USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Walks & talks about historic Boston > Part 16
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
time British and Tories made themselves more and more ob- noxious to the patriots. They disregarded their rights, were overbearing and insolent. The scarcity of all kinds of food caused great suffering among all classes, so closely had Wash- ington drawn his lines around the town.
The evening of Monday, the 4th of March, was the date fixed upon for the occupation of Dorchester Heights. Wash- ington saw, that by occupying and fortifying these Heights, he could completely command the town and harbor, and thus dislodge the British. Nature, in the formation of that hill, had done her best to second the efforts of the patriots, and it only remained for them to take possession and fortify. The large force which the British would have to detail to assault the works on the hill, would leave the town well nigh defenceless, against the attack of the American troops from Cambridge. Thus Washington would have the British between two fires. Washington contracted for several thirteen inch mortars, which were quickly delivered. It was necessary in making the fortifications, to find a substitute for dirt and accordingly, vast quantities of fascines and screwed hay were collected in the American camp. The fascines were made of white birch and faggots and were procured from the farm of Captain John Homans in the upper part of Dorchester. Washington select- ed the place on account of its obscurity. A lieutenant and thirty men were detailed to cut the brush. At seven o'clock in the evening of March 4th, during a terrific bombardment of the West Side of Boston from Cobble Hill, Lechmere Point, General Thomas of the American army, with three thousand men, marched across the causeway to Dorchester Heights. A covering party of eight hundred men led the way, then fol- lowed the carts, with the intrenching tools, then twelve hun- dred soldiers under the immediate command of General Thom- as, and in the rear followed carts, loaded with fascines and hay. The whole move was made in the greatest silence, no one being permitted to speak above a whisper, that not a sound should be wafted over the water to the ear of some vigilant British sentry. At eight o'clock the troops arrived on the Heights, and at once began operations. Part of the covering party was stationed at the nearest point to Boston and part at the point nearest Castle Island. Then the three hundred carts- men under the special command of Mr. Goddard of Brookline, began to transport the fascines to the hill and in a few hours,
207
Walks and Talks About Historic Boston.
the necessary quantities were on the ground. Bundles of hay were arranged to protect the teams and some of the drivers made three or four trips in the night.
The veteran Gridley, the engineer of Bunker Hill, laid the lines for the entrenchments on Dorchester Heights. As if by magic the fascines were set up, with stakes like basket work, and the interstices filled with whatever was available. It was a cold night, and the earth on the hill was frozen eighteen inches deep.
Dorchester Heights, 1776
The moon shone brightly and lent her light to aid the patriots in the completion of a work which was to prove of the greatest advantage to Boston and to Americans everywhere in their struggle for independence. Washington, as he walked among the men, encouraged them by saying: "Remember it is the Fifth of March and avenge the death of your brethren." As the sun arose above the horizon it revealed to the British the fortification on the Heights. The haze of the early morning made the work look extremely formidable, and General Howe gazed with astonishment upon it, and said, "the rebels have done more in one night than my whole army would have done in a month."
208
Walks and Talks About Historic Boston.
The British Admiral saw that unless the Americans were dislodged from the Heights, the fleet could not ride in safety in the harbor and the town must be evacuated. Relying upon the strength and discipline of his army, General Howe deter- mined to attack the entrenchments, however great the hazard. He ordered 2,400 men, under command of Lord Percy, to re- pair to Castle William and to assail the works at night. Their preparations were seen by the Americans and with feverish excitement they prepared for the contest. Thousands were assmbled on the neighboring hills to witness the battle. In order to render passage up the hill more difficult, should the enemy attempt to storm the fort, the Americans had a large number of barrels filled with stone and sand and these were placed on the brow of the hill. These were to be rolled down the embankment upon the British troops as they marched up. At 12 o'clock the British troops began embarking for the Cas- tle, but soon a violent wind arose and prevented the soldiers from reaching their destination. During the night the storm increased in fury, the rain falling in torrents. The next day the wind was still boisterous and still the heavy rain. All this time, the Americans were strengthening their redoubt. Gen- eral Howe was forced to give up his project and recalled his troops. He saw that the fortifications were too strong to give any hope of successful attack and he determined to evacuate the town rather than have his little army cut to pieces by the Americans. This was astounding and heart rending news to the Loyalists in the town. Many of them decided to undergo a long voyage rather than commit themselves to the wrath of the patriots. General Howe provided vessels for their ac- commodation and conveyed them to Nova Scotia, where many of them settled. It must have been a descendant of one of these Tories who once told a Boston audience that the loyalists at that time did not leave Boston because they were forced to do so, but because they did not wish longer to associate with such common and illiterate people as those in the city of Bos- ton. Those "cultured" Tories emigrated to a more congenial political atmosphere and there were no tears shed over their very hurried departure.
