XIX.
BUNKER HILL.
If the British regarded Charlestown Heights of such importance, whyshould not the provincials seize them? It must be done. Twilight wasstill lingering on the western horizon when the troops selected forthe expedition paraded on Cambridge Common. Colonel William Prescottwas to command them. He had fought at Louisburg, and was cool andbrave. With uncovered heads the regiments stood in front of themeetinghouse while Reverend Mr. Langdon, president of the college,offered prayer. Lieutenant Walden, having been upon Bunker Hill, ledthe way, followed by soldiers from Connecticut and Massachusetts, andtwo carts loaded with picks and shovels. They marched in silence.Lieutenant Walden conducted them across the Neck and up the slope ofthe Hill. It was nearly midnight before it was decided just whereColonel Gridley should mark out the contemplated fortifications.[69]Lieutenant Walden conducted Captain Nutting and ten sentinels to theferry landing. They were but a little distance from the frigateSomerset at anchor in the stream. Farther up, towards Lechmere'sPoint, were the Glasgow, Cerberus, and Symetry. Down the river, offMoulton's Point, lay the Lively and Falcon.
[Footnote 69: The orders to Prescott contained no definiteinstructions in regard to which of the hills should be fortified, andthe veteran engineer, Gridley, doubted whether it would be best tobegin the works on the highest eminence or the lower one, nearer theshipping. It seems probable his intention was to construct works onboth hills, but a lack of picks and shovels compelled him to confinehis work to the single redoubt on Breed's Hill.]
Leaving the sentinels to guard the shore, he rode to the summit of thehill, where the men were hard at work, delving in silence with pickand spade. There were not sufficient implements for all, but when onewas out of breath, another took his place, and before the firstglimmer of dawn appeared, the trench had been made breast deep.
"Four o'clock and all's well!" came from the sentinel on the Somerset,but a moment later a sheet of flame and a white cloud burst from theside of the Lively, and the roar of a gun broke the stillness of themorning.
The thunder rolled far away, arousing the British army, the people ofBoston, General Gage, and Lord Howe from their slumbers. BerinthiaBrandon, from her chamber window, beheld the warship Lively shroudedin smoke. Upon the green hill, where, the day before, the farmers hadbeen swinging their scythes, and where the partially cured hay waslying in windrows, she could see a bank of yellow earth. Again thethunder of the guns jarred her window, but at a signal from theSomerset the firing ceased.
Before sunrise all Boston was astir, moving towards Copp's Hill,gazing from windows and roofs upon the growing fortifications.Generals Gage and Howe ascended the steeple of Christ Church andlooked at the embankment with their telescopes.[70] A little laterofficers were hurrying along the streets with orders to the severalregiments to be ready to march at a moment's notice. Drums werebeating; battalions moving towards Long Wharf, the selectedrendezvous, from whence the troops were to be transported in boats toMoulton's Point, ascend the hill, and send the provincials flying fromtheir chosen position.
[Footnote 70: The headquarters of General Gage were in the house ofMr. Galloup, on Hull Street, a stone's-throw from Christ Church. Thehouse, a two-story wooden building with a gambrel roof, is stillstanding (1895).]
Such was the information brought to the Brandon home by AbrahamDuncan.
"You will have a splendid chance to see the battle from the housetop,"he said to Captain Brandon.
Cannon carriages were rumbling through the street, passing the Brandonhome, wheeling into the burial ground, and coming into position. Thegunners loaded the pieces and lighted their port fires, waved theirlint-stocks, and touched them to the priming. Flames and smoke belchedfrom the muzzle of the guns with deafening roar, sending the missilesupon the fortification.
While the cannoneers were reloading the guns, Berinthia, upon thehousetop with a telescope, saw a man leap up from the intrenchment andstand in full view upon the bank of earth, swinging his hat andshaking his fist.
"Oh father! mother! it is Tom! He's swinging his hat! Just see him!"she cried.
Again the cannon flamed, but with the flashing Tom leaped back intothe trench and was safe from the shot.
"I'm glad he's there. He's got the true stuff in him," said Mr.Brandon.
"I'm afraid he'll be killed!" exclaimed Mrs. Brandon, manifesting themother's solicitude and love.
"I glory in his pluck," said Berinthia.
People came from other sections of the town to behold the impendingbattle.
"May we presume to trespass upon your hospitality, Captain Brandon,"asked Mr. Newville, "and, if you have room, see this approachingcontest from your housetop?"
"Certainly. We give you and your family hearty welcome. We doubtlessshall see it from different political standpoints; you are truly loyalto the king; my sympathies, as you know, are with the provincials, butthat shall not diminish our personal friendship or my hospitality,"Captain Brandon replied, escorting Mr. and Mrs. Newville and MissNewville to the top of the house and providing them seats.
