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 35
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 35
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 35
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
369
MOULTON'S PETITION.
These shocking scenes continually opening to view, served to heighten resentment, and warm endeavors to reap a just revenge upon those inhuman perpetrators, and to risk our lives in defence of the glorious cause, as the heroic deeds of our troops through the whole series of the tragical actions of that memorable day abundantly testify.
In which your petitioner, by the joint testimony of all his fellow-soldiers, lent, at least, an equal part through the whole stretch of way from Concord to Charlestown aforesaid, where your petitioner, with several others, passing by an house, were fired upon by three of the ministerial troops planted within, who, returning the fire, killed two of them ; thereupon your petitioner rushed into the house, seized the survivor, a sergeant, in his arms, gave him sundry cuffs, who then resigned himself and arms to your petitioner, none others being then within said house.
But so it happened, that while your petitioner was busied in securing his prisoner, others coming up and rushing into said house, those arms were car- ried off by some person to your petitioner unknown, which arms are since found in the hands of Lieut. Joseph Howard, of Concord ; of all which your petitioner informed the committee of safety for this colony, who, on the 24th day of May, 1775, gave it as their opinion that these arms were fairly the property of your petitioner.
Nevertheless, the said Joseph (though duly requested) refuses to deliver the same, under pretext of his own superior right.
Wherefore your petitioner earnestly prays that your honors would take his cause under due consideration, and make such order thereon as to your honors, in your great wisdom, shall seem just and reasonable, which that he may obtain he as in duty bound shall ever pray, &c.
WILLIAM TAY, Jr.
No. 5. - PETITION OF MARTHA MOULTON, RELATIVE TO EVENTS IN CONCORD.
To the Honorable General Court of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, in their present session at Watertown.
The petition of Martha Moulton, of Concord, in said Province, widow- woman,
Humbly sheweth :
That on the 19th day of April, 1775, in the forenoon, the town of Con- cord, wherein I dwell, was beset with an army of regulars, who, in a hostile manner, entered the town, and drawed up in form before the door of the house where I live ; and there they continued on the green, feeding their horses within five feet of the door ; and about fifty or sixty of them was in and out the house, calling for water and what they wanted, for about three hours. At the same time, all our near neighbors, in the greatest consterna- tion, were drawn off to places far from the thickest part of the town, where I live, and had taken with them their families and what of their best effects they could carry, - some to a neighboring wood, and others to remote houses, - for security.
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APPENDIX.
Your petitioner, being left to the mercy of six or seven hundred armed men, and no person near but an old man of eighty-five years, and myself seventy- one years old, and both very infirm. It may easily be imagined what a sad condition your petitioner must be in. Under these circumstances, your pcti- tioner committed herself, more especially, to the Divine Protection, and was very remarkably helpt with so much fortitude of mind, as to wait on them, as they called, with water, or what we had, - chairs for Major Pitcairn and four or five more officers, - who sat at the door viewing their men. At length your petitioner had, by degrees, cultivated so much favor as to talk a little with them. When all on a sudden they had set fire to the great gun- carriages just by the house, and while they were in flames your petitioner saw smoke arise out of the Town House higher than the ridge of the house. Then your petitioner did put her life, as it were, in her hand, and ventured to beg of the officers to send some of their men to put out the fire ; but they took no notice, only sneered. Your petitioner seeing the Town House on fire, and must in a few minutes be past recovery, did yet venture to expostu- late with the officers just by her, as she stood with a pail of water in her hand, begging of them to send, &c. When they only said, "O, mother, we won't do you any harm !" "Don't be concerned, mother," and such like talk. The house still burning, and knowing that all the row of four or five houses, as well as the school-house, was in certain danger, your petitioner (not knowing but she might provoke them by her insufficient pleading) yet ventured to put as much strength to her arguments as an unfortunate widow could think of ; and so your petitioner can safely say that, under Divine Providence, she was an instrument of saving .the Court House, and how many more is not certain, from being consumed, with a great deal of valuable furniture, and at the great risk of her life. At last, by one pail of water after another, they sent and did extinguish the fire. And now, may it please this honored Court, as several people of note in the town have advised your petitioner thus to inform the public of what she had done, and as no notice has been taken of her for the same, she begs leave to lay this her case before your honors, and to let this honored Court also know that the petitioner is not only so old as to be not able to earn wherewith to support herself, is very poor, and shall think her highly honored in the favorable notice of this honored Court. As what the petitioner has done was of a public as well as a private good, and as your honors are in a public capacity, your petitioner begs that it may not be taken ill, in this way, to ask in the most humble manner something, as a fatherly bounty, such as to your great wisdom and compassion shall seem meet ; and your petitioner, as in duty bound, for the peace and prosperity of this our American Israel, shall ever pray.
