^'^W- IJ/ /?Vh/ /7/f Orro'inal Pirtiire ]:)y Trioivbiill. />/-*//..//«/ /'v S.iMi<-/^^,ery. X^ HV . I'/Sv/, aosf.in . AN ESSAY OS THE LIFE OF THE HONOURABLE MAJOR GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM ADDRESSED TO THE STATE SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI IN CONNECTICUT, AikI first published by their order. BY COL. DAVID HUMPHREYS. WITH NOTES AND ADDITIONS. WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING AN HISTORICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OP BY S. SWETT. BOSTON : PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL AVEfeY, »7Vo. 89 Cowt Street. 1818. TO THE HON. COL. JEREMIAH WADSWORTH, President of the State Society of the Cincinnati in Connecticut, &c. My dear Sir, Unavoidable absence will prevent me from performing the grateful task assigned me by the State Society of the Cincinnati on the fourth day of July next. Though I can- not personally address them, I wish to demon- strate, by some token of affectionate remem- brance, the sense I entertain of the honour they have more than once conferred' upon me hy their suffrages. Meditating in what manner to accomplish this object, it occurred to me, that an attempt to preserve the actions of General Putnam, in the archives of our State Society, would be acceptabJe to its m^ibers, as they had all served with great satisfaction under his imme- diate orders. An essay on the life of a per- b LETTER TO COLONEL WADSWbRTH. son SO elevated in military rank, and so con- versant in extraordinary scenes, could not be destitute of amusement and instruction, and vrould possess the advantage of presenting for imitation a respectable model of public and private virtues. General Putnam is universally acknowledg- ed to have been as brave and as honest a man as ever America produced; but the distin- guishing features of his character, and the par- ticular transactions of his life, are but imper- fectly knovt^n. He seems to have been form- ed on purpose for the age in which he lived. His native courage, unshaken integrity, and established reputation as a soldier, were ne- cessary in the early stages of our opposition to the designs of Great Britain, and gave un- bounded confidence to our troops in their first conflicts in the field of battle. The enclosed manuscript justly claims in- dulgence for its venial errors, as it is the first effort in Biography that has been made on ^ this continent. The attempt, 1 am conscious, is laudable, whatever may be the failure in point of execution. I am happy to find the Society of the Cin- cinnati is now generally regarded in a favoura- LETTER TO COLONEL WADSWORTH. 7 ble manner. Mankind, with few exceptions, are disposed to do justice to the motives on which it was founded. For ourselves, we can never recall to mind the occasion, without feehng the most tender emotions of friendship and sensibility. At the dissolution of the ar- my, w^hen we retired to separate walks of life, from the toils of a successful war, in which we had been associated during a very important part of our lives, the pleasing idea, and the fond hope of meeting once a year, which gave birth to our fraternal institution^ were necessa- ry consolations to sooth the pangs that tore our bosoms at the melancholy hour of parting. When our hands touched, perhaps for the last time, and our tongues refused to perform their office in bidding farewell, heaven witnessed and approved the purity of our mtentions in the ardour of our affections. May we per- severe in the union of our friendship, and the exertion of our benevolence; regardless of the censures of jealous suspicion, which charges our designs with selfishness, and ascribes our actions to improper motives; while we real- ize sentiments of a nobler nature in our anni- versary festivities, and our hearts dilate with ap honest joy, in opening the hand of benefi- 8 LETTER TO COLONEL WADSWORTH. cence to the indigent widow and unprotected orphan of our departed friends. I pray jou, my dear Sir, to present my most respectful compliments to the members of the Society, and to assure them, on my part, that whensoever it shall be in my power, I shall esteem it the felicity of my life to at- tend their anniversaries. I have the honour to be. With sentiments of the highest consideration and esteem. Your most obedient and most humble servant, D. HUMPHREYS. Mount-Vernon, in Virginia, June 4, 1788. AiV ESSAY ON THE LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM* To TREAT of recent transactions and per- sons still living, is always a delicate, and fre- quently a thankless office. Yet, while the par- tiality of friends, or the malignity of enemies, decides with rashness on every delineation of character, or recital of circumstances, a con- solation remains, that distant nations, and re- moter ages, free from the influence of preju- dice or passion, will judge with impartiality, and appreciate with justice. We have fallen upon an era singularly prolific in extraordi- nary personages, and dignified by splendid events. Much is expected from the selections of the judicious biographer, as well as from the labours of the faithful historian. What- ever prudential reasons may now occur to postpone the portrait of our own times, the difficulties which oppose themselves to the execution, instead of being diminished, will in- crease with the lapse of years. Every day will extinguish some life that was dear to fame, 2 10 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. and obliterate the memorial of some deed which would have constituted the delight and admiration of the world. So transient and indistinguishable are the traits of character, so various and inexplicable the springs of action, so obscure and perisha- ble the remembrance of human affairs, that, xmless attempts are made to sketch the pic- ture, while the present generation is living, the likeness will be for ever lost, or only preserv- ed bj a vague recollection ; disguised perhaps, by the whimsical colourings of a creative im- agination. It will, doubtless, hereafter be an object of regret, that those who, having themselves been conspicuous actors on the theatre of pub- lic hfe, and who, in conjunction with a knowl- edge of facts, possess abilities to paint those characters, and describe those events which, during the progress of the American Revolu- tion, interested and astonished mankind, should feel an insuperable reluctance to assume the task-^a task which, if executed with fidelity, must, from the dignity of its subject, become grateful to the patriots of all nations, and profitable in example to the remotest posteri- ty. Equally severe will be the mortification of contemplating the reveries and fictions w^hich have been substituted by hacknied writ- ers in the place of historical facts. Nor should we suppress our indignation against that class of professional authors, who, placed in the vale of penury p.nd obscurity, at an immense LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. II distance from the scenes of action, and all op- portunities of acquiring the necessary docu- ments, with insufferable effrontery, obtrude their fallacious and crude performances on a credulous public. Did the result of their lu- cubrations terminate only in relieving their own distresses, or gratifying their individual vanity, it might be passed in silent contempt. But the effect is extensive, permanent, and perni- cious. The lie,* however improbable or monstrous, which has once assumed the sem- blance of truth, by being often repeated with minute and plausible particulars, is, at length, so thoroughly established, as to obtain uni- versal credit, defy contradiction, and frustrate every effort of refutation. Such is the mis- chief, such are the unhappy consequences on the bewildered mind, that the reader has no alternative, but to become the dupe of his credulity, or distrust the veracity of almost all human testimony. Aftsr having long been the sport of fiction, he will, perhaps, probably run into the opposite extreme, and give up all con- fidence in the annals of ancient as well as mod- ern times ; and thus the easy believer of fine fables and marvellous stories will find, at last, his historical faith change to scepticism, and end in infidelity. * The writer had here particularly m his eye, the Rhapsody palmed upon the public, under the name of a History, by a certain Frenchman, called D'Auberteiul: Perhaps so much falsehood, fol- ly and calumny was never before accumulated in a single perfoi'tii- ftljOC. 12 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. The numerous errors and falsehoods rela- tive to the birth and achievements of Major- General Putnam, which have (at a former pe- riod) been circulated with assiduity on both sides of the Atlantic, and the uncertainty which appeared to prevail with respect to his real character,'^ first produced the resolution of writing this essay on his life, and induced the Editor to obtainf materials from that hero himself. If communications of such authentici- ty, if personal intimacy as an aid-de-camp to that General, or if subsequent military em- ployments, which afforded access to sourcesj * The following lines are extracted from a poem, entitled "The Frospect of America :" written bj the late ingenious Dr. Ladd. '* Hail Putnam ! hail, thou venerable name ! *' Tho' dark oblivion threats thy mighty fame, *' It threats in vain — for long shalt thou be known, ** Who first in virtue and in battle shone. *' When fourscore years had blanch'd thy laurell'd head, '• Strong in thine age, the fiame of war was spread." On which Dr. Ladd made this note : '< Tlie brave Putnam seems to have been almost obscured amidst '^ the glare of succeeding worthies ; but his early and gallant ser- >■' Tices entitle him to an everlasting remembrar.cct" Other bards have aJso asserted the glory of this venerable vete- jan. in the first concise review of the principal American heroes V ho signalized themselves in the last war, the same character h \\n\$ represented : *' There stood stern Piitnam, seam'd with many a scar, " The veteran honors of an early war." The Vision of Columbus. J)ook V. i The editor seizes with eagerness an opportunity of acknowl- edging his obligations to Dr. AJbi^ence Waldo, who was soobliginsi: as to commit to writing many anecdotes, communicated to him by General Putnam in the course of the present year, ■4 A multitude of proofs might be produced to demonstrate tha^ military facts cannot always be accurately known but by the com- mander in chief and Ins confidential officers. The Marqui? de LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 13 of intelligence not open to others, give the writer any advantages, the unbiassed mind will decide how far thej exculpate him from the imputations of that ofFiciousness, ignorance and presumption, which, in others, have been re- prehended with severity. He only wishes that a premature and unfavourable