The forenoon wore away; Mrs. Brandon was busy preparing a lunch, andChloe soon had the table elaborately supplied with ham, tongue, thewhitest bread, appetizing cheese, doughnuts, and crumpets. The companypartook of the collation, drank each a glass of wine, and thenascended to the roof again.
Berinthia informed Ruth that Tom was in the redoubt. She had seen himthrough the telescope, standing on the embankment and waving his hat.
Lieutenant Robert Walden, at the moment, was five miles away, inMedford town, delivering a message to Colonel John Stark to hastenwith his regiment to Bunker Hill.
The meetinghouse bell was ringing the hour of noon when the drummerbeat the long roll for the parading of the regiment. The men filedpast the quarter-master's tent and each received a gill of powder inhis horn. And then with quickened step they crossed the Mystic andhastened along the road.
With the shot from the Symetry screeching around them, tossing thegravel in their faces, the men from New Hampshire crossed the neck ofland, ascended the hill, and came into position by a low stone wallsurmounted by rails. Lieutenant Walden's company was nearest theMystic River. Captain Daniel Moore's came next in line. The regimentwith Colonel Reed's New Hampshire regiment extended to the foot of thehill, in the direction of the redoubt.
"You will inform Colonel Prescott that I have arrived with my regimentand am in position," said Colonel Stark.
Riding towards the redoubt, Robert saluted General Putnam, who,mounted on a white horse, was going along the lines, telling the mento keep cool, save their powder, and aim at the cross-belts of theBritish.
It was a pleasure once more to meet Doctor Warren, who had beenappointed general, but who had come as a volunteer to take part in thebattle.
Colonel Prescott thanked Lieutenant Walden for the information sent byColonel Stark. He did not doubt the men from New Hampshire would be astrue as they were in the battles of Louisburg and Ticonderoga.[71]
[Footnote 71: There is no evidence that Colonel Stark was directed toreport to Colonel Prescott or any one else; neither is there anyevidence to show that Putnam was in command. We only know thatPrescott was directed to occupy Charlestown Heights. Later in the warPutnam, by virtue of his rank, would have been in command, or possiblyWarren, but Warren was there only as a volunteer, having beenappointed general the day before the battle. It seems probable that noone exercised supreme command, but Prescott, Putnam, Stark, and Reedacted individually with their separate commands, as the exigencies ofthe moment demanded.]
Dismounting from his horse and giving it in charge of a soldier,Lieutenant Walden walked along the trench, looked over the embankmentupon the British troops landing at Moulton's Point and forming in twocolumns, one of which, he concluded, was intending to march along theMystic to gain the rear of the redoubt and cut off the retreat ofthose within it. If such were the contemplated movement it would bemainly against the regiments of Stark and Reed. The other body oftroops seemed
to be forming to advance directly upon the redoubt.
While he was thus gazing, a hand clasped his arm; turning, he beheldTom Brandon.
"I've been wondering if you wouldn't be round here somewhere," saidTom.
"And I have been wondering where you would be," Robert replied.
"And so you are a lieutenant?" queried Tom, looking at the epaulet onhis shoulder. "I congratulate you.
"The whole family are on the roof to see the battle," he continued.
"Perhaps you can bring them a little nearer with my telescope," saidRobert, handing him the instrument.
Tom rested it on the embankment and looked towards the house.
"There's a crowd of 'em on the roof," he said, "father, mother, andBerinthia. There's a man with a white wig,--Mr. Newville, I guess; andthere's a girl talking with Berinthia--Ruth Newville."
With quickened pulse Robert adjusted the glass to his vision. Othersthan those mentioned by Tom were upon the roof, but one figure aloneengaged his attention. Oh, if he could but know how she regarded theimpending battle! Possibly since the events on Lexington Green and atConcord bridge her sympathies had been with the king. No, he could notthink it. The instincts of one so noble, good, and large-hearted mustever be opposed to tyranny and oppression. Whether favoring oropposing the course of the Colonies, what matter to him? Whatprobability of their ever meeting again? If meeting, would she ever beother than an old acquaintance? Never had he opened his heart to her;never by word or deed informed her that she was all the world to him.To her he would be only a friend of other days.
He could see a tall man in a general's uniform walking along theBritish lines. He halted, took off his cocked hat, stood erect, andsaid something to the soldiers. He concluded it was General Howe,telling them they were a noble body of men, and he did not doubt theywould show themselves valiant soldiers. He should not ask them to goany farther than he himself was willing to go. Robert and Tom couldhear the cheer which the soldiers gave him.
