It was, indeed, a strange episode in British history, in view of the
British assertion of assured supremacy, whenever an issue challenged
that supremacy.
Clinton and Burgoyne, watching from the redoubt on Copp's Hill, realized
at once the gravity of the situation, and Clinton promptly offered his
aid to rescue the army.
Four hundred additional marines and the forty-seventh regiment were
promptly landed. This fresh force, under Clinton, was ordered to flank
the redoubt and scale its face to the extreme left. General Howe, with
the grenadiers and light infantry, supported by the artillery, undertook
the storming of the breastworks, bending back from the mouth of the
redoubt, and so commanding the centre entrance.
General Pigot was ordered to rally the remnants of the fifth,
thirty-eighth, forty-third, and fifty-second regiments, to connect the
two wings, and attack the redoubt in front.
A mere demonstration was ordered upon the American left, while the
artillery was to advance a few rods and then swing to its left, so as to
sweep the breastwork for Howe's advance.