Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution

by Nathaniel Philbrick

  Chapter Ten—The Battle

  John Chester’s account of the alarm in Cambridge and of how he and his men hid their uniforms beneath their civilian clothes is in the appendix to HSOB, pp. 390–91. A transcript of Azor Orne’s June 17, 1775, letter to General John Thomas in which he tells Thomas to “judge whether this is designed to deceive or not” is in a February 7, 2012, auction lot description, http://www.nhinsider.com/press-releases/2012/2/7/rare-documents-artifacts-of-new-hampshire-representative-up.html. On the confusion emanating from Ward’s headquarters in Cambridge, see French’s FYAR, pp. 246–47. On the mechanics of firing a cannon, I have looked to Michael McAfee’s Artillery of the American Revolution, p. 16, and S. James Gooding’s An Introduction to British Artillery, p. 38. Peter Brown writes of the artillery officer swinging his hat around his head in his June 28, 1775, letter to his mother in Diary of Ezra Stiles, 1:595–96. Richard Ketchum in Decisive Day cites a June 22, 1775, letter that describes how the rebels fell to the ground when they saw the flash of the British cannon (p. 250); Ketchum also cites James Thacher’s account of how cannon balls “are clearly visible in the form of a black ball in the day, but at night they appear like a fiery meteor with a blazing tail,” and how “When a shell falls, it whirls around, burrows, and excavates the earth to a considerable extent” (p. 249). Prescott recounts how he “ordered the train, with two field-pieces” to go and oppose the landing of the British in his August 25, 1775, letter to John Adams in the appendix to HSOB, p. 395. French provides an excellent summary of the various descriptions of the rail fence in a footnote in French’s FYAR, p. 227. Howe describes the rail fence as “cannon proof” in his June 22–24, 1775, letter in CKG, p. 221.

  My account of John Stark is based on Caleb Stark’s Memoir and Correspondence of General John Stark, pp. 11–29, and Ben Rose’s John Stark, pp. 9–51. Frothingham in HSOB describes Andrew McClary as “of an athletic frame,” p. 186. Peter Brown tells of three men being cut in half by a single cannonball in his letter in Diary of Ezra Stiles, 1:595–96. Henry Dearborn tells of Stark’s insistence that they maintain a “very deliberate pace” across Charlestown Neck in “An Account of the Battle of Bunker Hill,” pp. 6–7. The description of Putnam’s “summer dress” is in Henry Dawson’s Gleanings, pt. 4, p. 157. Francis Jewett Parker describes Putnam as “one to whom constant motion was almost a necessity” in Colonel William Prescott, p. 18. James Wilkinson walked the battlefield with John Stark after the evacuation and his account, not published until 1816, was based on notes taken during that interview; in Charles Coffin’s History of the Battle of Breed’s Hill, Wilkinson describes how Stark directed “his boys” to build the stone wall at the Mystic River beach (pp. 9–17). Samuel Swett cites a Dr. Snow’s claim that “rivalry and jealousy” existed not only between Stark and Putnam but also between Stark and Reed in History of Bunker Hill Battle, supplement, p. 9; Swett also cites Reverend William Bentley’s claim that Stark said that if Putnam had “done his duty, he would have decided the fate of his country in the first action,” as well as Stark’s description of the redoubt as “the pen” and “the want of judgment in the works” (supplement, p. 9). Allen French discusses how “localism” was a persistent problem during the early days of the provincial army in FYAR, pp. 60–61. Francis Parker in Colonel William Prescott writes of the presence of “too much intercolonial jealousy” among the provincial ranks (p. 20).