There was no express negotiation between Washington and General Howe but there was a tacit understanding, that no damage would be done to the town, if the British were to be permitted to leave unmolested. The Evacuation of Boston at last bore all the evidences of a panic, due to the wise strategy
209
Walks and Talks About Historic Boston.
of "Mr. George Washington," as the haughty Britons sarcas- tically called him. Results proved that he was more than a match for the trained soldier, General Howc.
As soon as the retreat of the British was observed, General Ward, with 500 men, marched in over Roxbury Neck, opened the gates of the town and entered Boston just as the last rem- nant of that army went aboard their ships and sailed away,
Eraenation Monument, Dorchester Heights
nevermore to inflict themselves upon liberty loving Americans. There were 78 ships and transports and between eleven and twelve thousand men, soldiers, sailors and refugees.
As Washington entered the town he was most joyfully re- ceived. The town, the state and individuals vied with each other in their expressions of deep gratitude. Throughout the Colonies the news of the Evacuation of Boston carried great joy and was everywhere regarded as a presage of the future success of the Americans in the cause to which they had pledged, "their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.'
William Cunningham
The British Jailor of New York During the Revolution.
Many of the officers and agents sent by George the Third and his ministers to aid in "subjugating America," were men of the worst type. Corrupt, brutal and overbearing they lost no opportuity of showing their contempt of the colonists and of oppressing them. Perhaps the worst and most cruel of them all was William Cunningham, who, as we have already seen. was somewhat conspicuous during the last days of the sojourn of the British in Boston. This man, the son of a British Army Surgeon, was born in the regimental barracks in Dublin, Ireland. In 1774 he came to America and settled in New York where he made a liv- ing for himself for some time by "breaking colts" and giv- ing riding lessons. When the Revolution broke out in 1776, he became involved in a political row with some local pa- triots and was forced to flee to Boston, there to seek the protection of the British Army. In Boston he attracted the attention of General Gage by his overbearing and quarrel- some disposition and particularly by his loud-mouthed es- ponsal of the cause of the British. General Gage. who showed but little tact in his dealings with Americans, ap- pointed the fellow, Provost Marshal of the British Army. In that autocratic position Cunningham had full range for the exercise of his mean and vindictive disposition, and he never missed an opportunity of exercising it. When Gen- eral Washington forced General Gage and the British Army out of Boston, Cunningham accompanied the exiles to New York, and was put in charge of the Revolutionary prisoners there, and in Philadelphia. There were several impromptu prisons in New York where the patriot captives were lodged. One was the "City Hall," another the famous "Old Sugar House," another, "Kings," now "Columbia College," another the new "Gaol" (the old Hall of Records), which stood in City Hall Park, which was torn down a few years ago. But the worst prison of all was the prison ship "Jersey" moored on the Brooklyn Shore. Churches were
210
211
W'alks and Talks About Historic Boston.
