USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. I > Part 23
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The British artillery had now taken a position from which it enfiladed the gap. With the remains of the grenadiers and light-infantry, Howe directed his march towards this breach in the American works, this time merely threatening the invincible rail-fence. Pigot and Clinton were to make a third attempt to storm the redoubt and breastwork, in front ; while the Marines and the 47th were gain- ing ground more to their left, which would bring them under the redoubt's western angle and turn the American left. The officers placed themselves before the line. The men were ordered to throw off their knapsacks, to advance in open order, and not to fire ; but when the word was given, to rush upon the rebel intrenchments with the bayonet.
Seeing these preparations betokened the final struggle, Prescott caused the contents of a few cannon cartridges - all the ammunition remain- ing in the redoubt - to he distributed. He ex- horted his men to stand firm and ordered them
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153
BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL.
it would have resulted in prodigious slaughter. As it was, the provincials at the fence maintained a bold front until the fugitives had gained some distance on their pursuers, and then, their own flank being turned, they began an orderly retreat.
The Americans, now crowded about the summit of Bunker Hill, drew the enemy's concentrated fire of cannon and musketry. Men were falling fast here. Already a stream of fugitives flowed towards the neck. Those who had been driven from the redoubt were incapable of further resistance. Those who had not been in action were disheart- ened by the retreat, bewildered by the confusion. Putnam made a heroic effort to restore the fortunes of the day. He commanded, besought the fugitives to rally in the unfinished breastworks, -the breast- works he had so persistently endeavored to put in a condition of defence. Standing by a deserted cannon, he exclaimed, "Make a stand here! In God's name, form and give them one shot more ! " Pomeroy vainly seconded these efforts-useless, be- cause panic had already seized upon the multitude. A few fragments of provincial battalions are re- ported as arriving on the field at this critical june- ture ; but they were too late. Finding his efforts to collect men enough for successful opposition unavailing, Putnam, with such as fear had not overcome, fell back fighting from Bunker Hill. Not until the enemy were close upon him was the ground yielded. The crowd of weary, beaten, and terror-stricken fugitives made their escape from the peninsula under protection of this unconquer- able rear-guard, and he who had crossed the neck with the intrenching detachment was now the last to leave it, sword in hand, his face to the enemy.
Putnam retreated no farther than Prospect Hill, and there bivonacked for the night in sight of the enemy. No other general officer was with him ; nor did he receive any orders from headquarters.
The British brought up one or two field-pieces with which they cannonaded the American rear. By five o'clock they were in full possession of the peninsula, but no movement to pursue the Ameri- cans was made. The royal troops were too much exhausted for further offensive action. Their losses had been enormous; and, although the insurgents were driven from all their positions, it was felt that another such victory would be the undoing of the royal army. An advance upon Cambridge was a measure franght with danger for the Americans ; but, fortunately for the integrity of their camps and magazines, General Howe felt him-
self too much crippled to attempt it; and General Gage could spare no more troops while Thomas menaced him from Roxbury. Both combatants were for the moment exhausted by their efforts, and both instinctively recoiled from further con- flict.
The British troops bivouacked on the field. The remains of the 52d took post at the neck, fatigue- parties were set to work intrenching on Bunker Hill, and collecting and caring for the wounded. By sunset firing had ceased. Throughout the night the wounded were being conveyed aeross the river. In Boston the streets were filled with vehi- eles bearing their ghastly burdens to the different hospitals. Not a regiment but was in mourning for some of its best and bravest ; not a mess but had lost some of its number.
The official report of the British loss was 226 killed, 828 wounded; a total of 1,054. Many of the wounded subsequently died. Major Wil- liams of the 52d and Spendlove of the 43d died of their wounds. An unheard-of number of offi- cers were hit. Pitcairn was one of the best and most popular officers in the army. Colonel Aber- crombie, adjutant-general, had only joined it the previous month. While being borne off the field, mortally wounded, he exclaimed to his men, " If you take General Putnam alive, don't hang him ; for he is a brave man !"
The American official account fixes their loss at 115 killed, 305 wounded, 30 prisoners. Mr. Frothingham assigns these losses as follows : --
Killed.
Wounded.
