while escaping over the fences. *
As soon as the patriots dispersed, the detachment of regulars, joined by
Colonel Smith and his party, pushed on toward Concord, six miles
distant. Confident of success, the whole party were in high spirits. But
Concord had been aroused, and a formidable body of militia had collected
to receive the invaders. We have noticed that Revere and Dawes started
from Lexington to alarm the country toward Concord. They met Dr. Samuel
Prescott, and, while in conference with him, some British officers came
upon them. Revere and Dawes were made prisoners, but Prescott escaped
over a wall, and reached Concord about two in the morning. The bells
were rung, and before daylight the people were under arms.
When the guns at Lexington were heard in the morning, the Committee of
Safety, and the principal citizens of Concord, had assembled, and
arranged a plan of reception for the British troops. The military
operations were under the able management of
Colonel James Barrett, ** while the whole male population, and some
women, aided in removing the stores to a place of safety in distant
woods The militia of Lincoln and other places hastened to join those of
Concord, and the whole paraded on the Common. Guards were stationed at
the North and South Bridges, and in the center of the town, all under
the command of Captain Jonathan Farrar.
At about seven o'clock the British column was seen advancing on the
Lexington Road Some companies of militia that had marched down that road
returned in haste and reported the number of the British as three times
that of the Americans. These companies, with those in the town, fell
back to an eminence some eighty rods from the center of the village,
where they were joined by Colonel Barrett, and were formed into two
battalions. They had hardly formed, before the glittering of the
bayonets and flashing of the red uniforms of the British in the bright
morning sun were seen, but a quarter of a mile distant, rapidly
advancing. A short consultation was held. Some were for making a
desperate stand upon the spot, while others proposed a present retreat,
until reenforced by the neighboring militia. The latter council
prevailed, and the provincials retired to the high ground over the North
Bridge, about a mile from the Common.
The British troops entered Concord in two divisions one by the main
road, the other on the hill north of it. Colonel Smith and Major
Pitcairn, who had immediate command of the grenadiers and light
infantry, remained in the town, but detached six companies under Captain
Parsons to secure the bridges, prevent the militia from crossing them,
and to ferret out and destroy the secreted stores, information
concerning which had been given by Captain Beeman of Petersham, and
other Tories. Captain Lawrie, with three companies, was stationed on the
North Bridge, while Parsons, with the other three companies, marched to
destroy the stores at the residence of Colonel Barrett. Captain Pole,
with a party, took post at the South Bridge, and destroyed what few
stores were found in that vicinity; but so
* The names of the slain are recorded on the monument erected to their
memory on the green at Lexington. A picture of the monument and a copy
of the inscription may be found on page 553. Captain Jonas Parker was
among the slain. He had repeatedly said that he never would run from the
British. He was wounded at the first fire, but, continuing to discharge
his gun without retreating, was killed by a bayonet.
** Colonel Barrett had been a captain in the provincial army during the
French and Indian war. He was with Shirley at Oswego, and afterward
accompanied Abercrombie to Ticonderoga and Amherst to Crown Point.
Becoming aged, he resigned his commission. When the Massachusetts
militia were organized at the beginning of 1775, Captain Barrett was
solicited to take command of a regiment, but declined on account of his
age. "We don't want active service, we want your advice," said his
earnest townsmen. Thus urged, and actuated by patriotic zeal, he took
the command. Colonel Barrett died at about the close of the war. These
facts I obtained from his grandson, Major Barrett, eighty-seven years
old when I visited him in 1848.
Destruction of Property in Concord.--Rapid Augmentation of the Militia.-
-Preparations for Battle.--March toward the Bridge.
526diligently had the people worked in concealing the stores that the
object of the expedition was almost frustrated. The British broke open
about sixty barrels of flour in the center of the town, but nearly half
of that was subsequently saved.
They knocked off the trunnions of three iron twenty-four pound cannons,
burned sixteen new carriage wheels, and a few barrels of wooden
trenchers and spoons, cut down the liberty-pole and set the court-house
on fire. The flames were extinguished by a Mrs. Moulton, before much
damage was done. About five hundred pounds of balls were thrown into the
mill-pond and wells.
While the British were thus engaged, the number of the militia was
rapidly increasing by accessions of minute men from Carlisle,
Chelmsford, Weston, Littleton, and Acton, neighboring towns, and before
ten o'clock the force amounted to nearly four hundred men Joseph Hosmer,
acting as adjutant, formed them into proper line as fast as they arrived
on the field, westerly of the house since owned by Joseph Buttrick. Most
of the operations of the British, within the town, could be seen from
this point, and when the fires in the center of the village were lighted
the people were greatly excited. Many of the prominent citizens, and the
Committee of Safety, were with the militia, and, after a brief
consultation, and a stirring appeal from the brave Hosmer, it was
resolved to dislodge the enemy at the North Bridge. "I haven't a man
that's afraid to go," said the intrepid Captain Isaac Davis; and,
wheeling into marching order, they were joined by other companies, and
push ed forward toward the bridge, under the command of Major John
Buttrick, of Concord.
* This sketch is from the road leading to the village of Concord by the
way of the North Bridge. The house was erected about eighty years ago,
by Colonel Barrett, and is now owned by his kinsman, Prescott Barrett.
** This view, looking southeast, is from the road leading to the village
by the way of the North Bridge.
Battle at Concord Bridge.--Retreat of the British to the Village.--The
Scalping Story explained
527The Acton company, under Davis, was in front, followed by those of
Captains Brown, Miles, and Nathan Barrett, and by others whose
commanders' names are not recorded, in all nearly three hundred
effective men. They marched in double file, with trailed arms. The
British guard were on the west side of the river, but, on seeing the
Americans approaching, they crossed over, and commenced taking up the
planks of the bridge. Major Buttrick called to them to desist, and urged
his men forward to arrest the destruction of the bridge.
The enemy formed for action, and when the Americans were within a few
rods of the river, they were fired upon by some of the regulars. The
first shots were ineffectual, but others that followed were fatal. One
of the Acton company was wounded, * and Captain Isaac Davis and Abner
Hosmer, of the same company, were killed. "Fire, fellow-soldiers! for
God's sake, fire!" shouted Buttrick, on seeing his companions fall, and
immediately a full volley was given by the provincials. Three of the
British were killed, and several wounded and made prisoners. Some other
shots were fired, but in a few minutes Lawrie ordered a retreat, and the
provincials took possession of the bridge. Two of the British soldiers
killed were left on the ground, and were buried by the provincials.
Their graves are a few feet from the monument. Another, who was not yet
dead, was dispatched by a blow from a hatchet in the hands of a young
provincial who had more zeal than humanity. This circumstance gave rise
to the horrible story sent abroad by the British and Tories, that the
militia "killed and _scalped_ the prisoners that fell into their hands."
Colonel Smith, in the village, on hearing the firing at the bridge, sent
a re-enforcement. These met the retreating detachment of Lawrie, but,
observing the increasing force of the militia, wheeled, and joined in
the retreat. In the mean time, the party under Captain Parsons returned
from Colonel Barrett's, and were allowed by the provincials to cross the
river at the North Bridge, where the skirmish had just occurred,
unmolested. It may be asked why the militia did not cut them off, which
they might easily have done. It must be remembered that war had not been
declared, and that the people had been enjoined to make Great Britain
the aggressor, they acting only on the defensive. The militia at Concord
had not yet heard of the deaths at Lexington; _their_ volley that had
just slain three of the king's troops was fired purely in self-defense.
The point from which the sketch was made is upon an elevation a little
north of that where the militia assembled under Colonel Barrett. The
stream of water is the Concord, or Sudbury River. The site of the North
Bridge is at the monument seen in the eenter of the picture. The
monument stands upon the spot where the British were stationed, and in
the plain, directly across the river from the monument, is the place
where Davis and Hosmer, of the American militia, were killed. The house,
the roof and gable of which are seen in the distance, just on the left
of the largest tree, was the residence of the Reverend Dr. Ripley
(afterward a chaplain in the army) at the time of the skirmish. It is
upon the road leading to Concord village, which lies nearly half a mile
beyond.
* He was a fifer, named Blanchard. One of the Concord minute men, named
Brown, was also slightly wounded. The ball that wounded them passed
under the arm of Colonel Robinson, who, by request, accompanied Major
Buttrick.
** This plan I have copied from Frothingham's interesting work, History
of the Siege of Boston, p. 70.
* Explanation of the Plan.--1. Lexington Road; 2. Hills and high land
where the liberty pole stood; 3. Center of the town, and main body of
the British; 4. Road to the South Bridge; 5, 5, 5. Road to the North
Bridge and to Colonel Barnett's, two miles from the eenter of the town;
C. High ground a mile north of the meeting-house, where the militia
assembled; 7. Road along which they marched to dislodge the British at
North Bridge; 8. Spot where Davis and Hosmer fell; 9. Reverend Air.
Emerson's house; 10. Bridges and roads made in 1793, when the old roads
with dotted lines were discontinued; 11. The monument. The arrows show
the return of Captain Parsons, after the firing at the North Bridge; 12
is the plaee where re-enforcements met him.
Retreat of the Enemy from Concord.--Their Annoyance on the Road by the
Militia.--Re-enforcement from Boston.
528Observing the rapid augmentation of the militia, Colonel Smith
thought it prudent to return with his troops to Boston as speedily as
possible. A little after twelve o'clock they commenced their retreat
toward Lexington, the main column covered by strong flanking guards.
They soon perceived that the whole region was in arms, and minute men
were collecting from all points. The cautious counsels at Concord, not
to attack the enemy without further provocation, were disregarded, and
at Merriam's Corner, a company of provincials under Captain Brooks
(afterward the distinguished colonel at Saratoga, and Governor of
Massachusetts), secreted behind barns and fences, made a destructive
assault upon the retreating enemy. A volley was fired in return, but not
a militia-man was injured. This example was followed along the whole
line of march to Lexington, and the British were terribly galled all the
way. From every house, barn, and stone wall guns were fired with sure
aim, and many of the regulars were slain. At Hardy's Hill there was a
severe skirmish, and at almost every wooded defile numbers of the enemy
were picked off by the concealed marksmen. All military order among the
provincials was at an end, and each fought according to the dictates of
his own judgment. Some of them were killed by the flankers, who came
suddenly upon them behind the walls; but the number of the militia slain
was comparatively small. Colonel Smith was severely wounded in the leg
at Fiske's Hill, near Lexington; and near the battle ground of the
morning, at Lexington meetinghouse, several of the British soldiers were
shot. Greatly fatigued by the night's march and the day's adventures,
and worried on every side by the militia, that seemed, to use the
expression of one of their officers, "to drop from the clouds," the
whole body of eight hundred men, the flower of the British army at
Boston, must have surrendered to the provincials in an hour had not
relief arrived.
An express was sent from Lexington to General Gage, early in the
morning, acquainting him with the rising of the militia, and praying for
a strong re-enforcement. At nine o'clock three regiments of infantry,
and two divisions of marines, amounting to about nine hundred men, with
two field-pieces, under Lord Percy, left Boston and marched toward
Lexington. They passed through Roxbury, the bands playing Yankee Doodle
in derision, it being employed as a sort of "Rogue's March" when
offending soldiers were drummed out. * Vague
* Gordon relates that a shrewd boy in Roxbury made himself extremely
merry when he heard the tune of Yankee Doodle, and by his antics
attracted the attention of Lord Percy. He asked the boy why he was so
merry. "To think," said the lad, "how you will dance by-and-by to Chevy
Chase." Percy was often much influenced by presentiments, and the
remarks of the boy worried him all day. It may be asked why was Earl
Percy troubled, and what connection had the name of Chevy Chase with
him. The answer is in the fact that Percy was a son of the Duke of
Northumberland, a lineal descendant of Earl Percy, one of the heroes of
the battle of Chevy Chase, and who was there slain. There was great
rivalry between the houses of Percy and Douglas, the former an English
borderer and the latter a Scotch borderer. Percy was determined to have
a field fight with his rival, and so vowed publicly that he would "take
pleasure in the border woods three days, and slay the Douglas's deer."
