The Battle of Bunker Hill
The obstinate effort of the British ministry to oblige the Americans to pay taxes in the laying of which they had had no voice, and to force them to submit to their will by military force and severe commercial restrictions, had laid a train of irritation through the colonies which needed but a spark to kindle it into a blaze. That spark the fire of musketry at Lexington gave. A people who ten years before were fully loyal to England had been filled with rebellious sentiment by the effort to reduce them below the standard of liberty that was enjoyed by the English people. It was not, however, too late yet to bring them back to a state of loyalty. Had the troops been removed, the commercial restrictions abated, and the laying of taxes left to themselves, it is not impossible that the region of the United States might yet have remained a portion of the British empire. It became impossible from the moment of the firing upon the militia at Lexington and Concord. The train which the ministry had laid was ignited by that act, and the whole people flamed up into war with a suddenness that must have greatly amazed those good easy legislators who were so firmly convinced that the Americans would not fight. In New England, in particular, the tide was definitely turned from peace to war. As the tidings were spread by rapidly-riding messengers, the farmers and artisans on all sides dropped the implements of industry, seized those of war, and marched in all haste upon Boston. One incident of this kind has become famous. Israel Putnam, who had won honors in the French and Indian War, and Captain Hubbard, were at work on their farms in adjoining fields, when a man on horseback, with a drum, stopped to tell them of the fight. Hubbard, a man of method, at once walked home, put things in order, filled his knapsack, and started for the camp; but fiery old Putnam simply unyoked his team from the plough, sent his son home to tell his mother what had happened, mounted his horse, and dashed away for Boston, which he reached in twenty-four hours, though it was nearly one hundred miles distant.
The militia were gathering with surprising rapidity. Within a few days an army of twenty thousand men was encamped around Boston, extending from Dorchester to the Mystic River, and completely enclosing the British troops within the city. Generals Ward and Putnam were made commanders of the army, Ward having the chief command. In all haste they constructed lines of intrenchment sufficiently strong to encourage their undisciplined forces. During this interval, Gage, who had made no effort to face the provincials, was reinforced by troops under Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne, and had now an army of from ten to twelve thousand trained soldiers. Thus strengthened, he prepared to act with more energy, and issued a proclamation declaring those in arms rebels and traitors, and offering pardon to all who would go quietly home, with the exception of the arch-rebels Samuel Adams and John Hancock. The story of the stirring events which immediately followed we extract from Cutter's "Life of Israel Putnam."]
THE American commanders, having ascertained that the British intended to take possession of the heights of Charlestown, as a vantage-ground from which to dislodge them from some of their intrenchments, and thus make a way into the country, resolved, by a sudden and secret movement, to defeat the project, by advancing to that position a portion of the left wing of their own camp.
Putnam, who had already carefully examined the ground, was strenuously in favor of this movement, and had urged it again and again in council, with all the arguments at his command. In common with Prescott, and other veterans, who understood the character of the American soldiery and knew the immense advantage to the order and discipline of the army which would be derived from active and hazardous service, he had repeatedly proposed to lead a party which should invite an engagement with the enemy.
The measure was ably opposed by some of the best and bravest men in the council, and there were obstacles in the way of its accomplishment which would have appalled any other men than those who planned and achieved it. One of these was the want of powder. There were, at that time, only eleven barrels in the public depots, and sixty-seven barrels in all Massachusetts,-- scarcely enough, under the most prudent management, for one day's fighting. To this objection General Pomeroy answered that he was ready to lead his men to battle with but five cartridges apiece. They were all experienced marksmen, and would fire no random shots; and if every American killed his five, they would have but little occasion for more powder.
The bolder counsels prevailed, and orders were issued to Colonels Prescott and Bridge, and the regiment of Colonel Frye, to be prepared for an expedition with all their men who were fit for service, and with one day's provision. The same order was issued to one hundred and twenty men of General Putnam's regiment, under the command of the brave Captain Knowlton, and one company of artillery, with two field-pieces. Putnam, having the general superintendence of the expedition, and Colonel Gridley, the chief engineer, accompanied the troops.