USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. I > Part 22
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General Gage promptly answered his subordi- nate's demand by sending him the 47th regiment, Nesbitt's, the first marine battalion, Pitcairn's, and some additional companies of light-infantry and grenadiers. Instead of joining the main body, at Moulton's Point, these troops landed near the present entrance of the Navy-yard, or directly under the eastern slopes of Breed's Hill. They were, therefore, evidently intended to operate against the redoubt. It was three in the after- noon, sultry and oppressive, when Howe deployed his columns of attack.
When a messenger reached Cambridge with news of the landing, town and camps were thrown into an uproar, -the one by the village bells, the other by drums beating to arms. Orders were now sent in haste to various regiments in Cambridge to march for Breed's Hill with all possible expedition ; to Stark at Medford, and Reed at Charlestown Neck. From the situation of his camp, Reed should have been first on the ground. The roads were soon filled with regiments moving towards the scene of action. But to reach it they must go through the fire which raked Charlestown Neck. The ordeal was indeed a trying one for raw soldiers. Some hesitated to cross in close order, and did so in squads and detachments. Some refused to cross at all, but halted where the enemy's balls could not
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reach them; and some had been ordered to halt here for further orders. In this crowd were the regiments of Reed, Jonathan Brewer, Nixon, Little, Gerrish, Doolittle, Scammon, Gardner, Gridley,and possibly others. It was the moment for testing the quality of these officers.
Precisely at what time or in what order these reinforcements crossed the neck to the peninsula is impossible to know. The scene was one of strange confusion and excitement ; but the regiments of Reed, Stark, Brewer, Nixon, Little, Gerrish, Doo- little, and Gardner, with Callender's and Trevett's companies of artillery, filed across before the attack began. It was this thin line, which distance exag- gerated into masses of men, that caused Howe's delay and Gage's anxiety.
When Stark reached the neck he found his way blocked by two regiments. He immediately sent his major to desire their commanders either to move on or to open a passage. The regiments did not move on, but allowed the gallant New Hamp- shire men to precede them. While they were marching through the fiery gantlet, the captain 1 of the leading company ventured to suggest a quicker step to his colonel, but the seasoned veteran coolly observed to his subordinate that one fresh. man in action was worth ten fatigued ones, and continued his route with the same deliberation as before. On reaching Bunker Hill, Stark halted for luis rear to come up.
The hour taken to refresh and reinforce his troops was to give the approaching combat a new and more terrible aspect for General Howe. It was the sal- vation of the Americans.
When Prescott saw the British troops landing at a point nearly in the rear of the fort instead of in its front, he ordered Captain Gridley to take his two pieces out of the redoubt and attack the enemy while they were disembarking. Knowlton was ordered to support Gridley with his Connecticut detachment. Instead of obeying the order he had received, the officer moved off with his guns towards Bunker Hill, that is to say, towards the American rear. Prescott also ordered a detachment of his own regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Robinson, to take post on the enemy's flank.2 The remainder of his command were in the redoubt and behind the breast work.
The enemy, it was seen, was in a position where
1 Afterwards Major-General Dearborn, U. S. A.
2 Colonel Robinson is supposed to have gone to the right, into the town, or behind the natural defences of the redonbt.
{ he ontflanked the American lines. He had only to advance boldly through that terrible gap, be- tween the left point of the breastwork and Mystic River, to be in the rear of the American defences. A few minutes' march would compel the instant desertion of the redoubt and breastwork. If this movement were aided by a simultaneous attack on the redoubt, the result might, if entirely successful, be the capture of the force under Prescott's immedi- ate command ; for it is unnecessary to repeat that as soon as the head of a British column penetrated this gap retreat was cut off.
Prescott's attempt to annoy the British while in the confusion of landing having proved abortive, he contented himself with remaining quietly at his post. He took no steps to secure his unprotected flank, though its danger was too apparent not to be thoroughly appreciated. He could spare no more men, and, as has been seen, was not able to enforce obedience to his orders.