also turned into jails. When the British captured New York and Philadephia they took thousands of Americans prisoners, and among all these soldiers were many non- combatants. These latter were made prisoners because they had helped the cause of freedom by money gifts and patriotic speeches. One writer speaking of the prison ship Jersey, says: "On board this vessel the captives were herded by hundreds, in dark, foul pens, destitute of pure air and sunlight. They were given such food as a dog might well scorn and in such tiny quantities as would not suffice to keep a dog alive. The water they drank was filthy. No medical care or chance for cleanliness or exercise was granted them. Prison fever and other maladies scourged their ranks. They died like so many flies. To such fearful condition were they reduced that the lowest city outcasts were touched by pity and secretly sent them food." The fate of the captives in the New York Hall of Records, was little better. Pintard gives an account of their sufferings from which we quote : "So closely were they packed together that when they lay down at night to rest on the hard oak floor, and they wished to turn, it was all together by word of command, right,' 'left,' being so wedged as to form almost a solid mass of human bodies." No excuses could even palliate such horrible tortures practiced by the British Government upon American prisoners in the days of the Revolution. Directly Cunningham was responsible, but the Government could have bettered matters, had they chosen to do so, for the leading British officers were well aware of what was going on, but they were indifferent and had a supreme contempt for the colonists. The residents of New York knew of the cruelties as appears from an old letter written at the time, part of which reads as follows: "Folks of fashion do complain right grievously that the groanings and lamentable cries of the prisoners (both here in New York in the prison ship on the Brooklyn shore ) disturb their slumbers. And they pray that Master Cunning- ham, our Provost Marshal, will devise some means to keep the poor wretches quiet of nights." There is abundant evi- dence to show that his own countrymen loathed and despised Cunningham, yet he was selected by the authorities to do this detestable and murderous work. In his confession shortly before his death he says: "I shudder to think of the murders I have been accessory to, both with and without orders from Government, especially while in New York, during which
212
W'alks and Talks About Historic Boston.
time, there were more than two thousand prisoners who dicd, by stopping their rations, which I sold." There were also 275 American prisoners executed. A guard was despatched to forbid people to look out of their doors or windows, on pain of death, after which the prisoners were taken from their quarters at midnight and hung, without warning or merey, just behind the barracks. It was this same savage Provost Marshal Cunningham, who had charge of Captain Nathan Hale, the American patriot, executed as a spy near what is now Central Park, New York. "Hale was denied the services of a clergyman and the use of a Bible, but the more humane officer who superintended the execution furnished him with materials to write letters to his mother, his betrothed, and sisters. These letters Cunningham destroyed in the presence of the victim of his brutality, while tears and sobs marked the sympathy of the multitude of spectators who witnessed the scene. Hale met his death with firmness. With unfaltering voice he said: "I only regret that I have but one life to give to my country." These were the last words uttered by the young patriot, then only a little more than twenty-one years of age." When peace was concluded between the colonies and the mother country in 1783, the wretch Cunningham re- turned to England with the Royal troops. Lossing, in "Our Country," gives an amusing incident concerning this man, the day of his departure, related by Dr. Alexander Anderson of New York, in his day, the pioneer wood engraver of New York. The doctor said that at the time of the evacuation of the United States by the British forces in 1783, he was then a boy between eight and nine years of age having been bo."! three days after the battle of Lexington. He was living with his parents on Murray Street, near the Hudson River, then sparsely settled. Opposite his father's dwelling was a board- ing house kept by a man named Day, whose wife was a large, stout woman and an ardent Whig. On the morning of Evac- uation Day she ran up the American flag on a pole in front of her house. The British claimed possession of the city un- til twelve o'clock noon, and this act was offensive to them. Early in the forenoon when young Anderson was on his father's stoop, he saw a burly, red-faced British officer in full uniform coming down Murray Street in great haste. Mrs. Day was sweeping in front of her door when the officer came up to her in a blustering manner, and in loud and angry tones, ordered her to haul down the flag. She refused, when the
--- --
213
Walks and Talks About Historic Boston.
officer seized the halyards to pull it down himself. Mrs. Day flew at him with her broomstick and beat him so furiously over his head that she made the powder fly from his wig. The officer stormed and swore and tugged in vain at the halyards which were entangled and Mrs. Day applied her weapon so vigorously that he was soon compelled to retreat and leave the flag of the valiant woman floating triumphantly in the keen morning breeze. This inglorious attempt to haul down the colors of "Day Castle" and the result, was without doubt the last fight between the British and the Americans in the old War for Independence, and the British officer who was so thoroughly beaten by a plucky American woman was none other than the infamous scoundrel William Cunningham."