Earl Douglas heard the vaunt. "Tell him," he said, "he will find one day
more than enough." Percy's aim was the armed encounter thus promised. He
appeared at Chevy Chase with his greyhounds and fifteen hundred chosen
archers. After taking his sport at the Douglas's expense, gazing on a
hundred dead fallow deer and harts, tasting wine and venisop cooked
under the greenwood tree, and saying the Douglas would not keep his
word, when
"Lo! yonder doth Earl Douglas come, His men in armor bright; Full twenty
hundred Scottish spears All marching in our sight. All men of pleasant
Tiviotdale, Fast by the River Tweed. 'O cease your sport!' Earl Percy
said, And take your bows with speed.' Soon after this, "The battle
closed on every side, No slackness there was found; And many a gallant
gentleman Lay gasping on the ground."
** The mail-clad leaders combated hand to hand, until the blood dropped
from them like rain. "Yield thee. Percy," cried Douglas, "I shall freely
pay thy ransom, and thy advancement shall be high with our Scottish
king."
"'No, Douglas,' quoth Earl Percy, then, 'Thy proffer I do scorn; I would
not yield to any Scot That ever yet was horn.'"
** Douglas almost immediately dropped, struck to the heart with an
arrow. "Fight on, my merry men," he cried with his dying breath. Percy
took his hand, and said, "Earl Douglas, I would give all my lands to
save thee." At that moment an arrow pierced Percy's heart, and both
leaders expired together.--See Knight's Old England, Scott's Castle
Dangerous, and the ballad of Chevy Chase.
Junction of the Troops of Percy and Smith.--Their harassed Retreat to
Charlestown--Skirmish at West Cambridge
529rumors of the skirmish at Lexington had reached the people there, and
this movement confirmed their worst fears. No sooner had the British
troops passed by, than the minute men assembled, and, along the whole
mareh, vigilant corps of militia were gathering, and hovered around the
little army of Percy, ready to strike a blow whenever it might be
effectual.
Percy's brigade met the wearied troops between two and three o'clock,
about half a mile from the Lexington meeting-house. He formed a hollow
square, planted his cannon for its defense on the high ground near
Munroe's Tavern, and received within it the worn-out companies of
Colonel Smith. Many of the soldiers fell upon the ground, completely
overcome. They "were so much exhausted with fatigue that they were
obliged to lie down for rest on the ground, their tongues hanging out of
their mouths, like those of dogs after a chase." * Percy dared not halt
long, for the woods were Swarming with minute men. After partaking of a
little refreshment and brief rest, the united forces resumed their march
toward Boston, marking their retreat by acts of vengeance, aside from
the more dignified use of ball and bayonet. Three houses, two shops, and
a barn, were laid in ashes in Lexington, and many buildings were
destroyed or defaced, and helpless persons abused on the route. But
prompt and terrible retribution instantly followed. As soon as Percy
renewed the retreat, the provincials again attacked his forces from
concealed points, until they arrived at West Cambridge, where a hot
skirmish ensued. General Heath and Dr. Warren were active in the field,
and in this foray Warren barely escaped with his life, a musket ball
having knocked a pin out of an ear-curl of his hair. The British kept
the militia at bay, and committed many atrocious acts. Percy tried to
restrain his soldiers, but in vain. Houses were plundered, property
destroyed, and several innocent persons were murdered. This conduct
greatly inflamed the militia, and
"Again the conflict glows with rage severe,
And fearless ranks in combat mix'd appear."
"Indignation and outraged humanity struggled on the one hand, veteran
discipline and desperation on the other." ** The contest was brief, and
the enemy, with their wounded, pressed on toward Boston. The Cambridge
bridge had been taken up, and they were obliged to go by the way of
Charlestown. They took the road that winds around Prospect Hill, while
the main body of the provincials, unawed by the field-pieces, hung close
upon their rear.
The situation of the British regulars was now critical, for their
ammunition was almost exhausted, and a strong force was marching upon
them from Roxbury, Dorchester, and Milton. Colonel Pickering, in the
mean time, with seven hundred of the Essex militia, threatened to cut
off their retreat to Charlestown. Another short but warm engagement
occurred at the base of Prospect Hill, but the regulars reached
Charlestown in safety. By eommand of General Heath the pursuit was now
suspended.
Throughout the day Charlestown had been in the greatest excitement. Dr.
Warren rode through in the morning, proclaiming the bloodshed at
Lexington. Many of the people had seized their muskets, and hastened to
the country to join their brethren. The schools were
* Stedman's History of the American War, i., 118. Stedman was a British
officer, and accompanied Earl Percy in this expedition. He highly
praises Percy, but says that Colonel Smith's conduct was much censured.
** Everett's Lexington Address.
British Encampment on Bunker Hill.--Quiet the next Day.--General Effect
of these Skirmishes.
530dismissed; the shops were closed; and when it was ascertained that
the British were retreating and must pass through the town, many of the
inhabitants prepared to leave and to carry with them their most valuable
effects. When the firing at Cambridge was heard, the people rushed
toward Charlestown Neck, to flee to the country. There they met the
retreating troops, and were obliged to fly back, panic-stricken, to
their houses. A report got abroad that the British were slaughtering
women and children in the streets. Terror every where prevailed, and a
large number of the defenseless people passed the night in the clay-pits
back of Breed's Hill. The alarm was false; not an individual was harmed
in Charlestown. Percy ordered the women and children into their houses,
and demanded nothing but refreshments for his troops. The main body
occupied Bunker Hill that night, and a strong line was formed upon
Charlestown Neck. A re-enforcement was sent over from Boston, guards
were stationed in various parts of the town, the wounded were conveyed
to the hospitals in the city, and that night all was quiet in the
neighborhood. General Pigot assumed command at Charlestown the next
morning, and before noon the crest-fallen troops returned to their
quarters in Boston. Thus ended the first act in the bloody tragedy of
the American Revolution. * During the day the British lost sixty-five
killed, one hundred and eighty wounded, and twenty-eight made prisoners;
in all two hundred and seventy-three. The provincials lost fifty-nine
killed, thirty-nine wounded, and five missing; in all one hundred and
three. **
The events of the 19th of April, 1775, were of vast importance,
considered in their relation to subsequent scenes and results. On that
day the life of the first British soldier, sent hither to oppress a
people panting for the privileges of freedom, was sacrificed--on that
day the first American, aroused by armed invasion to the necessity of
resistance, fell in defense of the dearest rights guaranteed to him by
the British Constitution ***--on that day "the scabbard" was indeed
"thrown away," **** and a war of seven years' duration began--and on
that day the jubilee trumpet was sounded, proclaiming "Liberty
throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." (v) The
events of that day formed the first disruption of the chrysalis of old
political systems, whence speedily came forth a noble and novel
creature, with eagle eye and expansive wings, destined speedily to soar
far above the creeping reptiles of despotism that brood amid the
crumbling relics of old dynasties. They formed the significant prelude
to that full diapason, whose thundering harmony, drawn forth by the
magic touch of the spirit of Freedom, filled the nations with wonder,
and ushered in the New Era so long predicted and so long hoped for.
The military events of the day, compared with the movements of armies in
the great contests of war at other times, were exceedingly insignificant
in themselves; but the temper shown by the provincials, and the
vulnerable character of the British soldiery, as exhibited in the
various skirmishes and in the retreat, had a great and abiding effect
upon the minds of both parties. The haughty boasts of English officers,
that three regiments might march unmolested throughout the continent,
and that the Americans were "sorry poltroons, their courage displayed to
its utmost in tarring and feathering individuals," were silenced, and
Gage, in alarm, called upon the ministry to send large re-enforcements.
The patriots, on the other hand, learned their strength when united;
that British troops were not invincible, and that the true spirit and
courage of men resolved on freedom animated and nerved
* Gordon, Stedman, Stiles, Ripley, Shattuck, Clarke, Frothingham, &c.
** The following officers and citizens of note were among the slain:
Justice Isaac Gardner, of Brookline; Captain Isaac Davis, of Acton;
Captain Jonathan Wilson, of Bedford; Lieutenant John Baron, and Sergeant
Elisha Mills, of Needham; and Deacon Josiah Haynes, of Sudbury. The
estimated value of property destroyed by the invaders is as follows: In
Concord, $1375; in Lexington, $8305; in Cambridge, $6010. A list of the
killed, wounded, and missing is given on page 532.
*** It will be seen hereafter that the first life sacrificed in defense
of liberty in America was upon the Alamance, in North Carolina, in 1771.
In that event, however, the militia were in open and armed rebellion
against the royal authority, and were the actual aggressors.
**** John Wilkes, in his speech in Parliament, already alluded to,
asked, significantly, "Who can tell whether, in consequence of this very
day's violent and mad address [to the king], the scabbard may not be
thrown away by them as well as by us?"
(v) Levit. xxv.. 10.
Unity of the American People.--Massachusetts Provincial Congress.--
Accounts of the Battles sent to England
531the militia. Britons were alarmed; Americans were elated. Individual
wrongs were adopted by the whole people as their own, and every man
slain at Lexington, Concord, and Menotomy or "West Cambridge, lived
again in the strong arms of a thousand determined patriots. In
Massachusetts, in particular, ties of consanguinity, property, marriage,
manners, religion, social circumstances, and general equality, made
whole communities weep over a single victim, and the hearts of the
people of the whole province were made to bleed when the first martyrs
in the cause of American Independence were laid in the grave. * Linked
with that grief was the buoyant sentiment expressed by Percival:
"O it is great for our country to die, where ranks are contending!
Bright is the wreath of our fame, glory awaits us for aye--
Glory that never is dim, shining on with light never ending--
Glory that never shall fade--never, o never! away.
"O then, how great for our country to die, in the front rank to perish!
Firm, with our breast to the foe, victory's shout in our ear.
Long they our statues shall crown, in songs our memory cherish;
We shall look forth from our heaven, pleased the sweet music to hear."
The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts was immediately summoned, and
met at Watertown, seven miles west of Boston, on the 22d of April. Dr.
Joseph Warren was chosen president, and Messrs. Gerry, Church, and
Cushing were appointed a commit 1775 tee to draw up a "narrative of the
massacre." ** A committee on depositions was also formed, and many
affidavits were taken at Lexington and Concord. When all necessary
information was collected, a communication, giving a minute account of
the whole affair, was drawn up and ordered to be sent to Arthur Lee, the
colonial agent in England. An address "To the Inhabitants of Great
Britain" was also prepared and sent April 25 with the other papers, and
was first published in the London Chronicle of May 30th, 1775. The
address was firm but respectful. While its signers asserted their
continued loyalty to the sovereign, and their readiness to "defend his
person, family, crown and dignity," they boldly exhibited their manhood
in declaring that they would no longer submit to the tyrannical rule of
a weak and wicked ministry. The Honorable Puchard Derby, of Salem, was
engaged by the committee to fit out his vessel as a packet, and take the
dispatches to London. He arrived there on the 29th of May, ten days
before Gage's dispatches reached government. The ministry were
confounded, and affected to disbelieve the statements that appeared in
the London Chronicle of the 30th; but, in a few days, they were obliged
to acknowledge the truth of the report. *
* In Lexington, Concord, Danvers, and West Cambridge, monuments have
been erected in memory of the slain. The two former will be noticed
presently, in connection with an engraving of each. The monument at West
Cambridge has been completed since my visit there in 1848. Beneath it
rest the remains of twelve persons who were killed in the skirmish
there. The names of only three are known: Jason Russel, Jason Winship,
and Jabez Wyman. The monument is a simple granite obelisk, nineteen feet
high The funds for its erection were furnished by the voluntary
contributions of the citizens of West Cambridge.
** The first accounts of the events at Lexington and Concord were
published in the newspapers and in handbills. One of the latter,
preserved in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society, has
the figures of forty coffins at the head.
*** Dartmouth, the Secretary of State for the colonies, issued the
following card on the 30th: "A report having been spread, and an account
having been printed and published, of a skirmish between some of the
people in the province of Massachusetts Bay and a detachment of his
majesty's troops, it is proper to inform the public that no advice has,
as yet, been received in the American department of any such event."
*** Arthur Lee was in London, narrowly watching every movement of
government, and transmitting secret intelligence to the Committee of
Correspondence of Boston, and to his brother, Richard Henry Lee, member
of the Continental Congress. He was the agent of the Massachusetts
colony at that time, and issued the following card, over his proper
signature:
*** "As a doubt of the authenticity of the account from Salem, touching
an engagement between the king's troops and the provincials, in the
Massachusetts Bay, may arise from a paragraph in the Gazette of this
evening, I desire to inform all those who wish to see the original
affidavits which confirm that account, that they are deposited at the
Mansion House, with the Right Honorable the Lord Mayor, for their
inspection. Arthur Lee."