  David Townsend recounts his finding Joseph Warren at Hastings House in “Reminiscence of Gen. Warren,” p. 230. As Samuel Forman points out in a personal communication, Townsend, like William Eustis, was one of Warren’s medical apprentices, and in the months after Warren’s death, both Townsend and Eustis ended up paying Sally Edwards’s bills at the Ames tavern. Since Townsend’s is the only account we have of Warren at Hastings House on June 17, the possibility exists that Townsend was, in Forman’s words, “covering for Warren, who maybe did go to Dedham that morning.” Warren’s claim that he “should die were I to remain at home while my fellow citizens are shedding their blood for me” is in Samuel Swett’s History of Bunker Hill Battle, p. 25. Jeremy Belknap was told by Joseph Henderson, who was a clerk of “the board of war” during the battle, about how Warren “was very desirous to go” to Breed’s Hill and how he deceived his associates when “he pretended that he was going to Roxbury,” in “Extracts from Dr. Belknap’s Note-books,” pp. 91–98. Edward Warren writes about his conversation with a woman who claimed that Joseph Warren visited her pregnant mother on the day of the Battle of Bunker Hill, in The Life of John Warren, pp. 22. Allen French discusses Howe’s strategy and quotes the oft-cited words of Howe’s mentor James Wolfe on how to attack an entrenchment, in FYAR, pp. 234–35; French also cites Clinton’s account of how the floating batteries were unsuccessfully moved over to the Mystic River, p. 230. Burgoyne describes Howe’s deployment of troops as “perfect” in his June 25, 1775, letter to Lord Stanley in SSS, pp. 133; Burgoyne also describes how he and Clinton on Copp’s Hill received the order to burn Charlestown. The detail that one British carcass “fell short near the ferry way; a second fell in the street, and the town was on fire” is in Samuel Swett’s History of Bunker Hill Battle, p. 38, as is the mention of the detachment of men from the Somerset. Henry Dearborn writes in “An Account of the Battle of Bunker Hill” of how the smoke from Charlestown “hung like a thundercloud” (p. 9). According to John Clarke, who quotes Howe’s speech to his officers and soldiers in Samuel Drake’s Bunker Hill: The Story Told in Letters, Howe made his remarks as Charlestown went up in flames beside them (p. 43). The presence of “innumerable swallows” is mentioned in a footnote in Samuel Swett’s History of Bunker Hill Battle, p. 33. William Prescott in his August 25, 1775, letter writes of being left with “perhaps 150 men in the fort” in the appendix to HSOB, p. 396. Ebenezer Bancroft in his Narrative, in John Hill’s Bi-Centennial of Old Dunstable, writes of how “our men turned their heads every minute to look on the one side . . . for the reinforcements” (p. 60).

  A June 26, 1775, letter from an unnamed American tells of the provincials being “arrayed in red worsted caps and blue great coats, with guns of different sizes,” in LAR, p. 150; this same writer speaks of Joseph Warren having “dressed himself like Lord Falkland in his wedding suit and distinguished himself by unparalleled acts of bravery during the whole action” (p. 151). Falkland was a royalist during the English Civil War who, growing increasingly disillusioned with the conflict, reputedly courted death and was killed in the Battle of Newbury in 1643. On Warren’s activities after leaving Townsend prior to crossing Charlestown Neck, see Frothingham’s LJW, pp. 513–15. Samuel Swett tells how Warren was greeted in the redoubt “with loud hurrahs,” p. 32. James Wilkinson is the source for Warren’s words to Prescott, reported to Wilkinson by Warren’s apprentice William Eustis, who was at the redoubt that day, in History of the Battle of Breed’s Hill, p. 15. John Jeffries’s claim that the younger son of John Lovell, loyalist master of the Boston Latin School, was responsible for the improperly sized cannonballs is in Samuel Swett’s History of Bunker Hill Battle, supplement, p. 24. The terrain through which the regulars advanced toward the provincial forces is described in “The Criticism of the Battle . . . , August 3, 1779” in the appendix to HSOB, p. 399. Henry Clinton’s description of Howe’s troop formation as “one long straggling line two deep” is cited by Allen French in FYAR, p. 235. Burgoyne’s description of Charlestown burning is in his June 25, 1775, letter to Lord Stanley in SSS, pp. 133–34. Henry Lee writes of “the conflagration of a town . . . blazing in their faces,” in “Reflections on the Campaign of Sir William Howe,” in Charles Coffin’s History of the Battle of Breed’s Hill, p. 8. John Eliot’s claim that Joseph Warren believed Britain “never would send large armies” is in Brief Biographical Sketches, p. 472.