But Prescott's danger was both seen and felt by General Putnam. He clearly discerned the full importance of filling that gap in the lines. So much was clear, but what were the means ? Two hundred yards behind the redonbt, and running towards the Mystic, was one of those stone-walls before spoken of. When the enclosure was made a treuch had been dng, and above this was piled the low wall of loose stones surmounted by wooden rails, in common use in New England. Here was a natural breastwork, slight, but defensible, extend- ing in the general direction of the American front line. It did not, however, close the gap. There were still two hundred yards of open space between the end of the breastwork and the wall, or fence. This space was partly covered by an orchard.
Seeing the artillery, and Knowlton leaving the lines and marching to the rear, Putnam hurriedly rode up, and, pointing with his sword to the wall just described, ordered Knowlton to man it. The order was instantly obeyed. Perceiving another fence in front of them, Knowlton's men pulled up the pickets, and having first fixed them in the ground near their own wall, thrust the rails through those of the first. They then heaped the space be- tween with the newly mown hay lying on the field. In this way they constructed what was, in appear- ance, a very formidable intrenchment, but which was, on the contrary, neither musket nor cannon proof.
After a brief halt on Bunker Hill, and a spirited address to his men, Stark led his regiment, one of the largest on the field, to the rail-fence, taking a
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position next to the Mystic, on Knowlton's left. Reed closed the gap between Stark and Knowlton. As the fence stopped short on the bank of the river, which was here elevated a little above the beach, Stark ordered some of his men to heap up stones as far as low-water mark, and to post themselves behind. The rest were soon busy proteeting their front, as Knowlton had done. He soon had his flank covered, and at the same time blocked the road by which Howe meant to launch one of his columns. Stark then coolly surveyed the ground in his front, and after having attentively observed the movements of the British right, to which he found himself opposed, fixed a mark cight or ten rods distant from his battle-line, and, pointing it ont to his men, told them not to fire a shot until the enemy had reached that spot. Thus at the two points selected by Sir William Howe for his attack a formidable resistance was already prepared.
Colonels Brewer, Nixon, and Little also led their regiments to the lines. Major Moore brought up a part of Doolittle's, and Adjutant Febiger a part of Gerrish's. Gardner, after sending Harris's com- pany over to Stark, halted with the rest of his regiment on Bunker Hill. Gerrish did the same. Gardner's and portions of Nixon's and Brewer's were from Middlesex. Three braver officers did not unsheathe a sword on this day. Their battali- ons were weak in numbers, but, under the eye and example of such leaders, invincible. Brewer had about one hundred and fifty men, Nixon twice as many. It is impracticable to give the strength of the other battalions.
Brewer and Nixon immediately directed their march for the undefended opening so often re- ferred to, between the rail-fenec and earthwork.1 They also began the construction of a hay breast- work, but when they had extended it to within thirty rods of Prescott's line the enemy advaneed to the assault. The greater part of these two battalions stood and fought here without cover throughout the action, both officers and men dis- playing the utmost coolness and intrepidity under fire.
Up to this hour Putnam was the only general officer on the field. He had naturally and legiti- mately assumed the command to which his rank entitled him. The orders he had given had been obeyed at the redoubt, the rail-fence, and on Bun- ker Ilill. He had been applied to for orders, had given them, and had known how to make them
1 Little's and Doolittle's were also probably at this point.
respected. With or without orders from head- quarters, Putnam's assumption of chief command is undeniable. Colonel Prescott understood his authority to limit him to defending the fort ; consequently he did not attempt to control the movements of any troops not of his original de- tachment by giving them orders. Putnam under- stood his duty to be that of opposing the British general, wherever he might choose to attack, with every available man and musket. General Howe had developed his plan of attack; Putnam had organized the stone-wall defence without which there would have been no battle, but only a ront. It is true, Bunker Hill had been the great object of his solieitnde, but it was now too late to think of Bunker Hill. Possession of the redloubt being the object of the British attack, Prescott's was the important position of the American line. Further than this, we must consider him as fighting on an equality with Colonels Stark, Reed, Brewer, and. Nixon.