Excitement in London.--Government Lampooned.--List of the Names of the
first Martyrs.
532The dispatches of Gage were published on the 10th of June, and London
was almost as much excited as Boston. Gage's report confirmed every
important circumstance mentioned by the patriots, and the metropolis was
soon enlivened by placards, lampoons, and doggerel verse. The retreat of
the British from Lexington was regarded as a defeat and a flight, and at
every corner ministers heard revilings concerning "the great British
army at Boston that had been beaten by a flock of Yankees!".
* Note.--The following list of the names of the first martyrs in the
cause of American liberty, is given in the eighteenth volume of the
Massachusetts Historical Collections:
Lexington.--Killed: Jonas Parker, Robert Monroe, Samuel Hadley, Jonathan
Harrington, Jr., Isaac Muzzy, Caleb Harrington, John Brown, Jedediah
Moore, John Raymond, Nathaniel Wyman, 10. Wounded: John Robbins, Solomon
Pierce, John Tidd, Joseph Comee, Ebenezer Monroe, Jr., Thomas Winship,
Nathaniel Farmer, Prince Estabrook, Jedediah Monroe, Francis Brown, 10.
Concord.--Wounded: Charles Miles, Nathan Barrett, Abel Prescott, Jr.,
Jonas Brown, George Mer-iot, 5.
Cambridge.--Killed: William Marcy, Moses Richardson, John Hicks, Jason
Russell, Jabez Wyman, Jason Winship, 6. Wounded: Samuel Whittemore, 1.
Missing: Samuel Frost, Seth Russell, 2.
Needham.--Killed: John Bacon, Elisha Mills, Amos Mills, Nathaniel
Chamberlain, Jonathan Parker, 5. Wounded: Eleazer Kingsbury,----Tolman,
2.
Sudbury.--Killed: Josiah Haynes, Asahel Reed, 2. Wounded: Joshua Haynes,
Jr., 1.
Acton.--Killed: Isaac Davis, Abner Hosmer, James Hayward, 3. Wounded:
Luther Blanchard, 1.
Bedford.--Killed: Jonathan Wilson, 1. Wounded: Job Lane, 1.
Woburn.--Killed: Daniel Thompson, Asahel Porter, 2. Wounded: George
Reed, Jacob Bacon,---
Johnson, 3.
Medford.--Killed: Henry Putnam, William Polly, 2.
Charlestown.--Killed: James Miller, Edward Barber, 2.
Watertown.--Killed: Joseph Coolidge, 1.
Framingham.--Wounded: Daniel Hemminway, 1.
Dedham.--Killed: Elias Haven, 1. Wounded: Israel Everett, 1.
Stow.--Wounded: Daniel Conant, 1
Roxbury.--Missing: Elijah Seaver, 1.
Brookline.--Killed: Isaac Gardner, 1.
Billerica.--Wounded: John Nichols, Timothy Blanchard, 2.
Chelmsford.--Wounded: Aaron Chamberlain, Oliver Barron, 2.
Salem.--Killed: Benjamin Pierce, 1.
Newton.--Wounded: Noah Wiswell, 1.
Danvers.--Killed: Henry Jacobs, Samuel Cook, Ebenezer Goldthwait, George
Southwick, Benjamin Deland, Jotham Webb, Perley Putnam, 7. Wounded:
Nathan Putnam, Dennis Wallace, 2. Missing. Joseph Bell, 1.
Beverly.--Killed: Reuben Kerryme, 1. Wounded: Nathaniel Cleves, Samuel
Woodbury, William Dodge, 3.
Lynn.--Killed: Abednego Ramsdell, Daniel Townsend, William Flint, Thomas
Hadley, 4. Wounded: Joshua Felt, Timothy Monroe, 2. Missing: Josiah
Breed, 1. i>
Total: Killed, 49: Wounded, 39; Missing. 5=93.
Preparations for Raising an Army in Massachusetts.--Zeal of the
Committee of Safety.--Circular of the Provincial Congress
533
CHAPTER XXIII.
"A viceroy, I, like monarchs, stay
Safe in the town; let others guide the fray.
A life like mine is of no common worth;
'Twere wrong, by Heaven! that I should sally forth.
A random bullet, from a rifle sent,
Might pierce my heart, and ruin North's intent.= *****
Ye souls of fire, who burn for chief command,
Come! take my place in this disastrous land.
To wars like these I bid a long good night;
Let North and George themselves such battles fight."
Gage's Soliloquy, by Philip Freneau, 1775
"In their ragged regimentals
Stood the old Continentals,
Yielding not,
When the grenadiers were lunging,
And like hail fell the plunging
Cannon shot;
Where the files
Of the isles
From the smoky night encampment bore the banner of the rampant unicorn,
And grummer, grummer, grammar rolled the roll of the drummer, through
the morn.
Knickerbocker Magazine.
HE events of the 19th of April, like an electric shock, thrilled every
nerve through the heart-confederated American colonies, and all over the
land there was a cry _to arms_! In Massachusetts there was no more
hesitation. Who shall be the aggressor? was an answered question. Who
shall be the conqueror? was the great problem before them. It was for
Massachusetts to lead the van in the contest, and her people readily
stepped forth to the duty, knowing that the warm sympathy and generous
aid of the sister colonies were enlisted for the war. The reassembled
Provincial Congress voted to raise an army of thirteen thousand six
hundred men. The Committee of Safety labored day and night, with a zeal
worthy of the glorious cause in which they were engaged. Circulars were
sent out by both bodies, calling upon the people to form an army as
speedily as possible; and the other New England colonies were solicited
to forward as many troops as they could spare, * in order to
* The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts sent the following letter to
the several committees of safety in the province:
"In Congress at Watertown, April 30th, 1775.
"Gentlemen,--The barbarous Murders on our innocent Brethren on Wednesday
the 19th Instant, has made it absolutely necessary that we immediately
raise an army to defend our Wives and our Children from the butchering
Hands of an inhuman Soldiery, who, incensed at the Obstacles they meet
with in their bloody progress, and enraged at being repulsed from the
Field of Slaughter, will, without the least doubt, take the first
Opportunity in their Power to ravage this devoted Country with Fire and
Sword. We conjure you, therefore, that you give all Assistance possible
in forming an Army. Our all is at Stake. Death and Devastation are the
certain Consequences of Delay; every Moment is infinitely precious; an
Hour lost may deluge your Country in Blood, and entail perpetual Slavery
upon the few of your Posterity who may survive the Carnage. We beg and
entreat you, as you will answer it to your Country, to your own
Consciences, and, above all, as you will answer to God himself, that you
will hasten and encourage, by all possible Means, the Enlistment of Men
to form the Army, and send them forward to Head-quarters at Cambridge,
with that expedition which the vast Importance and instant Urgency of
the affair demands.
"Joseph Warren, _President_"
Army collected at Boston.--Organization of the Troops.--Preparations to
Besiege the City.--Issue of Paper Money.
534make up a united force of thirty thousand men. These official appeals
were scarcely necessary, for as soon as the intelligence of bloodshed
went abroad, the people had rushed toward Boston from all quarters, and
by the 21st it was estimated that twenty thousand April 1775 men were
collected in the neighborhood of that city. General Ward, by virtue =of
a previous appointment, took command on the 20th, and in the afternoon
held a council of war with the officers present. *
Of course all was confusion; for the people came, some with arms in
their hands, and some having none, with the inquiry marked on every
countenance, What can I do? A partial organization was effected, and
preparations were made to besiege Boston. Among those who hastened
thither was the veteran Putnam, then an old man of sixty years, who, it
is said, left his plow in the furrow, and in his working dress, mounted
one of his horses, and hastened toward Cambridge at the head of a large
body of Connecticut volunteers. Colonel (afterward general) John Stark
was also there, with a crowd of New Hampshire volunteers, and all were
active and ardent. In the course of a few days the troops were tolerably
well officered, their pay was agreed upon, and thirty thousand were
enrolled. But great numbers returned home; some to attend to pressing
private affairs, and others to make permanent arrangements to join the
army. The number was thus suddenly much reduced, and the important pass
of Boston Neck was defended for nine consecutive days and nights by only
six or seven hundred men under Colonel Robinson, of Dorchester. The
ranks were soon afterward well filled, and preparations for a regular
siege of the city commenced.
Cambridge was made the head-quarters, and a line of cantonments was
formed nearly twenty miles in extent, the left leaning upon the River
Mystic and the right upon Roxbury, thus completely inclosing the town.
On the 5th of May, the Provincial Congress resolved "that General Gage
has, by the late transactions and many other means, utterly disqualified
himself from serving this colony as governor, or in any other capacity;
and that, therefore, no obedience is in future due to him; but that, on
the contrary, he ought to be considered and guarded against as an
unnatural and inveterate enemy to the country." Previous to this
renunciation of allegiance, they had prepared for the payment of the
army, by authorizing the issue of bills of credit, or paper money, to
the amount of three hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, in sums
small enough to be used as a circulating currency, and directed the
receiver general to borrow that amount, upon those notes,
* The officers who composed the council were Generals Ward, Heath, and
Whitcombe; Colonels Bridge,
Frye, James Prescott, William Prescott, Bullard, and Barrett; and
Lieutenant-colonels Spaulding, Nixon, Whitney, Mansfield and Wheelock.
Colonels Learned and Warner arrived the next day.
** This is a fac simile of the device on the back of one of the first of
the Massachusetts treasury notes or bills of credit. The literal
translation of the Latin inscription is "He seeks by the Sword calm
repose under the auspices of Freedom." In other words, to use a phrase
of the present time, they were determined "to conquer a peace." The face
of the bill has a neatly-engraved border of scroll-work; and on the left
of the brace where the names of the committee are signed, is a circle
with a ship within it. The following is a copy of one of the notes:
August 18,1775.
"Colony of the Massachusetts Bay,
"The Possessor of this Bill shall be paid by the Treasurer of this
colony, Twenty Four Shillings, Lawful Money, by the 18th day of August,
1778, which Bill shall be received for the aforesaid sum in all payments
at the Treasury and in all other Payments by order of the General
Assembly.
"Committee,
Gage's Restrictions.--Gloomy Prospects of the People of Boston.--
Arrangements with the Selectmen.--Perfidy of Gage.
535bearing an interest of six per cent. They also forwarded dispatches
to the general May 3, 1775 Congress which was to assemble on the 10th,
suggesting the necessity for making provision for a large army, to
oppose the expected troops from Great Britain.
While these transactions were taking place without Boston, General Gage
was pursuing a course of rigorous surveillance over the people within
the city. By his orders all April 19, 1775
intercourse with the country was cut off, and none were allowed to leave
the town without his permission first obtained. This measure exposed the
people to great distress, for their accustomed supply of provisions and
fuel was thus cut off. They at once felt all the horrors of civil war
gathering around them--visions of famine, rapine, and blood clouded
their thoughts, and all the miseries which gloomy anticipation delineate
began to be felt. Gage himself became uneasy. Boston was surrounded by
an exasperated multitude, armed and ready for combat at the least
provocation; and he was justly apprehensive that, should an assault
commence from without, the patriots within would rise upon his troops.
In this exigency he so far receded from his haughty demeanor toward the
municipal authorities as to seek an interview with the selectmen. It was
obtained, and he assured them that no violence should be done to the
town, provided the people would behave peaceably. A town meeting was
held on the 22d, and an agreement was entered into between the selectmen
and Gage, "That, upon the inhabitants in general lodging their arms in
Faneuil Hall, or any other convenient place, under the care of the
selectmen, marked with the names of the respective owners, all such
inhabitants that are inclined might leave the town, with their families
and effects, and those who remained might depend upon the protection of
the governor; and that the arms aforesaid, at a suitable time, should be
returned to the owners." * This measure was sanctioned by the Committee
of Safety sitting at Cambridge, and the arrangement was carried out in
good faith for a short time, until the removal became so general as to
alarm the Tories and the governor himself. ** The Tories, about this
time, were excessively loyal. Two hundred of them were enrolled as a
military corps under Timothy Ruggles, and, offering their services to
General Gage, were put on duty. They thought the arrangement Gage had
agreed to was unwise, for they apprehended that, when the patriots had
all left the town with their effects, they would not scruple to burn it.
