer is in position to learn what they
intend to do. He is a very quiet man, but has his eyes and ears open.
It is not the first time he has shown his devotion to our cause. You
say he has not signed it; true he has not written his name, not even
the initials, yet his signature is upon the sheet,--the insignificant
ink-blot. It would not be accepted as testimony in a court-martial,
but it is sufficient for me," said Doctor Warren.
With the letter came a copy of a proclamation issued by General Gage.
No longer were the selectmen of any towns in the Province of
Massachusetts to have anything to say. Martial law was to supersede
civil authority. The provincial soldiers were rebels and traitors who
must lay down their arms at once and go home, if they would hope for
pardon; but there was no pardon for Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who
must pay the extreme penalty of the law for inciting the people to
rebel against their kind and lenient king.
"We ask no favor of King George; he began the war, we will end it,"
said the soldiers as they read the proclamation.
XIX.
BUNKER HILL.
If the British regarded Charlestown Heights of such importance, why
should not the provincials seize them? It must be done. Twilight was
still lingering on the western horizon when the troops selected for
the expedition paraded on Cambridge Common. Colonel William Prescott
was to command them. He had fought at Louisburg, and was cool and
brave. With uncovered heads the regiments stood in front of the
meetinghouse while Reverend Mr. Langdon, president of the college,
offered prayer. Lieutenant Walden, having been upon Bunker Hill, led
the way, followed by soldiers from Connecticut and Massachusetts, and
two carts loaded with picks and shovels. They marched in silence.
Lieutenant Walden conducted them across the Neck and up the slope of
the Hill. It was nearly midnight before it was decided just where
Colonel Gridley should mark out the contemplated fortifications.[69]
Lieutenant Walden conducted Captain Nutting and ten sentinels to the
ferry landing. They were but a little distance from the frigate
Somerset at anchor in the stream. Farther up, towards Lechmere's
Point, were the Glasgow, Cerberus, and Symetry. Down the river, off
Moulton's Point, lay the Lively and Falcon.
[Footnote 69: The orders to Prescott contained no definite
instructions in regard to which of the hills should be fortified, and
the veteran engineer, Gridley, doubted whether it would be best to
begin the works on the highest eminence or the lower one, nearer the
shipping. It seems probable his intention was to construct works on
both hills, but a lack of picks and shovels compelled him to confine
his work to the single redoubt on Breed's Hill.]
Leaving the sentinels to guard the shore, he rode to the summit of the
hill, where the men were hard at work, delving in silence with pick
and spade. There were not sufficient implements for all, but when one
was out of breath, another took his place, and before the first
glimmer of dawn appeared, the trench had been made breast deep.
"Four o'clock and all's well!" came from the sentinel on the Somerset,
but a moment later a sheet of flame and a white cloud burst from the
side of the Lively, and the roar of a gun broke the stillness of the
morning.
The thunder rolled far away, arousing the British army, the people of
Boston, General Gage, and Lord Howe from their slumbers. Berinthia
Brandon, from her chamber window, beheld the warship Lively shrouded
in smoke. Upon the green hill, where, the day before, the farmers had
been swinging their scythes, and where the partially cured hay was
lying in windrows, she could see a bank of yellow earth. Again the
thunder of the guns jarred her window, but at a signal from the
Somerset the firing ceased.
Before sunrise all Boston was astir, moving towards Copp's Hill,
gazing from windows and roofs upon the growing fortifications.
Generals Gage and Howe ascended the steeple of Christ Church and
looked at the embankment with their telescopes.[70] A little later
officers were hurrying along the streets with orders to the several
regiments to be ready to march at a moment's notice. Drums were
beating; battalions moving towards Long Wharf, the selected
rendezvous, from whence the troops were to be transported in boats to
Moulton's Point, ascend the hill, and send the provincials flying from
their chosen position.
[Footnote 70: The headquarters of General Gage were in the house of
Mr. Galloup, on Hull Street, a stone's-throw from Christ Church. The
house, a two-story wooden building with a gambrel roof, is still
standing (1895).]