This same man on his return to England lead a riotous life resorting to various kinds of crookedness to support himself, being shunned by all decent, self-respecting people. "Being short of money to squander in dissipation he committed forg- ery for which crime he was tried, condemned and executed." At last justice was meted out to him at the hands of his own countrymen.
The American Flag
"Flag of the free hearts' hope and home ! By angel hands to valor given! Thy Stars have lit the welkin dome, And all thy hues were born in heaven. Forever float that standard sheet, Where breathes the foe, but falls before us, With Freedom's soil beneath our feet, And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us!" Drake.
215
Walks and Talks About Historic Boston.
THE BIRTH OF THE FLAG.
Previous to the Declaration of Independence, each col- ony was a unit, and each had its own flag. Up to that date the only tie that bound them together was the common feeling against the injustice of the mother country. "The first flag that floated over the North American continent, so far as history informs us, was planted on the coast of Labrador in 1497 by John Cabot. This was the Red Cross of St. George, the royal ensign of Henry the Seventh of England, extending entirely across a white field." "From the settlement of Jamestown to that June day when the flag of the Colonies was flung to the breeze, the Red Cross of England floated over the Colonies. For 17 years the Massachusetts Colony had no flag. The religious intoler- ance of the time made the cross on the English flag a cause of offence. After the accession of Charles the Second to the throne, some of the Colonies used a red flag, with a pine tree or globe, instead of the cross. New England's flag was a green pine tree, upon a white field with the motto. "An Appeal to Heaven." Other mottoes were some- times used, such as "Liberty or Death." or "Don't tread on me."
The White Flag with the Pine Tree was used from 1707 to 1777. One writer on the flag says there has been much discussion as to the flag borne by the patriots at Bunker Hill. Some assert that the patriots had no flag there. Trumbull, in his famous painting of the battle, depicts a red flag with a pine tree upon it. The flag that was borne at Concord by the men of Bedford is still in existence and may be seen in the Town Hall of Bedford. It has on it a Latin inscription, translated, "Conquer or Die," also a mailed arm, with drawn dagger, and three balls, supposed to be cannon balls. No one, today, can tell its origin. South Carolina's flag was yellow, and on it a representation of a rattlesnake about to strike, and underneath the words, "Don't tread on me." Connecticut's flag bore the motto on one side, "Who transplanted, sustains," and on the other side. "An ap- peal to Heaven." New York's flag had a white field with a black beaver on it. Rhode Island's flag was white with a blue anchor and the word, "Hope" above it and a blue carton with thirteen white stars. "The stripes first appeared on the flag hoisted by order of General Washington, at Prospect Hill.
216
Walks and Talks About Historic Boston.
Somerville, Massachusetts, January 1, 1776, the crosses upon the blue field were again seen in the Canton. When reported in England, this flag was alluded to as the "thirteen rebellious stripes." There is a theory that the stripes were formed by placing six white stripes, across the red ensign of Great Brit- ain. This theory would seem to be confirmed by a sentiment on the national flag once given by General Washington, in these words: "We take the stars from Heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus show- ing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity, representing 'Liberty.'" On June 14th, 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the following Resolution : "Resolved that the Flag of our thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union be thirteen stars, white, on a blue field, representing a new constellation." General Washington, Robert Morris, and Colonel Ross, were appointed a committee to get a flag de- signed and made. The committee went to the little upholstery shop of Betsy Ross, on Arch Street, Philadelphia and asked her to make a flag after the design they showed her. "She agreed to do it, and suggested that the stars which Washing- ton had drawn with six points, be made with five, as being more artistic, and taking a piece of paper and folding it, she showed how the star could be made with a single clip of the scissors. The design was sketched and colored by a local artist and from it Betsy Ross made the sample flag.