  Prescott’s son recounts how his father told the men in the redoubt to hold their fire and “aim at their hips,” in Frothingham’s Battle-Field of Bunker Hill, p. 20. Ebenezer Bancr
oft recounts how Prescott instructed them “to take particular notice of the fine coats” in John Hill’s Bi-Centennial of Old Dunstable, p. 61. James Wilkinson recounts how Stark had made a mark in the bank along the Mystic to indicate when the provincials should open up on the British; Stark also recounted how he had told his men to hold their fire till they saw the enemy’s “half-gaiters” in Charles Coffin’s History of the Battle of Breed’s Hill, p. 13. Philip Johnson remembered Putnam saying, “Don’t fire till you see the whites of their eyes,” in Samuel Swett’s History of Bunker Hill Battle, supplement, p. 17. Wilkinson describes how the Fusiliers advanced “as if not apprised of what awaited them,” in Charles Coffin’s History of the Battle of Breed’s Hill, p. 13. On the formation of the provincials behind the stone wall, John Elting writes, “Most of the American infantry originally seems to have been formed in the usual three ranks behind their defenses, each rank to fire in turn on order and then drop back to reload so that a steady fire could be maintained,” in The Battle of Bunker’s Hill, p. 31. The description of “a continued sheet of fire” from the provincials is in a July 5, 1775, letter from an unnamed British officer quoted by French in FYAR, p. 239. A British surgeon named Grant writes in a June 23, 1775, letter that given the large number of men “wounded in the legs, we are inclined to believe it was their design, not wishing to kill them, but leave them as burdens on us, to exhaust our provisions and engage our attention, as well as intimidate the rest of the soldiery,” in LAR, p. 141; Grant also complains that the provincials charged their muskets “with old nails and angular pieces of iron.” Stark’s description of the dead at the beach being as “thick as sheep in a fold” is in Wilkinson’s account in Charles Coffin’s History of the Battle of Breed’s Hill, p. 13. Peter Thacher was the minister watching from the opposite shore of the Mystic River; his observations became the basis of the Committee of Safety’s account in the appendix to HSOB, pp. 382–83.

  Howe tells how the grenadiers disobeyed orders and stopped to fire at the provincial lines in his June 22–24, 1775, letter in CKG, p. 222. A provincial soldier’s claim that “there was no need of waiting for a chance to fire” comes from an account in the August 3, 1775, Rivington Gazette in the Appendix to HSOB, p. 397. Henry Dearborn tells how the provincials sought out the British officers in “An Account of the Battle of Bunker Hill,” p. 11. John Clarke’s account of the rebel sharpshooter who killed or wounded “no less than 20 officers” is in Samuel Drake’s Bunker Hill, pp. 48–49. John Chester writes of the disorder they found on Bunker Hill in a July 22, 1775, letter in the appendix to HSOB, p. 391. Samuel Webb writes of the terrifying scene as they descended “into the valley from off Bunker Hill,” in a July 11, 1775, letter in Frothingham, The Battle-Field of Bunker Hill, p. 33. The description of “an incessant stream of fire” from the provincials and of the futility of attempting to advance is from a July 5, 1775, letter from an unnamed British officer, quoted by French in FYAR, p. 239. Samuel Swett in History of Bunker Hill Battle writes of how the regulars piled the bodies of their dead into a “horrid breastwork,” claiming that his information came from “Mr. Smith of Salem,” and was “unquestionable” (p. 37). An unnamed officer in a June 19, 1775, letter writes “we may say with Falstaff . . . that ‘they make us here but food for gunpowder,’ ” in LAR, p. 136. Samuel Swett writes about how Captain Ford brought up an abandoned cannon to the American lines in History of Bunker Hill Battle, p. 31; in the supplement to this work he also includes the testimony of several men who saw Putnam firing one of the abandoned fieldpieces (pp. 6, 16) as well as Amos Foster’s account of Hill, “a British deserter,” shouting “You have made a furrow through them!” (p. 14).

