Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

presented on the plan; but there was a line of that sort of imperfect defence extending from the breast-work to the shore. It is so represented in the plan of the action in Stedman's History of the American War (English edition, quarto). A line drawn on Lieut. De Berniere's plan from the lower end of the breast-work to the hay-fence, will correspond, as to the lines of defence, with Stedman's plan. It appears that the British grenadiers received a very heavy fire from the place marked P, and, it is not probable that the troops from whom that fire proceeded were altogether unprotected. Indeed there are three angular figures represented at that place in De Berniere's plan, which are not very intelligible, and were probably meant to indicate unfinished intrenchments, or some other description of defence. Judge Winthrop's letter, however, mentions the accuracy of the plan in this particular also.

Particulars respecting the action, collected from the gentlemen consulted, as above mentioned.-The men who first went on the hill in the evening of the 16th, and constructed the works, were in number about one thousand, detachments principally of Prescott's, Bridge's, and Fry's regiments. Colonel Prescott had the command. Three companies of Bridge's regiment were not included in the order. Captain Brooks (now governor Brooks) commanded one of these companies. He obtained colonel Bridge's consentto accompany him, and was on the ground the whole night, as a volunteer, without his company. Early in the morning of the 17th a man was killed at the redoubt by a fire from one of the ships in Charles's river. A council of war was held in the redoubt, which captain Brooks attended. There was some diversity of opinion as to the course to be pursued, and what message should be sent to the commander in chief at Cambridge, general Ward. Some one urged that they ought to be relieved, after the fatigues of the night, and that the works required to be manned with fresh troops to withstand the expected attack. To this proposal colonel Prescott was decidedly opposed. "No," said he, "the men who erected the works, will defend them." It was determined to request the other three companies of Bridge's regiment to be sent as a reinforcement. Captain Brooks was despatched to Cambridge in performance of this duty,-a service not a little hazardous, on account of an incessant fire maintained by the ships and gun-boats across Charlestown neck, which it was necessary to pass. General Ward objected to weaken his force by detaching more troops from Cambridge. It could not be done, in his opinion, without indiscreet and unjustifiable risk of that important post. The whole plan of the enemy could not be conjectured. A diversion might be attempted in aid of the main operation, and a general attack might be facilitated by abstracting any larger portion of the means of defence. He thought also that a sufficient number was already on the field. Whilst deliberating on this subject, Richard Devens, esq. of Charlestown, had an interview with the general, in the course of which he vehemently remonstrated against what he understood to be the determination. Mr. Devens was one of the

committee of safety, and, from his station and character, his opi nion, so decidedly expressed, had a preponderating influence. The companies were ordered to proceed.

General Dearborn was captain of a company in colonel Stark's regiment. That regiment, and colonel Reed's, both from NewHampshire, went on the ground on the 17th, just as the British troops were advancing from their first position. He was at the hay-fence on the American left. He does not know by whom, or when it was constructed. There were but few men at that post when it was occupied by the New Hampshire troops. He describes the repeated repulses of the light infantry and grenadiers in that part of the line, as in all the published accounts. He recognized among the British troops, the twenty-third or Welsh fusileers, so distinguished at the battle of Minden. These he knew by their uniform, having particularly noticed them on parade at Boston in 1774. General D. when a prisoner at Quebec in 1776, conversed with an officer of the British 47th regiment, who confirmed Stedman's account of the blunder in sending shot from Boston during the action, of dimensions larger than the calibre of the field pieces. The general conceives that a diversion might, and ought to have been made, by the officer in command on Bunker's hill, who had troops sufficient for the purpose, and that it would have had the good effect of relieving, in some degree, the pressure on those in the lines-an opinion corroborated by that of colonel Prescott in his remarks upon this subject to several of his friends.

Judge Winthrop entered the field on that memorable day, attached to no military corps. He was young and ardent in the interesting cause, and yielded to feelings which impelled him to be active on the occasion. (See his observations.)

Dr. Dexter was a spectator of the battle from the Malden side of Mystic river. His situation was particularly favourable to a distinct view of what took place on the British right wing. He saw the light infantry and grenadiers retreat twice to the shore. Upon their second repulse, before they advanced again, the men pulled off their coats, and marched up to the final attack stripped of that garment. It was at this period, probably, that they laid down part of the load with which, Stedman says, they were injudiciously encumbered-knapsacks, with three days provisions!

John Kettell, esq. was a soldier in captain Perkins's company of colonel Little's regiment, from the county of Essex. The whole regiment contained about eight hundred men. This regiment marched to the hill just before the action commenced. He at first went into the redoubt, which was full of men, and they were not wanted at that place; they then repaired to the breast-work, and hay fence, taking post as they were wanted.

Deacon T. Miller was an ensign in captain Harris's company, colonel Gardner's regiment. The division of the regiment ordered to the ground, amounted to about three hundred men. He went on just at the commencement of the action, and was at the hay.

[blocks in formation]

fence, but mentions no particulars of any interest not already well known and published.

Remarks.-The accounts given of Bunker's hill battle immediately after it took place, are singularly meagre and imperfect. In Ede's Gazette, of Monday the 17th, the subject is disposed of in one short paragraph, and so defective was the state of information at Watertown, where the gazette was published, that the editor speaks of the engagement as continuing when the paper was put to press, at nine o'clock on Monday morning. This can but refer to the shots occasionally exchanged between the two parties, the British, occupying Bunker's hill, and the Americans, posted on Prospect hill.

