USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Charlestown > Century of town life; a history of Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1775-1887 > Part 2
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In another art, also sometimes vividly graphic, yet often, as are these views, very imaginative, we find no more help, and as much to mislead. The poetry of the age reveals either little, or such a passage as this in "An Eulogium on Maj: Gen. Warren (1781) by a Columbian " (p. 18).
"Amazing scene ! what shudd'ring prospects rise ! What horrors glare beneath the angry skies ! The rapid flames o'er Charlestown's heights ascend, To heaven they reach ! urg'd by the boist'rous wind. The mournful erush of falling domes resound, And tott'ring spires with sparkles seek the ground. One gen'ral burst of ruin reigns o'er all, The burning city thunders to its fall ! .. Beneath prodigions unextinguished fires, Ill-fated Charlestown welters and expires."
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In the drama of "The Battle of Bunker's-Hill" (by H. H. Brackenridge, 1776), we find only this allusion to the confla- gration (act v., sc. x.) : -
"A town on fire, and rushing from its base,
With ruin hideous, and combustion down."
John Burk's "Bunker Hill, a Tragedy" (1797), omits the episode, and " The Fall of British Tyranny . . . a Tragi-comedy of Five Acts" (Phila., 1776) refers to it in prose (act iii., sc. vii.), but shows only some of the popular feeling aroused, in the comments of a " Neighbour. A terrible black day it was, and ever will be remembered by New England, when that vile Briton (unworthy the name of a Briton), Lord Boston [Gen. Gage], (curse the name !) ... a fratricide ! 't was he who fir'd Charlestown, and spread desolation, fire, flames and smoke in er'ry corner ; he was the wretch, - that waster of the world, that licens'd robber," etc.
In " America Invincible " (Danvers, 1779), we find also only a reference, but with it an assertion of the effect of the fire on the provincial forces.
"Not Charlestown's flame that spiring high arose ; Nor all the smoke that aided to oppose ; Could shake the firmness of COLUMBIA's Band, To yield submissive the adjacent land."
Rev. Robert Colvill, in his "Poetical Works " (London, 1789), speaks of brave gentlemen who died on "the field of battle, before the walls of Charleftown," and Cockings, in the " American War" (London, 1781), stating that his " design has been to relate authenticated facts," writes in this way (p. 17) :-
" From house to house the conflagration spread ; Ear-piercing shrieks ; heart-rending groans, and cries ; And terrifying shouts of vict'ry rise : Amidst the desolating wild uproar, Forth rushed th' inhabitants from ev'ry door, To sex, nor age, no place an azyle yields ; In crowds they ran, and sought th' adjacent fields ; Swifter than they, the rapid bullets flew, And some ill-fated persons overthrew."
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As to the " crowds," Dr. Stiles (quoted by Mr. Frothingham in his "Siege," p. 202) wrote that "the body of the people were gone," except "one hundred or two hundred, or more, men and women," when the battle had really begun, and Rev. John Martin (of R. I.), who for needed rest and refreshment made a brief visit to " Mr. Cary and son, still in their own house, ... when a ball came through " it, says that he left for the Hill, and "then the town evacuated with all haste," - a movement about which the poet has used some license.
At present, newspapers would contain rousing and detailed accounts of the fire, under a startling array of head-lines in assorted type. If we turn to the "Essex Gazette" (then at Cambridge), a leading paper, a weekly, we find in No. 360, June 22, on the last page, without the distinctions of large letters or even of italics used in the advertisements around it, an account of the battle, written very temperately until this mention is made of the fire : -
" The Town of Charleftown, suppofed to contain about 300 Dwelling-Houfes, a great Number of which were large and ele- gant, befides 150 or 200 other Buildings, are almoft all laid in Afhes by the Barbarity and wanton Cruelty of that infernal Villain, Thomas Gage." Without the slightest break by reglet or leading, the article ends with a notice of a marriage on " the 6th Inftant." This, the whole account (imperfectly reproduced in Hist. Mag., June, 1868, p. 375), is even more particular than the accounts in other papers at the time, and a notable example of the meagre information, or news, then supplied by the Amer- ican press. In the " Massachusetts Spy " (Worcester. June 21) is the mere mention that during the attacks on the Hill the town " appeared in flames in almost every quarter, supposed to be kindled by hot balls." The short account of the battle from which this extract is made is without specially distinctive head-lines, but it is printed in italics. In the " Boston Gazette" (Watertown, June 19) there is also only a brief mention of the fire, and other newspapers of the time elsewhere give little or nothing. Indeed, nowhere does there seem to be anything more than a general statement about the town, without details, affording no clear idea of its exact nature and aspect.