construction may not be formed of his motive or object. Should tliis essay have any influence in correct- Chastelleux (whose opportunity to acquire genuine information, respecting those parts of the American war which he hath casually- mentioned, was better than that of any other writer) gives an ac- count of a grand forage which General Heath ordered to be made towards King's-bridge in tlie autumn of 1780. The Marquis, M'ho was present when the detachment marched, and to whom General Heath shewed the orders that were given to General Stark, the commanding officer of the expedition, observes that he had never seen, in manuscript, or print, more pertinent instructions. Now the fact isj that this detachment, under the pretext of a forage, was intended by the Commander in Chief to cooperate with the maia army in an attempt against the enemy's posts on York Island ; and that General Heath himself was then ignorant of the real design. The Commander in Chief spent a whole campaign in ripening this project. Boats,, mounted on travelling carriages, were kept constantly with the army. The marquis de la Fayette, at the head of the Light Infantry, was to have made the attack in the night on fort Washington. The period chosen for this enter- prise was the very time, when the army were to break up their camp and march into winter quarters : so that the Commander in Chief, moving in the dusk of the evening, would have been on the banks of the Hudson, with his whole force, to have supported the attack. The cautious manner in which the cooperation on the part of the troops sent by General Heath, on the pretendei Chef, et en " general on y parle moins que dans les armees Francoises des ** operations de la guerre, et de ce que I'on appelle ohez noas le^ 16 LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. career of fame, and, bj an undeviating pro- gress through a life of honour, arriving at the highest dignity in the state, curiosity is strong- ly excited, and philosophy loves to trace the path of glory from the cradle of obscurity to the summit of elevation. Although our ancestors, the first settlers of this land, amidst the extreme pressure of pov- erty and danger, early instituted schools for the education of youth designed for the learned professions, yet it was thought sufficient to in- struct those destined to labour on the earth, in reading, writing,, and such rudiments of arithmetic as might be requisite for keeping the accounts of their little transactions with each other. Few farmers' sons had more advan- tages, none less. In this state of mediocrity it was the lot of young Putnam to be placed. His early instruction was not considerable, and the active scenes of life in which he was afterwards engaged, prevented the opportunity of great literary improvement. His numerous original letters, though deficient in scholastic accuracy, always display the goodness of his heart, and frequently the strength of his native genius. He had a certain laconic mode of expression, and an unaffected epigrammatic turn, which characterised most of his writings. To compensate partially for the deficiency of education (though nothing can remove or counterbalance the inconveniencies experienc- ed from it in public life) he derived from his parents the source of innumerable advantages LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 17 in the stamina of a vigorous constitution. Na- ture, liberal in bestowing on him bodilj strength, hardiness, and activity, was by no means parsimonious in mental endowments. While we leave the qualities of the under- standing to be developed in the process of life, it may not be improper, in this place, to designate some of the circumstances which were calculated to distinguish him afterwards as a partizan officer. Courage, enterprize, activity, and perse- verance were the first characteristics of his mind. There is a kind of mechanical courage, the offspring of pride, habit, or discipline, that may push a coward not only to perform his duty, but even to venture on acts of heroism. Putnam's courage was of a different species. It w^as ever attended with a serenity of soul, a clearness of conception, a degree of self-pos- session, and a superiority to all the vicissitudes of fortune, entirely distinct from any thing that can be produced by the ferment of blood, and flutter of spirits; which not unfrequently, pre- cipitate men to action, when stimulated by in- toxication or some other transient exhilaration. The heroic character, thus founded on consti- tution and animal spirits, cherished by educa- tion and ideas of personal freedom, confirmed by temperance and habits of exercise, was completed by the dictate of reason, the love of his country, and an invincible sense of duty. Such w^ere the qualities and principles that enabled him to meet unappalled, the shafts of 18 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. adversity, and to pass in triumph through the furnace of affliction. His disposition was as frank and generous as his mind was fearless and independent. He disguised nothing; indeed he seemed incapa- ble of disguise. Perhaps in the intercourse he was ultimately obliged to have with an art- ful world, his sincerity, on some occasions, out- went his discretion. Although he had too much suavity in his nature to commence a quarrel, he had too much sensibility not to feel, and too much honour not to resent an intend- ed insult. The first time he went to Boston he was insulted for his rusticity by a boy of twice his size and age ; after bearing the sar- casms until his patience was worn out, he chal- lenged, engaged, and vanquished his unman- nerly antagonist, to the great diversion of a crowd of spectators. While a stripling, his ambition was to perfprm the labour of a man, and to excel in athletic diversions. In that rude, but masculine age, whenever the village- youth assembled on their usual occasions of festivity, pitching the bar, running, leaping, and wrestling were favourite amusements. At such gymnastic exercises (in which, during the heroic times of ancient Greece and Rome, conquest was considered as the promise of fu- ture military fame) he bore the palm from al- most every ring. Before the refinements of luxury, and the consequent increase of expences had rendered the maintenance of a family inconvenient or LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 19 burdensome in America, the sexes entered in- to matrimony at an early age. Competence, attainable by all, was the limit of pursuit. After the hardships of making a new settle- ment were overcome, and the evils of penury removed, the inhabitants enjoyed, in the lot of equality, innocence and security, scenes equal- ly delightful with those pictured by the glow- ing imagination of the poets in their favourite pastoral life, or fabulous golden age. Indeed, the condition of mankind was never more en- viable. Neither disparity of age and fortune, nor schemes of amoilion and grandeur, nor the pride and avarice of high-minded and mer- cenary parents, interposed those obstacles to the union of congenial souls, which frequently in more pohshed society prevent, embitter or destroy all the felicity of the connubial state. Mr. Putnam before he attained the twenty- first year of his age, married Miss Pope, daughter of Mr. John Pope of Salem, by whom he had ten children, seven of whom are still living. He lost the wife of his youth in 1764. Some time after he married Mrs. Gardiner, ividow of the late Mr. Gardiner of Gardiner's Island, by whom he had no issue. She died in 1777." In the year 1739 he removed from Salem to Pomfret, an inland fertile town in Connecticut, forty miles east of Hartford : having here pur- chased a considerable tract of land he applied himself successfully to agriculture. 20 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. The first years, on a new farm, are not how- ever exempt from disasters and disappoint- ments, which can onlj be remedied by stubborn and patient industry, i Our farmer, sufficiently occupied in building an house and barn, felling woods, making fences, sowing grain, planting orchards and taking care of his stock, had to encounter, in turn, the calamities occasioned by drought in summer, blast in harvest, loss of cattle in winter, and the desolation of his sheep- fold by wolves. In one night he had seventy fine sheep and goats killed, besides many lambs and kids wounded. This havoc was commit- ted by a she wolf, which, with her annual whelps, had for several years infested the vi- cinity. The young were commonly destroy- ed by the vigilance of the hunters, but the old one was too sagacious to come within reach of gunshot: upon being closely pursued she would generally fly to the western woods, and return the next winter with another litter of whelps. This wolf, at length became such an intol- erable nuisance, that Mr Putnam entered into a combination with five of his neighbours to hunt alternately until they could destroy her. Two by rotation, were to be constantly in pur- suit. It was known, that, having lost the toes from one foot, by a steel trap, she made one track shorter than the other. By this vestige, the pursuers recognized, in a light snow, the route of this pernicious animal. Having fol- lowed her to Connecticut river and found she LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 21 had turned back in a direct course towards Pomfret, they immediately returned, and by ten o'clock Ihe nextmorning the blood-hounds had driven her into a den, about three miles distant from the house of Mr. Putnam : The people soon collected with dogs, guns, straw, fire and sulphur to attack the common enemy. With this apparatus several unsuccessful ef- forts were made to force her from the den. The hounds came back badly wounded and refused to return. The smoke of blazing straw had no effect. Nor did the fumes of buVnt brimstone, with which the cavern was filled, compel her to quit the retirement. Wearied with such fruitless attempts (which had brought the time to ten o'clock at night) Mr. Putnam tried once more to make his dog enter, but in vain ; he proposed to his negro man to go down into the cavern and shoot the wolf; the negro declined the hazardous ser- vice. Then it was that the master, angry at the disappointment, and declaring that he was ashamed to have a coward in his family, resolved himself to destroy the ferocious beast, lest he should escape through some unknown fissure of the rock. His neighbours strongly remonstrated against the perilous enterprize: but he, knowing that wild animals were intimi- dated by fire, and having provided several strips of birch-bark, the only combustible ma- terial which he could obtain, that would afford light in this deep and darksome cave, prepar- ed for his descent. Having, accordingly, di- 3 22 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. vested himself of his coat and waistcoat, and having a long rope fastened round his