In " Almon's Remembrancer," is an article of intelligence from the New York Gazette of June 26, detailing accounts respecting the action brought by express to that city. It states the number of British troops engaged at about three thousand, the Americans fifteen hundred. The defence of posts and rails is there said to have been performed by captain Knowlton, with four hundred of the Connecticut forces. This corresponds with an account now given by Mr. Adams, who lives in that part of Charlestown without the Neck, and at whose house Knowlton's company was quartered. He says, the company went on the hill in the evening of the 17th, by order of general Putnam. There were between eighty and ninety men in the company. After their return, they mentioned to Mr. Adams, among other matters, the pulling up a string of fence, carrying it to other fences, filling the interval with newly mown grass, and fighting, most of them, behind this slender protection. Captain Knowlton and his lieutenant Keyes were experienced officers, having served in the French war which closed with the peace of 1763. The loss in that company was three killed, and the same number wounded.

The following article, copied from a Providence newspaper, of July 15, though it may not be satisfactory as respects the number of killed and wounded, yet serves to show the several regiments to which the troops engaged belonged.

"The following is an exact return of the killed, wounded, and missing of the American army in the action of June 17, at Charlestown, viz.

[blocks in formation]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

By this account it appears, that the three Massachusetts regiments which first occupied the hill, and were principally in the redoubt, suffered the most. The New Hampshire forces are next to them in amount of loss. Gridley was of the artillery. His men, it is believed, were not on the hill, but engaged on the shore without the neck, against the gun-boats.

Various estimates have been made, and opinions pronounced, as to the number of men engaged in this important action. Judge Marshall* states the British force at about three thousand men, composing the flower of the army. The American force, he observes, was stated through the country at fifteen hundred; by some it has been supposed to be considerably larger. They who embrace a more extended calculation, probably include the troops outside the Neck, who bore no part in the action, and ought not to be considered as a portion of the force engaged.

Stedman's account of the employment of the field pieces on the British side, is very different from De Berniere's, for he represents them as considerably farther in advance, and is silent respecting their being stopped by a marsh. From the position of the artillery, as designated by Stedman, it would require but little progress forward to bring the pieces in a line with the breast work; and this opera

* Vide life of Washington by chief justice Marshall.

Our readers are requested to supply an omission in the account given in our last number of the description of British troops first landed at Moreton's point for the attack of the works. It is said, page 151, that the force landed there, con is ed of 10 companies of light infantry, 10 companies of grenadiers, and a proportion of field artillery. Mention should have been inade of the 4 battalions, in addition to those companies, that accompanied them, viz. the 5th, 38th, 43d, and 52d, all which appear on the plan of De Berniere. The light infantry and grenadiers consisted of the flank companies detached from different regiments in garrison at Boston. The omission originated in judge Marshall's life of Washington; in Holmes's annals the same narrative is adopted without alteration. In a future edition of these works, our amendment will no doubt be attended to, as it is derived from the official accounts of general Gage, the British commander in chief, printed herewith.

tion would accord with the account given by the Massachusetts congress, that " the enemy brought some cannon to bear in such a

manner as to rake the inside of the breast-work from one end of it to the other."

The breast-work was first forced by the grenadiers and regiments opposed to it, according to Stedman's account. It was at this place, probably, that one of captain Knowlton's company acquired a trophy-the musket of one of the grenadiers, whom he killed or disabled in the act of mounting the intrenchment, and brought it from the field to his quarters at Mr. Adams's house. The name of this man was Ammiden.

[As the official accounts of the action, given on both sides, do not appear in any of our histories, and are not readily accessible to the general reader, we have been'induced to republish them from Almon's Remembrancer, a work now scarce, yet abounding with the most interesting documents relative to American affairs.] Copy of a letter from the hon. lieutenant general Gage, governor, and commander in chief of his Britannic majesty's forces in Boston, to the earl of Dartmouth, secretary of state, dated Boston, June 25th, 1775.

MY LORD, I am to acquaint your lordship of an action that happened on the 17th inst. between his majesty's troops and a large body of the rebel forces.

An alarm was given at break of day, on the 17th inst. by a firing from the Lively ship of war; and advice was soon afterwards received that the rebels had broke ground, and were raising a battery on the heights of the peninsula of Charlestown, against the town of Boston. They were plainly seen at work, and, in a few hours, a battery of six guns played upon their works. Preparations were instantly made for landing a body of men to drive them off; and ten companies of the grenadiers, ten of light infantry, with the 5th, 38th, 43d and 52d battalions, with a proportion of field artillery, under the command of major general Howe, and brigadier general Pigot, were embarked with great expedition, and landed on the peninsula without opposition, under the protection of some ships of war, armed vessels, and boats, by whose fire the rebels were kept within their works.

The troops formed as soon as landed; the light infantry posted on the right, and the grenadiers upon their left. The 5th, and 38th battalions drew up in the rear of those corps, and the 43d and 52 battalions made a third line. The rebels upon the heights were perceived to be in great force, and strongly posted, A redoubt thrown up on the 16th, at night, with other works, full of men, defended with cannon, and a large body!posted in the houses in Charlestown, covered their right flank; and their center and left were covered by a breast-work, part of it cannonproof, which reached from the left of the redoubt to the Mystick or Medford river.

*It is amusing, now, to observe the term rebels, applied to our brave countrymen; but, it is true that, so nearly allied are the greatest of political virtues and crimes, that, had the gallant Warren been taken prisoner, and the cause which he espoused, have been abandoned after the capture of Charlestown, he would in all probability, have closed that life ignominiously on a scaffold, which he so nobly devoted to the dearest interests and welfare of his country. Success, in all such cases is the only criterion of merit; and the same zeal, the same intrepidity that now ranks him with Epaminondas and Kosciusko, would, in a different issue, have subjected this heroic character to the fate of a felon.

« FöregåendeFortsätt »