Such was the information brought to the Brandon home by Abraham
Duncan.
"You will have a splendid chance to see the battle from the housetop,"
he said to Captain Brandon.
Cannon carriages were rumbling through the street, passing the Brandon
home, wheeling into the burial ground, and coming into position. The
gunners loaded the pieces and lighted their port fires, waved their
lint-stocks, and touched them to the priming. Flames and smoke belched
from the muzzle of the guns with deafening roar, sending the missiles
upon the fortification.
While the cannoneers were reloading the guns, Berinthia, upon the
housetop with a telescope, saw a man leap up from the intrenchment and
stand in full view upon the bank of earth, swinging his hat and
shaking his fist.
"Oh father! mother! it is Tom! He's swinging his hat! Just see him!"
she cried.
Again the cannon flamed, but with the flashing Tom leaped back into
the trench and was safe from the shot.
"I'm glad he's there. He's got the true stuff in him," said Mr.
Brandon.
"I'm afraid he'll be killed!" exclaimed Mrs. Brandon, manifesting the
mother's solicitude and love.
"I glory in his pluck," said Berinthia.
People came from other sections of the town to behold the impending
battle.
"May we presume to trespass upon your hospitality, Captain Brandon,"
asked Mr. Newville, "and, if you have room, see this approaching
contest from your housetop?"
"Certainly. We give you and your family hearty welcome. We doubtless
shall see it from different political standpoints; you are truly loyal
to the king; my sympathies, as you know, are with the provincials, but
that shall not diminish our personal friendship or my hospitality,"
Captain Brandon replied, escorting Mr. and Mrs. Newville and Miss
Newville to the top of the house and providing them seats.
The forenoon wore away; Mrs. Brandon was busy preparing a lunch, and
Chloe soon had the table elaborately supplied with ham, tongue, the
whitest bread, appetizing cheese, doughnuts, and crumpets. The company
partook of the collation, drank each a glass of wine, and then
ascended to the roof again.
Berinthia informed Ruth that Tom was in the redoubt. She had seen him
through the telescope, standing on the embankment and waving his hat.
Lieutenant Robert Walden, at the moment, was five miles away, in
Medford town, delivering a message to Colonel John Stark to hasten
with his regiment to Bunker Hill.
The meetinghouse bell was ringing the hour of noon when the drummer
beat the long roll for the parading of the regiment. The men filed
past the quarter-master's tent and each received a gill of powder in
his horn. And then with quickened step they crossed the Mystic and
hastened along the road.
With the shot from the Symetry screeching around them, tossing the
gravel in their faces, the men from New Hampshire crossed the neck of
land, ascended the hill, and came into position by a low stone wall
surmounted by rails. Lieutenant Walden's company was nearest the
Mystic River. Captain Daniel Moore's came next in line. The regiment
with Colonel Reed's New Hampshire regiment extended to the foot of the
hill, in the direction of the redoubt.
"You will inform Colonel Prescott that I have arrived with my regiment
and am in position," said Colonel Stark.
Riding towards the redoubt, Robert saluted General Putnam, who,
mounted on a white horse, was going along the lines, telling the men
to keep cool, save their powder, and aim at the cross-belts of the
British.
It was a pleasure once more to meet Doctor Warren, who had been
appointed general, but who had come as a volunteer to take part in the
battle.
Colonel Prescott thanked Lieutenant Walden for the information sent by
Colonel Stark. He did not doubt the men from New Hampshire would be as
true as they were in the battles of Louisburg and Ticonderoga.[71]
[Footnote 71: There is no evidence that Colonel Stark was directed to
report to Colonel Prescott or any one else; neither is there any
evidence to show that Putnam was in command. We only know that
Prescott was directed to occupy Charlestown Heights. Later in the war
Putnam, by virtue of his rank, would have been in command, or possibly
Warren, but Warren was there only as a volunteer, having been
appointed general the day before the battle. It seems probable that no
one exercised supreme command, but Prescott, Putnam, Stark, and Reed
acted individually with their separate commands, as the exigencies of
the moment demanded.]