The columns began to march,--that commanded by General Howe along thebank of the Mystic; that by General Pigot straight up the hilltowards the redoubt.
Robert ran to the spot where he had left his horse, but it was notthere. He hastened down the slope, past the Connecticut troops underColonel Knowlton, and reported to Colonel Stark, who was directing hissoldiers to take up a rail fence in front of his line and reset it bythe low stone wall, and fill the space between the fences with hayfrom the windrows.
"It will serve as a screen," he said.
Stepping in front a short distance, he drove a stake in the ground.
"Don't fire till the redcoats are up to it," was his order.
The sun was shining from a cloudless sky. They upon the roof of theBrandon home saw the scarlet columns of the British moving along theMystic and towards the redoubt, the sunlight gleaming from theirmuskets and bayonets, the flags waving above them, the men keepingstep to the drumbeat; the great guns of the fleet and those on Copp'sHill flaming and thundering; white powder-clouds floating away anddissolving in thin air. They saw puffs of smoke burst from the headsof the advancing columns and heard the rattle of muskets. Cannon-shotplowed the ground and tossed up the gravel around the redoubt. Onlythe six cannon of the provincials were replying. Nearer moved thescarlet line. Again a rattling volley, with no answering musket shotfrom fence or embankment. What the meaning of such silence? Suddenly aline of light streamed from the river to the foot of the hill, andlike the lightning's flash ran along the embankment and round theredoubt. A rattle and roar like the waves of the sea upon a rockyshore came to their ears across the shining waters. Men were reelingto the ground, whole ranks going down before the pitiless storm. Thefront ranks had melted away. For a few moments there was a rattlinglike scattered raindrops, and then another lightning flash, and theBritish were fleeing in confusion.
Mr. Newville clenched his hands.
"I fear the king's troops are discomfited," he said.
Mrs. Newville with a long-drawn sigh covered her face with herhandkerchief as if to shut out the unwelcome spectacle.
"The redcoats are beaten!" Berinthia exclaimed.
"It is too soon to say that, daughter. The battle is not yet over; theking's troops would be cowardly were they to give up with only oneattempt."
Like a statue, her hands tightly grasping the balustrade, her bosomheaving with suppressed emotion, Ruth gazed upon the spectacle,uttering no exclamation. Taking the telescope, she turned it upon thescene, beholding the prostrate forms dotting the newly mown fields. Itwas not difficult to distinguish Lord Howe, the centre of a group ofofficers. He was evidently issuing orders to re-form the broken lines.Colonels, majors, and captains were rallying the disheartened men. Inthe intervals of the cannonade from the fleet a confused hum of voicescould be heard, officers shouting their orders. Beyond the prostrateforms, behind the low stone wall and screen of hay were theprovincials, biding their time. Officers were walking to and fro,--onemiddle-aged, with a colonel's epaulets, evidently commanding thetroops nearest the Mystic River. A subordinate officer of manly formwas receiving orders and transmitting them to others. Where had sheseen one like him? Long she gazed with unwonted bloom upon her cheeks.
Again the scarlet lines advanced,--the foremost platoons halting,firing, filing right and left, that those in the rear might reach thefront. Unmindful of the bullets pattering around him, the youngofficer walked composedly along the provincial line, from which cameno answering shot. Seemingly he was telling the men to wait. Suddenly,as before, the screen of hay became a sheet of flame, and the scarletranks again dissolved like a straw in a candle's flame, whole ranksreeling and falling, or fleeing to the place of landing.
Mr. Newville groaned aloud. Again Mrs. Newville covered her face.Captain Brandon, Mrs. Brandon, and Berinthia, out of respect to theirguests, gave no sign of exultation; but from windows, roofs, doorways,and steeples, like the voice of many waters, came the joyful murmur ofthe multitude, revealing to General Gage, up in the tower of ChristChurch, the sympathy of the people with the provincials.
No exclamation of satisfaction or disappointment fell from the lips ofRuth, still looking with the telescope towards the provincial line bythe Mystic, and the manly figure of the officer receiving instructionsfrom his superior.
There was a commotion among the troops in the burial ground beforethem.
"Fall in! Fall in!" General Clinton shouted. They hastily formed incolumn and marched down the steep descent to the ferry landing. Fromthe tower of Christ Church, together with General Gage, Clinton hadseen the discomfiture of Lord Howe and General Pigot, and, with threehundred men, was hastening to reinforce them, stepping into boats andcrossing the river.
