USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. I > Part 21
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It was midnight before the first spadefuls of earth began to fall. To the actors the scene could hardly fail of being an impressive one. The glo- rious starlit heavens, the dusky line of swiftly moving workmen, the veteran engineer hurrying from group to group, the officers with their lan- terns, Putnam standing in the wet grass, question- ing the darkness that settled heavily down upon the river and the beleaguered town, Prescott, alert, watchful, attentive to every sound, at one moment encouraging his men to greater exertions, at the next listening with painful eagerness for the cry " All's well !" repeated from sentinel to sentinel on the opposite shore, - were marked features of this striking tableau. The fall of a star, the plash of a leaping fish, the stroke of a bell, were no longer common incidents of the night, but events in the experience of those watchers which became indelibly engraved upon the memory.
The workmen toiled steadily on. The night faded into twilight. The intrenchment every mo- ment rose higher and higher. Towards morning Putnam mounted his horse and rode back to camp. His own idea was that Bunker Hill should be forti- fied as well as Breed's Hill. We shall see whether he was right or wrong.1
It is not to be supposed that Colonel Prescott would disobey so explicit an order as that to in- trench on Bunker Hill,2 unless overruled, not by a different judgment from his own, but by an author- ity competent to control his acts, and at the same time to relieve him from the charge of disobedi- ence. As a soldier, - and Prescott was not an in- experienced one, -no other choice was his to make. To the general council the situation of the two hills was perfectly known; so well, indeed, that the choice
1 " The latter (Bunker Hill) ought to have been taken posses- sion of at the same time, but it was somehow omitted." (Gen- eral Heath.) Those who condemn Putuam's efforts to have this done must also condemn Heath.
2 Colonel Prescott, writing late in Angust to John Adams, says he was ordered to Breed's Hill. It is generally believed his memory was at fault here.
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of Breed's Hill was subsequently pronounced the " mistake" of those making it. Here was neither ignorance nor misconception of orders. The Com- mittee of Safety understood "that General Gage had issued orders for a part of the troops under his com- mand to post themselves on Bunker's Hill, a prom- ontory just at the entrance of the peninsula at Charlestown. . ... By some mistake" Breed's Hill, " situated on the further part of the peninsula, next to Boston, was marked ont for the intrench-
ment instead of the other." The purpose of the enemy, the plan to defeat it, the exact situation of the two hills, is here pointed out by the Committee of Safety in its narrative of the transactions of the 17th of June. It follows that Colonel Prescott either assumed the responsibility of disobeying his orders, or believed himself relieved of the letter of those orders when arrived on the spot. And this could happen only through the intervention of a higher authority than his own.
XX.
BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL.
EXCEPT for a double motive, strategic and topo- graphic, we should scarcely venture to transfer our readers by a transition so abrupt as from the eve of battle to the present moment. To the greater part of our audience the battle-field of the 17th of June is, doubtless, familiar ground ; but the past has wrought its changes, and the future will as surely bring its own. Moreover, as the history of this battle will continue to be written and sung throughout all time, it becomes the part of every narrator to fix his own monuments where his suc- cessor may find them. Especially does this course recommend itself when, as in the present instance, a battle-field is to be sought and found in the very heart of a populous city. A glance at the topog- raphy of Charlestown will therefore enable the reader to assist more intelligently in the events which have taken place there, and which, notwith- standing the Act of Annexation, have rendered the name perpetual.
Charlestown is a peninsula formed by the con- fluence of the Charles and Mystic rivers, in shape like a pear. Its natural features, one hundred years ago, were similar to those of its opposite neighbor, Boston. It was joined to the mainland by a flat, narrow neck, the stem of the pear, and traversed from end to end by a long, irregular eminence with The monument stands on the plateau of Breed's Hill, and on the spot where Prescott built the redoubt. It is one of the pillars of regenerated America. The dockyard occupies the ground from which General Howe thrice advanced to storm the plateau. History has, however, very two summits. As soon as the neck is passed the ascent of the first summit begins. This is called Bunker Hill. From the crest the ground descends, by an easy slope, to a ridge which connects it with the inferior summit, Breed's Hill. The distance from one to the other is not far from half a mile, , properly entitled the action the Battle of Bunker
and from the seaward extremity of the peninsula to the neck it is about one mile.