Dismounting from his horse and giving it in charge of a soldier,
Lieutenant Walden walked along the trench, looked over the embankment
upon the British troops landing at Moulton's Point and forming in two
columns, one of which, he concluded, was intending to march along the
Mystic to gain the rear of the redoubt and cut off the retreat of
those within it. If such were the contemplated movement it would be
mainly against the regiments of Stark and Reed. The other body of
troops seemed to be forming to advance directly upon the redoubt.
While he was thus gazing, a hand clasped his arm; turning, he beheld
Tom Brandon.
"I've been wondering if you wouldn't be round here somewhere," said
Tom.
"And I have been wondering where you would be," Robert replied.
"And so you are a lieutenant?" queried Tom, looking at the epaulet on
his shoulder. "I congratulate you.
"The whole family are on the roof to see the battle," he continued.
"Perhaps you can bring them a little nearer with my telescope," said
Robert, handing him the instrument.
Tom rested it on the embankment and looked towards the house.
"There's a crowd of 'em on the roof," he said, "father, mother, and
Berinthia. There's a man with a white wig,--Mr. Newville, I guess; and
there's a girl talking with Berinthia--Ruth Newville."
With quickened pulse Robert adjusted the glass to his vision. Others
than those mentioned by Tom were upon the roof, but one figure alone
engaged his attention. Oh, if he could but know how she regarded the
impending battle! Possibly since the events on Lexington Green and at
Concord bridge her sympathies had been with the king. No, he could not
think it. The instincts of one so noble, good, and large-hearted must
ever be opposed to tyranny and oppression. Whether favoring or
opposing the course of the Colonies, what matter to him? What
probability of their ever meeting again? If meeting, would she ever be
other than an old acquaintance? Never had he opened his heart to her;
never by word or deed informed her that she was all the world to him.
To her he would be only a friend of other days.
He could see a tall man in a general's uniform walking along the
British lines. He halted, took off his cocked hat, stood erect, and
said something to the soldiers. He concluded it was General Howe,
telling them they were a noble body of men, and he did not doubt they
would show themselves valiant soldiers. He should not ask them to go
any farther than he himself was willing to go. Robert and Tom could
hear the cheer which the soldiers gave him.
The columns began to march,--that commanded by General Howe along the
bank of the Mystic; that by General Pigot straight up the hill
towards the redoubt.
Robert ran to the spot where he had left his horse, but it was not
there. He hastened down the slope, past the Connecticut troops under
Colonel Knowlton, and reported to Colonel Stark, who was directing his
soldiers to take up a rail fence in front of his line and reset it by
the low stone wall, and fill the space between the fences with hay
from the windrows.
"It will serve as a screen," he said.
Stepping in front a short distance, he drove a stake in the ground.
"Don't fire till the redcoats are up to it," was his order.
The sun was shining from a cloudless sky. They upon the roof of the
Brandon home saw the scarlet columns of the British moving along the
Mystic and towards the redoubt, the sunlight gleaming from their
muskets and bayonets, the flags waving above them, the men keeping
step to the drumbeat; the great guns of the fleet and those on Copp's
Hill flaming and thundering; white powder-clouds floating away and
dissolving in thin air. They saw puffs of smoke burst from the heads
of the advancing columns and heard the rattle of muskets. Cannon-shot
plowed the ground and tossed up the gravel around the redoubt. Only
the six cannon of the provincials were replying. Nearer moved the
scarlet line. Again a rattling volley, with no answering musket shot
from fence or embankment. What the meaning of such silence? Suddenly a
line of light streamed from the river to the foot of the hill, and
like the lightning's flash ran along the embankment and round the
redoubt. A rattle and roar like the waves of the sea upon a rocky
shore came to their ears across the shining waters. Men were reeling
to the ground, whole ranks going down before the pitiless storm. The
front ranks had melted away. For a few moments there was a rattling
like scattered raindrops, and then another lightning flash, and the
British were fleeing in confusion.