Just as the battle was about to begin, General Pomeroy arrived on the field, taking his station at the rail-fence amid the cheers of the provincials. Hle came only as a volunteer, but his presence and example infused new courage into the men. At this moment, too, a young man, somewhat below middle stature, but graceful and well-knit, appeared at the rail-fence armed with a musket. He was elegantly attired in the dress of a civilian, present- ing, in this respect, a marked contrast to the man whom he aceosted, and who was in his shirt-sleeves. But the same unconquerable spirit animated both. One was young, handsome, brave, the idol of the people, the hope of the Revolution ; the other was already old, but, like the knarled and sturdy oak, seemed to defy the assaults of time. This was the hero of the fighting element of the army, - the brave, the heroie Putnam. To none was this dar- ing spirit better known than to him who now ap- proached. A brief conversation ensued.
Putnam declared himself ready to receive the orders of General Warren. But Warren had no thought of assuming command. He had too just a conception of his own position, too punctilious a sense of honor, to deprive Putnam of his authority. Declining to give orders, he asked the general where he could be most useful. Putnam pointed to the redoubt, saying, " You will be covered there." " Don't think," rejoined the heroic young soldier, " E eame here to seek a place of safety ; tell me where the onset will be most furious." Again
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Putnam pointed to the redoubt. " That is the enemy's object ; if that can be defended, the day is ours." Warren walked rapidly to the redoubt. On entering it he was received with lond cheering. To these Massachusetts men his person was well known. Colonel Prescott immediately tendered him the command of the redoubt, but Warren generously declined it. Instead of remaining under cover of the work, the young citizen-gen- eral retraced his steps as far as the gap. He had instinctively recognized the post of honor, and of danger. His reception here was as enthusiastic as at the redoubt, but at this moment the enemy was seen advancing all along the line.
The American battle-line, now complete, closed the peninsula from river to river. On the right Wyman and Robinson, with about three hundred men, occupied Charlestown and the defences next to the redoubt. One hundred and sixty-three men in their shirt-sleeves, with Prescott in command, occupied the redoubt. Men of his own, of Bridge's, and of Frye's regiments lined the earth breastwork ;
and here we venture to place Colonel Frye, who came on the field in time to take part in the en- gagement. Brewer and Nixon, with about four hundred and fifty men, stood in the gap, with Warren and Pomeroy at their head. Then came Knowlton, whose original command was two hun- dred; then Reed and Stark, whose united force could not have exceeded seven hundred men. Putnam posted himself behind this line. We suppose the defenders of the whole line to have numbered from eighteen hundred to two thousand men, more than half of whom were from Massachusetts, and morc than one third from Middlesex County.
It was about half-past three when General Howe put his columns in motion.
The guns were ordered to open fire on the re- doubt and breastwork, and to advance. The light- infantry battalion was moved up on the extreme right, the 38th filed out from the rear of the col- umu and took a position on the left of the artillery. After moving forward over about half the distance to the redoubt, through various impediments, the artillery halted and concentrated its fire upon the rail-fence. The light-infantry also halted, under the break of ground which sheltered it, and the 38th drew up behind the stone-wall which covered it from the fire of the redoubt.
Having gained this ground in his front, Howe now moved the 5th and 43d over to the left, to the support of the 38th. The 47th and the Marines
were ordered to take a position on the left of these battalions, when General Pigot formed the whole in order of battle, protected by the rapid slope of the hill in his front. These troops now enveloped the southern and castern faces of the redoubt. So far the movement had met with no other opposition than an irregular musketry-fire from the houses upon the British left, which oceasioned some loss. Seeing this, General llowe sent a messenger to General Burgoyne, who superintended the cannon- ade from Copp's Hill, with a request to burn the town. Charlestown was soon on fire in twenty places, compelling the withdrawal of the American sharpshooters within their lines.
While the left attack was thus organizing under Pigot's supervision, the grenadiers were moved for- ward in the direction of the rail-fence; the 52d, deploying on their left, marched for the breast- work; the light-infantry were ordered to leave their shelter, and, taking up their march in column along the beach, force their way through the ex- treme left of the rebel works and gain their rear. This being done, the results previously pointed out must quickly follow. Appreciating its importance, General Howe, in person, led this attack. The bugles sounded. The whole glittering line pressed onward towards the American works.