The flag was first used in military service on August 2, 1777, at the time the English and their Indian allies, made an attack upon Fort Stanwix. The flag was made in the fort, the red stripes being contributed by a woman who tore them from a petticoat, the white stripes from shirts of the men, and the blue from the military cloak of Captain Abraham Swartwout. This story is confirmed by a letter still in ex- istence. It is said that John Paul Jones was the first to fly this flag over a naval vessel, the "Ranger," which he com- manded. The flag remained the same until 1795 when two stripes and two stars were added for Vermont and Ken- tucky. In 1818, when it was found that there must be a limit to the stripes, it was decided by Congress that the flag be permanently thirteen stripes, representing the thirteen original states and that on the admission of every new state one star be added on the union and that such addition shall take effect on the Fourth of July next succeeding such ad-
217
Wl'alks and Talks About Historic Boston.
mission. Thus the form of our flag was passed by Congress in 1818. In the War with Mexico, the flag bore twenty-nine stars, in the Civil War, thirty-five. Today (1915) it has forty-eight stars, and none has ever been taken from it, the government maintaining during the Civil War, in the sixties, that the tie which binds the nation cannot be severed.
WHAT THE FLAG MEANS.
"It was a small people for which the Continental Congress prescribed. this emblem and drew the design and painted its colors, At the very start the flag had a meaning, novel in such a wide application. It meant self rule by the people, independence of control by any power presuming to place the people in the attitude of vassals. There were republics before that of the United States, but they had been smoth- ered and absorbed; ancient history records some of them. Switzerland, today, alone, survives of any preceding the United States. Our flag declared, first in all the world, the principle of liberty as we know it. It was an epochal in- novation. The flag which Washington raised at Prospect Hill, Somerville, symbolized a recognition of imperial authority, while declaring the unity of the Colonies in de- fiance of oppression.
With the action of the Continental Congress, all com- promise, or contingent alliance was repudiated. The United States stood alone, flung its own flag in defiance of all con- trol, sought its own friends among the nations, and took its place as the first stalwart exponent of the principle of liberty. Our flag means that the right to govern depends upon the consent of the governed: that an unconsenting people may revolt, may overthrow. if possible, its alien control, and must establish its own authority upon a basis recognizable by others. Happily this was done here by the patriots of so many generations ago. They won out. The Revolutionary Flag was made, as the Continental Congress decreed, the Flag of the Republic of thirteen states. And today, this flag, augmented in its union from the original thirteen stars of the small, rebellious Colonies to the forty-eight of the great states of this twentieth century, is a blazon of the principle of liberty to the world. On each Flag Day the flags blossom out all over the country. We celebrate not only our own emancipation, but the control which our ex- ample must exert upon the ideas of the world and the for-
218
W'alks and Talks About Historic Boston.
tunes of its inhabitants. Under the flag of our country, we can, and shall, if ever necessary, fight as of old. But under the flag we will, if possible, keep the peace, revive patriotism and civilization in countries that look to us for guidance; and prove to the nations of the earth that the great Republic of the West, stands for amity and human brotherhood, now, as ever."
Note :- The author acknowledges his great indebtedness for much of the material of this article to a little pamphlet, entitled "Our Flag." written for "The National Association of Patriotic Instructors," by Elizabeth Robbins Berry, and also to an editorial which appeared in the columns of the "Boston Post" on Flag Day.
OLD GLORY or THE BANNER BETSY MADE*
"We have nicknamed it Old Glory
As it floats out on the breeze, Rich in legend, song and story, On the land and on the seas, Far above the shining river, Over mountains, gorge and glade,
With a fame that lives forever, Floats the Banner Betsy made.
"When at last her needle rested, And her cherished task was done. Went the banner, love invented, To the Camp of Washington. And the gallant Continentals, In the morning light arrayed Stood in ragged regimentals Neath the Banner Betsy made.
How they cheered it, and its maker, They, the Gallant Sons of Mars: How they blessed the little Quaker And her flag of Stripes and Stars, 'Neath its folds no foeman scorning Glistened bayonets or blade,
219
W'alks and Talks About Historic Boston.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.