and twenty-six missing--the most of whom were taken prisoners. Of these,
eighteen were officers, ten sergeants, two drummers, and two hundred
forty were rank and file. Lieutenant Hall, wounded at the North bridge,
was taken prisoner on the retreat, and died the next day. His remains
were delivered to General Gage. Lieutenant Gould was wounded at the
bridge, and taken prisoner, and was exchanged, May 28th, for Josiah
Breed, of Lynn. He had a fortune of one thousand nine hundred pounds a
year, and is said to have offered two thousand pounds for his ransom.
The prisoners were treated with great humanity, and General Gage was
notified that his own surgeons, if he desired it, might dress the
wounded.
BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL
A.D. 1775
JOHN BURGOYNE JOHN H. JESSE JAMES GRAHAME
This action, which took place about two months after the
Battle of Lexington, though resulting in the physical defeat
of the Americans, proved for them a moral victory. As at
Lexington and Concord, the colonial soldiers showed that
they were prepared to stand their ground in defence of the
cause which called them to arms, and Bunker Hill became a
watchword of the Revolution. This event also made it clear
that the contest must be fought out. Thenceforth the two
sides in the war were sharply defined.
The immediate occasion of this battle was the necessity, as
seen by the British general, Gage, of driving the Americans
from an eminence commanding Boston. This elevation was one
of several hills on a peninsula just north of the town and
running out into the harbor. It was the intention of the
Americans to seize and fortify Bunker Hill, but for some
unexplained reason they took Breed's Hill, much nearer
Boston, and there the battle was mainly fought. Breed's Hill
is now usually called Bunker Hill, and upon it stands the
Bunker Hill monument.
The following accounts of the battle are all from British
writers; one is that of the English officer General
Burgoyne, who was afterward defeated at Saratoga; another is
by the English historical author Jesse, whose best work
covers the reign of George III. The third is from James
Grahame, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, who died in 1842, of
whose _History of America_ a high authority says: "The
thoroughly American spirit in which it is written prevented
the success of the book in England." The historian Prescott
gave it high praise for accuracy and fairness.
JOHN BURGOYNE
Now ensued one of the greatest scenes of war that can be conceived. If
we look to the height, Howe's corps, ascending the hill in face of
intrenchments, and in a very disadvantageous ground, was much engaged;
to the left the enemy, pouring in fresh troops by thousands over the
land; and in the arm of the sea our ships and floating batteries,
cannonading them. Straight before us a large and noble town[26] in one
great blaze; and the church-steeples, being timber, were great pyramids
of fire above the rest. Behind us the church-steeples and heights of our
own camp covered with spectators of the rest of our army which was
engaged; the hills round the country also covered with spectators; the
enemy all in anxious suspense; the roar of cannon, mortars, and
musketry; the crash of churches, ships upon the stocks, and whole
streets falling together, to fill the ear; the storm of the redoubts,
with the objects above described, to fill the eye; and the reflection
that perhaps a defeat was a final loss to the British empire of America,
to fill the mind, made the whole a picture and a complication of horror
and importance beyond anything that ever came to my lot to witness.
JOHN HENEAGE JESSE
About 11 P.M. on June 16th a detachment of about a thousand men, who had
previously joined solemnly together in prayer, ascended silently and
stealthily a part of the heights known as Bunker Hill, situated within
cannon range of Boston and commanding a view of every part of the town.
This brigade was composed chiefly of husbandmen, who wore no uniform,
and who were armed with fowling-pieces only, unequipped with bayonets.
The person selected to command them on this daring service was one of
the lords of the soil of Massachusetts, William Prescott, of Pepperell,
the colonel of a Middlesex regiment of militia. "For myself," he said to
his men, "I am resolved never to be taken alive." Preceded by two
sergeants bearing dark-lanterns, and accompanied by his friends, Colonel
Gridley and Judge Winthrop, the gallant Prescott, distinguished by his
tall and commanding figure, though simply attired in his ordinary calico
smock-frock, calmly and resolutely led the way to the heights. Those who
followed him were not unworthy of their leader.