MARTHA MOULTON.1
Concord, February 4, 1776.
' The committee reported a resolve in favor of paying this heroine three pounds for her good services in so boldly and successfully preventing the army from burning the Town House in Concord, as set forth in her petition.
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ROGERS' PETITION.
No. 6. - EXTRACT FROM A PETITION OF JACOB ROGERS, OF CHARLESTOWN, DATED CAMBRIDGE, OCTOBER 10, 1775, RELATING TO EVENTS IN CHARLES- TOWN.
As to my conduct the 19th of April : We were alarmed with various reports concerning the king's troops, which put everybody in confusion. About ten in the morning I met Doctor Warren riding hastily out of town, and asked him if the news was true of the men's being killed at Lexington ; he assured me it was. I replied I was very glad our people had not fired first, as it would have given the king's troops a handle to execute their proj- ect of desolation. He rode on.
In the afternoon Mr. James Russell received a letter from General Gage, importing that he was informed the people of Charlestown had gone out armed to oppose his majesty's troops, and that if one single man more went out armed, we might expect the most disagreeable consequences.
A line-of-battle ship lying before the town ; a report that Cambridge bridge was taken up; no other retreat but through Charlestown ; numbers of men, women, and children, in this confusion, getting out of town. Among the rest, I got my chaise, took my wife and children ; and as I live near the school-house, in a back street, drove into the main street, put my children in a cart with others then driving out of town, who were fired at several times on the common, and followed after. Just abreast of Captain Fenton's, on the neck of land, Mr. David Waitt, leather-dresser, of Charlestown, came riding in full speed from Cambridge, took hold of my reins, and assisted me to turn up on Bunker's Hill, as he said the troops were then entering the common. I had just reached the summit of the hill, dismounted from the chaise, and tied it fast in my father-in-law's pasture, when we saw the troops within about forty rods of us, on the hill. One Hayley, a tailor, now of Cambridge, with his wife, and a gun on his shoulder, going towards them, drew a whole volley of shot on himself and us, that I expected my wife, or one of her sisters, who were with us, to drop every moment.
It being now a little dark, we proceeded with many others to the Pest House, till we arrived at Mr. Townsend's, pump-maker, in the training-field ; on hearing women's voices, we went in, and found him, Captain Adams, tavern- keeper, Mr. Samuel Carey, now clerk to Colonel Mifflin, quartermaster-gen- eral, and some others, and a house full of women and children, in the greatest terror, afraid to go to their own habitations. After refreshing ourselves, it being then dark, Mr. Carey, myself, and one or two more, went into town, to see if we might, with safety, proceed to our own houses. On our way, met a Mr. Hutchinson, who informed us all was then pretty quiet ; that when the soldiers came through the street, the officers desired the women and chil- dren to keep in doors for their safety ; that they begged for drink, which the people were glad to bring them, for fear of their being ill-treated. Mr. Carey and I proceeded to the tavern by the Town House, where the officers were ; all was tumult and confusion ; nothing but drink called for everywhere. I stayed a few minutes, and proceeded to my own house, and finding things
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APPENDIX.
pretty quiet, went in search of my wife and sisters, and found them coming up the street with Captain Adams. . On our arrival at home, we found that her brother, a youth of fourteen, was shot dead on the neck of land by the soldiers, as he was looking out of a window. I stayed a little while to con- sole them, and went into the main street to see if all was quiet, and found an officer and guard under arms by Mr. David Wood's, baker, who continued, it seems, all night ; from thence, seeing everything quiet, came home and went to bed, and never gave assistance or refreshment of any kind whatever. Neither was any officer or soldier near my house that day or night. The next morning, with difficulty, I obtained to send for my horse and chaise from off the hill, where it had been all night, and found my cushion stole, and many other things I had in the box. Went to wait on Gen. Pigot, the com- manding officer, for leave to go in search of my children ; found Doctor Rand, Captain Cordis, and others, there for the same purpose, but could not obtain it till he had sent to Boston for orders, and could not find them till next night, having travelled in fear from house to house, till they got to Captain Waters', in Malden.1
BUNKER HILL BATTLE.