They remonstrated with Gage, and their importunities and his own fears
became more potent than his sense of honor. Obstructions were thrown in
the way of removals, until, finally, passes were denied, or so framed
that families would have to be separated, and property left behind.
Gage, finally, would not allow women and children to leave Boston, but
kept them there as a sort of hostages, or pledges of good behavior on
the part of the patriots. This exhibition of bad faith disgusted and
exasperated the people as much as any of his previous acts.
* The following is a copy of one of the passes granted to the
inhabitants who left. It is copied from one preserved in the cabinet of
the Massachusetts Historical Society.
"Boston, May, 1775.
"Permit-----------------, together with his family, consisting of---
persons, and-------effects, to pass---------------, between sunrise and
sunset.
By order of his Excellency the Governor.
"No Arms nor Ammunition is allowed to pass."
** Under this arrangement. 1778 fire-arms, 634 pistols, 273 bayonets,
and 38 blunderbusses, were deposited with the selectmen. The same day
(April 27th) the Provincial Congress recommended to the inhabitants of
the sea-ports the removal of their effects, &c. Gordon, i., 336.
Benevolence of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts.--Efforts of
other Colonies.--Organization of the Army.
May 1, 1775 The 536Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, in the mean
time, made provision for five thousand poor people expected from Boston,
who were unable to help themselves. Each town had a proportion allotted
to it, and thus much suffering was prevented, while the feelings of the
beneficiaries were tenderly respected by the declaration of the
resolution that they were not to be numbered with the town paupers. The
same provision was also made for the suffering inhabitants who remained
in Charlestown, unable to remove from the danger that menaced them. So
great were the alarm and distress in that thriving suburban village of
Boston, that it was almost deserted. Its population of two thousand
seven hundred was reduced to about two hundred.
While Massachusetts was thus exercising its patriotism and humanity,
preparatory to the approaching contest, the other colonies were alive
with zeal. The Rhode Island Assembly voted an army of observation of
fifteen hundred men, and appointed Nathaniel Apni Greene, a young iron
master, and a Quaker by birthright, but recently disowned because of his
military propensities, commander-in-chief, with the rank of brigadier.
His colonels were Varnum, Hitchcock, and Church. The Connecticut
Assembly voted to raise six regiments of a thousand men each; and
Wooster, Putnam, and Spencer, already April 26 commissioned as generals,
were each to have a regiment. The others were to be placed under the
command of Hinman, Waterbury, and Parsons. Already, as we have noticed,
New Hampshire volunteers had flocked to Cambridge, with the gallant
Stark, who was commissioned a colonel. Under the direction of the
Committee of Safety of that colony, they were supplied with necessaries
until the meeting of the Provincial Congress of their own province in
May. That body resolved to raise two thousand troops in addition May 17
those already in the field, and Nathan Folsom was appointed commander-
inchief, with the rank of brigadier. They were organized into three
regiments; and two additional regiments were placed under the command of
Stark and James Reed. The latter, and Enoch Poor, were commissioned
colonels. New Hampshire and Rhode Island both also issued bills of
credit. Although other colonies did not send soldiers to Boston, all,
with the exception of New York, approved of the action of the general
Continental Congress, and expressed the warmest sympathy for New
England.
On the 19th of May, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts clothed the
Committee of Safety, then sitting at Cambridge, with full power to
regulate the movements of the gathering army. * General Ward, as we have
seen, was appointed captain general; John Thomas was made lieutenant
general; and Richard Gridley, the commissioned commander of an artillery
corps authorized to be raised, was appointed chief engineer, assisted by
Henry Knox, late commander of an artillery corps in Boston. To promote
rapid enlistments, a resolution had been previously adopted, promising a
captain's commission to every one who should raise a company of fifty-
nine men, and a colonel's commission to each who should raise a regiment
of ten companies. The form of the commissions of the several officers
was adopted, the pay of officers and soldiers was fixed, and other
provisions for organizing the army were arranged.
At the beginning of June the combined forces amounted to about sixteen
thousand men, ** really united only in respect to the common cause which
brought them together, for each colony had absolute control over its
respective troops. But by common consent, sanctioned by the several
colonial authorities, obedience was rendered to General Ward as captain
general. Ward, as well as Putnam, Thomas, Stark, Pomeroy, Prescott, and
Gridley, had been educated in the military art in the practical school
of the French and Indian war; and the militia that had assembled,
familiar with their names and deeds, placed the utmost confidence in
their skill and valor.
* The Committee of Safety consisted of John Hancock, Joseph Warren,
Benjamin Chureh, Benjamin White, Joseph Palmer, Richard Devens, Abraham
Watson, John Pigeon, Azor Orne, Benjamin Greenleaf, Nathan Cushing, and
Samuel Holten. Hancock was necessarily absent, being a delegate to the
Continental Congress.
** Massachusetts furnished 11,500; Connecticut, 2300; New Hampshire,
1200; and Rhode Island, 1000.
Increase of British Troops in Boston.--Arrival of experienced Officers.-
-Operations in the Vicinity.--American Military Works.
537The British force in Boston had increased, in the mean while, by
fresh arrivals from England and Ireland, to ten thousand men. The
Cerberus man-of-war arrived on the 25th of May, with Generals Howe, *
Clinton, and Burgoyne, three officers experienced in the military
tactics of Europe, but little prepared for service here. They were 1775
surprised at the aspect of affairs, and Gage was reproached for his
apparent supineness. ** However, unity of action was necessary, and the
new-comers heartily co-operated with Gage in his plans, such as they
were, for dispersing the rebel host that hemmed him in. He issued a
proclamation on the 12th of June, insulting in words and menacing in
tone. It declared martial law; pronounced those in arms and their
abettors "rebels, parricides of the Constitution," and offered a free
pardon to all who would forthwith return to their allegiance, except
John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were outlawed, and for whose
apprehension as traitors a reward was offered. ** This proclamation, so
arrogant and insulting, served only to exasperate the people. In the
mean while, several skirmishes had occurred between parties of the
British regulars and the provincials, upon some of the cultivated
islands that dot the harbor of Boston. Each party were employed in
carrying off to their respective camps the live stock upon the islands,
and on one occasion quite a severe action occurred upon Hog Island,
which continued until late at night. One or two armed vessels in the
harbor were engaged in the foray. A considerable number of the
provincials were killed. Toward morning a British schooner got aground.
The Americans boarded her, stripped her of every thing valuable, and
returned to camp in triumph. In the course of these May 28, 1775
depredations the owners were completely despoiled; several hundred
cattle, sheep, and lambs having been carried off by both parties,
without leave or remuneration. **** In the attendant skirmishes the
Americans were generally most successful, and they served to initiate
the raw militia into the preliminary dangers of a battle.
But little progress had been made at this time, by the Americans, in
erecting fortifications. Some breast-works had been thrown up at
Cambridge, near the foot of Prospect Hill, and a small redoubt had been
formed at Roxbury. The right wing of the besieging army, under General
Thomas, was at Roxbury, consisting of four thousand Massachusetts
troops, including four artillery companies, with field-pieces and a few
heavy cannon. The Rhode Island forces, under Greene, were at Jamaica
Plains, and near there was a greater part of General Spencer's
Connecticut regiment. General Ward commanded the left wing at Cambridge,
which consisted of fifteen Massachusetts regiments, the battalion of
artillery under Gridley, and Putnam's regiment, with other Connecticut
troops. Most of the Connecticut forces were at Inman's farm. Paterson's
regiment was at the breast-work on Prospect Hill, and a large guard was
stationed at Lechmere's Point. Three companies of Gerrish's regi-
* General Howe was a brother of the young Lord Howe who was killed at
Ticonderoga in 1758. In the address of the Continental Congress to the
people of Ireland, adopted on the 28th of July, 1775, the addressers
say, "America is amazed to find the name of Howe in the catalogue of her
enemies. She loved his brother."
** The newly-arrived generals were so assured, before leaving England,
that they would have no occasion to draw the sword in support of
ministerial measures, that they had prepared to amuse themselves with
fishing and other diversions, instead of engaging in military service.
It seems that the whole affair of the 19th of April was kept a profound
secret from all his officers by Gage, except those immediately employed
in it and Lord Percy, until the skirmish had ensued at Lexington, and a
re-enforcement was called for. When General Haldimand, afterward
Governor General of Canada, who was with Gage, was asked how the sortie
happened, he said that the first he knew of it was from his barber, who
came to shave him.
*** It has been related that when John Hancock placed his bold signature
to the Declaration of Independence, on the 4th of July, 1776, he
remarked, "There! John Bull can read that name without spectacles. Now
let him double his reward!"
**** It was in reference to these expeditions on the part of the
British, that Freneau, the stirring song-writer of the Revolution, in
his "Gage's Soliloquy," thus wrote:
"Let others combat in the dusty field; Let petty captains scorn to live
or yield; I'll send my ships to neighboring isles, where stray
Unnumbered herds, and steal those herds away. I'll strike the women in
this town with awe, And make them tremble at my Martial Law."
Disposition of the American Troops.--Preparations for Blockading
Boston.--Charlestown and adjacent Grounds.
538ment were at Chelsea; Stark's regiment was at Medford, and Reid's at
Charlestown Neck, with sentinels reaching to Penny Ferry and Bunker
Hill.
It was made known to the Committee of Safety that General Gage had fixed
upon the night of the 18th of June to take possession of and fortify
Bunker Hill and Dorchester Heights. This brought matters to a crisis,
and measures were taken to perfect the blockade of Boston. The Committee
of Safety ordered Colonel Prescott, with a detachment of one thousand
men, including a company of artillery, with two field-pieces, to march
at night and throw up in-trenchments upon Bunker Hill, an eminence just
within the peninsula of Charlestown, and commanding the great northern
road from Boston, as well as a considerable portion of the town. To make
the relative position of the eminences upon the Charlestown peninsula
and the Neck, to Boston, more intelligible to the reader, I have copied
from Frothingham's _History of the Siege of Boston,_ by permission of
the author, the annexed sketch, communicated to him, in a manuscript of
1775, from Henry Stevens, Esq. I also quote from Mr. Frothingham's work
a description of the localities about Bunker Hill. The peninsula of
Charlestown is opposite the north part of Boston, and is about a mile in
length from north to south. Its greatest breadth, next to Boston, is
about half a mile. It is connected with the main land by a narrow
isthmus or neck. The Mystic River, half a mile wide, is on the east, and
the Charles River, here formed into a large bay, is on the west, a part
of which, by a dam stretching in the direction of Cobble Hill, is a
mill-pond. [See map, page 54.3 ] In 1775, an artificial causeway ****
was so low as to be frequent a ferry, where Charles River bridge is, and
with Malden by another, called Penny Ferry, where Malden Bridge now is.
Near the Neck, on the main land, was a large green, known as the Common.
Two roads ran by it: one in a westerly direction, as now, by Cobble Hill
(M'Lean Asylum), Prospect Hill, and Inman's Woods, to Cambridge Common;
the other in a northerly direction, by Plowed Hill (Mount Benedict) and
Winter Hill, to Medford--the direct road to West Cambridge not having
been laid out in 1775. Bunker Hill begins at the isthmus, and rises
gradually for about three hundred yards, forming a round, smooth hill,
sloping on two sides toward the water, and connected by a ridge of
ground on the south with the heights now known as Breed's Hill. This was
a well-known public place, the name, "Bunker Hill," being found in the
town records and in deeds from an early period. Not so with "Breed's
Hill," for it was not named in any description of streets previous to
1775, and appears to have been called after the owners of the pastures
into which it was divided, rather than by the common name of Breed's
Hill. Thus, Monument Square was called Russell's Pasture; Breed's
Pasture lay further south, and Green's Pasture was at the head of Green
Street. The easterly and westerly sides of this height were steep. On
the east, at its base, were brick-kilns, clay-pits, and much sloughy
land. On the west side, at the base, was the most settled part of the
town (v). Moulton's Point, a name coeval with the settlement of the
town, constituted the southeastern corner of the peninsula. A part of
this tract formed what is called Morton's Hill, and frequently
overflowed by the tides. The Bunker Hill was one hundred and
communication with Boston was by ten feet high, Breed's Hill sixty-two
* No. 1 is Bunker Hill; 2, Breed's Hill; 3, Moulton's Point; 4, a
causeway near the Neck, at the foot of Bunker Hill; 5, Charlestown, at
the foot of Breed's Hill. Charlestown Neck is on the extreme left.
