USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Concord > History of the siege of Boston, and of the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. Also an account of the Bunker Hill Monument. With illustrative documents > Part 18
USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the siege of Boston, and of the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. Also an account of the Bunker Hill Monument. With illustrative documents > Part 18
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lexington > History of the siege of Boston, and of the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. Also an account of the Bunker Hill Monument. With illustrative documents > Part 18
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
Lieutenant-colonel Parker was a skilful and brave veteran of the French wars, and behaved with great gallantry in the action. A ball fractured his knee, and he was left in the redoubt. The British carried him a prisoner to Boston, lodged him in the jail, where, after the amputation of his leg, he died on the 4th of July, aged forty-three. He was a good officer, much beloved by his regiment, and his loss was severely felt. An obituary notice of him, -in the New Eng- land Chronicle, July 21, 1775, - says : "In him fortitude, prudence, humanity, and compassion, all conspired to heighten the lustre of his military virtues;" and it states, that " through the several commissions to which his merit entitled him, he had always the pleasure to find that he possessed the esteem and respect of his soldiers, and the applause of his country- men." The notice concludes in the following strain : "God grant each individual that now is, or may be, engaged in the
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LITTLE'S REGIMENT.
American army, an equal magnitude of soul; so shall their names, unsullied, be transmitted in the latest catalogue of fame ; and if any vestiges of liberty shall remain, their praises shall be rehearsed through the earth 'till the sickle of tinie shall crop the creation.' "
Major Brooks - afterwards Governor Brooks - was not on the hill in the afternoon. His duties on this day have been stated. Captain Walker, whose daring reconnoitre service has been described, was carried to Boston, severely wounded. His leg was amputated, but he did not receive proper atten- tion, and died during the following August. Captain Coburn's clothes were riddled with balls. Captain Bancroft fought nobly in the redoubt, and was wounded. Captain Ford behaved with much spirit.
Moses Little's regiment was not commissioned until June 26. A return, dated June 15, with nine companies, reports Captain Collins' company in Gloucester, and Captain Parker's as ready to march from Ipswich. Depositions state that, on the evening of June 16, Captains Gerrish and Perkins were at West Cambridge, and that Captain Lunt was detached to Lechmere's Point, as a guard. Captain Perkins', Wade's, and Warner's companies were led on by Colonel Little, before the action commenced ; Captain Lunt went on near its close. Colonel Swett states that Captain Warner, who narrowly escaped, led on but twenty-three men, and that seventeen of these were either killed or wounded. Only forty are returned as killed and wounded of this regiment. Colonel Little is mentioned as behaving with spirit. Depositions state that Isaac Smith was lieutenant-colonel, - Collins, major, and Stephen Jenkins, adjutant. The accounts of this regiment are very confused.
Ephraim Doolittle's1 regiment was commissioned June 12,
1 Doolittle's orderly book contains the following. June 16. - Parole, Leb- anon. Countersign, Coventry. Field-officer of the day, Colonel Nixon ; of the picket guard to-night, Major Brooks. Field-officer of the main guard to-morrow morning, Lt .- col. Hutchinson. Adjutant of the day, Holden. June 17. - Parole, Deerfield. Countersign, Conway. Field-officer of the day, Col. Gerrish. Field-officer of the picket guard to-night, Major Wood. Field-officer of the main guard to-morrow morning, Lt .- col. Bald- win. Adjutant of the day, Febiger.
.
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when a return names only seven companies. The colonel and lieutenant-colonel were absent on the day of the battle, and Major Willard Moore led on, it is stated, three hundred of its men. Few details are preserved of the service of this reg- iment, or of tlie conduct of its officers. The depositions speak in glowing terms of the good qualities of Major Moore. He was a firm patriot, and a generous and chivalrous soldier. On the second attack he received a ball in the thigh, and while . his men were carrying him to the rear another ball went through his body. He called for water, but none could be obtained nearer than the Neck. He lingered until the time of the retreat, when, feeling his wounds to be mortal, he request- ed his attendants to lay him down, leave him, and take care of themselves. He met with a soldier's death. He was from Paxton. He took a prominent part in the Worcester Conven- tion of January, 1774; was chosen captain of the minute-men January 17, 1775; and, on the Lexington alarm, immediately marched for Cambridge. Few notices appear of individuals of this regiment. Robert Steele, a drummer, stated in 1825, that he " beat to Yankee Doodle when he mustered for Bun- ker Hill on the morning of the 17th of June, 1775."