As the peninsula enlarges in proportion as you advance from the neck, Bunker Hill is of course situated in the narrowest part, while Breed's is in the centre of the broadest. The first hill rises one hundred and ten, the second seventy-five feet above the rivers at their shores. This, of itself, is enough to instruct the unmilitary reader as to the relative strategic value of the two summits. In reality, Bunker Hill not only effectually blocked the way into or out of Charlestown, but it also commanded the neighboring summit. It was there- fore, in every sense, the key to the peninsula.
In approaching Charlestown by Charles River Bridge, on arriving in view, you see at the right a monument, gray, massive, austere, shooting high above the roofs and even the steeples in its neigh- borhood ; but as only two thirds of its height are visible, you have no idea that it is situated on an elevation. In fact, the elevation is inconsiderable, though it cost four or five hundred lives to scale it on the 17th of June, 1775. Considerably far- ther to the right is the United States Dockyard, with its mammoth buildings and its big war- ships.
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
ITill, from the highest elevation of the range which the battle embraced.
Turning now your back to Charlestown, you have the northern section of Boston before you. Iligh above the buildings is a clump of foliage ; behind that springs a brown spire, sharp and pointed as a lance. The trees rise above the an- cient cemetery of Copp's Hill; the steeple is that of Christ Church. The bridge on which we stand traverses the old ferry-way, where the ships of war lay and cannonaded the Americans. To command it, and the then village of Charlestown, the British had established a field-battery in the cemetery and a frigate in the stream. The church-belfry, already
famous, is the reported station to which Gage, the British generalissimo, ascended alone in order to witness the victory of his troops, and from which he descended silent, abstracted, gloomy, when it was won. We are now ready to proceed.
The lower slopes of Breed's Hill descend almost if not quite to the water's edge. Turning to the right, soon after leaving the public square of Charlestown we begin to ascend the hill, and upon reaching higher ground perceive that the navy- yard is situated at its base. Six or seven minutes suffice for a walk over the ground traversed by the British left wing in its march towards the redoubt. On arriving at the monument you will see to
MYSTIC
GIVER
To Medford
AMERICANS
To
BUNKER HILL no ft.high
EREASTWO
FREDOUBT
REE
Gondola
CHARLESTOWN
TOWN
HILL
COLL
CHAR
S
RIVER
SOMERSET
:17/H
Plan of the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775, from Lossing.
Sopp
58ft.h
the right and left stones placed to mark the posi- tion of the northeast and southeast angles of the redoubt, of which scarcely a vestige remains. A third stone indicates the direction of the breast- work which prolonged the defences down the north- ern slope of the hill towards the Mystic, now in plain view on your right. Upon facing squarely about, you understand the full extent of the dan- ger which threatened Boston from a position like this. It was, in the fullest military sense, a no- tice to quit the town.
Resuming onr walk, and crossing the few rods of grass-ground which the Monument Association has enclosed, we now first get a view of a height beyond, crowned by a church-spire. This is Bun- ker IIill. The church is situated somewhat to the
right, or northerly, of our stand-point, from which we are able to follow the course of the ridge be- tween the summits, behind which is a little depres- sion, or vale. Now with redoubts on both summits, connected by a line of earthwork along the ridge, with a strong body of sharpshooters in the town, the position was next to impregnable. If the enemy made himself master of Breed's Hill and of the ridge, he was only at the beginning so long as Bunker Hill remained in our possession. The battle was fought with one height fortified and the ridge only partially defended. One man in the provincial ranks knew the importance of Bunker Hill ; but we have reason to believe his advice was not regarded, and we know that his efforts were not seconded. In other words, there were jeal-
MORTON'S HILL
POINT
Cambridge
BRITIS
BUR
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BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL.
onsies in those ranks which renders the success of the | Bunker Hill from the neck, and descended it to Americans, such as it was, all the more surprising.
In 1775 the settled part of Charlestown lay along the western base of Breed's Ihll. It was traversed throughout by a street leading from the ferry-landing to the neck. A cartway also ascended
Moulton's Point. A second cartway crossed from the first to Breed's Hill, and encircled the plateau ; but these were only farm-roads traversing fields, intersccted by fenees. Having now arranged the stage, let us raise the curtain.
Breed's and Bunker Hills from the Navy-Yard, about 1826.