legs, by v^^hich he might oe pulled back, at a concert- ed signal, he entered head foremost, with the blazing torch in his hand. The aperture of the den, on the east side of a very high ledge of rocks, is about two feet square ; from thence it descends obliquely fif- teen feet, then running horizontally about ten more, it ascends gradually sixteen feet to- wards its termination. The sides of this sub- terraneous cavity are composed of smooth and solid rocks, which seem to have been divided from each other by some former earthquake. The top and bottom are also of stone, and the entrance, in winter, being covered with ice, is exceedingly slippery. It is in no place high enough for a man to raise himself upright, nor in any part more than three feet in width. Having groped his passage to the horizon- tal part of the den^ the most terrifying dark- ness appeared in front of the dim circle of light afforded by his torch. It was silent as the house of death. None but monsters of the desert had ever before explored this soli- tary mansion of horror. He, cautiously pro- ceeding onward, came to the ascent ; which he slowly mounted on his hands and knees until he discovered the glaring eye-balls of the wolf, who was sitting at the extremity of the cavern. Started at the sight of fire, she gnashed her teeth, and gave a sullen growl. As soon as he had made the necessary discov- LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 23 ery, he kicked the rope as a signal for pulling hitn out. The people, at the mouth of the den, who had listened with painful anxiety, hearing the growling of the wolf, and suppos- ing their friend to he in the most imminent danger, drew him forth with such celerity that his shirt was stripped over his head and his skin severely lacerated. After he had adjust- ed his clothes, and loaded his gun with nine buck-shot, holding a torch in ohe hand and the musket in the other, he descended the se- cond time. When he drew nearer than before, the wolf, assuming a still more fierce and ter- rible appearance, hownng, rolling her eyes, snapping her teeth, and dropping her head between her legs, was evidently m the atti- tude, and on the point of springing at him. At the critical instant he levelled and fired at her head. Stunned with the shock, and suffocated with the smoke, he immediately found himself drawn out of the cave. But having refreshed himself, and permitted the smoke to dissipate, he went down the third time. Once more he came within sight of the wolf, who appearing very passive, he applied the torch to her nose, and perceiving her dead, he took hold of her ears, and then kicking the rope (still tied round his legs) the people above with no small ex- ultation dragged them both out together. I have oftered these facts in greater detail, because they contain a display of character ; apd because they have been erroneously rela- ted in several European publications, and very \ 24 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. much mutilated in the history of Connecticut, a work as replete with falsehood as destitute of genius, lately printed in London. Prosperity, at length, began to attend the agricultural affairs of Mr. Putnam. He was acknowledged to be a skilful and indefatigable manager. His fields were mostly enclosed with stone walls. His crops commonly suc- ceeded, because the land was well tilled and manured. His pastures aad meadows became luxuriant. His cattle were of the best breed, and in good order. His garden and fruit-trees prolific. With the avails of the surplusage of his produce, foreign articles were purchased. Within doors he found the compensation of his labors in the plenty of excellent provisions, as well as in the happiness of domestic society. A more particular description of his transi- tion from narrow to easy circumstances might be given ; but the mind that shall have ac- quired an idea of the habits of labour and sim- plicity, to which the industrious coloaists were accustomed, will readily supply the omission. The eifect of this gradual acquisition of prop- erty, generally favorable to individual virtue and public felicity, should not however be passed over in silence. If there is something fascinating in the charms of a country life, from the contemplation of beautiful landscapes, there is likewise something elevating to the soul, in the consciousness of being lord of the soil, and having the power of creating them. The man can scarcely be guilty of a sordid LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM 25 action, or even descend to an ungenerous thought, who, removed from the apprehension of want, sees his farm dailj mehorating and assuming whatever appearance he pleases to prescribe. This situation converts the farmer into a species of rural philosopher, bj inspir- ing an honest pride in his rank as a freeman, flattering the natural propensity for personal independence, and nourishing an unlimited hospitality and philanthropy in his social char- acter. But the time had now arrived which was to turn the instruments of husbandry into wea- pons of hostility, and to exchange the hunting of wolves, who had ravaged the sheep-folds, for the pursuit after savages, who had desola- ted the frontiers. Mr. Putnam was about 37 years old, when the war between England and France, which preceded the last, broke out in America. His reputation must have been favourably known to the government, since among the first troops that were levied by Connecticut, in 1755, he was appointed to the command of a company in Lyman's regiment of Provincials. I have mentioned his age at this period expressly to obviate a prevalent opinion, that he was far advanced in life when he commenced his military service. As he was extremely popular, he found no difficulty in enlisting his complement of recruits from the most hardy, enterprizing and respect- able young men of his neighbourhood. The regiment joined the army, at the opening of 3# 26 LIFJE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. the campaign, not far distant from Crown- Point. Soon after his arrival at camp, he be- came intimately acquainted with the famous partizan Captain, afterwards Major Rogers, with whom he was frequently associated in traversing the wilderness, reconnoitering the enemy's lines, gaining intelligence, and taking straggling prisoners, as well as in beating up the quarters and surprising the advanced pick- ets of their army. For these operations a corps of rangers was formed from the irregu- lars. The first time Rogers and Putnam were detached with a party of these light troops, it was the fortune of the latter to pre- serve, with his own hand, the life of the for- mer, and to cement their friendship with the blood of one of their enemies. The object of this expedition was to obtain an accurate knowledge of the position and state of the works at Crown-Point. It was impracticable to approach with their party near enough for this purpose, without being discovered. Alone, the undertaking was suf- ficiently hazardous, on account of the swarms of hostile Indians who infested the w^oods. Our two partizans, however, left all their men at a convenient distance, with strict orders to continue concealed until their return. Having thus cautiously taken their arrangements, they advanced with the profoundest silence in the evening ; and lay, during the night, contiguous to the fortress. Early in the morning they approached so close as to be able to give sat^ LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 27 isfactory information to the General who had sent them, on the several points to which tlieir attention had been directed: but Captain Rog- ers, being at a Httle distance from Captain Putnam, fortuitously met a stout Frenchman, who instantly seized his fusee with one hand, and with the other attempted to stab him, while he called to an adjacent guard for as- sistance. The guard answered. Putnam, per- ceiving the imminent danger of his friend, and that no time was to be lost, or further alarm given by firing, ran rapidly to them, while they were yet struggling, and w^ith the but-end of his piece laid the Frenchman dead at his feet The partizans, to elude pursuit, pre- cipitated their flight, joined the party, and re- turned without loss to the encampment. Not many occasions occurred for partizans to dis- play their talents in the course of this summer. The war w^as chequered with various fortune in different quarters — such as the total defeat of General Braddock, and the splendid victory of Sir William Johnson over the French troops, commanded by the Baron Dieskau. The brilliancy of this success was necessaryx to console the Americans for the disgrace of that disaster. Here I might, indeed, take a pride in contrasting the conduct of the British regulars, who had been ambuscaded on the Monongahela, with that of the Provincials (under Johnson) who, having been attacked in their lines, gallantly repulsed the enemy, and took their general prisoner, did I consider 28 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. myself at liberty to swell this essay with re- flections on events, in which Pntnani was not directly concerned. The time for which the colonial troops engaged to serve terminated with the campaign. Putnam w^as reappointed, and again took the field in 1756. Few are so ignorant of war as not to know, that military adventures, in the night, are al- ways extremely liable to accidents. Captain Putnam, having been commanded to^reconnoi- tre the enemy's camp at the Ovens near Ticon- deroga^ took the brave Lieutenant Robert Durkee as his companion. In attempting to execute these orders, he narrowly missed be- ing taken himself in the first instance, and kill- ing his friend in the second. It was customa- ry for the British and Provincial troops to place their fires round their camp, which fre- quently exposed them to the enemy's scouts and patroles. A contrary practice, then un- known in the English army, prevailed among the French and Indians. The plan w^as much more rational; they kept their fires in the cen- tre, lodged their men circularly at a distance, and posted their centinels in the surrounding darkness. Our partizans approached the camp, and supposing the centries were with- in the circle of fires, crept upon their hands and knees with the greatest possible caution, until, to their utter astonishment, they found themselves in the thickest of the enemy. The centinels, discovering them, fired and slightly wounded Durkee in the thiffh. He and Put- LIFE OP GENErAl PUTNAM. 