Samuel Gerrish's regiment, about which so much has been written, was neither full nor commissioned. On the 19th of May it was reported to be complete; but there were difficul- ties in relation to six of the companies, which were investi- gated June 2. Four companies were in commission June 17, and four more were commissioned June 22. Depositions sta- tion, June 16, three companies at Chelsea, three at Cambridge, and two at Sewall's Point. At a meeting of eight captains of this regiment, June 16, at Chelsea, Loammi Baldwin was chosen lieutenant-colonel, Richard Dodge, major. Christian Febiger was adjutant, Michael Farley was quartermaster, and David Jones, surgeon. The conduct of the colonel of this regimnent became the occasion of severe comment. A dis- paraging allusion to him occurs in Dr. Church's traitorous letter, in 1775 ; Wilkinson stations him on Bunker Hill, and with him all the reinforcements that came on after Stark passed to the rail fence; the revolutionary depositions are equally severe. In some of the statements the whole reg-
1
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COLONEL GARDNER.
iment is also included. This, however, does gross injustice to a part of it, if not to the whole of it. Part of it went on, under its gallant adjutant, Febiger, and did good service. Of Colonel Gerrish's conduct, Colonel Swett says: "A com- plaint was lodged against him, with Ward, immediately after the battle, who refused to notice it, on account of the unorgall- ized state of the army. He was stationed at Sewall's Point, which was fortified; in a few weeks, a floating battery made an attack on the place, which he did not attempt to repel, observing, 'The rascals can do us no harm, and it would be a mere waste of powder to fire at them with our four-pound- ers.' It was evening, the lights were extinguished, and all the British balls flew wide of the fort. For his conduct on this occasion, and at Bunker Hill, he was arrested immedi- ately, tried, found guilty of 'conduct unworthy an officer,' and cashiered." This was August 19, 1775. It was thought . by the judge advocate of the court that he was treated far too severely.
Adjutant Christian Febiger behaved with great gallantry in leading on a portion of this regiment in time to do efficient service. He was a Danish lieutenant, and enlisted April 28. He subsequently went with Arnold to Quebec, where he behaved with the resolution and intrepidity of a veteran, and gave many proofs of great military abilities. He was taken prisoner in the attack. He subsequently rose to the rank of colonel, and distinguished himself at the memorable storming of Stony Point, in 1779, where he led a column by the side of General Wayne.
Thomas Gardner's regiment, of Middlesex, was commis- sioned on the 2d of June. William Bond was lieutenant- - colonel, and Michael Jackson was major. After the British landed, this regiment was stationed in the road leading to Lechmere's Point, and late in the day was ordered to Charles -. town. On arriving at Bunker Hill, General Putnam ordered part of it to assist in throwing up defences commenced at this place. One company went to the rail fence. The greater part, under the lead of their colonel, on the third attack, advanced towards the redoubt. On the way, Colonel Gard- ner was struck by a ball, which inflicted a mortal wound.
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BUNKER HILL BATTLE.
While a party was carrying him off, he had an affecting interview with his son, a youth of nineteen, who was anxious to aid in bearing him from the field. His heroic father pro- hibited him, and he was borne on a litter of rails over Winter Hill. Here he was overtaken by the retreating troops. He raised himself on his rude couch, and addressed to them cheering words. He lingered until July 3, when he died. On the 5th he was buried with the honors of war.' He was in his fifty-second year, and had been a member of the General Court, and of the Provincial Congress. He was a true patriot, a brave soldier, and an upright man. An obituary notice of him in the Essex Gazette, July 13, 1775, says: "From the era of our public difficulties he distinguished himself as an ardent friend to the expiring liberties of America; and by the unanimous suffrages of his townsmen was for some years elected a member of the General Assembly; but when the daring encroachments of intruding despotism deprived us of a constitutional convention, and the first law of nature demanded a substitute, he was chosen one of the Provincial Congress ; in which departments he was vigilant and indefati- gable in defeating every effort of tyranny. To promote the interest of his country was the delight of his soul. An inflexi- ble zeal for freedom caused him to behold every engine of oppression with contempt, horror, and aversion." He devoted to military affairs not only a large share of his time, but of his fortune. His private character is highly eulogized. He was, "to his family kind, tender, and indulgent; to his friends, unreserved and sincere; to the whole circle of his acquaintance, affable, condescending, and obliging; while veneration for religion augmented the splendor of his sister virtues." 2
' Extract from Washington's orders, July 4, 1775. " Colonel Gardner is to be buried to-morrow, at three o'clock, P. M., with the military honors due to so brave and gallant an officer, who fought, bled, and died in the cause of his country and mankind. His own regiment, except the company at Mal- den, to attend on this mournful occasion. The place of these companies, in the lines, on Prospect Hill, to be supplied by Colonel Glover's regiment, till the funeral is over."