By break of day the Americans had thrown up a strong redoubt, eight rods square, and were work- ing like beavers to complete a breastwork from the redoubt's eastern face down the hill, on its left flank. This breastwork covered the approach to the rear of the redoubt, where the gate was situated. It had been extended about one hundred yards towards the Mystic before the British attack began. Inside it was a banquette of earth, for the defenders to stand upon and fire, but no embrasures had been left for cannon. Such, briefly, were the defences exe- cuted by Prescott's detachment between midnight and dawn.
The redoubt fronted nearly south, or towards Charlestown, which indicates the point of attack the American engineer had in view when laying out the work; this face had therefore been rendered stronger by salients. The eastern front, which the breastwork prolonged, looked to defending the position against an advance up the hill, on the side opposite to the settled portion of the town.
The west face bore upon Charles River, the mill- basin, and the mainland beyond.
These simple works were considerably strength- ened by natural defenees. On the right, those houses skirting the hill were well situated for checking the advanees of an enemy through the town. On the extreme left of the American line there were some brick-kilns, clay-pits, and shallow pools in the low ground, which made it difficult for troops to manœuvre. On all sides of the hill the fields were traversed by fences or stone-walls, and dotted with trees. In some enclosures the grass, tall, and ready for the seythe, had already been mowed, and was either stacked or lay in windrows on the ground. In brief, the American redoubt occupied a commanding and advantageous posi- tion, about midway between the Charles and Mystic rivers ; but without cannon it could do nothing to prevent a landing when and where the enemy pleased. Both flanks were much exposed. The long reach of unoccupied ground between the
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
breastwork and the Mystic seemed especially to invite attack. Nevertheless, the intrenehing de- tachment hid performed a prodigy during the night ; the appearance of these works on the mnorn- ing of the 17th, heralded to the amazed garrison and inhabitants of Boston by salvos of artillery, was to them a new proof that the Americans were eon- seious of their strength, confident in their courage, and resolute in their purpose to fight.
In Boston everything was in confusion. The cannonade directed against the redoubt on Breed's Hill increased in violence as ship after ship brought her batteries to bear. Soon the guns of the royal artillery on Copp's Hill opened fire ; yet, notwith- standing the shower of shot and shell, every moment falling in and around the redoubt, the Americans could still be seen vigorously plying the spade. All at once cheers were heard from the intrenchments, and then a tall and sinewy fig- ure was seen paeing the rampart with the utmost sang-froid. General Gage immediately summoned a council of general officers. There was but one opinion. At every hazard the Americans must be driven from their position. Clinton favored the seizure of Charlestown Neck, which would have isolated the Americans from their reinforcements, cut off retreat, and rendered their situation ju the last degree desperate. This proposal was, how- ever, overruled. It was determined to dislodge the insurgents by an attaek in front. Orders were at onee given to get the light-infantry and grena- dier battalions, the 51st, 38th, 43d, 52d, regiments, and some companies of royal artillery under arms. General Howe was directed to take command of these troops, and with them expel the daring pro- vineials from Charlestown.
To assemble the troops, distribute ammunition and rations, to get together a sufficient number of boats in order to transport them to Charlestown, required some hours. Notwithstanding the utmost expedition, it was nearly noon before this could be accomplished, and the troops embarked. These hours were of inealculable value to the Americans. The bombardment continued, but the way over Charlestown Neck was still open. Seven hours had elapsed since the cannonade began. What was doing at Cambridge during these hours ?
The cannonade had also roused the camps at Cambridge, and sounded its peremptory reveille all along the American line of investment. What was the situation at Cambridge ? Everywhere conster- nation, confusion, indecision. At the British head-
quarters it was the confusion of surprise, out of which came delay. At the American headquarters, where everything was foreseen, and where this pre- cious delay might be turned to golden account, there was an astounding failure to act with either vigor, intelligence, or moral courage. In one word, the exigeney which had been invited and was now con- fronting him found the commander-in-chief of the army hesitating, unprepared, and a prey to the most eruel perplexity. This moral prostration was of evil augury for the success of the day. Two or three regiments were, however, ordered under arms.