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In regard to the time when the fire occurred, and the way it was started, we are favored with not a few of the variegated statements out of which history often must be shaped. Along with them we are also told about the time when the battle was fought, all of which particulars may well be added in a note.
NOTE. - The hours here refer to the movements of the British troops. 8 A. M., says a "gentleman in Providence " (June 20), they landed, " and fired the town in divers places."
10 A. M., says Capt. Hide ("N. Y. Gazette," June 26), they " marched out of Boston, landed in Charles-Town, and plundering it of all its valuable effects, set fire to it in ten different places at once; then " began the battle.
About noon, says the " Boston Gazette " (June 19), they crossed. After the retreat of the Provincials, they set fire to the town, " beginning with the Meeting-House."
Between 12 and 1, says the Rev. Peter Thacher, an eye-witness from the north side of Mystic River, they were crossing. At the "instant " they began to move on the works, the town was seen to be on fire, set from some of the British " batterys." This account is followed in the state- ment by the Committee of Safety, Provincial Congress (July 25).
1 P. M., says the " Essex Gazette " (June 22), they were crossing, and before their attack " set fire to the town." About 1 p. M., says Sam! Paine (June 22), they embarked, and, at near the time of landing, "the Ships threw Carcasses into [the town], and in a few minutes the whole [of it] was in flames." Meanwhile the attack began. In a letter based on letters from the camp (Force IV., Hist. Mag., 375) it is stated that about 1 A. M. [p. M.] it was learned at Cambridge that the Regulars were landing, but before help could reach the works "the battle had begun in earnest; " also that the British troops set the town " on fire with torches." About 1, says the Rev. Andrew Elliot, of Boston, the troops started from there; about 3 the battle began, and lasted perhaps an hour; and "amidst the carnage " the town was set on fire.
About 2 the Br. troops embarked ("N. Y. Gazettecr, " July 13) ; a large body suddenly crossed to C. (Prov. Congress, June 28, to Com. at Albany) ; they began to land ("Mass. Spy," June 21; Mass. to Cont. Congress ; Col. Prescott, Aug. 25) ; 2,000 landed (Wm. Tudor, June 23) ; they landed (Capt. J. Chester, July 22) ; a large army landed (I. Lothrop, June 22) ; about 2 they began to land (Mass. Prov. Congress to Cont. Cong., June 20), and at 5 " were in full possession of all the posts within the [isthmus]."
2 p. M., wrote Pres't Stiles, the attack was begun, and continued about four hours until nearly night; elsewhere also writing that the battle lasted three or four hours to between 5 and 6, the hottest part being from 3 to 4}.
As to the duration of the battle, it " lasted 35 minutes with the mus-
THE TOWN BURNED IN 1775.
quetry " (says Capt. Chester, informed by a spectator "on Chelsea side "); it " lasted perhaps an hour " (says the Rev. A. Elliot in Boston, June 19); about four hours (says Dr. Stiles, Newport). As to the end, the Provincials retreated about 5 o'clock (says S. Gray, Roxbury, July 12); "about sunset " (" Boston Gazette," June 19) ; aud the British held all the [peninsula] at 5 (Prov. Congress, June 20).
Additional statements about the fire are found in several accounts. The "N. Y. Gazetteer " (July 13) from the Mass. Occasional Newspaper, states that the town " was set on fire during the engagement and most part of it consumed," (thus confirming the Rev. A. Elliot, Mass. to Cont. Congress, " Mass. Spy," I. Lothrop, and S. Gray, already mentioned). That the fire was set before, or at the beginning of, the attack, is stated by the " Essex Gazette," Capt. Hide, the Rev. P. Thacher, the Com. of Safety, Pres't Stiles, and Gen. Dearborn. That it was set after the battle is stated by the " Boston Gazette," and Win. Tudor, who says, " After they [the Regulars ] had forc'd the Provincials from the Hill, they fir'd the Town, which after burning two Days, exhibit'd a scene of Ruin unparalell'd be- fore in America."