2 In 1776, a tract was published in Philadelphia, entitled " The Battle of Bunker's Hill. A Dramatic Piece, of five acts, in Heroic Measure. By a
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WARD'S REGIMENT.
Major Jackson had a personal encounter with a British officer, whom he killed, while he received a ball through his side. His life was preserved by his sword belt. He was recognized by his antagonist, with whom he had served in former wars.
One of the companies of this regiment -Captain Josiah Harris'-was raised in Charlestown. Colonel Swett pays this company-the last to retreat-the following compli- ment: "They were fighting at their own doors, on their own natal soil. They were on the extreme left, covered by some loose stones thrown up on the shore of the Mystic, dur- ing the day, by order of Colonel Stark. At this most import- ant pass into the country, against which the enemy made the most desperate efforts, like Leonidas' band, they had taken post, and like them they defended it till the enemy had discovered another."
General Ward's regiment, of Worcester, was commissioned May 23. Jonathan Ward was lieutenant-colonel; Edward Barnes, major; Timothy Bigelow, second major ; James Hart, adjutant; William Boyd, quartermaster. This regiment was not ordered to Charlestown until late in the afternoon, and halted on its way; but a detachment from it pushed on, and arrived in season to take part in the action. Lieutenant- colonel Ward, with a few troops, reached the rail fence; and Captains Cushing and Washburn, and another company, fired upon the British after the retreat commenced from the
Gentleman of Maryland." In the dedication, the author says, " It was at first drawn up for an exercise in oratory." The three American officers named are Warren, Putnam, and Gardner. Several speeches are put into the mouth of Gardner. One, after he had been desperately wounded, will give a suffi- cient idea of the matter and style of the piece : -
" A musket ball, death-winged, has pierced my groin, And widely op'd the swift curr'nt of my veins. Bear me, then, soldiers, to that hollow space, A little hence, just in the hill's decline. A surgeon there may stop the gushing wound, And gain a short respite to life, that yet I may return, and fight one half hour more. Then shall I die in peace, and to my God Surrender up the spirit which he gave."
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redoubt. The remainder of the regiment, under Major Barnes, retreated before it got near enough to engage the enemy.
Jonathan Brewer's regiment, of Worcester and Middlesex, consisted, June 15, of 397 men. William Buckminster was lieutenant-colonel, and Nathaniel Cudworth major, -all of whom did excellent duty in the battle. On the same day, the committee of safety recommended the officers of this regiment to be commissioned, with the exception of Captain Stebbins, who did not have the requisite number of men. Colonel Swett states that this regiment went on about three hundred strong; revolutionary depositions state one hundred and fifty. It was stationed mostly on the diagonal line between the breastwork and rail fence. Few details are given respecting Colonel Brewer, other than that he was consulted often by Prescott, behaved with spirit, and was wounded ; or of Major Cudworth, - the same who led the Sudbury minute-men to attack the British troops on the 19th of April. Lieutenant- colonel Buckminster acquired much reputation for bravery and prudence in the battle. Just before the retreat, he received a dangerous wound from a musket ball entering his right shoulder, and coming out in the middle of his back. This made him a cripple during life. He was much respected for his sterling integrity, patriotism, and goodness of heart. He was born in Framingham in 1736, removed in 1757 to Barre, was elected in 1774 to command the minute-men, and after his arrival in camp was chosen lieutenant-colonel. He died in 1786.1
John Nixon's regiment, from Middlesex and Worcester, was neither full nor commissioned, and both the returns and the details of it are very mneagre. Only three companies appear in a list dated June 16, and the officers of them are all that appear to have been in commission at this date. Colonel Swett states that three hundred were led on to the field
' The inscription on his monument is said to faithfully describe his charac- ter : - " Sacred to the memory of Colonel William Buckminster. An industrious farmer, a useful citizen, an honest man, a sincere Christian, a brave officer, and a friend to his country ; in whose cause he courageously fought, and was dangerously wounded at the battle of Bunker's Hill. He was born Dec. 15, A. D. 1736. Died June 22, A. D. 1786."