No. 1. - THE AUTHORITIES ON THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL.2
1775. June 17. - The American Orderly Books contain meagre refer- ences to the battle. General Ward's has, in the margin, only a record of the loss, - calling it " The Battle of Charlestown." Fenno's contains the order for the three Massachusetts regiments to parade, and a brief account of the action. The British Orderly Books - General Howe's and Adjutant Wal- ler's - have the British orders in full.
June 19. - Colonel Jolin Stark, in a letter to the New Hampshire Con- gress, dated at Medford, says that the Americans intrenched on " Charlestown Hill," and that he went on by order of General Ward.
June 20. - The Massachusetts Provincial Congress sent an account to the Continental Congress, which was prepared by a committee appointed June 18, - Major Hawly chairman, who reported it June 20. It describes the place of intrenchment as " A small hill south of Bunker Hill." This Con- gress sent another account to Albany, June 28, designating the place as " A hill in Charlestown."
1 The committee of safety, July 7, 1775, ordered a circular to be sent to the town of Reading, desiring " all the inhabitants of this colony " to behave peaceably and qui- etly towards Captain Rogers. Tay's, Moulton's, and Rogers' petitions are from Mss. 2 This notice of the authorities does not include many letters of an early date, some which appeared in the newspapers, giving general descriptions of the battle. A large number of them will be found collected in Force's American Archives.
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ACCOUNTS OF THE BUNKER HILL BATTLE.
June 20. - William Williams, in a letter dated Lebanon, Conn., June 20, 1775, ten o'clock at night, and sent to the Connecticut delegation in Con- gress, says : " I receive it that General Putnam commanded our troops, per- haps not in chief."
June 22. - Isaac Lothrop, member of the Provincial Congress, sent to General Wooster a letter dated Watertown, June 22, 1775, which was printed in the newspapers. He designates the place of the action " Breed's Hill."
June 23. - Rev. Ezra Stiles, of Newport, records in his diary details he gathered from persons who obtained information from General Putnam in the camp, who stated, " That Putnam was not on Bunker Hill at the beginning, but soon repaired thither, and was in the heat of the action till towards night, when he went away to fetch across reinforcements ; and, before he could return, our men began to retreat."
June 25. - Letter from Peter Brown to his mother, dated " Cambridge, June 25, 1775." He was clerk of a company in Prescott's regiment, and he gives a general account of the proceedings until the retreat. It is the only important contemporary letter, written by a private in the battle, I have seen. He calls the place of the battle " Charlestown Hill." It is preserved in Stiles' Diary.
June 25. -- Letter written by General Burgoyne, who saw the action from Copp's Hill, to Lord Stanley, printed in the newspapers of 1775, and dated ." Boston, June 25." The British journals contain comments on this letter.
June 25. - Official Letter of General Gage, addressed to the Earl of Dart- mouth, and sent by the Cerberus, dated Boston, June 25. Severe strictures appeared in the British journals on this account, which were collected in the Remembrancer of 1775. General Gage sent substantially the same account to the Earl of Dunmore, at Virginia, dated June 26. It was also printed in a hand-bill substantially as it appears officially, and circulated in Boston, dated also June 26.
June 30. - Rev. John Martin related to President Stiles an account of the battle, who recorded it in his diary, with a rude plan of the battle. He was in the hottest of it, and supplies much interesting detail. He states the Americans " took possession of Bunker Hill, under the command of Colonel Prescott ; " that application to General Ward for aid " brought Colonel Put- nam and a large reinforcement about noon ; " and that Putnam was deeply engaged with the enemy.
July 5. - A letter (British) from Boston gives a detail of the action. It was one of the " celebrated fugitive pieces " that occasioned the inquiry into the conduct of General Howe, and reprinted in "The Detail and Conduct of the American War." It is an excellent British authority.
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APPENDIX.
July 12. - A letter of Samuel Gray, dated Roxbury, July 12, gives inter- esting faets relative to the battle. It calls the place. "Charlestown Hill," and states that two generals and the engineer were on the ground on the night of June 16, at the consultation as to the place to be fortified.
July 13. - An article in Rivingston's New York Gazette (Tory) gives a brief view of the action.