29 nam had no alterative. They fled. The lat- ter, being foremost and scarcely able to see his hand before him, soon plunged into a clay- pit. Durkee, almost at the identical moment, came tumbling after. Putnam by no means pleased at finding a companion, and believing him to be one of the enemy, lifted his toma- hawk to give the deadly blow, when Durkee, (who had followed so closely as to know him) enquired, whether he had escaped unhurt. Captain Putnam instantly recognizing the voice, dropped his weapon : and both, spring- ing from the pit, made good their retreat to the neighbouring ledges, amidst a shower of random shot. There they betook themselves to a large log, by the side of which they lodg- ed the remainder of the night. Before they lay down. Captain Putnam said he had a little rum in his canteen, which could never be more acceptable or necessary ; but on examining the canteen, which hung under his arm, he found the enemy had pierced it with their balls, and that there was not a drop of liquor left. The next day he found fourteen bullet holes in his blanket. In the same summer a body of the enemy, consisting of 600 men, attacked the baggage and provision waggons at a place called the half-way-brook ; it being equi-distant from Fort Edward, and the south end of Lake George. Having killed the oxen and plun- dered the waggons, they retreated with their booty without having met with such resistance 30 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. as might have been expected from the strength of the escort. General Webb, upon receiving inteihgence of this disaster, ordered the Cap- tains Putnam and Rogers " to take 100 vol- " unteers in boats, with two wall-pieces and " two blunderbusses, and to proceed down " Lake George to a certain point : there to " leave the batteaux under a proper guard, " and thence to cross by land, so as to harrass, " and, if practicable, intercept the retreating '' enemy at the narrows." These orders were executed with so much punctuality, that the party arrived at the destined place half an hour before the hostile boats came in view. Here they waited, under cover, until the ene- my (ignorant of these proceedings) entered the narrows with their batteaux loaded with plunder. Then the volunteers poured upon them volley after volley, killed many of the oarsmen, sunk a number of their batteaux, and would soon have destroyed the whole body of the enemy, had not the unusual precipitancy of their passage (favoured by the wind) car- ried them through the narrows into the wide part of South Bay, where they were out of the reach of musket-shot. The sJiattered rem- nant of the little fleet soon arrived at Ticon- deroga, and gave information that Putnam and Rogers were at the narrows. A fresh party was instantly detached to cut them in pieces, on their return to Fort-Edward. Our parti- zans, sensible of the probability of such an at- tempt, and being full twenty miles from their LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. 31 boats, strained evey nerve to reach them as soon as possible ; which ihey effected the same night. Next day, when they had returned as far as Sabbath-Day point, they discovered, on shore, the beforementioned detachment of 300 men, who had passed them in the night, and who now, on perceiving our party, took to their boats wnth the greatest alacrity, and rowed out to give battle. They advanced in hne^ maintaining a good mein, and felicitating themselves upon the prospect of an easy con- quest, from the great superiority of their num- bers. Flushed with these expectations, ti^ey were permitted to ^come within pistol-shot be- fore a 2:un was fired. At once, the wall-pie- ces and blunderbusses, which had been brought to rake them in the most vulnerable point, were discharged. As no such reception had been foreseen, the assailants were thrown into the utmost disorder. Their terror and confu- sion were greatly increased by a well-directed and most destructive fire of the small arms. The larger pieces being reloaded, without an- noyance, continued alternately with the mus- quetry to make dreadful havoc, until the rout was completed and the enemy driven back to Ticonderoga. In this action, one of the bark canoes contained twenty Indians, of whom fif- teen were killed. Great numbers, from other boats, both of French and Indians, were seen to fall overboard : but the account of their to- tal loss could never be ascertained. Rogers and Putnam had but one man killed, and two 32 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. slightly wounded. They now landed on the point, and having refreshed their men at leis- ure, returned in good order to the British camp. Soon after these rencounters, as ingular kind of race was run by our nimble-iboted Provin- cial and an active young Frendiman. The liberty of each was by turns at stake. Gen- eral Webb, wanting a prisoner for the sake of intelligence, sent Capt. Putnam with five men to procure one. The Captain concealed himself near the road which leads from Ticon- deroga to the Ovens. His men seemed fond of shewing themselves, which unsoldierlike conduct he prohibited with the severest repre- hension. This rebuke they imputed to unne- cessary fear. The observation is as true as vulgar, that persons distinguishable for temer- ity, when there is no apparent danger, are generally poltroons whenever danger ap- proaches. They had not lain long, in the high grass, before a Frenchman and an Indian passed — the Indian was considerably in ad- vance. As soon as the former had gone by, Putnam, relying on the fidelity of his men, sprang up, ran, and ordered them to follow. After running about thirty rods, he seized the Frenchman by the shoulders, and forced him to surrender: But his prisoner, looking round, {perceiving no other enemy, and knowing the ndian would be ready in a moment to assist him, began to make an obstinate resistance. Putnam, finding himself betrayed by his men LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 33 into a perilous dilemma, let go his hold, step- ped back and snapped his piece, which was levelled at the Frenchman's breast. It missed fire. Upon this he thought it most prudent, to retreat. The Frenchman, in turn, chased him back to his men, who, at last, raised them- selves from the grass ; which his pursuer es- pying in good time for himself, made his es- cape. Putnam, mortified that these men had frustrated his success, dismissed them with disgrace ; and not long after accomplished his object. Such little feats, as the capture of a single prisoner, may be of infinitely more consequence than some, who are unacquainted with military affairs, would be apt to imagine. In a country covered with woods, like that part of America, then the seat of war, the dif- ficulty of procuring, and the importance of pos- sessing good intelligence, can scarcely be con- ceived even by European commanders. They, however, who know its value, will not appre- ciate lightly the services of an able partizan. Nothing worthy of remark happened dur- ing this campaign, except the loss of Oswego. That fort, which had been built by General Shirley, to protect the peltry trade, cover the country on the Mohawk-River, and facihtate an invasion of Canada, by Frontenac and Ni- agara, fell into the hands of the enemy, with a garrison of sixteen hundred men, and one hun- dred pieces of cannon. The active services of Captain Putnam on every occasion attracted the admiration of the 4 34 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. public, and induced the Legislature of Con- necticut to promote hioi to a inajoritv in 1757. Lord Loudon was then Commander in Chief of the British forces in America. The expedi- tion against Crown-Point, which from the com- mencement of hostilities had been in contem- plation, seemed to give place to a more impor- tant operation that was meditated against Louis{>ouig. But the arrival of the Brest squadron at that place prevented the attempt; and the loss of Fort William Henry served to class this with the two former unsuccessful campaigns. It was rumoured, and partially credited at tlie time, that General Webb, who commanded in the northern department, had early intimation of the movement of the French army, and might have eifectually succoured the garrison. The subsequent facts will place the affair in its proper light, A few days before the seige, Major Putnam, with two hundred men, escorted General Webb from Fort Edward to Fort William Henry. The object was to examine the state of this fortification, which stood at the south- ern extremity of Lake George. Several abor- tive attempts having been^ made by Major Rogers and others in the night season, Major Putnam proposed to go down the lake in open day-light, land at Northwest-Bay, and tarry on shore until he could make satisfactory discove- ry of the enemy's actual situation at Ticondero- ga and the adjacent posts. The plan (which he suggested) of landing with only five men, LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 35 and sending back the boats, to prevent detec- tion,was deemed too hazardous by the General. At length, however, he was |Derniitted to pro- ceed with eighteen vohinteers in three whale boats ; but biitore he arrived at Northwest-Bay he discovered a body ot^ men on an island. Immediately upon this, he left two boats to fish at a distance, that they might not occasion an alarai, and returned himself with the infor- mation. The General, seeing him rowing back with great velocity, in a single boat, con- cluded the others were captured, and sent a skiff, with orders for him alone to come on shore. After advising the General of the circumstanc- es, he urged the expediency of returnmg to make further discoveries, and brino^ off the boats. Leave was reluctantly given. He found his people, and, passing still onward, discovered (by the aid of a good perspective glass) a large army in motion. By this time several of the advanced canoes had nearly sur- rounded him, but by the swiftness of his whale- boats, he escaped through the midst of them. On his return he informed the General min- utely of all he had seen, and intimated his con- viction that the expedition must obviously be destined against Fort William Henry. That commander, strictly enjoining silence on the subject, directed him to put his men under an oath of secrecy, and to prepare, without loss of time, lo return to the Head Quarters of the army. Major Putnam observed, "he hoped " his Excellency did not intend to neglect so 36 LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. "fair an opportunity of giving battle, should " the enemy presume to land." "What do you " think we should do here?" replied the Gen- eral. Accordingly the next day he returned, and the day after Colonel Monro was ordered from Fort Edward, with his regiment, to rein- force the garrison. That officer took with him all his rich baggage and camp equipage, notwithstanding Major Putnam's advice to the contrary. The day following his arrival, the enemy landed and besieged the place. The Marquis de Montcalm, Commander in Chief for the French in Canada (intend- ing to take advantage of the absence of a large proportion of the British force, which he understood to be employed under Lord Lou- don against Louisbourg) had assembled what- ever men could be spared from Ticonderoga, Crown-Point, and the other garrisons : with these he had combined a considerable corps of Canadians, and a larger body of Indians than had ever before been collected ; making in the whole an army of nearly eight thousand men. Our garrison consisted of twenty-five hundred, and was commanded by Colonel Monro, a xery gallant officer, who found the means of send- ing express after express to General Webb, with an account of his situation, and the most pressing solicitation for succour. In the mean time, the army at Fort Edward, which, origin- ally amounted to about four thousand, had been considerably augmented by Johnson's troops and the militia. On the 8th or 9th day after the landing of the French, General LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 37 Johnson (in consequence of repeated applica- tions) was suffered to march for the rehef of the garrison, with all tlie Provincials, Mihtia, and Putnam's Rangers: but before they had proceeded three miles, the order was counter- manded, and they returned. M. de MontcMm informed Major Putnam, when a prisoner in Canada, that one of his running Indians saw and yei x'ted this nioveraent; and, upon being question-ed illative] y to t^ie numbers, answer- ed ifi their figura ' ,e stflj, '''If you can count the leaves on the Irees^ you can count ihem.