After leaving the detachment on Breed's Hill, General Putnam rode back to camp. Before dawn he was at the general-in-chief's, at Cambridge, so- lieiting the men and provisions which had been promised for Breed's Hill. Hearing the firing, he again mounted his horse, and, without waiting for the reinforcements, galloped off for Charlestown. His son, who was at Inman's, finding the general was not in camp, set out in pursuit of him. At headquarters he learned that the object of his search had rejoined the detachment, on Breed's Hill. "Your father," said Colonel Ward,1 " was here before dawn of day this morning, but has gone back to Charlestown." 2
The seene on Breed's Hill during the early hours of the morning was little ealeulated to inspire con- fidenee in successful resistance. The terrifie ean- nonade, the noise of flying missiles, shook the nerves of Prescott's inexperienced soldiers. One was killed by a cannon-ball, and buried on the spot by Preseott's order. Swift destruction seemed mena- eing this devoted band. Signs of wavering began to be visible in the ranks. The men had toiled all the night, and were worn out with fatigue, hunger, and thirst. Ill-omened murmurs began to be heard. It was at this critical moment that Pres- cott leaped upon the unfinished mound and began his walk upon the rampart. For an instant his men gazed open-mouthed, then they broke out in a deafening huzza which drowned the roar of artil- lery. This act restored confidence; but the men still elamored to be relieved.
The bustle and movement of bodies of troops in Boston were plainly visible from the redoubt. About nine o'clock, ceding to the importunities of his officers, Prescott despatched Major Brooks, of his own regiment, to headquarters to ask for rein- forcements and supplies ; with the instinet of a sol-
1 General A. Ward's aide-de-camp and military secretary.
2 Statement of Colonel Daniel Putnam, son of the general.
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BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL.
dier he refused to ask to be relieved. We respect | the refusal ; but Colonel Prescott's martial instinct by no means exonerates the general of the army.1
It is not possible to tell how many of the origi- nal twelve hundred remained on Breed's Hill at noon. Many deserted before this hour, or upon witnessing the embarkation of the British troops, regiment after regiment, battalion upon battalion ; while their eyes were every moment turned, in vain, in the direction whence help must come. By ten o'clock work upon the fortifications had ceased. The intrenchiing tools were piled in the rear of the lines; the men silently and sternly contemplated the preparations of their enemies.
Thus far Putnam is the only general officer whose active supervision of the operations at Charlestown is apparent. He is ubiquitous. Night and day he is its directing head. He goes with Prescott's detachment to Breed's Hill ; sees the intrenchment begin without discovery ; rides before dawn to Cambridge and confers with General Ward; is on his way back with the first British gun. After a hasty reconnoissance at Bunker Hill, he again rides to Cambridge and re- news his request for reinforcements ; but even his impetuosity, even his clearness of view, cannot shake off the fatal stupor at headquarters. The report now is that the enemy's fleet is battering the intrenchment ; that the bustle and confusion in Boston mean that the work cut out for Gen- eral Gage will very shortly be taken in hand. From this last interview the fiery old veteran turns his horse's head once more towards the peninsula. As he rides over the neck he meets Brooks hastening on foot to headquarters.
Enough has been said in order to show that Bunker Hill was all-important to the provincials intrenched on Breed's Hill. We have described how entirely it commanded, not only this hill, but the neck and the adjacent waters. Now if the provincial lines on Breed's Hill should be forced, the defenders could fall back on Bunker Hill; and this, we think, was the idea which ruled the mid- night council held on the brow of this eminence. The position was so vital to the Americans that
the neglect to hold it, by means of suitable de- fences, could only inspire amazement. Whoever kept Bunker Hill held Charlestown at his mercy.
Ten o'clock, and no reinforcements. Putnam rides up to the redoubt, and orders the intrenchi- ing tools carried to Bunker Hill. Prescott ven- tures to remonstrate, but obeys.1 On Breed's Hill the tools can no longer be of use, but some- thing may be done with them on Bunker Hill. Still, it is the skulkers' opportunity, and is em- braced with alacrity. From all parts of the line volunteers run to pick up a mattock, or a spade, with which they hurry off to the rear.2 Doubtless some returned to their posts later in the day. With the men thus collected, some beginning was made towards an intrenchment on Bunker Hill. Seeing men collecting here, the enemy directed tlieir fire upon it. They soon got the range, and balls fell thickly upon the summit and slopes. Shot and shell were dropping, and bursting in the little valley between the two hills, rendering movement from one to the other hazardous.