It was half-past eleven before the engineers commenced drawing the lines
of the redoubt. As the first sod was being upturned, the clocks of
Boston struck twelve. More than once during the night--which happened to
be a beautifully calm and starry one--Colonel Prescott descended to the
shore, where the sound of the British sentinels walking their rounds,
and their exclamations of "All's well!" as they relieved guard,
continued to satisfy him that they entertained no suspicion of what was
passing above their heads. Before daybreak the Americans had thrown up
an intrenchment, which extended from the Mystic to a redoubt on their
left. The astonishment of Gage, when on the following morning he found
this important site in the hands of the enemy, may be readily conceived.
Obviously not a moment was to be lost in attempting to dislodge them;
and accordingly a detachment, under General Howe, was at once ordered on
this critical service.
In the mean time a heavy cannonade, first of all from the Lively
(sloop-of-war), and afterward from a battery of heavy guns from Copp's
hill, in Boston, was opened upon the Americans. Exposed, however, as
they were to a storm of shot and shell, unaccustomed, as they also were,
to face an enemy's fire, they nevertheless pursued their operations with
the calm courage of veteran soldiers.
Late in the day, indeed, when the scorching sun rose high in the
cloudless heavens, when the continuous labors of so many hours
threatened to prostrate them, and when they waited, but waited in vain,
for provisions and refreshments, the hearts of a few began to fail them,
and the word retreat was suffered to escape from their lips. There was
among them, however, a master spirit, whose cheering words and
chivalrous example never failed to restore confidence. On the
spot--where now a lofty column, overlooking the fair landscape and calm
waters, commemorates the events of that momentous day--was then seen,
conspicuous above the rest, the form of Prescott of Pepperell, in his
calico frock, as he paced the parapet to and fro, instilling resolution
into his followers by the contempt which he manifested for danger, and
amid the hottest of the British fire delivering his orders with the same
serenity as if he had been on parade. "Who is that person?" inquired
Governor Gage of a Massachusetts gentleman, as they stood reconnoitring
the American works from the opposite side of the river Charles. "My
brother-in-law, Colonel Prescott," was the reply. "Will he fight?" asked
Gage. "Ay," said the other, "to the last drop of his blood."
It was after 3 P.M. when General Howe's detachment, consisting of about
two thousand men, landed at Charlestown and formed for the attack.
Prescott's instructions to his men, as the British approached, were
sufficiently brief. "The red-coats," he said, "will never reach the
redoubt if you will but withhold your fire till I give the order, and be
careful not to shoot over their heads." In the mean time, ascending the
hill under the protection of a heavy cannonade, the British infantry had
advanced unmolested to within a few yards of the enemy's works, when
Prescott gave the word "Fire!" So promptly and effectually were his
orders obeyed that nearly the whole front rank of the British fell.
Volley after volley was now opened upon them from behind the
intrenchments, till at length even the bravest began to waver and fall
back; some of them, in spite of the threats and passionate entreaties of
their officers, even retreating to the boats.
Minutes, many minutes apparently, elapsed before the British troops were
rallied and returned to the attack, exposed to the burning rays of the
sun, encumbered with heavy knapsacks containing provisions for three
days, compelled to toil up very disadvantageous ground with grass
reaching to their knees, clambering over rails and hedges, and led
against men who were fighting from behind intrenchments and constantly
receiving reenforcements by hundreds--few soldiers, perhaps, but British
infantry would have been prevailed upon to renew the conflict. Again,
however, they advanced to the charge; again, when within five or six
rods of the redoubt, the same tremendous discharge of musketry was
opened upon them; and again, in spite of many heroic examples of
gallantry set them by their officers, they retreated in the same
disorder as before.