^'^ In effect.the operations oi the siege were suspend- ed, and preparations made for re-embarking, when another of the runners reported that the detachment had gone back. The Marquis de Montcahn, provided with a good train of artil- lery, meeting with no annoyance from the British army, and but inconsiderable interrup- tion from the garrison, accelerated his ap- proaches so rapidly, as to obtain possession of the fort in a short time after completing the investiture. An intercepted letter from Gene- ral Webb, advising the surVender,was sent into the fort to Colonel Monro by the French General. The garrison engaged not to serve for eigh- teen months, and were permitted to march out with the honours of war. But the savages regarded not the capitulation, nor could they be restrained by the utmost exertion of the Commanding Officer, from committ^g the most outrageous acts of cruelty. They strip- 4* 38 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. ped and plundered all the prisoners, and mur- dered great numbers in cold blood. Those who escaped hj flight, or the protection of the French, arrived in a forlorn condition at Fort Edward ; Among these was the commandant of the garrison. The daj succeeding this deplorable scene of carnage and barbarity, Major Putnam hav- ing been dispatched with his Rangers, to watch the motions of the enemy, came to the shore, when their rear was scarcely beyond the reach of musket-shot. They had carried oif all the cannon, stores and water-craft. The fort was demolished. The barracks, the out-hous- es and suttlers' booths were heaps of ruins. The fires, not yet extinct, and the smoke, of- fensive from the mucilaginous nature of the fuel, but illy concealed innumerable fragments of human skulls and bones, and, in some in- stances, carcases half-consumed. Dead bodies, weltering in blood, were every where to be seen, violated, with all the wanton mutilations of savage ingenuity. More than one hundred women, some with their brains still oozing from the battered heads, others with their whole hair wrenched collectively with the skin from the bloody skulls, and many (with their throats cut) most inhumanly stabbed and butchered, lay stripped entirely naked, with their bowels torn out, and afforded a spectacle too horrible for description. Not long after this misfortune, General Ly- man succeeded to the command of Fort Ed- LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 39 ward. He resolved to strengthen it. For this purpose one hundred and fifty men were employed in cutting timber. To cover them, Captain Little was posted (with fifty British Regulars) at the head of a thick swamp about one hundred rods eastward of the fort — to which his communication lay over a tongue of land, formed on the one side by the swamp, and by a creek on the other. One morning, at day break, a centinel saw indistinctly several birds, as he conceived, come from the swamp and fly over him with incredible swiftness. While he was ruminat- ing on these wonderful birds, and endeavouring to form some idea of their colour, shape and size, an arrow burled itself in the limb of a tree just above his head. He now discovered the quality and design of these winged messengers of fate, and gave the alarm. Instantly the working party began to retreat along the de- file. A large body of savages had concealed themselves m the morass before the guard was posted, and were attempting in this way tokill the centinel without noise,with design to surprise the whole party. Finding the alarm given, they rushed from the covert, shot and toma- hawked those who were nearest at hand, and pressed hard on the remainder of the unarmed fugitives. Captain Little flew to their relief, and, by pouring on the Indians a well timed fire, checkecl the pursuit, and enabled such of the fatigue-men as did not fall in the first onset, to retire to the fi^rt. Thither he sent for assist- 40 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. ance, his little party being almost overpower- ed by numbers. But the commandant, imag- ining that the main body of the enemy were approaching for a general assault, called in his out-posts and shut the gates. Major Putnam lay, w^ith his Rangers, on an island adjacent to the fort. Having heard the musquetry, and learned that his friend Captain Little was in the utmost peril, he plunged into the river at the head of his corps, and waded through the water towards the place o^ engagement. This broug^ht him so near to the fort, that General Lyman apprized of his design, and unwilling that the lives of a few more brave men should be exposed to what he deemed inevitable destruction, mount- ed the parapet and ordered him to proceed no further. The major only took time to make the best short apology he could, and marched on. This is the only instance in the whole course of his military service wherein he did not pay the strictest obedience to orders ; and in this instance his motive was highly commen- dable. But when such conduct, even if sanc- tified by success, is passed over with impunity, it demonstrates that all is not right in the military system. In a disciplined army, such as that of the United States became under General Washington, an ofticer guilty of a slighter violation of orders, however elevated in rank or meritorious in service, would have been brought before the bar of a Couit Mar- tial. Were it not for the seductive tendency LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 41 of a brave man's example, I might have been spared the mortification of making these re- marks on the conduct of an officer, whose dis- tinguishing characteristics were promptitude for duty and love of subordination, as well as cheerfulness to encounter every species ofdif- ficuhy and danger. The Rangers of Putnam soon opened their way for a junction with the httle handful of Regulars, who still obstinately maintained their ground. By his advice the whole rushed im- petuously w^ith shouts and huzzas into the swamp. The savages fled on every side, and were chased, with no inconsiderable loss on their part, as long as the day-light lasted. On ours only one man was killed in the pursuit. His death was immediately revenged by that of the Indian who shot him. This Indian was one of the runners — a chosen body of active young men, who are made use of not only to procure intelligence and convey tidings, but al- so to guard the rear on a retreat. Here it will not be unseasonable to mention some of the customs in war peculiar to the aborigines, which on the present as well as other occasions, they put in practice. When- ever a retreating, especially a flying party had gained tiie summit of a rising ground, they secreted one or two runners behind trees, copses, or bushes to fire at the enemy upon their ascending the hill. This commonly ac- casioned the enemy to halt and form for battle. lo the interim the runners used such dexterity 42 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTxNAM. as to be rai'ely discovered, or if discovered, thej vanished behind the height and rejoined their brother warriors, who, having thns stol- en a distance, were oftentimes seen by their pursuers no more. Or if the pursuers wxre too eager they seldom failed to atone for their rashness by falling into an ambuscade. The Mohawks, who were afterwards much employ- ed in scouts under the orders of Major Putnam, and who were perfectly versed in all the wiles and stratagems of their countrymen, shewed him the mode of avoiding the evils of either alternative. In suspicious thickets, and at the borders of every considerable eminence, a mo- mentary pause was made, while they, in differ- ent parts, penetrated or ascended with a cau- tiousness that cannot be easily described. They seemed all eye and ear. When they found no lurking mischief, they would beckon with the baud, and pronounce the word "OwisH," withalong labial hissing, the O being almost quiescent. This was ever the watch- w^ord for the main body to advance. Indians who went to war together, and who, for any reason found it necessary to separate into different routes, always left two or three runners at the place of separation, to give timely notice to either party in case of pursuit. If a warrior chanced to straggle and lose himself in the woods, or be retarded by acci- dent or wound, the pirty missing him would frequently, on their march, break down a LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 43 bush or a shrub, and leave the top pointing in the direction tiiey had gone, that the straggler, when he should behold it, might shape his course accordingly. We come to the campaign when General Abercrorabie took the command at Fort Ed- ward. That General ordered Major /Putnam, with sixty men, to proceed by land to South- Bay, on Lake George, for the purpose of making discoveries, and intercepting the ene- my's parties. The latter, in compliance with these orders, posted himself at Wood-Creek, near its entrance into South-Bav. On tiiis bank, which forms a jutting precipice ten or twelve feet above the wator, he erected a stone parapet thirty feet in length, and mask- ed it with young pine-trees, cut at a distance, and so artfully planted as to imitate the natu- ral growth. From hence he sent back fifteen of his men, who had fallen sick. Distress for want of provisions, occasioned by the length of march, and time spent on this temporary fortification, compelled him to deviate from a rule he had established, never to permit a gun to be fired but at an enemy while on a scout. He was now obliged himself to shoot a buck, which had jumped into the creek, in order to eke out their scanty subsistence until the fourth day after the completion of the works. About ten o'clock that evening, one of the men on duty at the margin of the bay, informed him that a fleet of bark canoes, filled with men, was steering towards the mouth of the creek. 