Now, with the flood-tide, the enemy had brought a frigate and two floating batteries into the basin of Charles River. These vessels, after anchoring as near to the mill-dam as possible, unmasked their broadsides, and opened a point-blank fire on Charlestown Neck. Through this fire, through a hail of missiles falling on Bunker Hill, through the valley, enfiladed by the broadsides of the fleet, the American reinforcements must march to Breed's Hill. The five or six hours' opportunity was lost.
During the forenoon two ship's guns, with their platforms, had been sent to the redoubt ; but there were no embrasures from which to fire them. The cannoneers had already left the work. The in- trenching tools were gone. What was to be done ? In this dilemma Prescott turned to a subordinate, Captain Bancroft of Bridge's regiment, and asked him if he could do anything with the guns. Ban- croft immediately ordered the soldiers to dig down the thick embankment with their hands. They at once attacked it with a will. Men never worked with greater zeal. Many dug until their bleeding hands compelled them to desist. In order to loosen the earth a cannon was loaded, and fired into the embankment. One or two balls fell in the streets
1 Gordon, whose opportunities for getting accurate information were better than those of any one who has yet undertaken to ex- plain this abandonment of the detachment on Breed's Hill, says that, " By some unaccountable error, the detachment which had been working for hours was neither relieved, nor supplied with refreshments, hnt was left to engage under these disadvantages." This may fairly be presumed to express the sentiment prevailing when he wrote.
1 Prescott does not ask Putnam, as he afterwards asks Warren, if he came to take the command. He simply acknowledges and submits to the order of his superior.
2 Prescott did not undertake to stop The men and execute the order in a proper way.
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
of Boston, thus acquainting the enemy that cannon were mounted on the rebel works.
At about the same hour of the British embarka- tion in all the splendor of its magnificent array, General Ward sent an order to Colonel Stark, at Medford, for two hundred men of this regiment to march at once to Breed's Hill. The order, being unexpected, was not so promptly executed as it should have been ; but as soon as ammunition could be served out, the two hundred, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Wyman, marched for the front. An hour would be required to arrive at Breed's Hill. Wyman halted in the valley between Winter Hill and Ploughed Hill, to rest his men, where he was found by Stark, who ordered him to push on. This was the first reinforcement that reached the Ameri- can lines. It was first halted by General Putnam's order ow Bunker Hill, and the men set to work in- trenching. Subsequently it took post on the right of the lines, and was not again seen by Stark until the close of the action.
At about two o'clock, under protection of the guns of the Lively and Falcon, the British troops landed without opposition at Moulton's Point, on that part of Charlestown peninsula opposite the town and nearest to Noddle's Island. From their landing-place the view of the town was partly in- tercepted by Breed's Hill, whose northern slopes rose before them. Directly in their front lay the long declivity of Bunker Hill. To be more explicit, Moulton's, or Moreton's, Point was the northeastern extremity of the peninsula, at the confluence of the Charles and Mystic rivers. It embraced a moderate elevation which the enemy immediately occupied.
While his artillery was being landed, and his battalions forming on the slight elevation which ascended from the marshy shore, General Howe examined the American position. Before him, and a little to his left, rose Breed's Hill, its summit crowned by the redoubt, its northern slope divided by the breastwork, its southern defended by the houses of the town. The houses were occupied, the redoubt and breastwork seemed swarming with men. From the breastwork to the Mystic the line was prolonged by what looked like a thick- set hedge, which was also strongly manned. In this line was an angle, seemingly designed to rake the ground over which his troops must pass to gain the enemy's extremne right. A considerable body of provincials were moving about the summit of Bunker Hill or down towards the lines at its foot.
The miry nature of the ground at the lower slopes of Breed's Hill was evident. The walls and fences, in his front, were so many impedi- ments. However, the beach, on his right, pre- sented a practicable road, protected from the enemy's fire. At about equal distances in front of him there was a sudden depression of the hill on the right, and a stone-wall on the left, which would serve admirably as advanced positions for his columns of attack. The British general deter- mined to push a strong column by the beach, for the enemy's left, while another assaulted the re- doubt in front. If the first attack succeeded, he would have the defenders of the redoubt in a trap. But, finding the American defences not only much stronger than he imagined, but being constantly strengthened by the arrival of fresh troops, after having settled his plan of attack he decided against an advance with his present force of about two thousand men, but immediately sent to General Gage a request for reinforcements. The soldiers were ordered to eat their dinners, and for an hour no hostile movement took place. This delay was General Howe's mistake.
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