Prescott's regiment
42
28
Bridge's
15
29
Frye's
15
31
Brewer's
7
11
Little's
66
7
23
Gardner's
6
7
Nixon's
3
10
Woodbridge's "
1
5
Doolittle's
0
9
Gridley's
0
4
Ward's
1
6
Seammon's
0
2
Gerrish's
3
2
Whiteomb's
5
8
Stark's
15
45
Reed's
5
21
Putnam's
11
26
Chester's Company
4
4
Killed, 140; wounded, 271; captured, 30; total 441.1
1 Gordon gives : killed, 139; wounded, 278; missing, 36; total, 453.
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
It will be seen that Prescott's, Bridge's, and Frye's regiments, the defenders of the redoubt and breastwork, bore the brunt of these losses, which were chiefly sustained during the storming of the redoubt, and during the few moments that hand-to- hand fighting continued. The losses in these three commands amounted to considerably more than in Stark's, Reed's, and Putnam's regiments and the detached companies at the rail-fence. Many fell during the retreat from the lines to Bunker Hill, and some were killed who were not actually en- gaged. On their side the Americans had to regret the loss of valuable officers. The same heroisın that had brought Warren to the field made him one of the last to leave the post of danger he had coveted. His loss was felt to be irreparable. Colonel Thomas Gardner, of Cambridge, was mor- tally wounded. While being carried from the field he was met by his own son marching on with the gallant Trevett. The wounded man, after an affect- ing interview, exhorted his son to do his whole duty. Lieutenant-Colonel Parker, of Chelmsford, was wounded and made prisoner, afterwards dying of his injuries in Boston jail. Major Moore was also mortally wounded; and Major MeClary, of Stark's regiment, killed while reconnoitring after the action was over. Colonels Brewer, Nixon,1 and Buckminster were wounded.
The American prisoners were, according to Mrs. Adams, taken to Boston, "and there lay all night without any care of their wounds, or any resting place but the pavement until the next day, when
they exchanged it for the gaol." They were sub- sequently sent to Halifax.
Charlestown was a mass of smouldering ruins. On the morning after the battle the enemy de- stroyed all the houses beyond the neck, in order to prevent their occupation by American marksmen. The few remaining inhabitants had fled before the assault. Only a few blackened chimneys indicated the most ancient settlement of Middlesex; and the spot which had witnessed the landing of Winthrop and his companions was now drenched with the blood of their descendants.
As the military or political importance of a bat- tle, rather than the number of combatants engaged, must decide its claim to be called great, Bunker Hill, considered in this light, was a great battle. The Americans lost the ground, but conquered the respect of their adversaries and of Europe. This was an important step gained. Henceforth the conflict assumed new proportions ; the capacity of the Americans for resistance was fully recognized. In disregard of their history and traditions, they had been stigmatized as cowards, lacking all the qualities of a military people. At Bunker Hill, two thousand armed yeomanry displayed a heroism sel- dom surpassed by veteran soldiers. Nobly did they vindicate their elaim to be the descendants of the heroes of the Indian wars. They now knew their own strength and their own weaknesses. On both sides the mists were cleared away, leaving the com- batants free to measure the greatness of the strug- gle of which Bunker Hill was the prologue.
XXI.
THE INVESTMENT OF BOSTON.
DURING the night succeeding the battle of the 17th of June there was something like a panic at Cambridge. Nothing but an immediate forward movement hy the victorious enemy was expected. Utter confusion, dejection, and demoralization reigned throughout the provincial camps. There was not powder enough in the magazines for another engagement, and if there had been, no
works strong enough to stop the enemy's advance in force had yet been constructed. To repair this neglect was now the first business of the American commanders.
General Putnam halted, in his retreat from the battle-field, at Prospect Hill, which has already been mentioned as commanding the main road from Charlestown to Cambridge. He began at once to throw up earthworks, and by dint of hard labor had constructed a defensible line by Sunday
I This gallant officer, born in Framingham, was subsequently a brigadier-general in the Continental army.
155
INTESTMENT OF BOSTON.
morning. The provincials continued under his supervision strengthening this position through- out Sunday, notwithstanding the enemy kept up a steady fire upon the hill from his floating batteries in Mystie River. Putnam now had Patterson on his right, his own camp at Inman's, half a mile farther on this flank, with the troops there to draw from in case the enemy threatened the new works on Prospect Hill. He had thus firmly established himself directly in the path of the enemy, and effectually covered the town and camps at Cam- bridge from an advance by the old road. To attain this important end, doubly important at this critical juncture, no orders whatever had emanated from the headquarters of the army. The credit of the new line belongs wholly to General Putnam, who, having recognized Prospect Hill as the key of the American centre and left, aeted with the energy and decision which were his distinguishing traits.