44 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. He immediately called in all bis centinels, and ordered every man to his post. A profound stillness reigned in the atmosphere, and the full moon shone with uncommon brightness. The creek, which the enemy entered, is about six rods wide, and the bank opposite to the parapet above twenty feet high. It was in- tended to permit the canoes in front to pass — - they had accordingly just passed, when a sol- dier accidentally struck his firelock against a stone. The commanding officer in the van canoe heard the noise, and repeated several times the savage watch-word, — Owish ! In- stantly the canoes huddled together, with their centre precisely in front of the works, cover- ing the creek for a considerable distance above and below. The officers appeared to be in deep consultation, and the fleet on the point of returning, v»^hen Major Putnam, who had or- dered his men in the most peremptory manner not to fire until he should set the example, gave the signal, by discharging his piece. They fired. Nothing could exceed the inex- tricable confusion and apparent consternation occasioned by this well-concerted attack. But, at last, the enemy finding, from the unfrequen- cy (though there was no absolute intermission) in the firing, that the number of our men must be small, resolved to land below and surround them. Putnam, apprehensive of this from the movement, sent Lieutenant Robert Durkee,* • As the name of the brave Dui-kee will occur no mnre in these sheets, I may be indulged in mentioning his melanclioly fate. He LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 45 with twelve men, about thirty rods down the creek, who arrived in time to repulse the party which 'attempted to land. Another small de- tachment, under Lieutenant Parsons, was or- dered up the creek to prevent any similar at- tempt. In the mean time Major Putnam kept up, through the whole night, an incessant and deadly fire on the main body of the enemy, without receiving any thing in return but shot void of effect, accompanied with dolorous groans, miserable shrieks, and dismal savage yells. After day-break he was advised that one part of the enemy had effected a landing considerably below, and were rapidly advanc- ing to cut off his retreat. Apprised of the great superiority still opposed to him, as well as of the situation of his own soldiers, some of whom were entirely destitute of ammunition, and the rest reduced to one or two rounds per man, he commanded them to swing their packs. By hastening the retreat, in good or- der, they had just time to retire far enough up the creek to prevent being enclosed. During this long-continued action, in which the Amep*- icans had slain at least fi\e times their own number, only one Provincial and one Indian were wounded on their side. These unfortu- nate men had been sent off for camp in the survived this v;ar, and was appointed a Captain in that v/ar which terminated in the acknowledg:nneiit of our Jndepe«4ence. In 1778 he was wouu.Jed and taken prisoner by the savages at the battle of AVioming, on the Susquehannah. Havina: been condemned to be burnt, the Indians kept him in the flames with pitch-forks, uutU he expired in the most excruciating torments. 5 46 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. night, "with two men to assist them, and di- rections to proceed by Wood-Creek as the safest, though not the shortest route. ^ But having taken a nearer way, they were pursu- ed and overtaken by the Indians, who, from the blood on the leaves and bushes, believed that they were on the trail of our whole par- ty. The wounded, despairing of mercy, and unable to fly, insisted that the well soldiers should make their escape, which, on a mo- ment's deliberation, they effected. The Pro- vincial, whose thigh was broken hy a ball, up- on the approach of the savages, fired his piece, ancl killed three of them ; after which he was quickly hacked in pieces. The Indian, however, was saved alive. This man Major Putnam saw afterwards in Canada, where he likewise learned that his enemy, in the ren- counter at Wood-Creek, consisted of five hun- dred French and Indians, under the command of the celebrated partizan Molang, and that no party, since the war, had suffered so se- verely, as more than one-half of those who went out never returned. Our brave little company, reduced to forty in number, had proceeded along the bank of the creek about an hour's march, when Major Putnam, being in front, was fired upon by a party just at hand. He, rightly appreciating the advantage often obtained by assuming a bold countenance on a critical ^occasion, in a stentorophonick tone, ordered his men to rush on the enemy, and promised that they should LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 47 soon give a good account of them. It proved to be a scout of Provincials, who conceived thej were firing upon the French ; but the commanding officer, knowing Putnam's voice, cried out, '" that ihey were all friends." — Upon this the Major told him abruptly, " that, friends or enemies, they all deserved to be hanged for not killing more when they had so fair a shot." In fact, but one man was mortally w^ounded. While these things were transacted, a faithful soldier, whose ammuni- tion had been nearly exhausted, made his way to the fort, and gave such information, that General Lyman was detached with five hun- dred men to cover the retreat. Major Put- nam met them at only twelve miles distance from the fort, to which they returned the next day. In the winter of 1757, when Colonel Havi- land w'as Commandant at Fort Edward, the barracks adjoining to the north-west bastion took fire. They extended within twelve feet of the magazine, which contained three hun- dred barrels of pow- der. On its first discovery, the fire raged with great violence. The Com- mandant endeavoured, in vain, by discharging some pieces of heavy artillery against the sup- porters of this flight of barracks, to level them with the ground. Putnam arrived from the island where he was stationed at the moment when the blaze approached that end which was contiguo'js to the magazine. Instantly a vigorous attempt was made to extinguish the 48 LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. conflagration. A waj was opened by a pos* tern gate to the river, and the soldiers were employed in bringing water ; which he, hav- ing mounted on a ladder to the eves of the building, received and threw upon the flame. It continued, notwithstanding their utmost ef- forts, to gain upon them. He stood, enveloped in smoke, so near the sheet of fire, that a pair of thick blanket mittens were burnt entirely from his hands ; he was supplied with another pair dipt in water. Colonel Haviland, fearing that he would perish in the flames, called to him to come down. But he entreated that he might be suffered to remain, since destruc- tion must inevitably ensue if their exertions should be remitted. The gallant Comman- dant, not less astonished than charmed at the boldness of his conduct, forbade any more ef- fects to be carried out of the fort, animated the men to redoubled diligence, and exclaim- ed, " if we must be blown up, we will go all together." At last, when the barracks were seen to bo tumbling, Putnam descended, plac- ed himself at the interval, and continued from an incessant rotation of replenished buckets to pour water upon the magazine. The outside planks were already consumed by the prox- imity of the fire, and as only one thickness of timber intervened, the trepidation now became general and extreme. Putnam, still undaunt- ed, covered with a cloud of cinders^ and scorched with the intensity of the heat, main- tained his position until the fire subsided, and LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. 49 the danger was wholly over. He had con- tended for one hour and an half with that terrible element. His legs, his thighs, his arms, and his face were blistered ; and when he pulled off his second pair of mittens, the skin from his hands and fingers followed them. It was a month before he recovered. The Commandant, to whom his merits had before endeared him, could not stifle the emo- tions of gratitude, due to the man who had been so instrumental in preserving the maga- zine, the fort, and the garrison. The repulse before Ticonderoga took place in 1758. General Abercrombie, the British Commander in Chief in America, conducted the expedition. His army, which amounted to nearly sixteen thousand Regulars and Pro- vincials, was amply supplied with artillery and military stores. This well-appointed corps passed over Lake George, and landed, with- out opposition, at the point of destination. The troops advanced in columns. Lord Howe, having Major Putnam with him, was in front of the centre. A body of about five hundred men, (the advance or pickets of the French army) which had fled at first, began to skir- mish with our left. " Putnam," said Lord Howe, " what means that firing ?" " I know not, but with your Lordship's leave will see," replied the former. " I will accompany you,'* rejoined the gallant young nobleman. In vain did Major Putnam attempt to dissuade him by 5* 50 LIFE OF GENERAL PtJTNAM. saying — " My Lord, if I am killed, the loss ot my life will be of little consequence, but the preservation of your's is of infinite importance to this army." The only answer w^as, " Put- nam, your life is as dear to you as mine is to me ; I am determined to go." One hundred of the van, under Major Putnam, filed off with Lord Howe. They soon met the left flank of the enemy's advance, by whose first fire his Lordship fell. — It was a loss indeed ; and particularly felt in the operations which oc- curred three days afterwards. His manners and his virtues had made him the idol of the army. From his first arrival in America, he had accommodated himself^ and his regiment to the pecuhar nature of the service. Exem- plary to the officer, a friend of the soldier, the model of discipline, he had not failed to en- counter every hardship and hazard. Nothing could be more calculated to inspire men with the rash animation of rage, or to temper it "with the cool perseverance of revenge, than the sight of such a hero, so beloved, fallen in his country's cause. It had the effect. Put- nam's party, having cut their way obliquely through the enemy's ranks, and having been joined by Captain D'Ell, with twenty men, to- gether with some other small parties, charged them so furiously in rear, that nearly three * He cut his hair short, and induced the regiment to follow the example. He fashioned their cloathing for the activity of service, and divested himself and them of every article of superflaous