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GRIDLEY'S BATTALION. 183
by Colonel Nixon, who behaved with great gallantry. He was badly wounded, and carried off the hill.
Benjamin R. Woodbridge's regiment, of Hampshire, also, was not commissioned, and there are few details of it, or of its officers, in the accounts of the battle. A return dated June 16 names eight captains, four lieutenants, four ensigns, and three hundred and sixty-three men. Abijah Brown was lieu- tenant-colonel, and William Stacy major. Colonel Swett names this regiment, also, as going on three hundred strong. But in this case, and in the case of Nixon's, it is probably too high an estimate.
Asa Whitcomb's regiment, of Worcester, had but few com- panies in the battle. One account, by a soldier, states that Captain Benjamin Hastings, belonging to it, led on a company of thirty-four, and took post at the rail fence. This name does not occur in a return dated June 3. Two companies, Captains Burt's and Wilder's, were probably in the battle.
James Scammans' regiment, from Maine, did not advance nearer the battle than Bunker Hill. And its colonel was tried for disobedience of orders, and acquitted. This trial was printed at length, in the N. E. Journal of February 1776. In a petition, dated November 14, 1776, he requested a com- mission to raise a regiment, "being willing to show his country that he was ready at all times to risk his fortune and life in defence of it." It commenced as follows: "Whereas his conduct has been called in question respecting the battle of Charlestown, in June, 1775, wherein the dispositions made were such as could render but little prospect of success."
John Mansfield's regiment was ordered to Charlestown, but marched to Cobble Hill, to protect the detachment of artillery, under Major Scarborough Gridley. Colonel Mansfield was tried for "remissness and backwardness in the execution of his duty," sentenced "to be cashiered, and rendered unfit to serve in the continental army." Colonel Swett remarks, that he " was obviously guilty of an error only, arising from inexperience."
Richard Gridley's battalion of artillery, notwithstanding the great exertions that had been made to complete it, was not settled at the time of the battle. It consisted of ten com-
16
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BUNKER HILL BATTLE.
panies, and four hundred and seventeen men. In a return dated June 16, Scarborough Gridley, son of the colonel, is titled lieutenant-colonel, and William Burbeck major; but the committee of safety of this date recommended Congress to commission the captains and subalterns of the train, and William Burbeck as lieutenant-colonel, Scarborough Gridley as first major and David Mason as second major. But these officers were not commissioned until June 21, when Gridley was made second major. Three companies were in battle : Captain Gridley's, Trevett's, and Callender's. One other- Capt. Foster's-advanced as far as Bunker Hill, when it was obliged to retreat. Details of the conduct of these companies have been given. All accounts agree that the artillery, in general, was badly served.
Colonel Richard Gridley, the chief engineer of the army, who planned the works on Breed's Hill, was a veteran of the French wars, and distinguished himself at the siege of Louis- burg. He was taken ill on the morning of the 17th, after the fatigue of the night, and left the hill; but returned before the action commenced, and fought until the retreat, aiding in dis- charging one of the field-pieces. He was struck, near the close of the battle, by a ball, and entered his sulky to be carried off; but meeting with some obstruction, had but just left it, when the horse was killed and the sulky was riddled by the enemy's shot. The veteran engineer was active in planning the fortifications that were thrown up immediately after the battle. He received from the Provincial Congress the rank of major-general; was commissioned September 20, 1775, to take the command of the artillery in the continental army. In November, he was superseded by Colonel Knox. Washington, December 31, stated to Congress that no one in the army was better qualified to be chief engineer; and his services were again called for, on the memorable night when Dorchester Heights were fortified. In 1776, after the British left Boston, he was intrusted with the duty of again throw- ing up works in Charlestown, and other points about the harbor. He died at Stoughton, June 21, aged eighty-four, in 1796.
Major Scarborough Gridley, who was ordered with addi-
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CAPTAIN CALLENDER.
tional artillery companies on to Charlestown, but took post at Cobble Hill, to fire at the Glasgow frigate, was tried by a court-martial, of which General Greene was president. The following was the sentence, September 24, 1775: "Major Scarborough Gridley, tried at a late court-martial, whereof Brigadier-general Greene was president, for ' being deficient in his duty upon the 17th of June last, the day of the action upon Bunker's Hill,' the court find Major Scarborough Gridley guilty of a breach of orders. They do, therefore, dismiss him from the Massachusetts service ; but, on account of his inex- perience and youth, and the great confusion that attended that day's transactions in general, they do not consider him incapa- ble of a continental commission, should the general officers recommend him to his excellency." He was a son of Colonel Gridley ; and parental partiality procured his appointment in preference to that of Benjamin Thompson, afterwards the celebrated Count Rumford. The latter accompanied Major Brooks the last time he was ordered on, and met the Ameri- cans in their retreat.