During Saturday night and Sunday the in- trenchments previously begun on Winter Hill, to cover Stark's encampment, were, by General Ward's order, carried over the hill. These works were thrown up across the road from Charlestown at the point where it divided, - one branch diverging to Medford on the right, the other to Menotomy, Lexington, and Concord on the left.
The relative importance of these two intrenched positions, which now blocked the enemy's advance from Charlestown, will be best understood by a brief reference to the roads themselves. After passing Charlestown Neck, over an artificial cause- way constructed in 1717, two roads diverged, as now, at what was then the Common, now known as Sullivan Square. Near the point where these roads separated was Anna Whittemore's tavern, at which the Committee of Safety held some of its earliest sessions in 1774, and which had been an inn, kept by her father, as early as 1745.
The first of these roads, now known in Somer- ville as Washington Street, skirts the base of Pros- pect Hill, leaving the McLean Asylum on the south, and conducting straight on to Cambridge by Har- vard College. By this road the Americans marched to and retreated from Bunker Hill.
The second road proceeded by Mount Benedict to the summit of Winter Hill, where it divided as at present; one branch turning northward, by General Royall's mansion, to Medford, the other pursuing its way, by the powder-house, to Me- notomy, now Arlington. Only a single road con- nected Cambridge with Boston. This passed
Charles River by the bridge below the college, traversing the villages of Brighton, - then called Little Cambridge, - Brookline, and Roxbury.
Defcated in their attempt to gain possession of the peninsula of Charlestown, the Americans now fell back on the defensive again; but their meas- ures, besides exhibiting a more settled purpose, were guided by a far more intelligent opinion of their own and their enemy's ability and resources. While they were compelled to confess the move- ment of the 16th of June premature, it is clear that, considered only as a trial of strength, the battle was productive of results in the end bene- ficial to the morale of the Americans. Moreover, they had checked an aggressive movement by Gen- eral Gage, gaining thereby a prestige which exerted an important influence upon the British general's spirit, which clearly exhibited itself in his subse- quent tactics. True, the provincials did not at once learn how deeply the bloody lesson of the 17th of June had impressed itself on the British army ; but the effects of that lesson were for them a substantial gain, which the history of the siege renders more and more evident.
The British general had gained possession of Charlestown Heights at a fearful sacrifice of life.1 He was not ready for another Bunker Hill by at- tempting the intrenchments on Charlestown road; but, on the other hand, he no longer dared to leave the unoccupied heights of Dorchester to be in their turn seized and fortified by the rebels in a single night. As soon, therefore, as he had received some further reinforcements, and had strongly fortified Bunker Hill, he prepared to execute the second part of his plan, which the battle of the 17th of June had delayed. The movement was to have taken place on the 24th. The troops for the attack were designated ; Roxbury furiously can- nonaded, and a strong column, paraded in front of the Boston lines, threatened Thomas ; but, hearing that his real purpose was discovered by the Americans, General Gage for the present aban- doned it.
For some time comparative quiet reigned in the hostile canıps. Thomas was vigorously repairing his neglect to intrench by throwing up works in his front. Every effort to recruit and arm the regiments now in the field was being made by the
1 In the whole memorable campaign, which ended at Saratoga, the British loss in killed and wounded was only 1,160, of which 73 were officers ; while at Bunker Hill they lost 92 officers in an hour and a half.
156
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
provincials, whose idea was that their army should consist of two grand divisions, either of which should be strong enough successfully to oppose a sortie from Charlestown on their left or from Boston on the right. During this interval of recuperation the army was joined by its new commander-in-chief.1
General Washington, accompanied by General Charles Lee, second major-general of the Conti- mental army, arrived in Cambridge on Sunday, the 2d day of July. On the 3d he assumed formal
The Washington Elm, Cambridge,
command of the army. The scene of this event, justly regarded as one of the most remarkable of modern history, was Cambridge Common, where the army- created by New England, now adopted by the whole country, was paraded under arms, Here, beneath the branches of the now venerable elm which bears his name, Washington first pre- sented himself to the soldiers who were destined, under his leadership, to achieve the independence of their country. Here the confliet, inaugurated and thus far so heroically sustained by a fraction of the American people, at length assumed defi- niteness, grandeur, and stability.