bag^ gage. tIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. !jl hundred were killed on the spot, and one hundred and forty-eight made prisoners. In the mean time, from the unskilfulness of the guides, some of our columns were bewil- dered. The left wing, seeing Putnam's party in their front, advancing over the dead bodies towards them, commenced a brisk and heavy fire, Avhich killed a serjeant and several pri- vates. Nor could they, by sounds or signs, be convinced of their mistake, until Major Putnam, preferring (if heaven had thus or- dained it) the loss of his own life to the loss of the lives of his brave associates, ran through the midst of the flying balls, and prevented the impending catastrophe. The tender feelings which Major Putnam possessed taught him to respect an unfortu- nate foe, and to strive, by every lenient art in his power, to alleviate the miseries of war. For this purpose he remained on the field until it began to grow dark, employed in col- lecting such of the enemy as were left wound- ed, to one place ; he gave them all the liquor and little refreshments which he could pro- cure; he furnished to each of them a blanket; he put three blankets under a French serjeant who was badly wounded through the body, and placed him in an easy posture by the side of a tree : the poor fellow could only squeeze his hand with an expressive grasp. "Ah," said Major Putnam, " depend upon it, my brave soldier, you shall be brought to the 52 LIFE OF GExNERAL PUTNAM. camp as soon as possible, and the saoie care shall be taken of you as if you were rnj broth- er." The next morning Major Rogers was sent to reconnoitre the field, and to bring olF the wounded prisoners ; but finding the wounded unable to help themselves, in order to save trouble, he despatched every one of them to the world of spirits. Piitnarn's was not the only heart that bled. The Provincial and British officers, who became acquainted with the fact, were struck with inexpressible horror. Ticonderoga is surrounded on three sides hj water ; on the fourth, for some distance, extends a dangerous morass ; the remainder was then fortified with a line eight feet high, and planted with artillery. For one hundred yards in front the plain was covered with great trees, cut for the purpose of defence, whose interwoven and sharpened branches projected outwards. Notwithstanding these impediments, the engineer who had been em- ployed to reconnoitre, reported as his opinion, that the works might be carried with mus- ketry. The difficulty and delay of dragging the battering cannon over grounds almost im- practicable, induced the adoption of this fatal advice — to which, however, a rumour that the garrison, already consisting of four or five thousand men, was on the point of being aug- mented with three thousand more, probably contributed. The attack was as spirited in LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 53 execution as ill-judged in design. The as- sailants, after having been for more than four hours exposed to a most fatal fire, without making any impression by their reiterated and obstinate proofs of valour, were ordered to re- treat. Major Putnam, who had acted as an aid in bring-ins: the Provincial resjiments suc- cessively to action, assisted in preserving or- der. It was said that a great number of the enemy were shot in the head, every other part having been concealed behind their works. The loss on our side was upwards of two thousand killed and wounded. Twenty-five hundred stands of arms were taken by the French. Our army, after sustaining this hav- ock, retreated with such extraordinary precip- itation, that they regained their camp at the southward of Lake George the evening after the action. The successes in other parts of America made amends for this defeat. Louisbourg, af- ter a vigorous siege, was reduced by the Gen- erals Amherst and Wolf: Frontenac, a post of importance on the communication between Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence, surren- dered to Colonel Bradstreet : and Fort Du Quesne, situated at the confluence of Monon- gahela with the Ohio, (the possession of which had kindled the flame of war that now spread through the four quarters of the globe) was captured by General Forbes. 54 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. A few adventures, in which the public inter- ests were httle concerned, but which, from their pecuharity, appear worthy of being pre- served, happened before the conchision of the year. As one day Major Putnam chanced to lie with a batteau and five men, on the eastern shore of the Hudson, near the Rapids, con- tiguous to which Fort Milier stood, his men on the opposite bank had given him to under- stand, that a large body of savages were in his rear, and would be upon him in a moment. To stay and be sacrificed — to attempt crossing and be shot — or to go down to the falls, with an almost absolute certainty of being drowned, were the sole alternatives tliat presented them- selves to his choice. So instantaneously was the latter adopted^ that one man who had ram- bled a little from the party, was, of necessity, left, and fell a miserable victim to savage bar- barity. The Indians arrived on the shore soon enough to fire many balls on the j^atteau before it could be got under way. No sooner had our batteau-men escaped, by favour of the rapidity of the current, beyond the reach of musket-shot, than death seemed only to have been avoided in one form to be encountered in another not less terrible. Prominent rocks, latent shelves, absorbing eddies, and abrupt descents, for a quarter of a mile, afforded scarcely the smallest chance of escaping with- out a miracle. Putnam, trusting himself to a good Providence, whose kindness he had often LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM 55 experienced, rather than to men, whose ten- derest mercies are cruelty, was now seen to place himself sedately at the helm, and afford an astonishing spectacle of serenity. His com- panions, with a mixture of terror, admiration and wonder, saw him incessantly clianging the course, to avoid the jaws of ruin, (hat seemed expanded to swallow the whirling boat^ Twice he turned it fairly round to shun the rifts of rocks. Amidst these eddies, in which there w^as the greatest danger of its founder- ing, at one moment the sides were exposed to tiie fury of the waves ; then the stern, and next the bow glanced obliquely onward, with inconceivable velocity. — With not less amaze- ment the savages beheld him sometimes mount- ing the billows, then plunging abruptly down, at other times skilfully veering from the rocks, and shooting through the only narrow passage; until, at las^ they viewed the boat safely glid- ing on the smooth surface of the stream below. At this sight, it is asserted, that these rude sons of nature w^ere affected with the same kind of superstitious veneration which the En- ropaans, in the dark ages, entertained for some of their most valorous champions. They deemed the man invulnerable, whom their balls, on his pushing from shore, could not touch; and wdiom they had seGp steering in safety down the rapids that hact never before been passed. They conceived it would be an af- front against the Great Spirit to attempt to kill 56 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. this favoured mortal with powder and ball, if they should ever see and know him again. In the month of August five hundred men were employed, under the orders of Majors Rogers and Putnam, to watch the motions of the enemy near Ticonderoga. At South-Bay they separated the party into two equal divis- ions, and Rogers took a position on Wood- Creek, twelve miles distant from Putnam. Upon being, some time afterwards, discov- ered, they formed a re-union, and concerted measures for returning to Fort Edward. .Their march through . the woods was in three divisions by files ; the right commanded by Rogers, the left by Putnam, and the centre by Captain D'EII. The first night they en- camped on the banks of Clear River^ about a mile from old Fort Ann, which had been for- merly built by General Nicholson. Next morn- ing Major Rogers, and a British officer named Irwin, incautiously suffered themselves, from a spirit of false emulation, to be engaged in firing at a mark. Nothing could have been more repugnant to the mihtary principles of Putnam than such conduct, or reprobated by him in more pointed terms. As soon as the heavy dew which had fallen the preceding night would permit, the detachment moved in one body, Putnam being in front. D'Ell in centre, and Rogers in the rear. The impervious growth of shrubs and under-brush that had sprung up, where the laud had been partially LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. 57 cleared some years before, occasioned this change in the order of march. At the moment of moving, the famous French partizan Mo- lang, who had been sent with five hundred men to intercept our party, was not more than one mile and an half distant from them. Hav- ing heard the firing, he hastened to lay an am- buscade precisely in that part of the wood most favourable to his project. Major Put- nam was just emerging from the thicket, into the common forest, when the enemy rose, and with discordant yells and whoops, commenced an attack upon the right of his division. Sur- prised, but undismayed, Putnam halted, return- ed the fire, and passed the word for the other divisions to advance for his support. D'Ell came. The action, though widely scattered, and principally fought between man and man, soon grev/ general and intensely warm. It would be as difficult as useless to describe this irregular and ferocious mode of fighting. Rog- ers came not up ; but, as he declared after- wards, formed a circular file between our par- ty and Wood-Creek, to prevent their being taken in rear or enfiladed. Successful as he commonly was, his conduct did not always pass without unfavourable imputation. Not- withstanding, it was a current saying in the camp, "that Rogers always sent, but Putnam led his men to action," yet, injustice, it ought to be remarked here, that the latter has never been known, in relating the story of this day's 6 58 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. disaster, to affix any stigma upon the conduct of the former. Major Putnam, perceiving it would be im- practicable to cross the creek, determined to maintain his ground. Inspired by his exam- ple, the officers and men behaved with great bravery: sometimes they fought aggregately in open view, and sometimes individually un- der cover ; taking aim from behind the bodies of trees, and actmg in a manner independent of each other. For himself, having discharged his fuzee several times, at length it missed fire, while the muzzle was pressed against the breast of a large and well proportioned savage. This warrior^ availing himself of the indefensi- ble attitude of his adversary, with a tremen- dous war-hoop, sprang forward, with his lifted hatchet, and compelled him to surrender; and having disarmed and bound him fast to a tree, returned to the battle. The intrepid Captains D'Ell and Harman, who now commanded, were forced to give ground for a little distance: the savages, con- ceiving this to be the certain harbinger of vic- tory, rushed impetuously on, with dreadful and redoubled cries. But our two partizans, col- lecting a handful of brave men, gave the pur- suers so warm a reception as to oblige tnem, in turn, to retreat a little beyond the spot at which the action had commenced Here they made a stand. This change of ground occa- sioned the tree to which Putnam was tied to LIFE OF GEMERAL PUTNAM. 