Night March to Bunker and Breed's Hill.--A Fortification planned on
Bunker Hill.--British Vessels in Boston Harbor.
539feet, and Moulton's Hill *** thirty-five feet. The principal street
of the peninsula was Main Street, which extended from the Neck to the
ferry. A road ran over Bunker Hill, around Breed's Hill, to Moulton's
Point. The westerly portions of these eminences contained fine orchards.
*
A portion of the regiments of Prescott, ** Frye, and Bridge, and a
fatigue party of two hundred Connecticut troops with intrenching tools,
paraded in the Cambridge camp at six o'clock in the evening. They were
furnished with packs and blankets, and ordered June 16, 1775 to take
provisions for twenty-four hours. Samuel Gridley's company of artillery
joined them, and the Connecticut troops were placed under the command of
Thomas Knowlton, a captain in Putnam's regiment, who was afterward
killed in the battle on Harlem Heights. After an impressive prayer from
the lips of President Langdon, of Harvard College, Colonel Prescott and
Richard Gridley, preceded by two servants with dark lanterns, commenced
their march, at the head of the troops, for Charlestown. It was about
nine o'clock at night, the sky clear and starry, and the weather very
warm. Strict silence was enjoined, and the object of the expedition was
not known to the troops until they arrived at Charlestown Neck, where
they were joined by Major Brooks, of Bridge's regiment, and General
Putnam. A guard of ten men was placed in Charlestown, and the main body
marched over Bunker Hill. A council was held, to select the best place
for the proposed fortification. The order was explicit, to fortify
Bunker Hill; but Breed's Hill being nearer Boston, and appearing to be a
more eligible place, it was concluded to proceed to fortify it, and to
throw up works, also, on Bunker Hill, to cover a retreat, if necessary,
across Charlestown Neck. Colonel Gridley marked out the lines of the
proposed fortifications, and, at about midnight, the men, having thrown
off their packs and stacked their arms, began their perilous work--
perilous, because British sentinels and British ships-of-war were almost
within sound of their picks. ***
"No shout disturbed the night,
Before that fearful fight;
There was no boasting high--
No marshaling of men,
Who ne'er might meet again--
No cup was filled and quaffed to Victory!
* Frothingham, page 129.
** William Prescott was born at Groton, Massachusetts, in 1726. His
father was for some years a counselor of Massachusetts, and his mother
was a daughter of another counselor. He was a lieutenant of foot under
General Winslow, at the capture of Cape Breton, where he was
distinguished for his bravery. He inherited a large estate, and resided
at Pepperell while the Revolution was ripening. He had command of a
regiment of minute men, and when the news of the affair at Lexington
reached him, promptly marched thither at the head of as many as he could
collect. His known military talents caused him to be selected by General
Ward for the important duty of fortifying Bunker Hill; and in the
memorable engagement that occurred there on the 17th of June, 1775, he
was the chief in command, and was greatly distinguished by his bravery
and skill. That evening, although repulsed, and his troops greatly
fatigued and much dispirited, he solicited from the Committee of Safety
permission to make an attempt to retake the peninsula of Charlestown. It
was a movement too perilous, and the gallant soldier was obliged to
rest. He continued in the service through 1776, and served as a
volunteer under Gates until the surrender of Burgoyne in 1777. From 1786
until his death he was an acting magistrate in his native town. He died
in Pepperell on the 13th of October, 1795, aged sixty-nine. William H.
Prescott, of Boston, the eminent historian, is a grandson of Colonel
Prescott. He married a grand-daughter of Captain Linzee, who commanded
the sloop of war Falcon, that cannonaded the works on Breed's Hill on
the 17th of June, 1775. The swords then used by Colonel Prescott and
Captain Linzee, the respective grandfathers of the historian and his
wife, are now in Mr. Prescott's possession, and are crossed, in a
conspicuous place, in his valuable library at Boston.
*** The following are the names of the British vessels then in the
harbor of Boston, which took part in the battle that ensued: Somerset,
68 guns, 520 men, Captain Edward Le Cras; Cerberus, 36 guns, Captain
Chads; Glasgow, 24 guns, 130 men, Captain William Maltby; Lively, 20
guns, 130 men, Captain Thomas Bishop; Falcon, Captain Linzee; Symmetry,
transport, 18 nine pounders. Sec the British Annual Register for 1775.
The Falcon lay off Moulton's, or Morton's, Point; the Lively lay
opposite the present navy-yard; the Somerset was at the ferry; the
Glasgow was near Cragie's Bridge; and the Cerberus and several floating
batteries were within gunshot of the American works.--Frothingham.
Construction of the Redoubt on Breed's Hill.--Discovery of the Works by
the Enemy.--Surprise of the people of Boston.
540
No plumes were there,
No banners fair,
No trumpets breathed around;
Nor the drum's startling sound
Broke on the midnight air."
--John Neal.
Officers and men labored together with all their might, with pickaxes
and spades, and were cheered on in their work by the distant signals of
safety--"All's well!"--that came from the shipping, and the sentinels at
the foot of Copp's Hill.
It proclaimed that they were still undiscovered; and at every cry of
"All's well!" they plied their tools with increased vigor. When the day
dawned, at about four o'clock, they had thrown up in-trenchments six
feet high; and a strong redoubt, which was afterward the admiration of
the enemy, loomed up on the green height before the wondering eyes of
the astonished Britons like a work of magic. The British officers could
hardly be convinced that it was the result of a few hours' labor only,
but deemed it the work of days. Gage saw at once how foolish he had been
in not taking possession of this strong point, as advised, while it was
in his power to do so.
The fortification was first discovered at dawn, by the watchmen on board
the Lively. Without waiting for orders, the captain put springs upon his
cables, and opened a fire on the American works. The noise of the cannon
aroused the sleepers in Boston, and when the sun arose on that bright
morning, every eminence and roof in the city swarmed with people,
astonished at the strange apparition upon Breed's Hill. The shots from
the Lively did no harm, and, defended by their intrenchments, the
Americans plied their labor in strengthening their works within, until
called to lay aside the pick and shovel for gun and knapsack.
Admiral Graves, the naval commander at Boston, ordered the firing to
cease; but it was soon renewed, not only by the shipping, but from a
battery of six guns upon Copp's Hill in June 17, 1775 the city. Gage
summoned a council of war early in the morning. As it was evident that
the Americans were rapidly gaining strength, and that the safety of the
town was endangered, it was unanimously resolved to send out a force to
drive them from the peninsula of Charlestown and destroy their works on
the heights. It was decided, also, to make the attack in front, and
preparations were made accordingly. The drums beat to arms, and Boston
was soon in a tumult. Dragoons galloping, artillery trains rumbling, and
the marching and countermarching of the regulars and loyalists, together
with the clangor
* This plan is copied from an English drawing of the time, first
published in the London Gentleman's Magazine for 1775.
** Explanation.--A A represents the situation of two strong fences,
composed of stones and rails; a and b, two well-contrived flanks, so
arranged that their fires crossed within twenty yards of the face of the
redoubt; c, another well-arranged flank; d, a bastion, with its flanks e
and b; rn, a small portion of a trench, that extended from the eastern
side of the redoubt to a slough at the foot of the hill toward the
Mystic River. On the southeast side of the redoubt was a deep hollow.
Two cannons were placed in embrasures at the front of the redoubt, in
the two salient angles of which were large apple-trees.
*This redoubt was eight rods square. The Bunker Hill Monument now
occupies its center. The eastern side commanded an extensive field. On
the north side was an open passage-way, and the breastwork upon the
eastern side extended about one hundred yards north. This trench was
incomplete when the battle began. Between the south end of the breast-
work and the redoubt was a sally-port, protected by a blind, and on the
inside of the parapet were steps of wood and earth for the men to mount
and fire. Between the slough and the rail fence on the east was an open
space, and this was the weakest part of the lines. Such were the
American works of defense when the battle of the 17th of June commenced.
Cowardice of the Tories.--Crossing of a British Force from Boston to
Charlestown.--Bravery of Prescott--New England Flag.
541of the church bells, struck dismay into many a heart before stout in
the presence of British protectors. It is said that the danger which
surrounded the city converted many Tories into patriots; and the
selectmen, in the midst of that fearful commotion, received large
accessions to their list of professed friends from the ranks of the
timid loyalists.
Toward noon, between two and three thousand picked men, from the British
army, under the command of General Sir William Howe and General Pigot,
embarked in twenty-eight barges, part from the Long Wharf and some from
the North Battery, in Boston, and landed at Morton's, or Moulton's
Point, * beyond the eastern foot of Breed's Hill, covered by the guns of
the Falcon and other vessels.
"About two thousand were embarked to go
'Gainst the redoubt and formidable foe.
The Lively's, Falcon's, Fame's, and Glasgow's roar,
Covered their landing on the destined shore." **
The Americans had worked faithfully on their intrenchments all the
morning, and were greatly encouraged by the voice and example of
Prescott, who exposed himself, without care, to the random shots of the
battery on Copp's Hill. ***
He supposed, at first, that the enemy would not attack him, but, seeing
the movements in the city, he was convinced to the contrary, and
comforted his toiling troops with assurances of certain victory.
Confident of such a result himself, he would not at first send to
General Ward for a re-enforcement; but between nine and ten o'clock, by
advice of his officers, Major Brooks was dispatched to head-quarters for
that purpose. General Putnam had urged Ward early in the morning to send
fresh troops to relieve those on duty; but only a portion of Stark's
regiment was allowed to go, as the general apprehended that Cambridge
would be the principal point of attack. Convinced otherwise, by certain
intelligence, the remainder of Stark's regiment, and the whole of Reed's
corps, on the Neck, were ordered to re-enforce Prescott.
At twelve o'clock the men in the redoubt ceased work, sent off their
intrenching tools, took some refreshments, hoisted the New England flag,
and prepared to fight.
The intrenching tools were sent to Bunker Hill, where, under the
direction of General Putnam, the men began to throw up a breast-work.
Some of the more timid soldiers made the removal of the tools a pretext
for leaving the redoubt, and never returned.
It was between twelve and one o'clock when the Brit-
* This is written Morton, Moreton, and Moulton, by different authors.
Morton is the proper name.
** From "The American War," a poem in six books, published in London,
1786.
*** A soldier (Asa Pollard, of Billerica) who had ventured outside of
the redoubt, was killed by a cannon ball. The circumstance so alarmed
those within, that some of them left the hill. Prescott, to inspire his
men with confidence, walked leisurely around the works upon the parapet,
in full view of the British officers in Boston. Gage, who was
reconnoitering the works through a glass, saw his tall and commanding
form, and asked Counselor Willard, who stood near him, who it was.
Willard, recognizing his brother-inlaw, said, "That is Colonel
Prescott." "Will he fight?" inquired Gage. "Yes, sir," replied Willard;
"he is an old soldier, and will fight as long as a drop of blood remains
in his veins." "The works must be carried immediately," responded Gage,
as he turned upon his heel to give orders.--
**** This is copied from an old Dutch work, preserved in the library of
the New York Historical Society, containing pictures of the flags of all
nations. In the original, a divided sphere, representing the earth, is
in the quarter where I have placed the pine-tree. I have made the
alteration in the device, because in the flag raised upon the bastion of
the redoubt on Breed's Hill, the pine-tree occupied the place of the
sphere, the more ancient device. The question has been unsettled
respecting the flag used on that occasion, as cotemporary writers are
silent on the subject. An intelligent old lady (Mrs. Manning) whom I saw
between the Brandywine and Kennet Square, in Pennsylvania, informed me
that her father, who was in the battle, assisted in hoisting the
standard, and she had heard him speak of it as a "noble flag." The
ground was blue, and one corner was quartered by the red cross of St.