Thus far General Howe had made his disposi- tions in a most soldierly manner. He had formed his line by simply extending and developing his left. Charlestown was in flames, and its defenders in full retreat. Now for the rail-fence, at which eight guns were steadily pounding away with shot and shell, grape and canister.
The British left, having the shortest distance to traverse, came first within musket-range. It began a harmless fire upon the redoubt and breastwork. There the steady advance, admirable precision, and confident bearing of the enemy produced almost a panic. It was an awful moment for rustic soldiery. Anxious looks were turned to the rear, but no re- inforcements were in sight. Still the gleaming battle-line came on. Now its fire swept the ram- part. The officers could be seen waving their swords towards the redoubt. By a simultaneous movement the Americans began to desert the east- ern front of the redoubt. In another moment all would be lost. Feeling the importance of check- ing this panic, Prescott hastened to the men, and by dint of argument, entreaty, and promises in- duced them to go back to their posts. The enemy being now within half musket-range, a few shots
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were discharged from the redoubt, but firing soon stopped, as the order passed to let the enemy come within thirty yards. " Aim low !" " Pick out the handsome coats !" were the officers' cool com- mands to their men.
For an instant or two a deathlike stillness reigned in the redoubt ; then, as the head of the assaulting columns crossed the fatal boundary, the command was given to fire. Instantly the redoubt flamed like a volcano, the breastwork was in a blaze; while a cloud of smoke, lighted by incessant flashes of musketry, enveloped friend and foe in its murky embrace. The enemy fell in heaps, -actually in heaps. This butchery lasted some moments.
This rude reception where an easy conquest was looked for astonished the enemy. On his left the Royal Marines were in utter confusion. Unable to advance, disdaining to fly, they were shot down by files and platoons. Pitcairn was killed under the redoubt, and borne off the field in the arms of his son.1 The 47th, led by the cruel Nesbitt, fared no better. The 5th, 38th, 43d, 52d, were stopped short, while officers and men were dropping right and left before the incessant and accurate fire of Prescott's men. Pigot's attack was handsomely repulsed all along his front, and after stubbornly enduring the murderous fire a few moments the bugles sounded a retreat.
General Howe advanced boldly on the right, the grenadiers occasionally stopping to pull down the fences in their way. Most of the troops in this attack had been in the battle of the 19th of April ; and officers and men were full of determi- nation to wipe away the disgrace their arms had suffered on that day.
The artillery continued to play upon the fence. The British officers, supposing it to be a natural hedge, held it in no great dread. As soon as the attacking columns came within range, two pieces Putnam had brought up opened a destructive fire. Putnam himself pointed these guns. The general then rode along the line giving his famous order not to fire until the men could see the white of the enemy's eyes. Soon the smoke of burning Charlestown, rising above Breed's Hill, drifted in a heavy cloud towards the hostile battalions. Now the crash of musketry, the uproar of the onset ra- ging at the redoubt, came down the green hillside.
Excited by the scene, a few of the provincials dis- charged their muskets at the grenadiers, when Putnam rode to the spot and threatened to cut down the first who fired before the command was given. These dropping shots, however, drew from the enemy a harmless fire in return.
Here, as at the redoubt, the Americans reserved their fire until the enemy had come within half musket-range. The command was then given. The carnage at the redoubt and breastwork . was repeated. With the first discharge, the head of the light-infantry was shot away by Stark's men, who loaded and fired amid exclamations of " There !" "See that officer!" which immedi- ately directed twenty unerring bullets upon a single victim. Unable to 'deploy, the front of this column was rolled back in disorder upon the centre and rear. The company of Royal Welsh, which had so gallantly led, was reduced to a platoon. In this sorry predicament, huddled to- gether in a confused mass, the light-infantry kept up a desultory, ineffective fire upon the fence.
Led by their general, whose soldierly figure was conspicuous, the grenadiers were soon enveloped by the same deadly fusillade in front and flank. It never slackened. Whole ranks were carried away. If the fire directed by Putnam in front had not checked the gallant but vain effort to gain the fence, the flank fire from Warren's position was more than flesh and blood could endure. At one moment Howe found himself alone, without offi- cers, without soldiers. Clearly seeing the struggle was useless, he gave the order to fall back. In ten minutes from the time musketry began, it was all over. All along the line the attack had failed.