  According to Samuel Swett’s History of Bunker Hill Battle, Prescott was assisted by both Colonels Robinson and Buttrick (both of whom were at the North Bridge on April 19) when it came to running “round the top of the parapet and [throwing] up the muskets,” p. 34. Peter Brown writes of how the regulars “found a choky mouthful of us” in his June 28, 1775, letter to his mother quoted in Diary of Ezra Stiles, 1:595–96. Prescott writes in an August 25, 1775, letter of how he “commanded a cessation till the enemy advanced within 30 yards, when we gave them such a hot fire that they were obliged to retire nearly 150 yards,” in the appendix to HSOB, p. 396. The reference to Pigot’s force being “staggered” is in a July 5, 1775, letter from an unnamed British officer quoted by French in FYAR, p. 239. Frothingham in HSOB quotes an article in a British journal that recounts that Howe’s servant (a “Mr. Evans”) “attended the whole time with wine and other necessaries . . . during which, Evans had one of the bottles in his hand dashed to pieces, and got a contusion on one of his arms at the same time, by a ball from some of the provincials,” p. 199. In a June 23, 1775, letter an unnamed officer writes that “for near a minute [Howe] was quite alone,” in LAR, p. 144. Howe tells of experiencing “a moment I have never felt before” in his June 22–24, 1775, letter in CKG, p. 222.

  Lord Rawdon recounts how the men “at last grew impatient and all crying out, ‘Push on! Push on!’ advanced” in a June 20, 1775, letter in SSS, pp. 130. Prescott’s son writes of Howe marching at the head of his troops, “distinguished . . . by his figure and gallant bearing,” in Frothingham, The Battle-Field of Bunker Hill, p. 22. A provincial soldier whose letter appeared in the August 3, 1775, Rivington Gazette writes of the “extraordinary deep files” of the British column during the third and final advance and how the regulars “pushed over the walls with their guns in their left hand and their swords in their right,” in the appendix to HSOB, p. 398; this same soldier writes of how the dust and smoke in the redoubt made it “so dark in the square that he was obliged to feel about for the outlet.” In a July 11, 1775, letter Samuel Webb writes that “Fight, conquer, or die was what [the British] officers was plainly heard to say very often,” in Frothingham, The Battle-Field of Bunker Hill, p. 32. Samuel Swett recounts how the British used artillery to “turn the left of the breastwork [and] to enfilade the line,” in History of Bunker Hill Battle, p. 41. Thacher’s account of how those behind the breastwork were forced to “retire within their little fort” is in the Committee of Safety’s Account in the appendix to HSOB, p. 383. Wilkinson tells of Stark’s decision to “retreat reluctantly” in Charles Coffin’s History of the Battle of Breed’s Hill, p. 14. Prescott’s son recounts how his father told his men to make “every shot . . . tell” and how they broke open an abandoned cartridge in Frothingham’s Battle-Field of Bunker Hill, pp. 21–22. John Clarke recounts the inspiring words a grenadier sergeant delivered to the surviving privates in his company, as well as the testimony of a marine captain as to how this was on three accounts the “hottest” action he’d ever experienced, in Samuel Drake’s Bunker Hill, pp. 46, 49–50.

  Adjutant John Waller’s account of the fighting comes from two different accounts: the first written on June 21, 1775, at MHS, and the second written on June 22, 1775, and in Samuel Drake’s Bunker Hill, pp. 28–30. Captain George Harris writes of his vegetable garden in a June 12, 1775, letter printed in Stephen Lushington, The Life and Services of General Lord Harris, p. 40, which also includes his account of being wounded on the parapet of the redoubt (pp. 41–42). Henry Dearborn tells of how every regular who first mounted the parapet was shot down in “Account of Bunker Hill,” p. 8. Allen French quotes from an August 3, 1775, letter written by Lord Rawdon in which he describes the tenacity of the provincials in the redoubt, in FYAR, pp. 247–48. Needham Maynard’s account of how the provincial fire “went out like an old candle” is in J. H. Temple’s History of Framingham, p. 291. Ebenezer Bancroft writes of firing his last shot at a British officer and his struggle to escape the redoubt in “Bunker Hill Battle” in John Hill’s Bi-Centennial of Old Dunstable, pp. 61–62. On the possibility that Major Pitcairn was killed not by Bancroft but by the African American Salem Poor, see the evidence presented by J. L. Bell in Washington’s Headquarters, pp. 279–81. Samuel Paine’s June 22, 1775, account of what he saw
from Beacon Hill is in AAS Proceedings 19 (1908–9):435–38. Thomas Sullivan compares the provincial soldiers to “bees in a beehive” in “The Common British Soldier—from the Journal of Thomas Sullivan 49th Regiment of Foot,” p. 233. Prescott’s son describes his father’s sword-wielding exit from the redoubt in Frothingham’s Battle-Field of Bunker Hill, p. 22.