George, in one section of which was the pine-tree. This was the New
England flag, as given in the sketch. Doubtless there were many other
flags belonging to the several regiments. Botta says of Dr. Warren,
during the retreat, "Finding the corps he commanded hotly pursued by the
enemy, despising all danger, he stood alone before the ranks,
endeavoring to rally his troops, and encouraging them by his own
example. He reminded them of the mottoes inscribed on their ensigns, on
one side of which were these words, 'An appeal to Heaven,' and on the
other, 'Qui transtulit, sustinet,' meaning, that the same providence
that brought their ancestors through so many perils to a place of
refuge, would also deign to support their descendants." Botta often
exhibits more poetry than truth in his brilliant narrative. After the
battle under consideration, and while Putnam commanded on Prospect Hill,
a flag with the inscription above given was presented to him, and was
first unfurled on the 18th of July ensuing. The author of "The Veil
Removed" properly treats the assertion of Botta as a fiction, and
sarcastically remarks that, "instead of such a sentimental allusion to
Latin mottoes, the only command, when their ammunition was spent, must
have been Sauve qui peut, 'Save himself who can.' "Qui transtulit,
sustinet," is the motto in the seal of Connecticut.
Excitement in Cambridge.--Re-enforcements for both Parties.--Sufferings
of the Provincials.--Warren and Pomeroy.
542ish troops, consisting of the fifth, thirty-eighth, forty-third, and
fifty-second battalions of infantry, two companies of grenadiers, and
two of light-infantry, landed, their rich uniforms and arms flashing and
glittering in the noonday sun, making an imposing and formidable
display. General Howe reconnoitered the American works, and, while
waiting for re-enforcements, which he had solicited from Gage, allowed
his troops to dine. When the intelligence of the landing of the enemy
reached Cambridge, two miles distant, there was great excitement in the
camp and throughout the town. The drums beat to arms, the bells were
rung, and the people and military were speedily hurrying in every
direction. General Ward used his own regiment, and those of Paterson and
Gardner and a part of Bridge's, for the defense of Cambridge. The
remainder of the Massachusetts troops were ordered to Charlestown, and
thither General Putnam conducted those of Connecticut.
At about two o'clock the re-enforcement for Howe arrived, and landed at
the present navy-yard. It consisted of the forty-seventh battalion of
infantry, a battalion of marines, and some grenadiers and light
infantry. The whole force (about four thousand men) was commanded and
directed by the most skillful British officers then in Boston; * and
every man preparing to attack the undisciplined provincials was a
drilled soldier, and quite perfect in the art of war. It was an hour of
the deepest anxiety among the patriots on Breed's Hill. They had
observed the whole martial display, from the time of the embarkation
until the forming of the enemy's line for battle. For the Americans, as
yet, very little succor had arrived. Hunger and thirst annoyed them,
while the labors of the night and morning weighed them down with
excessive fatigue. Added to this was the dreadful suspicion that took
possession of their minds, when only feeble re-enforcements arrived,
that treachery had placed them there for the purpose of sacrifice. Yet
they could not doubt the patriotism of their principal officers, and
before the action commenced their suspicions were scattered to the winds
by the arrival of their beloved Dr. Warren and General Pomeroy. **
Warren, who was president of the Provincial Congress, then sitting at
Watertown, seven miles distant, informed of the landing of the enemy,
hastened toward Charlestown, though suffering from sickness and
exhaustion. He had been commissioned a major general four days before.
Putnam, who was at Cambridge, forwarding provisions and re-enforcements
to Charlestown, tried to dissuade him from going into the battle. Warren
was not to be diverted from his purpose, and mounting a horse, he sped
across the Neck and entered the redoubt, amid the loud cheers of the
provincials, just as Howe gave orders to advance. Colonel Prescott
offered, the command to Warren, as his superior, when the latter
replied, "I am come to fight as a volunteer, and feel honored in being
allowed to serve under so brave an officer."
While the British troops were forming, and preparing to march along the
Mystic River for the purpose of flanking the Americans and gaining their
rear, the artillery, with two field-pieces, and Captain Knowlton, with
the Connecticut troops, left the redoubt, took a
* The most distinguished British officers that accompanied General Howe
were General Pigot; Colonels Nesbit, Abercrombie, and Clark; Majors
Butler, Williams, Bruce, Spendlove, Smelt, Mitchell, Pitcairn, Short,
Small, and Lord Rawdon.
** General Pomeroy left Cambridge when he heard the first sound of the
cannon. The veteran borrowed a horse from General Ward, to ride to
Charlestown, but, observing that the guns of the Glasgow raked the Neck
by an enfilading fire, he was afraid to risk the borrowed animal.
Leaving him in charge of a sentry, he walked across the Neck, and, with
a borrowed musket, joined the troops at the rail fence as a volunteer.
He was well known, and a loud huzza welcomed him to the post of danger.
March of the British toward the Redoubt--Position of the American
Troops.--Cannonade of the Redoubt
543position near Bunker Hill, and formed a breast-work seven hundred
feet in length, which served an excellent purpose. A little in front of
a strong stone and rail fence, Knowlton built another, and between the
two was placed a quantity of new-mown grass. This apparently slight
breast-work formed a valuable defense to the provincials.
It was now three in the afternoon. The provincial troops were placed in
an attitude of defense, as the British column moved slowly forward to
the attack. Colonel Prescott and the original constructors of the
redoubt, except the Connecticut troops, were within the works. General
Warren also took post in the redoubt. Gridley and Callender's artillery
companies were between the breast-works and rail fence on the eastern
side. A few troops, recalled from Charlestown after the British landed,
and a part of Warner's company, lined the cart-way on the right of the
redoubt. The Connecticut and New Hampshire forces were at the rail fence
on the west of the redoubt; and three companies were stationed in the
Main Street at the foot of Breed's Hill.
Before General Howe moved from his first position, he sent out strong
flank guards, and directed his heavy artillery to play upon the American
line. At the same time a blue flag was displayed as a signal, and the
guns upon Copp's Hill, and the ships and floating batteries in the
river, poured a storm of round shot upon the redoubt. A furious
cannonade was opened at the same moment upon the right wing of the
provincial army at Roxbury, to prevent re-enforcements being sent by
General Thomas to Charlestown. Gridley * and Callender, with their
field-pieces, returned a feeble response to the heavy guns of the enemy.
Gridley's guns were soon disabled; while Callender, who alleged that his
cartridges were too large, withdrew to Bunker Hill. Putnam was there,
and ordered him back to his first position. He disobeyed, and nearly all
his men, more courageous than he, deserted him In the mean while,
Captain Walker, of Chelmsford, with fifty resolute men, marched down the
hill near Charlestown, and greatly annoyed the enemy's left flank.
Finding their posi-
* Captain Samuel Gridley was a son of Richard Gridley, the engineer. He
was quite inefficient, and had received his appointment solely in
compliment to his father.
The British Artillery.--Silence of the Americans.--Terrible Volleys from
the Redoubt.--Flight of the Enemy
544tion very perilous, they marched over to the Mystic, and did great
execution upon the right flank. Walker was there wounded and made
prisoner, but the greater part of his men succeeded in gaining the
redoubt.
Under cover of the discharges of artillery, the British army moved up
the slope of Breed's Hill toward the American works, in two divisions,
General Howe with the right wing, and General Pigot with the left. The
former was to penetrate the American lines at the rail fence; the latter
to storm the redoubt. They had not proceeded far before the firing of
their artillery ceased, in consequence of discovering that balls too
large for the field-pieces had been sent over from Boston. Howe ordered
the pieces to be loaded with grape; but they soon became useless, on
account of the miry ground at the base of the hill. Small arms and
bayonets now became their reliance.
Silently the British troops, burdened with heavy knapsacks, toiled up
the ascent toward the redoubt, in the heat of a bright summer's sun. All
was silent within the American intrenchments, and very few provincials
were to be seen by the approaching battalions; but within those breast-
works, and in reserve behind the hills, crouched fifteen hundred
determined men, ready, at a prescribed signal, to fall upon the foe. The
provincials had but a scanty supply of ammunition, and, to avoid wasting
it by ineffectual shots, Prescott gave orders not to fire until the
enemy were so near that the whites of their eyes could be seen. "Then,"
he said, "aim at their waistbands; and be sure to pick off the
commanders, known by their handsome coats!" The enemy were not so
sparing of their powder and ball, but when within gunshot of the
apparently deserted works, commenced a random firing. Prescott could
hardly restrain his men from responding, and a few did disobey his
orders and returned the fire. Putnam hastened to the spot, and
threatened to cut down the first man who should again disobey orders,
and quiet was restored. At length the enemy reached the prescribed
distance, when, waving his sword over his head, Prescott shouted "Fire!"
Terrible was the effect of the volley that ensued. Whole platoons of the
British regulars were laid upon the earth, like grass by the mower's
scythe. Other deadly volleys succeeded, and the enemy, disconcerted,
broke, and fled toward the water. The provincials, joyed at seeing the
regulars fly, wished to pursue them, and many leaped the rail fence for
the purpose; but the prudence of the American officers kept them in
check, and in a few minutes they were again within their works, prepared
to receive a second attack from the British troops, that were quickly
rallied by Howe. Colonel Prescott praised and encouraged his men, while
General Putnam rode to Bunker Hill to urge on re-enforcements. Many had
arrived at Charlestown Neck, but were deterred from crossing by the
enfilading fire of the Glasgow and two armed gondolas near the causeway.
Portions of regiments were scattered upon Bunker Hill and its vicinity,
and these General Putnam, by entreaties and commands, endeavored to
rally. Colonel Gerrish, who was very corpulent, became completely
exhausted by fatigue; and other officers, wholly unused to warfare,
coward-like kept at a respectful distance from danger. Few additional
troops could be brought to Breed's Hill before the second attack was
made.
The British troops, re-enforced by four hundred marines from Boston,
under Major Small, accompanied by Dr. Jeffries, the army surgeon,
advanced toward the redoubt in the same order as at first, General Howe
boldly leading the van, as he had promised. * It was a mournful march
over the dead bodies of scores of their fellow-soldiers; but with true
English courage they pressed onward, their artillery doing more damage
to the Americans than at the first assault. It had moved along the
narrow road between the tongue of land and Breed's Hill, and when within
a hundred yards of the rail fence, and on a line with the breast-works,
opened a galling fire, to cover the advance of the other assailants. In
the mean while, a carcass, and some hot shot, were thrown from Copp's
Hill into Charlestown,
* Clarke, an officer in the marines, relates that, just before
commencing the first march toward the redoubt, General Howe made a short
speech, in which he said, "If the enemy will not come out of their in-
trenchments, we must drive them out, at all events, otherwise the town
of Boston will be set on fire by them. I shall not desire one of you to
go a step further than where I go myself at your head."
Burning of Charlestown.--Second Repulse of the British.--Re-enforced by
Clinton.--Ammunition of the Americans exhausted.
545which set the village on fire. * The houses were chiefly of wood, and
in a short time nearly two hundred buildings were in flames, shrouding
in dense smoke the heights in the rear whereon the provincials were
posted. Beneath this veil the British hoped to rush unobserved up to the
breast-works, scale them, and drive the Americans out at the point of
the bayonet. At that moment a gentle breeze, which appeared to the
provincials like the breath of a guardian angel--the first zephyr that
had been felt on that sultry day--came from the west, and swept the
smoke away seaward, exposing to the full view of the Americans the
advancing columns of the enemy, who fired as they approached, but with
little execution. Colonels Brener, Nixon, and Buckminster were wounded,
and Major Moore was killed. As before, the Americans reserved their fire
until the British were within the prescribed distance, when they poured
forth their leaden hail with such sure aim and terrible effect that
whole ranks of officers and men were slain. General Howe was at the
head, and once he was left entirely alone, his aids and all about him
having perished. The British line recoiled, and gave way in several
parts, and it required the utmost exertion in all the remaining
officers, from the generals down to the subalterns, to repair the
disorder which this hot and unexpected fire had produced. ** All their
efforts were at first fruitless, and the troops retreated in great
disorder to the shore.
General Clinton, who had beheld the progress of the battle with
mortified pride, seeing the regulars repulsed a second time, crossed
over in a boat, followed by a small re-enforcement, and joined the
broken army as a volunteer. Some of the British officers remonstrated
against leading the men a third time to certain destruction; but others,
who had ridiculed American valor, and boasted loudly of British
invincibility, resolved on victory or death. The incautious loudness of
speech of a provincial, during the second attack, declaring that the
ammunition was nearly exhausted, gave the enemy encouraging and
important information. Howe immediately rallied his troops and formed
them for a third attack, but in a different way. The weakness of the
point between the breast-work and the rail fence had been discovered by
Howe, and thitherward he determined to lead the left wing with the
artillery, while a show of attack should be made at the rail fence on
the other side. His men were ordered to stand the fire of the
provincials, and then make a furious charge with bayonets.