In regard to the extent of the fire, we have a similar assort- ment of statements. The " Boston Gazette " says that it began " with the Meeting-House, and we hear they have not left one Building unconsumed." The same beginning is stated by S. Gray. "Charlestown is intirely burn't down " (adds Wm. Tudor, June 23). It " is now consumed to a wretched heap of rubbish " (adds I. Lothrop). We farther learn that the town, " consisting of near 500 houses and other buildings, was, by these bloody incendiaries set on fire and consumed to ashes " (Prov. Cong. to Com. at Albany) ; and that there " were three hundred Houses, all of which but perhaps two or three were reduced to Ashes & Ruins " (Stiles's Diary). "Strait before us," says Gen. Burgoyne (June 25), was "a large & noble Town in one great Blaze; the Chh. Steeples being of Timber, were great Pyramids of Fire above the rest." To Great Britain the Provincial Congress stated (July 25) that "the Town of Charlestown, the buildings of which were in general large and elegant, and which contained effects belonging to the unhappy sufferers in Boston to a very great amount, was entirely de- stroyed ; and its chimneys and cellars now present a prospect to the Americans exciting indignation," etc. Gen. Gage, who probably knew as much as any one about the events, wrote
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(June 26) that the town " was set on fire during the engage- ment and most part of it consumed." Gen. Dearborn added (1818) that " a very few houses escaped."
From these statements, such as they are, it is easier to de- termine the course of events than the nature and extent of the town; yet by a good deal of patience with materials that are described on pages 112, 113, the latter becomes clear, and the complete story can be briefly told.
The American forces were entrenched on the hill by the monument, or variously posted along the fields to the river northward, or on the higher hill towards the Neck. The town was abandoned by the inhabitants, yet some buildings seem to have been used as covers by shooters more or less sharp. These latter fired on British troops, who, about 2 o'clock, landed along the shore at what is now the easterly part of the sea-front of the Navy Yard, or later began the battle.
General Gage had repeatedly told the people of the town that he would burn it if they allowed it to be used as a base for hos- tilities against his forces (Frothingham's " Siege," 201), and he kept his word. There were reports that his troops were galled by firing thence, and the rebels audaciously stood on Bunker Hill. Accordingly shells were thrown towards the Square (do., 143) from a battery on Copp's Hill (Letter, June 25), and men from the "Somerset " frigate landed castward, so that be- tween them all the town was soon, at various points, thoroughly in flames. The meeting-house was a conspicuous mark, and the conflagration may have begun there. It is, however, stated (1882) that buildings of Dea. Townsend, "near the foot of Chestnut Street and at the head of Maudlin's shipyard," were the first kindled.
As to the nature and extent of the town thus set on fire, a clear idea can only be gained after laborious references to hun- dreds of details in several authorities described on pages 112, 113, and in what proves to be a very long note (pp. 114-155) where the writer shows how he has come to conclusions about what the people left behind and the British destroyed.
By that time the village had grown a great deal since 1638, but more in population and houses than in area. The three
1
Gent.May.Feb. 1790. Pl ... prøv.
-
View of Bunker Hill.
e
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THE TOWN BURNED IN 1775.
larger hills, of five on the peninsula where it was built, were still covered by pastures or mowing lots, and dotted by trees, which on some of the maps are profuse. Gen. Dearborn, how- ever, says that there were none "except some half a dozen lo- custs, as many soverns, and a few apple-trees." Two or three huge elms, one of which is yet living, are said to have remained. On looking around the occupied part of the territory it would, so far as we can suppose or know, have been seen, if we landed by the ferry from Boston (at the old, or Charles River Bridge), that along the low shore eastward there were wharves, and back of them a dock extending to the present Chelsea Street. Around the dock were distilleries, a tan-yard, warehouses, and the premises of coopers, shipwrights, and others engaged in commerce, while among, or a little back of, them, and spread for perhaps a quarter of a mile, were dwellings. Directly in- land from the ferry, a short street, lined by shops and houses, led to an irregularly shaped market-place surrounded by simi- lar buildings. At the left, and projecting boldly into it, were a garden and the chief inn, " The Three Cranes," behind which were the homes of the two ministers. Close by the latter stood the Meeting-House, with a rather tall, slim steeple, and in, not by, the market-place (as often in old English towns), was the Court-House. Farther to the left, along the river-side, there were, as to the castward, wharves, warehouses, a ship-chand- lery shop or two, and dwellings near by, as well as a distillery, and at a little distance farther another one. On and around the Town Hill, just north of the market-place, were more dwell- ings ; others stood about the junction of Joiner and Warren streets, a few by the Training-field, and at the corner of the lanc leading to it was another distillery. Winding around the hill, and then for a mile northward to the Neck, was the main road, narrow or wide, crooked or straight, as the lay of the land determined. On the east side, from the market-place to the present Thompson Square, was a succession of houses, almost without a break ; for between them were only small gardens or areas, and three narrow lanes that led to the Back street. Nearly opposite the present Union Street was one more distil- lery, or a part of it. On the other side of the street the houses
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were not as closely set, and a little way above Wood Street they were scattered. Near the foot of Green Street stood a house and a barn, then there seems to have been open ground to a house at the corner of Hathon Place. Aside from the Main Street there seem to have been few houses. Beyond these limits, the buildings on Main Street were more separated for a third of a mile to a somewhat compact group, - the Mill Vil- lage. Beyond this, for half a mile, was land mostly open (sce p. 152) as far as the Neck Village (pp. 152, 153). On the mainland along the roads to Penny ferry (Malden bridge), to Medford and Cambridge, there were several houses and barns, and over a mile from the Neck, near Medford river, was the Ten Hills farm (p. 154).