July 20. - In a letter addressed to Samuel Adams, dated " Watertown, July 20, 1775," J. Pitts writes, that no one appeared to have any command but Colonel Prescott, and that General Putnam was employed in collecting the men.
July 22. - John Chester, who commanded a Connecticut company, wrote a letter on the battle, dated " Camp at Cambridge, July 22, 1775," and ad-, dressed to a clergyman. It gives first a general view of the battle, and thien details his own agency in it. It is an excellent authority. He gives the fact that, after the British landed, General Putnam ordered all the Connecticut troops to march to oppose the enemy.
July 25. - The committee of safety appointed Rev. Messrs. Cooper, Gardner, and Thatcher, to draw up a narrative of the battle. This was sent to London to Arthur Lee. It states that " The commander of party " gave the word to retreat from the redoubt, but does not state his name. I found, at the Antiquarian Hall, Worcester, a Ms. copy of this account, with the erasures and interlineations preserved. It was written by Rev. Peter Thatcher, who states that he saw the action from the north side of Mystic River. It contains passages not in the printed copy. This is the account that states Breed's Hill was chosen " by some mistake."
August 20. - Rivingston's New York Gazette has a graphic sketch of the battle, with a rude plan of it. It does not, however, name an American: officer engaged.
A Voyage to Boston, a poem. By the author of American Liberty, a poem ; General Gage's Soliloquy, &c. Philadelphia, 1775. This contains several pages of satire on the British generals, and the result of the battle of Bunker Hill. It was probably written by Phillip Freneau. See page 38 for an extract.
The British Annual Register contains a narrative of the battle, in which it is stated that " Doctor Warren, acting as major-general, commanded." The Gentleman's Magazine, London, has a wood engraving, purporting to be a view of the redoubt ; see page 198. The Pennsylvania Magazine for Sep- tember has a picture of the battle.
John Clark, first lieutenant of the marines, who was in the battle, pub- lished in London " An Impartial and Authentic Narrative of the Battle," &c.,
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ACCOUNTS OF THE BUNKER HILL BATTLE.
"on Bunker's Hill, near Charlestown, in New England," &c., with anec- dotes. The whole collected and written on the spot. It gives Howe's speech to his army. It states that Doctor Warren was supposed to be the commander ; and that General Putnam was about three miles distant, and formed an ambuscade with about three thousand men. A second edition of this pamphlet was printed in 1775.
1776. - George's Cambridge Almanack, or Essex Callender, for 1776, contains a brief narrative of the battle, in which it is stated that Joseph Warren " was commander-in-chief on this occasion."
Colonel James Scamman published in the New England Chronicle, Feb. 29, 1776, a report of the court-martial that tried him, July 13, 1775, which was interspersed with notes. In one of them it is casually remarked, that " There was no general officer who commanded on Bunker Hill."
A pamphlet was published in Philadelphia, entitled " Battle of Bunker Hill. A Dramatic Piece, of five acts, in Heroic Measure. By a Gentleman of Maryland." It names only three American officers, Putnam, Warren, and Gardner. An extract from this piece will be found on page 181.
A plan of the battle was published in England, entitled " A Plan of the Action on Bunker's Hill, on the 17th of June, 1775, between His Majesty's Troops, under the command of General Howe, and the Rebel Forces. By Lieut. Page, of the Engineers, who acted as Aid-de-camp to General Howe in that action. N. B. - The Ground Plan is from an actual survey by Cap- tain Montressor." The plate of this was used by Stedman in 1794, for his history, with the names of the engineer and surveyor suppressed, and with a few verbal alterations.
1778. - Rev. James Murray, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, published in Lon- don, July 29, 1778, a history of the war, in which he gives a full account of the battle, and states that " Doctor Warren acted as major-general and com- mander on this occasion."
General Charles Lee, in his Vindication, published in 1778, alludes to the battle, praises the bravery of several of the colonels, and says: "The Americans were composed in part of raw lads and old men, half armed, with no practice or discipline, commanded without order, and God knows by whom."
1779. - The London Chronicle contained an interesting review of the action, embracing many curious details, written by Israel Mauduit.
Governor Trumbull, in his letter, printed in vol. VI. of the Mass. Historical Collections, and dated August 31, 1779, gives a sketch of the battle, and names General Warren as the commanding officer.
A pamphlet was published, entitled " America Invincible : . \n Heroic
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APPENDIX.