Mr. Newville clenched his hands.
"I fear the king's troops are discomfited," he said.
Mrs. Newville with a long-drawn sigh covered her face with her
handkerchief as if to shut out the unwelcome spectacle.
"The redcoats are beaten!" Berinthia exclaimed.
"It is too soon to say that, daughter. The battle is not yet over; the
king's troops would be cowardly were they to give up with only one
attempt."
Like a statue, her hands tightly grasping the balustrade, her bosom
heaving with suppressed emotion, Ruth gazed upon the spectacle,
uttering no exclamation. Taking the telescope, she turned it upon the
scene, beholding the prostrate forms dotting the newly mown fields. It
was not difficult to distinguish Lord Howe, the centre of a group of
officers. He was evidently issuing orders to re-form the broken lines.
Colonels, majors, and captains were rallying the disheartened men. In
the intervals of the cannonade from the fleet a confused hum of voices
could be heard, officers shouting their orders. Beyond the prostrate
forms, behind the low stone wall and screen of hay were the
provincials, biding their time. Officers were walking to and fro,--one
middle-aged, with a colonel's epaulets, evidently commanding the
troops nearest the Mystic River. A subordinate officer of manly form
was receiving orders and transmitting them to others. Where had she
seen one like him? Long she gazed with unwonted bloom upon her cheeks.
Again the scarlet lines advanced,--the foremost platoons halting,
firing, filing right and left, that those in the rear might reach the
front. Unmindful of the bullets pattering around him, the young
officer walked composedly along the provincial line, from which came
no answering shot. Seemingly he was telling the men to wait. Suddenly,
as before, the screen of hay became a sheet of flame, and the scarlet
ranks again dissolved like a straw in a candle's flame, whole ranks
reeling and falling, or fleeing to the place of landing.
Mr. Newville groaned aloud. Again Mrs. Newville covered her face.
Captain Brandon, Mrs. Brandon, and Berinthia, out of respect to their
guests, gave no sign of exultation; but from windows, roofs, doorways,
and steeples, like the voice of many waters, came the joyful murmur of
the multitude, revealing to General Gage, up in the tower of Christ
Church, the sympathy of the people with the provincials.
No exclamation of satisfaction or disappointment fell from the lips of
Ruth, still looking with the telescope towards the provincial line by
the Mystic, and the manly figure of the officer receiving instructions
from his superior.
There was a commotion among the troops in the burial ground before
them.
"Fall in! Fall in!" General Clinton shouted. They hastily formed in
column and marched down the steep descent to the ferry landing. From
the tower of Christ Church, together with General Gage, Clinton had
seen the discomfiture of Lord Howe and General Pigot, and, with three
hundred men, was hastening to reinforce them, stepping into boats and
crossing the river.
The people on the housetops needed no telescopes to see what was going
on across the stream. Slowly the lines re-formed, the men reluctantly
taking their places. They who had fought at Ticonderoga, who had won
the victory on the Plains of Abraham at Quebec, never had faced so
pitiless a storm.
"It is downright murder," said the men.
They upon the housetops could see the British officers flourishing
their swords, gesticulating, and even striking the disheartened
soldiers, compelling them to stand once more in the ranks. Twice they
had advanced, encumbered with their knapsacks, in accordance with
strict military rule; now they were laying them aside. There were
fewer men in the ranks than at the beginning of the battle, but the
honor of England was at stake. The rabble of undisciplined country
bumpkins must be driven from their position, or the troops of England
would be forever disgraced. General Howe had learned wisdom. He had
thought to sweep aside the line of provincials behind the low stone
wall, gain the rear, cut off the retreat of those in the redoubt,
capture them, and win a notable victory. He had not expected such
resistance, such a destructive fire as had greeted the light infantry
along the banks of the stream. In the two attempts, he had discovered
the weak place in the provincial line,--the space between the redoubt
and the low stone wall. In planning the third movement, he resolved to
make a feint of advancing once more towards the wall, but would
concentrate his attack upon the redoubt, and especially upon that
portion of the line least defended.