ORDER OF NARRATION. INTRODUCTION. I. Purpose of the Battle. Boston to be entered. II. Resume of History. Arrival of Gen. Gage. Condition and Position of Boston 66 No business but that of War." Proposed intrenchment. Alarm in New York. Providing for the Poor. III. Preparing for the Contest. Disposition of the Army. IV. The Movement. Prayer and march. Selection of Breed's Hill. The Redoubt. The Rail fence. Order to the Rail fence. V. Boston side of the River. The alarm in the town. Council of War. Movement of the Troops. Embarkation. Appearance of Troops. Reconnoitring and Refreshments. Re-enforcements-Speech of Gen. Howe. VI. The Engagement. First Repulse at the Redoubt. VII. Accounts of the Battle. British Account. Account of Provincial Congress. The Dead on the Field. VIII. Burning of Charlestown. The fate of Charlestown. IX. General Warren. His presence as a vounteer. X. Remarks on the Battle. Charlestown in Flames, (map.) APPROXIMATE DIVISION OF TIME during the battle. End of the Fighting. John Adams, referring to Mr. Lynch, one of the Delegates from Virginia, (speaking of Washington as an orator,) says,—“ He told us that Washington made the most eloquent speech at the Virginia convention that ever was made. Says he "I will raise one thousand troops, subsist them at my own expense, and march to the relief of Boston." ** "In that day of general affection and brotherhood, the blow given to Boston smote on every patriotic heart from one end of the country to the other." * "The 17th of June saw the four New England Colonies standing here, side by side, to triumph or to fall together; and there was with them from that moment to the end of the war, what I hope will remain with them forever, one cause, one country, one heart." [Webster, 1825. “This day thirty years since, I was at the taking of Louisbourg, when it was surrendered to us; it is a fortunate day for America : we shall certainly beat them!" [Capt. Trevett to Major Gridley. "The consequences of this battle were just of the same importance as the revolution itself." [Webster. NEW HISTORY OF THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. INTRODUCTION. THE remarkable movement which led to the BATTLE of BUNKER HILL,- an engagement almost as national in its results as the DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE, was as great a surprise to Gen. Gage, to say the least of it, as was his excursion to Concord to the provincials. The two together covered that great step, which it required just two months to take, from peace to war: not provincial, not colonial, but continental. The Battle of Bunker Hill -certainly rather the occupation of Bunker Hill - was distinctly one of the measures contemplated for driving Gen. Gage and his army out of Boston, for the relief of that distressed town and the colony. Putnam, it is agreed, urged it upon Gen. Ward, while Warren was present, and Warren said, "I admire your spirit, and respect Gen. Ward's prudence: we shall need them both." And at another time, when the great pall of civil war was hanging over the country, he said, "almost thou persuadest me, Gen. Putnam; but I must still think the project a rash one." This was on or about the 15th of June, when 8 4 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. Warren fully participated in the general wish to drive Gage out of the colony. This, in fact, is what the army, which had assembled at Cambridge at the call of the Congress and the Committee of Safety, was intended to accomplish; and the action, it is now well known, was hurried on by a knowledge of what Gen. Gage, on the day after the battle, was prepared to undertake. It will probably not be denied that there were some mistakes of commission or omission made at the time, according to human judgment; and there are some things which, it seems to us, are not, and perhaps never will be, understood. We propose to speak of the battle, however, not altogether as generally described and regarded, but in its connection, as it appears to us, with the true history of the times, from the eighteenth day of April, when there was peace, to the eighteenth day of June, when there was war. |