By this time the grenadiers and light infantry had lost three-fourths of
their men; some companies had only eight or nine men left, one or two
had even fewer. When the Americans looked forth from their intrenchments
the ground was literally covered with the wounded and dead. According to
an American who was present, "the dead lay as thick as sheep in a fold."
For a few seconds General Howe was left almost alone. Nearly every
officer of his staff had been either killed or wounded. The Americans,
who have done honorable justice to his gallantry, remarked that,
conspicuous as he stood in his general officer's uniform, it was a
marvel that he escaped unhurt. He retired, but it was with the stern
resolve of a hero to rally his men--to return and vanquish.
The third and last attack made by General Howe upon the enemy's
intrenchments appears to have taken place after a considerably longer
interval than the previous one. This interval was employed by Prescott
in addressing words of confidence and exhortation to his followers, to
which their cheers returned an enthusiastic response. "If we drive them
back once more," he said, "they cannot rally again." General Howe, in
the mean time, by disencumbering his men of their knapsacks, and by
bringing the British artillery to play so as to rake the interior of the
American breastwork, had greatly enhanced his chances of success. Once
more, at the word of command, in steady unbroken line, the British
infantry mounted to the deadly struggle; once more the cheerful voice of
Prescott exhorted his men to reserve their fire till their enemies were
close upon them; once more the same deadly fire was poured down upon the
advancing royalists. Again on their part there was a struggle, a pause,
an indication of wavering; but on this occasion it was only momentary.
Onward and headlong against breastwork and against vastly superior
numbers dashed the British infantry, with a heroic devotion never
surpassed in the annals of chivalry. Almost in a moment of time, in
spite of a second volley as destructive as the first, the ditch was
leaped and the parapet mounted.
In that final charge fell many of the bravest of the brave. Of the
Fifty-second regiment alone, three captains, the moment they stood on
the parapet, were shot down. Still the English infantry continued to
pour forward, flinging themselves among the American militiamen, who met
them with a gallantry equal to their own. The powder of the latter
having by this time become nearly exhausted, they endeavored to force
back their assailants with the butt-ends of their muskets. But the
British bayonets carried all before them. Then it was, when further
resistance was evidently fruitless, and not till then, that the heroic
Prescott gave the order to retire. From the nature of the ground it was
necessarily more a flight than a retreat. Many of the Americans,
leaping over the walls of the parapet, attempted to fight their way
through the British troops; while the majority endeavored to escape by
the narrow entrance to the redoubt. In consequence of the fugitives
being thus huddled together, the slaughter became terrific.
"Nothing," writes a young British officer, who was engaged in the
_melee_, "could be more shocking than the carnage that followed the
storming of this work. We tumbled over the dead to get at the living,
who were crowding out of the gap of the redoubt, in order to form under
the defences which they had prepared to cover their retreat." Prescott
was one of the last to quit the scene of slaughter. Although more than
one British bayonet had pierced his clothes, he escaped without a wound.
That night the British intrenched themselves on the heights, lying down
in front of the recent scene of contest. The loss in killed and wounded
was ten hundred fifty-four. According to the American account their loss
was one hundred forty-five killed and three hundred four wounded; of
their six pieces of artillery, they only succeeded in carrying off one.
Such was the result of the famous Battle of Bunker Hill, a contest from
which Great Britain derived little advantage beyond the credit of having
achieved a brilliant passage of arms, but which, on the other hand,
produced the significant effect of manifesting, not only to the
Americans themselves, but to Europe, that the colonists could fight with
a steadiness and courage which ere long might render them capable of
coping with the disciplined troops of the mother-country.