The people on the housetops needed no telescopes to see what was goingon across the stream. Slowly the lines re-formed, the men reluctantlytaking their places. They who had fought at Ticonderoga, who had wonthe victory on the Plains of Abraham at Quebec, never had faced sopitiless a storm.
"It is downright murder," said the men.
They upon the housetops could see the British officers flourishingtheir swords, gesticulating, and even striking the disheartenedsoldiers, compelling them to stand once more in the ranks. Twice theyhad advanced, encumbered with their knapsacks, in accordance withstrict military rule; now they were laying them aside. There werefewer men in the ranks than at the beginning of the battle, but thehonor of England was at stake. The rabble of undisciplined countrybumpkins must be driven from their position, or the troops of Englandwould be forever disgraced. General Howe had learned wisdom. He hadthought to sweep aside the line of provincials behind the low stonewall, gain the rear, cut off the retreat of those in the redoubt,capture them, and win a notable victory. He had not expected suchresistance, such a destructive fire as had greeted the light infantryalong the banks of the stream. In the two attempts, he had discoveredthe weak place in the provincial line,--the space between the redoubtand the low stone wall. In planning the third movement, he resolved tomake a feint
of advancing once more towards the wall, but wouldconcentrate his attack upon the redoubt, and especially upon thatportion of the line least defended.
The summer sun, shining from a cloudless sky, was declining towardsthe western horizon. It was past four o'clock before the lines wereready. Once more the guns of the fleet hurled solid shot and shellsupon the redoubt. Captain Brandon, looking from his housetop down uponthe guns almost beneath him, saw a gunner ramming an inflammable shellinto the cannon. The shell, with smoking torch, screamed across theriver, aimed not at the bank of yellow earth on Bunker Hill, but atthe houses in Charlestown.
"They intend to burn the village," he said.
Soon flames were bursting from window, doorway, and roof. The wind,blowing from the south, carried sparks and cinders to the adjoininghouses, glowing in the summer heat. A wail of horror from the peoplerent the air.
"That is mean, cruel, wicked, dastardly!" exclaimed Ruth, withflashing eyes. "It's inhuman. I shall hate the man who has orderedit."[72]
[Footnote 72: The only defense of the British for the destruction ofCharlestown is the assertion that the advancing troops were fired uponby provincials secreted in one of the houses on the outskirts of thetown.]
Through the previous stages of the conflict no word of approval ordisapproval had escaped her lips.
"Ruth! Ruth! Don't say that!" Mr. Newville cried, astonished by suchan outburst of indignation.
"If General Gage were here I would say it to his face. What have thosepeople done that their homes should be destroyed? They are notfighting the battle. Does he think that by burning the town he willfrighten those men in the redoubt into submission? Were I one of them,I would die before I would surrender."
Her eyes were flashing. In her earnestness she had removed her hat.The gentle breeze was fanning her heated brow. She stood erect, aqueen in her dignity and beauty. Never had Mr. and Mrs. Newvilledreamed that there was such pent-up fire in her soul, such energy,fearlessness, and instinctive comprehension of justice and right.Captain and Mrs. Brandon, Berinthia, and all around gazed upon herwonderingly and with admiration.
The fire was sweeping on,--leaping from building to building, lickingup houses, stables, and workshop, reaching the meetinghouse, kindlingthe shingles on its roof, the clapboards upon its walls, bursting fromdoors and windows, climbing the spire to the gilded vane, burning tillbeams and timbers gave way; then came the crash,--a single stroke ofthe bell tolling as it were a requiem.
Under the cloud from the burning town the scarlet lines once moreadvanced,--not towards the screen of hay, but in the direction of theredoubt. With the glass Ruth saw the manly figure she had seen before,seemingly receiving instructions from his superior officer, andrunning towards the threatened point of attack. The scarlet lineswere mounting the breastwork. Men were firing in each other's faces;thrusting with the bayonet. She could see a stalwart provincial in hisshirt-sleeves beat out the brains of a Britisher with the butt of hismusket, and the next moment go down with a bayonet through his heart.The manly figure was in the thick of the melee,--a half dozen redcoatsrushing upon him. His sword was flashing in the sunlight as he parriedtheir bayonets, keeping them at bay. Guns flashed, and the whitepowder-cloud shut out the scene. When it cleared, he had gone down,and the redcoats were swinging their hats. Their shout of victory cameacross the waters. Those around saw Ruth clasp her hand upon herheart.
"They are beaten, and he is shot!" she cried, sinking into Berinthia'sarms.
"Who's shot?" her mother asked. There was no answer from the quiveringlips.
"The excitement is too much for her," said Mrs. Newville, as they boreher to Berinthia's chamber.
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