1 Congress appointed Washington commander-in-chief on the 15th of June. Ward, Lee, Schuyler, and Putnam were commis- sioned major-generals ; Pomeroy, Montgomery, Wooster, Ileath, Spencer, Thomas, Sullivan, and Greene, brigadiers. Gates was appointed adjutant-general. The appointment of Putnam over Spencer gave offence to the latter, who withdrew from the camp, but subsequently returned. Thomas was also displeased with the new arrangement, which awkwardly enough made him the inferior of officers he had been commanding : but this mistake was recti- fied by Pomeroy's retirement.
General Washington established his headquarters in the mansion of John Vassall,1 a fugitive royalist, half a mile from the college, on the road to Water- town, General Ward was assigned to command the right wing, and took quarters at Roxbury. General Lee was ordered to take command of the left, and established himself at the Royall Mansion, at Medford. General Putnam remained at Inman's in command of the American centre. As soon as possible the army was brigaded. Greater order began to infuse itself not only into the discipline but the administration of the army. The adjutant- general was indefatigable in his efforts to make soldiers of these fourteen thousand and odd armed yeomen. The orders emanating at this early period from headquarters show what a multitude of evils the commander-in-chief found demanding reform, and the wise character of the measures adopted to increase the effectiveness and to elevate the tone of the army. A firm hand, cool head, mature judg- ment, and resolute will were now at the head of the army. The army soon began to understand that it had a head.
For a time hostilities degenerated into skirmishes at the outposts, or swift descents upon the harbor islands, over which the British by their fleet main- tained a nominal control. These affairs were of little moment, except to keep both besiegers and besieged on the alert. The enterprise was all on the side of the Americans. Profound discourage- ment reigned in Boston, where not more than 5,200 effective soldiers could be mustered. Every day provisions were growing searcer and dearer. The well murmured at the prospect before them. The sick and wounded suffered for the want of nourishing food. Except in the minds of some of the fire-eaters, the idea of releasing themselves from the grip which the Americans were so steadily and inexorably tightening around them was dis- missed as impracticable. They were in no situ- ation to lose another thousand men in carrying Thomas's or Putnam's intrenchments ; and, even supposing them to be conquerors in such an at- tempt, the Americans would as certainly erect another and probably stronger fortified line within musket-shot of their old positions. The army was not strong enough, we repeat, to undertake an assault which should, if successful, enable it to manœuvre the Americans out of their chosen posi- tions and he the prelude to a vigorous campaign in the open field. It was simply an army closely 1 Now the residence of the poet Longfellow.
000
BOSTON
LPUBLIC
LIBRARY
L-RC111
Peale's Washington, Gallery of Versailles.
159
INTESTMENT OF BOSTON.
besieged, - an army which had cheated itself with the belief that it had gained a victory on the day of Bunker Hill.
Washington's first care was to examine carefully his own and the enemy's positions. llis report of the American line of investment was as follows :-
" On our side, we have thrown up intrenchments on Winter and Prospect Hills, - the enemy's camp in full view, at the distance of little more than a mile. Such intermediate points as would admit a landing I have, since my arrival, taken care to strengthen, down to Sewall's Farm, where a strong intrenchment has been thrown up. At Roxbury General Thomas has thrown up a strong work on the hill, about two hundred yards above the meeting-house; which with the brokenness of the ground, and a great number of rocks, has made that pass very secure. The troops raised in New Hampshire, with a regiment from Rhode Island, occupy Winter Hill; a part of those of Connecticut, under General Putnam, are on Pros- pect Hill. The troops in this town are entirely of the Massachusetts ; the remainder of the Rhode Island men are at Sewall's Farm. Two regiments of Connecticut, and nine of the Massachusetts, are at Roxbury. The residue of the army, to the number of about seven hundred, are posted in several small towns along the coast, to prevent the depredations of the enemy."
The positions of the troops, which the general gives thus briefly, were as follows : Ward, with Thomas's and Spencer's brigades, was at Roxbury ; Putnam, with Heath's and one other, was at Cam- bridge; Lee, with Sullivan's and Greene's brigades, was at Prospect and Winter Hills. Posts were established in the towns of Medford, Malden, and Chelsea.