So long were the enemy making preparations for a third attack, that the
provincials began to imagine that the second repulse was to be final.
They had time to refresh themselves a little, and recover from that
complete exhaustion which the labor of the day had produced. It was too
true that their ammunition was almost exhausted, and being obliged to
rely upon that for defense, as comparatively few of the muskets were
furnished with bayonets, they began to despair. The few remaining
cartridges within the redoubt were distributed by Prescott, and those
soldiers who were destitute of bayonets resolved to club their arms, and
use the breeches of their guns when their powder should be gone. The
loose stones in the redoubt were collected for use as missiles if
necessary, and all resolved to fight as long as a ray of hope appeared.
During this preparation on Breed's Hill, all was confusion elsewhere.
General Ward was at Cambridge, without sufficient staff officers to
convey his orders. Henry (afterward general) Knox was in the
reconnoitering service, as a volunteer, during the day, and upon his
reports Ward issued his orders. Late in the afternoon, the commanding
general dispatched his own, with Paterson's and Gardner's regiments, to
the field of action; but to the raw recruits the aspect of the narrow
Neck was terrible, swept as it was by the British
* A carcass is a hollow case formed of ribs of iron, covered with cloth,
or sometimes iron, with holes in it. Being filled with combustible
materials, it is thrown from a mortar into a besieged place, by which
means buildings are set on fire. The burning of Charlestown had been
resolved upon by Gage some time before, in the event of the Americans
taking possession of any of the hills belonging to it. "This resolution
was assigned by a near female relative of the general to a gentlewoman
with whom she had become acquainted at school, as a reason why the
other, upon obtaining a pass to quit Boston, should not tarry at her
father's (Mr. Cary's) house in Charlestown."--Dr. Gordon, i., 352.
** Stedman, i., 127.
Death of Colonel Gardner.--Third Attack of the British.--Storming of the
Redoubt.--Death of Warren and Pitcairn.
546cannon. Colonel Gardner succeeded in leading three hundred men to
Bunker Hill, where Putnam set them intrenching, but soon ordered them to
the lines. Gardner was advancing boldly at their head, when a musket
ball entered his groin and wounded him mortally. * His men were thrown
into confusion, and very few of them engaged in the combat that
followed, until the retreat commenced. Other regiments failed to reach
the lines. A part of Gerrish's regiment, led by Adjutant Christian
Febiger, a Danish officer, who afterward accompanied Arnold to Quebec,
and was distinguished at Stony Point, reached the lines just as the
action commenced, and effectually galled the British left wing. Putnam,
in the mean time, was using his utmost exertions to form the confused
troops on Bunker Hill, and get fresh corps with bayonets across the
Neck.
All was order and firmness at the redoubt on Breed's Hill, as the enemy
advanced. The artillery of the British swept the interior of the breast-
work from end to end, destroying many of the provincials, among whom was
Lieutenant Prescott, a nephew of the colonel commanding. The remainder
were driven within the redoubt, and the breast-work was abandoned. Each
shot of the provincials was true to its aim, and Colonel Abercrombie,
and Majors Williams and Speedlove fell. Howe was wounded in the foot,
but continued fighting at the head of his men. His boats were at Boston,
and retreat he could not. His troops pressed forward to the redoubt, now
nearly silent, for the provincials' last grains of powder were in their
guns. Only a ridge of earth separated the combatants, and the assailants
scaled it. The first that reached the parapet were repulsed by a shower
of stones. Major Pitcairn, who led the troops at Lexington, ascending
the parapet, cried out, "Now for the glory of the marines!" and was
immediately shot by a negro soldier. ** Again numbers of the enemy
leaped upon the parapet, while others assailed the redoubt on three
sides. Hand to hand the belligerents struggled, and the gun-stocks of
many of the provincials were shivered to pieces by the heavy blows they
were made to give. The enemy poured into the redoubt in such numbers
that Prescott, perceiving the folly of longer resistance, ordered a
retreat. Through the enemy's ranks the Americans hewed their way, many
of them walking backward, and dealing deadly blows with their musket-
stocks. Prescott and Warren were the last to leave the redoubt. Colonel
Gridley, the engineer, was wounded, and borne off safely. *** Prescott
received several thrusts from bayonets and rapiers in his clothing, but
escaped unhurt. Warren was the last man that left the works. He was a
short distance from the redoubt, on his way toward Bunker Hill, when a
musket ball passed through his head, killing him instantly. He was left
on the field, for all were flying in the greatest confusion, pursued by
the victors, who remorselessly bayoneted those who fell in their way.
Major Jackson had rallied Gardner's men upon Bunker Hill, and pressing
forward with
* I have before me a drama, bearing the autograph of General James
Abercrombie, entitled "The Battle of Bunker Hill; a dramatic piece in
five acts, in heroic measure: by a gentleman of Maryland." Printed at
Philadelphia, by Robert Bell, in 1776. Colonel Gardner is one of the
dramatis persona, and is made to say, at the moment of receiving the
wound,
"A musket ball, death-winged, hath pierced my groin, And widely oped the
swift current of my veins. Bear me, then, soldiers, to that hollow space
A little hence, just on the hill's decline. A surgeon there may stop the
gushing wound, And gain a short respite to life, that yet I may return,
and fight one half hour more. Then shall I die in peace, and to my God
Surrender up the spirit which he gave."
** Major Pitcairn was carried by his son to a boat, and conveyed to
Boston, where he soon died. He left eleven children. The British
government settled a pension of one thousand dollars a year upon his
widow.
*** Colonel Richard Gridley, the able engineer and brave soldier in this
battle, was born in Boston in 1721. He served as an engineer in the
reduction of Louisberg in 1745, and entered the British army as colonel
and chief engineer in 1755. He was engaged in the expedition to
Ticonderoga in 1756, and constructed Fort George, on Lake George. He
served under Amherst in 1758, and was with Wolfe, on the Plains of
Abraham, the following year. He was appointed ehief engineer of the
provincial army near Boston in 1775. He died at Stonghton, on the 20th
of June, 1796, aged seventy-five years______Curwen.
Confusion of the Americans.--Efforts of Putnam to Rally them.--Cessation
of the Battle.--The Loss.--Spectators of the Battle.
547three companies of Ward's, and Febiger's party of Gerrish's regiment,
poured a destructive fire upon the enemy between Breed's and Bunker
Hill, and bravely covered the retreat from the redoubt. The Americans at
the rail fence, under Stark, Reed, and Knowlton, re-enforced by Clark's,
Coit's, and Chester's Connecticut companies, and a few other troops,
maintained their ground, in the mean while, with great firmness, and
successfully resisted every attempt of the enemy to turn their flank.
This service was very valuable, for it saved the main body, retreating
from the redoubt, from being cut off. But when these saw their brethren,
with the chief commander, flying before the enemy, they too fled. Putnam
used every exertion to keep them firm. He commanded, pleaded, cursed and
swore like a madman, and was seen at every point in the van, trying to
rally the scattered corps, swearing that victory should crown the
Americans. * "Make a stand here," he exclaimed; "we can stop them yet!
In God's name, fire, and give them one shot more!" The gallant old
Pomeroy, also, with his shattered musket in his hand, implored them to
rally, but in vain. The whole body retreated across the Neck, where the
fire from the Glasgow and gondolas slew many of them. They left five of
their six field-pieces, and all their intrenching tools, upon Bunker
Hill, and they retreated to Winter Hill, Prospect Hill, and to
Cambridge. The British, greatly exhausted, and properly cautious, did
not follow, but contented themselves with taking possession of the
peninsula. Clinton advised an immediate attack upon Cambridge, but Howe
was too cautious or too timid to make the attempt. His troops lay upon
their arms all night on Bunker Hill, and the Americans did the same on
Prospect Hill, a mile distant. Two British field-pieces played upon
them, but without effect, and both sides feeling unwilling to renew the
action, hostilities ceased. The loss of the Americans in this engagement
was one hundred and fifteen killed and missing, three hundred and five
wounded, and thirty who were taken prisoners; in all four hundred and
fifty. The British loss is not positively known. Gage reported two
hundred and twenty-six killed, and eight hundred and twenty-eight
wounded; in all ten hundred and fifty-four. In this number are in eluded
eighty-nine officers. The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, from the
best information they could obtain, reported the British loss at about
fifteen hundred. The battle, from Howe's first attack until the retreat,
occupied nearly two hours. The number of buildings consumed in
Charlestown, before midnight, was about four hundred; and the estimated
loss of property (most of the families, with their effects, having moved
out) was nearly six hundred thousand dollars.
The number engaged in this battle was small, yet cotemporary writers and
eye-witnesses represent it as one of the most determined and severe on
record. There was absolutely no victory in the case. The most
indomitable courage was displayed on both sides; and when the
provincials had retired but a short distance, so wearied and exhausted
were all that neither party desired more fighting, if we except Colonel
Prescott, who earnestly petitioned to be allowed to lead a fresh corps
that evening and retake Breed's Hill. It was a terrible day for Boston
and its vicinity, for almost every family had a representative in one of
the two armies. Fathers, husbands, sons, and brothers were in the
affray, and deep was the mental anguish of the women of the city, who,
from roofs, and steeples, and every elevation, gazed with streaming eyes
upon the carnage, for the battle raged in full view of thousands of
interested spectators in the town and upon the adjoining hills. ** In
contrast with the terrible scene were the cloudless sky and brilliant
sun.
* It is said that, for the foul profanity in which the brave old general
indulged on that occasion, he made a sincere confession, after the war,
before the church of which he was a member. "It was almost enough to
make an angel swear," he said, "to sec the cowards refuse to secure a
victory so nearly won!"
** "In other battles," said Daniel Webster, in an article published in
the North American Review for October, 1818, "the recollection of wives
and children has been used as an excitement to animate the warrior's
breast and to nerve his arm. Here was not a mere recollection, but an
actual presence of them, and other dear connections, hanging on the
skirts of the battle, anxious and agitated, feeling almost as if wounded
themselves by every blow of the enemy, and putting forth, as it were,
their own strength, and all the energy of their own throbbing bosoms,
into every gallant effort of their warring friends."
Reflections on the Battle.--Burgoyne's Opinion of the Conflict.--The
Character of Warren.
548
"The heavens, the calm pure heavens, were bright on high;
Earth laughed beneath in all its freshening green;
The free, blue streams sang as they wandered by;
And many a sunny glade and flowery scene
Gleamed out, like thoughts of youth, life's troubled years between,"
Willis Gaylord Clark.
while upon the green slopes, where flocks were quietly grazing but a few
hours before, War had reared its gory altars, and the earth was
saturated with the blood of its victims. Fearfully augmented was the
terror of the scene, when the black smoke arose from Charlestown on
lire, and enveloped the redoubt on the summit of Breed's Hill, which,
like the crater of a volcano, blazed and thundered in the midst of the
gloomy curtain that veiled it.
"Amazing scenes! what shuddering prospects rise!
What horrors glare beneath the angry skies!
The rapid flames o'er Charlestown's heights ascend;
To heaven they reach! urged by the boisterous wind.
The mournful crash of falling domes resound,
And tottering spires with sparkles reach the ground.
One general burst of ruin reigns o'er all;
The burning city thunders to its fall!
O'er mingled noises the vast ruin sounds,
Spectators weep! earth from her center groans!
Beneath prodigious unextinguished fires
Ill-fated Charlestown welters and expires."
Eulogium on Warren, 1781.
"It was," said Burgoyne, who, with Gage and other British officers, was
looking on from a secure place near Copp's Hill in Boston, "a
complication of horror and importance, beyond any thing that ever came
to my lot to witness. Sure I am that nothing ever can or has been more
dreadfully terrible than what was to be seen or heard at this time." But
it is profitless to dwell upon the gloomy scene. Time hath healed the
grief and heart-sickness that were born there; and art, in the hands of
busy men, has covered up forever all vestiges of the conflict.