It will be observed that the buildings of the town were set closely along or near the sea-front from the present Navy Yard to the lower part of Bow Street, and in an almost unbroken line on Main Street to Thompson Square. A large part of them were built of wood, and among them scattered barns, several distilleries, and other inflammable structures. Conse- quently, when fires were kindled in the lower portion of the town, and the wind changed from southwest, as it was blowing (says Dearborn) to eastward, as it often does on a summer day, the flames were driven lengthwise of the town and burned as far as they could reach material to maintain them. Thus the main part of the town was easily destroyed, continuing to burn through the night (says H. Hulton). Some buildings, however, midway on Main Street (p. 149), and at the Mill Vil- lage (p. 151), were not reached by the fire, but guns were brought to rake the Neck (p. 152) and neighboring territory, and no little damage was done there (pp. 152-154).
As to how the town looked before the conflagration, we can form a tolerably clear idea, even in the absence of definite views and connected descriptions. We can feel pretty sure that, ac- cording to the Provincial way, English fashions were followed as far as means allowed, and that the town was not better than one in England made during the earlier half of the last century, when the style of building in such was plain, or at best quaint, and the structures apt to be small. A considerable difference
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THE TOWN BURNED IN 1775.
would, of course have been made by the prevalent use of wood here instead of bricks. Probably some of the low, quaint houses left at the North End of Boston are not unlike many of those that were burned here. From the sizes of many lots, the length of time families had occupied them, or the valuations for losses, we are led to think that there could have been but few fine places. Old accounts, indeed, state that many buildings were " large and elegant," but definitions and ideas of elegance were then very different from those we have, as witness English de- scriptions of mutilations in English cathedrals. Two very detailed accounts are preserved of the houses of two prominent men in the town, which are given hereafter, - those of Captain Henley (pp. 118, 119) and B. Hurd (p. 13S).
There are several statements to show that the destruction was not at first complete, and that it ended by degrees. The Rev. Andrew Elliot says (Boston, June 19), " I suppose every dwell- ing-house and every public building is consumed till you have passed the passage to the mills, and are come to the house where Woods, the Baker, dwelt " (see p. 149). This refers to the region on Main Street north of Thompson Square, and ground of some extent where the buildings were too widely separated for the fire to spread, and the one part of the town least exposed to the British guns. On the map of Page, and on that of De Berniere, not only are no houses marked in the main part of the town, but it is, in type, stated to be the part burned, and they are marked in this region. On the latter map, and on the ground just mentioned, is placed a barn (near the foot of Green St.), from which Americans fired on the left flank of the British at the final attack on the Hill, and from which they were driven by " part of the 47th and Marines." A building, without description, is marked in the same place on the maps of Page and of Swett. Furthermore, on the map of De Berniere, where houses are shown in this region, is also shown the position of the "47th Regiment in Charles-town on the night of the 17th." It was posted for nearly half a mile along Main Street where guarding was, it seems, not needed except at the causeway, or milldam, at the further end of their line, but where it seems likely there were houses for shelter.
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Additional evidence in regard to the gradual destruction is given by a public document. At a Town meeting, Jan. 11, 1783, a committee of seven of the inhabitants appointed to esti- mate the losses in the fire, reported that the greatest part of the town " was consumed on the first day ; the next day they [the British] renewed the fire, and consumed a large number of houses, and so continued from time to time, until the whole was destroyed." (Mass. Archives, 138, and Memorial, Ho. Doc., 55, 23d Congress.)