An American council of war, assembled by Gen- eral Washington soon after his arrival at Cambridge, decided it inexpedient to take possession of Dor- chester, or even to oppose an attempt of the enemy in that direction. The enemy's force being much exaggerated, it was deemed inadvisable to attempt holding a longer line at present ; moreover, Thomas had already thrown up intrenchments on the road to Dorchester in a good position to check the enemy. Aggressive measures were hardly inore popular at the American than the British head- quarters ; each belligerent being inspired by a certain fear of the other. Coveted by both, Dor- chester remained for the present neutral terri- tory.
Our review of the siege operations must be chiefly confined to what transpired at the American centre and left, which lay wholly within the towns of Cambridge, Charlestown, and Medford, with posts at Malden and at Chelsca.
Owing to the great scarcity of powder, the Americans were unable to reply to the enemy's cannonade. Indeed, there was not sufficient am- munition for a battle, which might at any moment be forced upon them, and which was daily expected. Under sueli circumstances the most rigid economy of the small stock of powder was necessary. Strict orders were issued to guards and outposts not to waste it. The inhabitants of the New England colonies were strictly enjoined to husband their supplies ; while the most urgent solicitations were sent to the more southern colonies to relieve this pressing need. A period of greater danger to an army would be difficult to conceive ; yet, owing to the British general's lack of enterprise, it passed without disastrous consequences. So far from meditating an attempt to raise the siege, the evaeu- ation of Boston was being seriously discussed at the enemy's headquarters in August.
During the last week of July and first weeks of August a reinforcement of 1,400 riflemen arrived in the American camp. They were chiefly the back- woodsmen of the Shenandoah Valley, and were the only distinctive body of men produced by the Revo- lution. They were expert marksmen, accustomed to border warfare and inured to hardship. They had marched from four to seven hundred miles, in mid- summer heat, to join the army. Morgan, Cresap, and Otho H. Williams were officers in this splendid corps. Washington immediately posted them on the advanced lines.
On the American side of Charlestown Neck was an orchard in which the daily detail for outpost duty took refuge. The British outposts were covered by fléches constructed a little in advance of their lines on Bunker Hill. Their habit of moving freely about the Common was now stopped. Neither officers nor men could show themselves within eight hundred yards of the orchard without being picked off by a rifle bullet.
At this time General Burgoyne was writing to Lord George Germaine a most gloomy account of the situation in Boston, which he describes as a town " invested on one side, asleep on the other." He criticised General Gage mildly, the admiral severely. The former was, in his view, not a mind of sufficient grasp for so important a command :
160
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
the latter was simply incapable. In a memorandum submitted to General Gage, he advocated the evac- uation of the town and the concentration of the army at New York. Should this be thought pre- mature, he proposed an expedition to seize Newport, which step would, in his judgment, lead to dis- memberment of the investing army and materially improve that of his majesty. These representa- tions unquestionably produced an impression in the minds of the ministry, which displayed itself in two ways. General Gage was superseded in October, and his successor was, somewhat later in the season, authorized to evacuate. In the mean time Burgoyne had received leave of absence and returned to England.
General Washington now determined to perfect his fortified line on his extreme left, by taking advantage of the heights adjacent to Prospect Hill, and forming with it an impregnable defensive posi- tion between the Mystic and Charles. The results to be obtained by seizing these heights, and which have been pointed ont in a preceding chapter, will soon be apparent. It was determined to begin with Ploughed Hill, on Mystic side. With this object, about two thousand men under command of General Sullivan threw up works here on the night of August 26th. By daybreak they were sufficiently advanced to protect the working par- ties. The enemy immediately opened a heavy fire from Bunker Hill, and from a ship and float- ing batteries in Mystic River ; but the Ameri- cans tranquilly pursued their labor, until they had erected a strong redoubt on Ploughed Hill and a battery on the shore at Ten Hills. Notwithstand- ing the enemy's persistent fire of shot and shell, at 1,200 or 1,300 yards, Sullivan's casualties were trifling. The Americans mounted a nine-pounder in the battery, with which they drove the enemy's armed gondolas out of range. They also connected their new works on Ploughed Hill with Prospect ITill by earthworks.
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