Many gallant, many noble men perished on the peninsula upon that sad
day; but none was so widely and deeply lamented, because none was so
widely and truly loved, as the self-sacrificing and devoted Warren. He
was the impersonation of the spirit of generous and disinterested
patriotism that inspired the colonies. In every relation in life he was
a model of excellence. "Not all the havoc and devastation they have made
has wounded me like the death of Warren," wrote the wife of John Adams,
Ju]y 5, 1775 three weeks afterward.
"We want him in the Senate; we want him in his profession; we want him
in the field. We mourn for the citizen, the senator, the physician, and
the warrior."
General Howe estimated his influence, when he declared to Dr. Jeffries,
who recognized the body of
* Joseph Warren, son of a Massachusetts farmer, was born in Roxbury in
1740, and graduated at Harvard College in 1759. He studied the science
of medicine under Dr. Lloyd, and rapidly rose to the head, or, at least,
to the front rank of that profession in Boston. Sentiments of patriotism
seemed to form a part of his moral nature, and courage to avow them was
always prompting him to action. He became necessarily a politician, at a
time when all men were called upon to act in public matters, or be
looked upon as drones. He was one of the earliest members of the
association in Boston known as the Sons of Liberty, and from 1768 was
extremely efficient in fostering the spirit of rational liberty and
independence in the wide and influential circle in which he moved. His
mind, suggestive and daring, planned many measures, in secret caucus
with Adams and others, for resisting the encroachments of British power.
In 1771 he delivered the oration on the anniversary of the Boston
Massacre. He solicited the honor of performing a like duty on the 5th of
March, 1775, in consequence of a threat of some of the British officers
that they would take the life of any man who should dare to speak on
that occasion. The old South meeting-house was crowded on the appointed
day, and the aisles, stairs, and pulpit were filled with armed British
soldiers. The intrepid young orator entered a window by a ladder, back
of the pulpit, and, in the midst of a profound silence, commenced his
exordium in a firm tone of voice. His friends, though determined to
avenge any attempt at assassination, trembled for his safety. He dwelt
eloquently upon the early struggles of the New England people, their
faith and loyalty, and recounted, in sorrowful tones, the oppressions
that had been heaped upon them. Gradually he approached the scene on the
5th of March, and then portrayed it in such language and pathos of
expression, that even the stern soldiery that came to awe him wept at
his words. He stood there in the midst of that multitude, a striking
symbol of the revolt which he was leading, firm in the faith of that
sentiment, "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." Looking at him,
it might be said, as Magoon remarks, in classic quotation,
"Thou hast seen Mount Athos; While storms and tempests thunder at its
brows. And oceans beat their billows at its feet, It stands unmoved, and
glories in its height. Such is that haughty man; his towering soul, Mid
all the shocks and injuries of fortune, Rises superior, and looks down
on Caesar."
* When John Hancock went to the Continental Congress, Warren was elected
to fill his place as president of the Provincial Congress. Four days
previous to the action on Breed's Hill, that body gave him the
commission of major general, and he was the only officer of that rank
engaged in the conflict; yet he was without command, and fought as a
volunteer. "He fell," as Everett has beautifully expressed it, "with a
numerous band of kindred spirits--the gray-haired veteran, the stripling
in the flower of youth--who had stood side by side on that dreadful day,
and fell together, like the beauty of Israel in their high places!"
Warren's body was identified, on the morning after the battle, by Dr.
Jeffries, who was his intimate acquaintance. He was buried where he
fell, and the place was marked. After the evacuation of Boston in 1776,
his remains were disinterred, and, on the 8th of April, were carried in
procession from the Representatives' chamber to King's Chapel, and
buried with military and masonic honors. The Reverend Dr. Cooper offered
prayers, and Perez Morton pronounced an oration on the occasion.
"Warren's remains now rest beneath St. Paul's Church. He was Grand
Master of Freemasons for North America at the time of his death. A lodge
in Charlestown erected a monument to his memory in 1794, on the spot
where he fell. It was composed of a brick pedestal eight feet square,
rising ten feet from the ground, and supporting a Tuscan pillar of wood
eighteen feet high. This was surmounted by a gilt urn, bearing the
inscription "J.W., aged 35," entwined with masonic emblems. On the south
side of the pedestal was the following inscription: "Erected A.D.
MDCCXCIV., By King Solomon's Lodge of Free-masons, constituted in
Charlestown, 1783, In Memory of Major-general Joseph Warren and his
associates, who were slain on this memorable spot June 17,1775. * None
but they who set a just value upon the blessings of liberty are worthy
to enjoy her. In vain we toiled in vain we fought; we bled in vain, if
you, our offspring, want valor to repel the assault of her invaders.
Charlestown settled, 1628. Burned, 1775. Rebuilt, 1776." This monument
stood forty years, and then was removed to give place to the present
granite structure, known as Bunker Hill Monument. A beautiful model of
Warren's monument stands within the colossal obelisk, from which I made
the accompanying sketch.
** On the 8th of April, 1777, Congress, by resolution, ordered "that a
monument be erected to the memory of General Warren, in the town of
Boston, with the following inscription:
In honor of Joseph Warren, Major General of Massachusetts Bay. He
devoted his life to the liberties Of his country; And in bravely
defending them, fell An early victim, In the battle of Bunker Hill, June
17th, 1775. The Congress of the United States, As an acknowledgment of
his services, Have erected this monument to his memory.
Congress also ordered "that his eldest son be educated at the expense of
the United States."* The patriotic order for the erection of a monument
has never been obeyed.
The Energy, Boldness, and Patriotism of Warren.--Masonic Honors to his
Memory.--The old Monument on Breed's Hill
549Warren on the field the next day, that his death was worth, to the
British, five hundred of the provincial privates. Eulogy and song have
aided history in embalming his memory with the
Character of the Troops engaged in the Battle on Breed's Hill.--Monument
to Warren ordered by Congress.
550immortality that rests upon the spot where he fell. He was a hero in
the highest sense of the term, and so were Prescott and other
compatriots in the struggle; but all were not heroes who surrounded
them. Unused to war; some entirely ignorant of the sound of a cannon;
inferior, by two thirds, in number, and vastly so in discipline, to the
enemy, the wonder is that the provincials fought so well, not that so
many used their heels more expertly than their hands. Many officers,
chosen by the men whom they commanded, were totally unfitted in
knowledge and spirit for their stations, and a few exhibited the most
arrant cowardice. They were tried by court martial, and one was
cashiered for disobedience and for being a poltroon. * But they have all
passed away; let us draw the curtain of charity around their resting-
places, remembering that
"Hero motives, placed in judgment's scale,
Outweigh all actions where the heart is wrong."
Here let us close the volume of history for a time, and while the gentle
breeze is sweeping the dust and smoke of battle from Bunker Hill, ** and
the tumult of distress and alarm is subsiding in Boston, let us ride out
to Lexington and Concord, to visit those places consecrated by the blood
of the first patriot martyrs. We have had a long, but, I trust,
profitable consultation of the records of the past. I have endeavored to
point out for consideration the most prominent and important links in
the chain of events, wherein is remarkably manifested the spirit of true
liberty which finally wrought out the independence of these American
states. In brief outlines I have delineated the features of those
events, and traced the progress of the principles of freedom from the
little conventicles of despised and persecuted, but determined men,
toward the close of the sixteenth century, who assembled to assert the
most undoubted natural right, that of worshiping God as the conscience
of the creature shall dictate, to the uprising of nearly two millions of
the same people in origin and language, in defiance of the puissance of
the mightiest arm upon earth; and the assembling of a council in their
midst, of which the great Pitt was constrained to say, "I must declare
and avow that in all my reading and study--and it has been my favorite
study; I have read Thucydides, and have studied and admired the master
states of the world--that for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity,
and wisdom of conclusion, under such a complication of circumstances, no
nation or body of men can stand in preference to the general Congress of
Philadelphia."
* This was Captain Callender. The court sentenced him to be cashiered,
and, in an order of July 7th, Washington declared him to be "dismissed
from all further service in the Continental army." Callender felt much
aggrieved, and, confronting the charge of cowardice, remained in the
army as a volunteer, and fought so bravely at the battle of Long Island,
the next year, that Washington commanded his sentence to be erased from
the orderly-book.
** This battle should properly be called the battle of Breed's Hill, for
there the great events of the day occurred. There was much fighting and
slaughter upon Bunker Hill, where Putnam chiefly commanded, but it was
not the main theater of action.
* Journals of Congress, iii., 98
Boston Common.--Trip to Concord.--Major Barrett--His Connection with the
Revolution.
551
CHAPTER XXIV.
"How suddenly that straight and glittering shaft
Shot thwart the earth! in crown of living fire
Up comes the day! As if they conscious quaff'd
The sunny flood, hill, forest, city spire
Laugh in the waking light."
Richard H. Dana.
"War, fierce war, shall break their forces;
Nerves of Tory men shall fail;
Seeing Howe, with alter'd courses,
Bending to the Western gale.
Thus from every bay of ocean
Flying back with sails unfurl'd,
Toss'd with ever-troubled motion,
They shall quit this smiling world."
Military Song, 1776. *
T was a glorious October morning, mild and brilliant, when I left Boston
to visit Concord and Lexington. A gentle land-breeze during the night
had borne the clouds back to their ocean birth-place, and not a trace of
the storm was left except in the saturated earth. Health returned with
the clear sky, and I felt a rejuvenescence in every vein and muscle
when, at dawn, I strolled over the natural glory of Boston, its broad
and beautifully-arbored Common. I breakfasted at six, and at half past
seven left the station of the Fitchburg rail-way for Concord, seventeen
miles northwest of Boston. The country through which the road passed is
rough and broken, but thickly settled. I arrived at the Concord station,
about half a mile from the center of the village, before nine o'clock,
and procuring a conveyance, and an intelligent young man for a guide,
proceeded at once to visit the localities of interest in the vicinity.
We rode to the residence of Major James Barrett, a surviving grandson of
Colonel Barrett, about two miles north of the village, and near the
residence of his venerated October 1848 ancestor. Major Barrett was
eighty-seven years of age when I visited him, and his wife, with whom he
had lived nearly sixty years, was eighty. Like most of the few survivors
of the Revolution, they were remarkable for their mental and bodily
vigor. Both, I believe, still live. The old lady--a small, well-formed
woman--was as sprightly as a girl of twenty, and moved about the house
with the nimbleness of foot of a matron in the prime of life. I was
charmed with her vivacity, and the sunny radiance which it seemed to
shed throughout her household; and the half hour that I passed with that
venerable couple is a green spot in the memory.
Major Barrett was a lad of fourteen when the British incursion into
Concord took place. He was too young to bear a musket, but, with every
lad and woman in the vicinity, he labored in concealing the stores and
in making cartridges for those who went out to fight. With oxen and a
cart, himself, and others about his age, removed the stores deposited at
the house of his grandfather into the woods, and concealed them, a cart-
load in a place, under pine boughs. In such haste were they obliged to
act on the approach of the British
1850
* This song of forty-eight lines, by an anonymous writer, is entitled "A
Military Song, by the Army, on General Washington's victorious entry
into the town of Boston."
Concealment of Stores at Concord.--Concord Monument.--The Village.--Ride
to Lexington.
552from Lexington, that, when the cart was loaded, lads would march on
each side of the oxen and goad them into a trot. Thus all the stores
were effectually concealed, except some carriage-wheels. Perceiving the
enemy near, these were cut up and burned; so that Parsons found nothing
of value to destroy or carry away.
From Major Barrett's we rode to the monument erected at the site of the
old North Bridge, where the skirmish took place, and I sketched, on my
way, the residence of Colonel Barrett, depicted on page 526. The road
crosses the Concord River a little above the site of the North Bridge.
The monument stands a few rods westward of the road leading to the
village, and not far from the house of the Reverend Dr. Ripley, who gave
the ground for the purpose. The monument is constructed of granite from
Carlisle, and has an inscription upon a marble tablet inserted in the
eastern face of the pedestal. * The view is from the green shaded lane
which leads from the highway to the monument, looking westward. The two
trees standing, one upon each side, without the iron railing, were
saplings at the time of the battle; between them was the entrance to the
bridge. The monument is reared upon a mound of earth a few yards from
the left bank of the river. A little to the left, two rough, uninscribed
stones from the field mark the graves of the two British soldiers who
were killed and buried upon the spot.
We returned to the village at about noon, and started immediately for
Lexington, six miles eastward.