Poem. By an Officer of Rank in the Army." It contains a description of the battle. It alludes only to General Warren.
1781. - " An Impartial History of the War in America" was published in Boston, by Nathaniel Coverly and Robert Hodge. Its "authors " profess to have had " the best opportunities " for procuring facts ; but they adopt, with few variations, and without acknowledgment, Murray's account, word for word, and give General Warren the command. The only other Ameri- can officer named is Lt .- col. Parker.
" The American War, a Poem ; in 'Six Books," was published in London. It has a poor picture of the battle, and a sketch of it in rhyme. A few lines will suffice to indicate the quality of the verse : -
About two thousand were embarked to go 'Gainst the redoubt, and formidable foe : The Lively's, Falcon's, Fame's, and Glasgow's roar, ยท Covered their landing on the destined shore.
" An Eulogium on Major-general Joseph Warren, who fell in the Action at Charlestown, June 17, 1775. By a Columbian. Arma virumque cano. - Virgil. Boston : Printed by John Boyle, in Marlborough-street. 1781." This tract contains a poetic description of the battle, but mentions only the names of Warren and Chester. Extracts from it may be found on pages 77, 144, and 172.
1788. - General David Humphries published an Essay on the Life of General Putnam, dated Mount Vernon, July 4, 1788, - the general being living. He says : " In this battle the presence and example of General Put- nam, who arrived with the reinforcement, were not less conspicuous than useful."
The History of the American War, by Rev. William Gordon, was printed in London, the preface to which is dated October 23, 1788. It adopts the greater part of the language of the account of the committee of safety, (Thatcher's,) and defines the positions of Putnam, Warren, and Pomeroy. This is the first time Colonel Prescott appears, in print, as the commander of the intrenching party.
1789. - Ramsey's History of the American Revolution was published, and has a narrative of the battle. It does not specify a regiment engaged, or designate an officer in command ; and in a eulogy on Warren, does not assign to him any special agency in the battle.
1790. - Rev. Josiah Whitney preached a sermon at the funeral of General Putnam, who died May 29, 1790. Mr. Whitney, in a note, in commenting on Humphries' account of the battle, says : "The detachment was first put under the command of General Putnam. With it he took possession of the hill, and ordered the battle from the beginning to the end." This is the first
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ACCOUNTS OF THE BUNKER HILL BATTLE.
time I have met, in print, with the statement that General Putnam was the eommander.
1794. - Stedman's History of the American War was published in Eng- land. The only American officer named is "Doctor Warren, who eom- manded in the redoubt." It adopts, without acknowledgment, Page's plan, and uses the same plate, with a few verbal alterations.
" An Oration, delivered at the Meeting-house in Charlestown, June 17, by Josiah Bartlett." Doctor Bartlett was invited by the artillery company, and his address is dedicated to Major William Calder, and the officers and mem- bers of that company. It contains but few allusions to the battle. On the dedication of the monument on Breed's Hill, built by King Solomon's Lodge, in December, Doetor Bartlett delivered a eulogy on General Warren, and John Soley, Esq., a brief address.
1796: - Colonel Trumbull's engraving of the battle was published about this time. He began his picture in London in 1786, and issued a subscrip- tion paper for his engraving April, 1790. An account of the battle is printed in the appendix to Colonel Trumbull's Autobiography, printed in 1841.
1793. - General Heath's Memoirs were printed, which contain a brief account of the battle. He states that Colonel William Preseott, notwith- standing anything that may have been said, " was the proper commanding officer at the redoubt."
1801. - " An Oration, pronounced at Charlestown, at the Request of the Artillery Company, on the seventeenth of June ; being the Anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, and of that Company," &c., by William Austin, A. B. It contains a brief general description of the battle, and regards General Put- nam as the commander.
1801. - Marshall, in his Life of Washington, states that Colonel Preseott commanded the original detachment ; and that, previous to the action, the Americans were reinforced by a body of troops, under Generals Warren and Pomeroy. He does not mention General Putnamn's name.
1805. - Hubley, in his History of the Revolution, follows ehicfly the eon)- mittee of safety's account, - adopting Gordon's language respecting Prescott, Warren, and Putnam.
1808. - James Allen, who died in 1808, wrote an Epie, with the title of " Bunker Hill." A portion of it may be found in the notes to Colonel Swett's History of the battle of Bunker Hill.
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