?

crying out hourly "All's well!" they could distinctly hear. There lay the Lively, Glasgow, Somerset, and Cerberus, with floating batteries, in fancied security, while the toilers piled the earth so vigorously, that a redoubt rose six feet above the earth at daybreak on Saturday, the 17th of June. Then they were discovered by the sentinel on the Lively. The captain beheld the strange apparition with wonder and alarm, and without waiting for orders

from the admiral, he put springs on his cable and opened a sharp fire on the unfinished work. Other vessels opened broadsides upon that seeming creation of magic, while the Americans within the redoubt, unhurt by the shots, worked steadily on.

That cannonade at dawn on a beautiful summer morning, broke the slumber of the troops and citizens in Boston, and filled both with astonishment. Very soon roofs, balconies, and steeples were alive with gazers upon the strange scene. Gage summoned his principal officers to a council, when it was decided that the Americans must be dislodged, at all hazards. The newlyarrived generals proposed to land troops on Charlestown Neck, and taking

CHAP. XVI.

BATTLE OF BUNKER'S HILL.

807

the "rebels' in reverse, cut off their retreat and prevent their reinforcement. Gage decided to attack them in front; and about twenty-five hundred troops, composed of infantry, grenadiers, and artillery, with twelve pieces of cannon, crossed the Charles River in boats, at a little past noon, under cover of a tremendous cannonade from the shipping and Copp's Hill, and landed toward the eastern extremity of the Charlestown peninsula, at the head of the present Chelsea Bridge. There Howe reconnoitred the American position, ordered his men to dine, and sent back to Boston for reinforcements. The men at the redoubt had toiled all the forenoon, completed their work, and at meridian exchanged the pick and spade for the accoutrements of war. Almost twelve hours had they labored, with little rest and food. They had cast up a redoubt about eight rods square, and an embankment on its left extending about a hundred yards toward the Mystic River; also a similar line on the right. The troops, wearied with work and want of food and sleep, asked for relief, but their leader said "No;" you have cast up the redoubt, and you shall have the honor of defending it." They asked for reinforcements, which he at first declined calling for, supposing the British would not attack him. At length there were indications in the city that they were coming out, and Prescott sent to General Ward for reinforcements. That officer tardily complied with the request, and sent the New Hampshire regiments of Stark and Reed; also some small field pieces. Some other detachments joined Prescott, and Dr. Joseph Warren, who had just received a commission as major-general, arrived with the cheering news that other reinforcements were coming. Putnam was there, flying from point to point to make dispositions for securing a victory, and urging Ward, who was afraid of an attack upon Cambridge, to send on reinforce

ments.

When Howe was about to move at three o'clock in the afternoon, the Americans were prepared for the contest. Prescott, with Warren, and the constructors of the redoubt, were within that work, excepting the Connecticut troops, who, with the New Hampshire forces, were at a rail fence and breastworks on the west of the redoubt. The artillery companies were between the breastwork and a rail fence on the eastern side, and three companies were stationed in Charlestown at the foot of Breed's Hill.

ес

Just as the fight was about to begin, reinforcements came for Howe and landed at the present entrance to the Navy Yard. They consisted of a regiment, some companies of light infantry and grenadiers, and a marine battalion led by Major Pitcairn of Lexington fame. The entire British force now confronting the Americans on the peninsula numbered more than three thousand.

At half-past three o'clock, Howe's great guns moved toward the redoubt, and opened fire upon the works. They were followed by the troops in two columns, commanded respectively by Generals Howe and Pigot, the infantry and grenadiers assailing the outworks. At the same time the guns on the ships and the battery on Copp's Hill hurled random shot in abundance upon the little earthwork. In the midst of the roaring thunder, the Americans were silent in the redoubt, and mostly so along the lines of intrenchments and fences, for their leader had ordered them not to fire until they

could see the whites of the eyes of the approaching foe. The silence was a riddle to the English. It was soon solved. When they were within the prescribed distance, up rose the concealed host, fifteen hundred strong, at the word Fire! and poured such a tremendous and destructive storm of bullets upon the climbers of the green slope, that whole platoons and even companies were prostrated as a scythe would have mown down the long grass through which they were wading. Flags fell to the ground like the tall lilies in a mown meadow, and the shattered army was horror-struck for a moment. The bugles sounded, and they fell back to the shore, when a shout of triumph went up from the crest of Breed's Hill. Howe soon rallied his men, and repeated the attack with a similar result.