Captain Callender, for disobedience of orders and alleged cowardice, was tried June 27, -the first of the trials on account of this battle. The court sentenced him to be cash- iered; and Washington, in an order, July 7, declared him to be " dismissed from all further service in the continental ser- vice as an officer." But Capt. Callender despised the charge of cowardice; and, determining to wipe out the unjust stigma, continued in the army as a volunteer. At the battle of Long Island he fought with such signal bravery that Washing- ton ordered the sentence to be erased from the orderly book, and his commission to be restored to him. He was taken prisoner by the enemy, August 27, 1776. He remained over a year in the hands of the British. A touching petition, dated September 15, 1777, was addressed to the government of Mas- sachusetts by his wife, in his behalf. "Your petitioner," it says, "with four helpless infants, is now, through the dis- tress of a kind and loving husband, a tender and affectionate parent, reduced to a state of misery and wretchedness and want, truly pitiable." Her devotion had found a way of relief, by an exchange, and it was successful. Colonel Swett
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states that this brave soldier left the service at the peace with the highest honor and reputation.
Captain S. R. Trevett's gallantry and perseverance rescued the only one of the six field-pieces taken to the field. He lived to an advanced age.
The New Hampshire troops consisted of the regiments of Colonels Stark and Reed, and one company, Reuben Dow's, in Prescott's regiment. They fought with great bravery.
Colonel John Stark's regiment was large and full. There is no return, however, specifying the number of men, in the office of the secretary of state of New Hampshire. In the roll Isaac Wyman is named lieutenant-colonel; Andrew McClary, major, (though the records of the Congress state that he was appointed major of the third or Poor's regiment ;) Abiel Chand- ler, adjutant; John Caldwell, quartermaster ; David Osgood, chaplain ; Obadiah Williams, surgeon ; Samuel Mcclintock, chaplain.
Colonel Stark -afterwards the hero of Bennington - be- haved with his characteristic bravery. After he had detached, carly in the morning, a third of his men, it is said he visited the redoubt in company with his major, when he found his men in the hollow between Winter and Ploughed Hills. On leading the troops into action, he made a spirited address, and ordered three cheers to be given. By his order, also, the stones on the beach of Mystic River were thrown up in the form of a breastwork. They are nearly all the particulars relating to his conduct that have been stated. But all accounts speak of his coolness and intrepidity.
When the order was received for the remainder of this reg- iment to march to Bunker Hill, it was paraded in front of a house used as an arsenal, where each man received a gill cup full of powder, fifteen balls, and one flint. After this the car- tridges were to be made up, and this occasioned much delay. Hence the regiment did not get to the hill until about two o'clock.
The major of this regiment, Andrew McClary, was a favorite officer. He was nearly six feet and a half in height, and of an athletic frame. During the action he fought with great bravery ; and amidst the roar of the artillery his sten-
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REED'S REGIMENT.
torian voice was heard animating the men, and inspiring them with his own energy. After the action was over, he rode to Medford to procure bandages for the wounded; and, on his return, went with a few of his comrades to reconnoitre the British, then on Bunker Hill. As he was on his way to rejoin his men, a shot from a frigate laying where Cragie's Bridge is passed through his body. He leaped a few feet from the ground, pitched forward, and fell dead on his face. He was carried to Medford, and interred with the honors of war. He was, General Dearborn writes, a brave, great, and good man. A spirited notice of him appeared in the New Hamp- shire Gazette, dated Epsom, July, 1775. It says : "The major discovered great intrepidity and presence of mind in the action, and his noble soul glowed with ardor and the love of his country ; and, like the Roman Camillus, who left his plough, commanded the army, and conquered his opponents, so the major, upon the first intelligence of hostilities at Concord, left his farm and went a volunteer to assist his suffering brethren, where he was soon called to a command, which he executed to his eternal honor, and has thereby acquired the reputation of a brave officer and a disinterested patriot; and may his name be held in respect by all the lovers of liberty to the end of time, while the names of the sons of tyranny are despised and disgraced, and nothing left to them but the badges of their perfidy and infamy! May the widow of the deceased be respected for his sake; and may his children inherit his spirit and bravery, but not meet with his fate!"
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