The enemy withdrew out of range, and for nearly an hour there was a truce to the combat.
While Howe and Pigot were closing up their shattered battalions for a fresh assault, the repulse had been witnessed from Boston, and a second reinforcement, consisting of the Second Marine bat- talion and some companies of grenadiers, was hur- ried across the river. The enemy's ships of war recommenced their fire upon the American works with greater fury than before.
When the British assaulting columns fell back, followed by the exultant huzzas of the Americans, General Putnam rode through the hot fire to Bunker Hill to bring up the provincials that were loitering there. Colonel Gerrish, with part of his regiment, had sheltered himself behind the northern side of the eminence, and now pleaded exhaustion
1 His son, a lieutenant in his father's corps, carried his expir- ing father upon his back to the boats, about a quarter of a mile, kissed him, and then returned to his duty, to be himself wounded a little later in the action.
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as an excuse for not coming up to the front. With | tains, two lieutenants, and forty-four rank and file such an example, little could be expected of the were hors du combat in the two flank companies of the King's Own. Overcome by panic, many of the soldiers rushed to the boats, and threw them- selves into them, crying that the day was lost. men. In the language of a well-informed writer, "General Putnam endeavored to rally these troops. He used entreaty and command, and offered to lead them into action, but without much effect." The general pushed on to the neck, but those pro- vincials on the other side were afraid to encounter the fire of the frigate and batteries of the enemy. The result of this effort was that few if any rein- forcements reached the lines at this time.
As the general rode up Bunker Hill he met Captain Callender hastening from the field with his guns. Putnam ordered him to halt, when this officer explained that his ammunition was gone. The general dismounted, and finding some car- tridges still in the boxes, peremptorily ordered Callender back, who refused to obey until threat- ened with instant death, when he returned up the hill again. The guns were, however, soon de- serted, when, seeing Ford's company of Bridge's regiment coming on the field, Putnam ordered it to take the abandoned pieces to the rail-fence.
The exultation of the Americans was succeeded by exasperation as they contemplated the conflagra- tion of Charlestown. It was a grand and impres- sive sight. The flames spread from house to house, from street to street, roaring and crackling with indescribable fury. Soon the spire of the meeting- house was a pyramid of fire. The crash of falling roofs, of ships blazing upon the stocks, contributed to the general uproar ; while the heavy booming of artillery, the smoke that hung like a pall over the battle-field, made it one of the most terrific scenes of war young soldiers were ever called upon to wit- ness. Besides the combatants actually engaged, thousands of spectators thronged the neighboring hillsides or crowded the house-tops of Boston.
The second assault was as disastrous to the as- sailants as the first. The British general obsti- nately pursued the same tactics, and with the same result ; but with courage worthy a better cause he persevered. He had now ascertained the weak point in the American defences to be the diagonal line from the breastwork to the rail-fence : but his troops had in these two attacks been horribly maltreated. Whole companies had disappeared ; battalions had shrunk to companies. His best officers were among the heaps of dead and dying that encumbered the ground in front of the rebel works. Every man of the grenadier company of the 52d was either killed or wounded. Both cap-
General Howe possessed in a remarkable degree the bull-dog tenacity of his race. He now pre- pared for a final and decisive effort. The surviv- ing officers drove the dispirited soldiers back to their colors, using the flat, and sometimes the point, of their swords. The reinforcements had landed on the beach and were hesitating which way to march, when General Clinton, who had witnessed the repulse from Copp's Hill, crossed the river in a boat and put himself at their head. Once more the attenuated battalions closed up their ranks, and once more their diminished line advanced towards the rebel works.
Within those lines the two attacks had wellnigh exhausted the scanty stock of ammunition. Some had fired their last round. Others, believing the day won, were straggling away from the defences. Many had been badly wounded, and were being carried off the field by their comrades. Far too many were thus engaged ; but, unfortunately, the discipline so conspicuous on the other side of the works, could not yet be enforced on this. A few gallant spirits, among them Chester's Connecti- cut company and Trevett's artillery, braved all the dangers of the march to gain the American lines ; still the accessions were too few to fill the gaps in that long, weakly-manned intrenchment.
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