A number of houses even remained for six months, and a few for a longer time, and were used by the British, as is shown in a letter of Gen. Washington to Jos. Reed, Jan. 14, 1776, where it is stated that a few nights before (Jan. 8), " a party under Major Knowlton crossed upon the mill-dam [between the Am. station at Cobble Hill and the Mill Village described pp. 150, 151], the night being dark, and set fire to and burnt down eight out of fourteen [houses] which were standing, and which we found they were daily pulling down for fuel." (Sparks's " Writ- ings," III. 241; also E. N. Coburn in " Charlestown," 1875.)
About the aggregate amount of the losses no two accounts seem to agree. In the report of Jan. 11, 1783 (above), it is stated that nineteen sworn appraisers made the sum total £117,675. 14s. According to the Archives (pp. 157-174), it was £123,444. 8. 6. In pencil on the MS., by a later hand, is Total, £117,982. 5. 2d., the figures given by Mr. Frothingham (" Siege," 203). On the Church Record (heliotyped in the writer's 4° vol.) is an entry stating that "380 dwelling-houses and other buildings, valued at £156,966. 18. 8d., were con- sumed, and 2,000 persons reduced from affluence & mediocrity to the most aggravated exile." As to the number of buildings, there is a still greater diversity of statement. It is even diffi- cult to obtain exaet figures of the latter from the papers writ- ten by the sufferers themselves when reporting to the committee, as buildings may be counted different ways, and in several cases fractions are given. No total "footings " appear with these, but the writer counts from them, with at least approxi- mate exactness, 232 dwellings, 95 barns, 76 shops or stores, 25 warehouses, 12 mills, and 81 miscellaneous buildings, besides
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17 wharves, and 205 claims for personal losses only, making 521 buildings, owned by nearly 500 persons, or about 700 suf- ferers, a majority of whom represented families, so that it is easy to see that fully "2,000 persons " were immediately and severely affected. Of individuals or families (including all of a name) meeting with losses, 42 lost between £700. and £1,000., and 27 above the latter amount, as may be counted. Ten sums at least were over £2,000. : Russells, £5,955. ; Henley (S.), £4,941 .; Rands, £3,788 .; Frothinghams, &3,353. ; Harrises, £3,192 .; Austins, £3,159 .; Woods, £3,011 .; Cheevers, £2,497 .; Carys, £2,252 .; and Fosters, £2,063.
For a month or more before the battle it seems to have been felt that property was very unsafe on the peninsula, conse- quently much of the more portable kinds was hidden or re- moved. Yet the losses were extremely severe, for houses, stores, workshops, barns, and many other things must remain on the spot. After all the efforts that were made to save per- sonal estate, the amount destroyed was important enough to seriously affect business and domestic life, to ruin many of the people, and to cripple a greater number. No more interesting and pathetic evidence of the condition and trials of the inhab- itants is to be found than in the collection of statements (443) of individual losses preserved among the Town Records ; in- deed, it may be, no other town of the Revolutionary period has such a full and touching exhibit of whom and what its people were, and of what they suffered in the cause of country and independence. He or she must be a cold-blooded and heartless American who can look over these worn or time-stained papers without emotion, and without appreciating the situation and feelings of the persons who wrote them. Generally it is simply stated that the buildings and effects were lost by the military operations, by the acts of the " Regulars," or the " King's troops," yet, now and then, the provocation was too strong for calm mention of the agents of destruction, and they are referred to as the " ministerial Butchers." Charlestown had slight cause to speak otherwise of the representatives of the "mother coun- try " - anything but an " alma mater " - across the sea.
So far as we can judge from these statements, most of the
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silver ware was removed, for little is mentioned. Specifica- tions of the quality of furniture are so generally made that we can tell closely who had the finer kinds and how much they had. Of about 450 families or persons claimants, 43 had ma- hogany (in all, 64 tables, 23 chairs, 12 desks, 29 teaboards, 3 cases drawers, 9 sundry articles ), and 53 had black walnut fur- niture ; 40 lost books (£30. old tenor being the largest single claim, and there being no evidence of anything like a library), and 26 had pictures (Ellery, Russell, and Sheafe lost the chief, but none are costly, and 119 averaged only 3s. 3d. each in the owner's valuations). Chests of drawers (now in great request) were not uncommon, and were among the best articles of fur- niture. Spinning-wheels and pewter plates were rather numer- ous ; there were fewer warming-pans, and few clocks; there was not much liquor, but there were many cider barrels, and barrels of soap. A majority of claimants on loss of personal property reported kitchen furniture, as that would be among the things least likely to be removed. Small articles of this kind, as well as tools, and indeed of all sorts are often described with great detail. (See Note, p. xiv.)
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