JAMES GRAHAME
About the latter part of May, a great part of the reenforcements ordered
from Great Britain arrived at Boston. Three British generals, Howe,
Burgoyne, and Clinton, whose behavior in the preceding war had gained
them great reputation, arrived about the same time. General Gage, thus
reenforced, prepared for acting with more decision; but before he
proceeded to extremities, he conceived it due to ancient forms to issue
a proclamation, holding forth to the inhabitants the alternative of
peace or war. He therefore offered pardon, in the King's name, to all
who should forthwith lay down their arms and return to their respective
occupations and peaceable duties: excepting only from the benefit of
that pardon "Samuel Adams and John Hancock, whose offences were said to
be of too flagitious a nature to admit of any other consideration than
that of condign punishment." He also proclaimed that not only the
persons above named and excepted, but also all their adherents,
associates, and correspondents, should be deemed guilty of treason and
rebellion, and treated accordingly. By this proclamation it was also
declared "that as the courts of judicature were shut, martial law should
take place till a due course of justice should be reestablished."
It was supposed that this proclamation was a prelude to hostilities; and
preparations were accordingly made by the Americans. A considerable
height, by the name of Bunker Hill, just at the entrance of the
peninsula of Charlestown, was so situated as to make the possession of
it a matter of great consequence to either of the contending parties.
Orders were therefore issued, by the provincial commanders, that a
detachment of a thousand men should intrench upon this height. By some
mistake, Breed's Hill, high and large like the other, but situated
nearer Boston, was marked out for the intrenchments, instead of Bunker
Hill. The provincials proceeded to Breed's Hill and worked with so much
diligence that between midnight and the dawn of the morning they had
thrown up a small redoubt about eight rods square. They kept such a
profound silence that they were not heard by the British, on board their
vessels, though very near. These having derived their first information
of what was going on from the sight of the works, early completed, began
an incessant firing upon them.
The provincials bore this with firmness, and, though they were only
young soldiers, continued to labor till they had thrown up a small
breastwork extending from the east side of the redoubt to the bottom of
the hill. As this eminence overlooked Boston, General Gage thought it
necessary to drive the provincials from it. About noon, therefore, he
detached Major-General Howe and Brigadier-General Pigot, with the flower
of his army, consisting of four battalions, ten companies of the
grenadiers and ten of light infantry, with a proportion of field
artillery, to effect this business. These troops landed at Moreton's
Point, and formed after landing, but remained in that position till
they were reenforced by a second detachment of light infantry and
grenadier companies, a battalion of land forces, and a battalion of
marines, making in the whole nearly three thousand men. While the troops
who first landed were waiting for this reenforcement, the provincials,
for their further security, pulled up some adjoining post and rail
fences, and set them down in two parallel lines at a small distance from
each other, and filled the space between with hay, which, having been
lately mowed, was found lying on the adjacent ground.
The King's troops formed in two lines, and advanced slowly to give their
artillery time to demolish the American works. While the British were
advancing to the attack they received orders to burn Charlestown. These
were not given because they were fired upon from the houses in that
town, but from the military policy of depriving enemies of a cover in
their approaches. In a short time this ancient town, consisting of about
five hundred buildings, chiefly of wood, was in one great blaze. The
lofty steeple of the meeting-house formed a pyramid of fire above the
rest, and struck the astonished eyes of numerous beholders with a
magnificent but awful spectacle. In Boston the heights of every kind
were covered with citizens, and such of the King's troops as were not on
duty. The hills around the adjacent country, which afforded a safe and
distinct view, were occupied by the inhabitants of the country.
Thousands, both within and without Boston, were anxious spectators of
the bloody scene. Regard for the honor of the British army caused hearts
to beat high in the breasts of many; while others, with keener
sensibilities, sorrowed for the liberties of a great and growing
country. The British moved on slowly, which gave the provincials a
better opportunity for taking aim. The latter, in general, reserved
their fire until their adversaries were within ten or twelve rods, and
then began a furious discharge of small arms. The stream of the American
fire was so incessant, and did so great execution, that the King's
troops retreated with precipitation and disorder. Their officers rallied
them and pushed them forward with their swords; but they returned to the
attack with great reluctance. The Americans again reserved their fire
till their adversaries were near, and then put them a second time to
flight. General Howe and the officers redoubled their exertions, and
were again successful, though the soldiers displayed a great aversion to
going on. By this time the powder of the Americans began so far to fail
that they were not able to keep up the same brisk fire. The British then
brought some cannon to bear, which raked the inside of the breastwork
from end to end. The fire from the ships, batteries, and field artillery
was redoubled; the soldiers in the rear were goaded on by their
officers. The redoubt was attacked on three sides at once. Under these
circumstances a retreat from it was ordered, but the provincials delayed
so long, and made resistance with their discharged muskets as if they
had been clubs, that the King's troops, who had easily mounted the
works, half filled the redoubt before it was given up to them.
While these operations were going on at the breastwork and redoubt, the
British light infantry were attempting to force the left point of the
former, that they might take the American line in flank. Though they
exhibited the most undaunted courage, they met with an opposition which
called for its greatest exertions. The provincials reserved their fire
till their adversaries were near, and then discharged it upon the light
infantry in such an incessant stream, and with so true an aim, as that
it quickly thinned their ranks. The engagement was kept up on both sides
with great resolution. The persevering exertions of the King's troops
could not compel the Americans to retreat till they observed that their
main body had left the hill. This, when begun, exposed them to new
dangers; for it could not be effected but by marching over Charlestown
Neck, every part of which was raked by the shot of the Glasgow
(man-of-war) and of two floating batteries. The incessant fire kept up
across the Neck prevented any considerable reenforcement from joining
their countrymen who were engaged; but the few who fell on their retreat
over the same ground proved that the apprehensions of those provincial
officers, who declined passing over to succor their companies, were
without any solid foundation.
The number of Americans engaged amounted only to fifteen hundred. It was
apprehended that the conquerors would push the advantage they had
gained, and march immediately to American head-quarters at Cambridge;
but they advanced no farther than Bunker Hill. There they threw up
works for their own security. The provincials did the same, on Prospect
Hill, in front of them. Both were guarding against an attack; and both
were in a bad condition to receive one. The loss of the peninsula
depressed the spirits of the Americans; and the great loss of men
produced the same effect on the British. There have been few battles in
modern wars in which, all circumstances considered, there was a greater
destruction of men than in this short engagement.
The loss of the British, as acknowledged by General Gage, amounted to
one thousand fifty-four. Nineteen commissioned officers were killed and
seventy more were wounded. The Battle of Quebec, in 1759, which gave
Great Britain the colony of Canada, was not so destructive to British
officers as this affair of a slight intrenchment, the work only of a few
hours. That the officers suffered so much must be imputed to their being
aimed at. None of the provincials in this engagement were riflemen, but
they were all good marksmen. The whole of their previous military
knowledge had been derived from hunting and the ordinary amusements of
sportsmen. The dexterity which by long habit they had acquired in
hitting beast, birds, and marks, was fatally applied to the destruction
of British officers. From their fall, much confusion was expected. They
were therefore particularly singled out. Most of those who were near the
person of General Howe were either killed or wounded; but the General,
though he greatly exposed himself, was unhurt. The light infantry and
grenadiers lost three-fourths of their men. Of one company not more than
five, and of another not more than fourteen, escaped.
The unexpected resistance of the Americans was such as wiped away the
reproach of cowardice, which had been cast upon them by their enemies in
Britain. The spirited conduct of the British officers merited and
obtained great applause; but the provincials were justly entitled to a
large share of the glory for having made the utmost exertions of their
adversaries necessary to dislodge them from lines which were the work of
only a single night.
The Americans lost five pieces of cannon. Their killed amounted to one
hundred thirty-nine; their wounded and missing, to three hundred
fourteen. Thirty of the former fell into the hands of the conquerors.
They particularly regretted the death of General Warren. To the purest
patriotism and most undaunted bravery he added the virtues of domestic
life, the eloquence of an accomplished orator, and the wisdom of an able
statesman. Only a regard for the liberty of his country induced him to
oppose the measures of Government. He aimed not at a separation from,
but a coalition with, the mother-country.