59 be directly between the fire of the two parties. Human imagination can hardly figure to itself a more deplorable situation. The balls flew incessantly from either side, many struck the tree, while some passed through the sleeves and skirts of his coat. In this state of jeopar- dy, unable to move his body, to stir his limbs, or even to incline his head, he remained more than an hour. So equally balanced, and so obstinate was the fight! At one moment, while the battle swerved in favour of the ene- my, a young savage chose an odd way of dis- covering his humour. He tound Putnam bound. He might have dispatched him at a blow. But he loved better to excite the ter- rors of the prisoner, by hurling a tomahawk at his head, or rather it should seem his object was to see how near he could throw it with- out touching him — the weapon struck in the tree a number of times at a nair's breadth dis- tance from the mark. When the Indian had finished his amusement, a French bas-officer (a much more inveterate savage by nature, though descended from so humane and polish- ed a nation)perceiving Putnam, came up to him, and, levelling a fuzee within a foot of his breast, attempted to discharge it — it missed fire. Ineffectually did the intended victim so- licit the treatment due to his situation, by re- peating that he was a prisoner of war. The degenerate Frenchman did not understand the language of honour or of nature: deaf to their 60 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM, voice, and dead to sensibility, he violently, and repeatedly, pushed the muzzle of his gun against Putnam's ribs, and finally gave him a cruel blow on the javir with the but-end of his piece. After this dastardly deed he left him. At length the active intrepidity of D'Eli and Harman,"^ seconded by the persevering valour of their followers, prevailed. They drove from the field the enemy, who left about ninety dead behind them. As they were retiring, Putnam was untied by the In- dian who had made him prisoner, and whom he afterwards called master. Having been conducted for some distance from the place of action, he was stripped of his coat, vest, stock- ings and shoes ; loaded with as many of the packs of the wounded as could be piled upon him ; strongly pinioned, and his wrists tied as closely together as they could be pulled with a cord. After he had marched, through no pleasant paths, in this painful manner, for ma- ny a tedious mile, the party (who were exces- sively fatigued) halted to breathe. His hands were now immoderately swelled from the tightness of the ligature ; and the pain had become intolerable. His feet were so much scratched, that the blood dropped fast from them. Exhausted with bearing a burden above his strength, and frantic with torments exqui- site beyond endurance, he entreated the Irish * This worthy officer is still living (1788) at Marlborough in the State of Massachusetts. LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. 61 interpreter to implore, as the last and only grace he desired of the savages, that they would knock him on the head and take his scalp at once, or loose his hands. A French officer, instantly interposing, ordered his hands to be unbound, and some of the packs to be taken off. By this time the Indian who cap- tured him, and had been absent with the wounded, coming up, gave him a pair of mo- casons, and expressed great indignation at the unworthy treatment his prisoner had suf- fered. That savage chief again returned to the care of the Avounded, and the Indians, about two hundred in number, went before the rest of the party to the place where the whole were that night to encamp. They took with them Major Putnam, on whom, besides innu- merable other outrages, they had the barbarity to inflict a deep wound with the tomahawk in the left cheek. His sufferings were in this place to be consummated. A scene of horror, infinitely greater than had ever met his eyes before, was now preparing. It was deter- mined to roast him ahve. For this purpose they led him into a dark forest, stripped him, naked, bound him to a tree, and piled dry brush, with other fuel, at a small distance, in a circle round him. They accompanied their labours, as if for his funeral dirge, with screams and sounds inimitable but by savage voices. Then they set the piles on fire. A 6# 62 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM, sudden shawer damped the rising flame. Still thej strove to kindle it, until, at last, the blaze ran fiercely round the circle. Major Putnam soon began to feel the scorching heat. His hands were so tied that he could move his body. He often shifted sides as the fire ap- proached. This sight, at the very idea of which all but savages must shudder, afforded the highest diversion to his inhuman tormen- tors, who demonstrated the delirium of their joy by correspondent yells, dances, and gesti- culations. He saw clearly that his final hour was inevitably come. He summoned all his resolution, and composed his mind, as far as the circumstances could admit, to bid an eter- nal farewell to all he held most dear. To quit the Avorld would scarcely have cost a single pang ; but for the idea of home, but for the remembrance of domestic endearments, of the affectionate partner of his soul, and of their beloved offspring. His thought was ul- timately fixed on a happier state of existence, beyond the tortures he was beginning to en- dure. The bitterness of death, even of that death which is accompanied with the keenest agonies, was, in a manner, past — nature, with a feeble struggle, was quitting its last hold on sublunary things — when a French officer rushed through the crowd, opened a way by scattering the burning brands, and unbound the victim. It was Molang himself — to whom a savage, unwilling to see another human sa- LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 63 critice inimolated, had run and communicated the tidings. That commandant spurned and severely reprimanded the barbarians, whose nocturnal powvvas and heUish orgies he sud- denly ended. Putnam did not want for feel- ing or gratitude. The French commander, fearing to trust him alone with them, remain- ed until he could deliver him in safety into the hands of his master. The savage approached his prisoner kindly, and seemed to treat him with particular affec- tion. He offered him some hard biscuit; but finding that he could not chew them, on ac- count of the blow he had received from the Frenchman, this more humane savage soaked some of the biscuit in water, and made him suck the pulp-hke part. Determined, how- ever, not to loose his captive (the refreshment being finished) he took the mocasons from his feet, and tied them to one of his wrists : then directing him to lie down on his back upon the bare ground, he stretched one arm to its full length, and bound it fast to a young tree ; the other arm was extended and bound in the same manner — his legs were stretched apart and fastened to two saplings. Then a number of tall, but slender poles were cut down, which, with some long bushes, w^ere laid across his body from head to foot : on each side lay as many Indians as could conve- niently find lodging, in order to prevent the possibility of his escape. In this disagreeable i>i LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. iBind painful posture he remained until morn- ing. During this night, the longest and most dreary conceivable, our hero used to relate that he felt a ray of cheerfulness come casu- ally across his mind, and could not even re- frain from smiling when he reiiected on this ludicrous group for a painter, of which he himself w^as the principal figure. The next day he was allowed his blanket and mocasons, and permitted to march with- out carrying any pack, or receiving any in- sult. To allay his extreme hunger, a little bear's meat was given, which he sucked through his teeth. At night the party arrived at Ticonderoga, and the prisoner was placed under the care of a French o^uard. The sava- ges, w'ho had been prevented from glutting their diabolical thirst for blood, took other opportunity of manifesting their malevolence for the disappointment, by horrid grimaces and angry gestures; but they were suffered no more to offer violence or personal indignity to him. After having been examined by the Mar- quis de Montcalm, Major Putnam was con- ducted to Montreal by a French officer, who treated him with the greatest indulgence and humanity. At this place were several prisoners. Col- onel Peter Schuyler, remarkable for his phi- lanthropy, generosity, and friendship, was of the number. No sooner had he heard of Ma- LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 65 jor Putnam's arrival, than he went to the in- terpreter's quarters, and inquired whether he had a Provincial Major in his custody ? He found Major Putnam in a comfordess condi- tion — without coat, waistcoat, or hose— the remnant of his clothing miserably dirty and ragged — his beard long and squalid — his legs torn by thorns and briars — his face gashed with wounds and swollen with bruises. Colonel Schuyler, irritated beyond all sufferance at such a sight, could scarcely restrain his speech within limits, consistent with the prudence of a prisoner and the meekness of a christian. Major Putnam was immediately treated ac- cording to his rank, cloathed in a decent manner, and supplied with money by that liberal and sympathetic patron of the dis- tressed. The capture of Frontenac by General Bradstreet afforded occasion for an exchange of prisoners. Colonel Schuyler was compre- hended in the cartel, A generous spirit can never be satisfied with imposing tasks for its generosity to accomplish. Apprehensive if it should be known that Putnam was a distinguished partizan, his liberation hiight be retarded, and knowing that there were offi- cers who, from the length of their captivity, had a claim of priority to exchange, he had, by his happy address, induced the governor to offer, that whatever officer he might think proper to nominate should be included in the 66 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. present cartel. With great politeness in man- ner, but seeming indifference as to object, he expressed his warmest acknowledgments to the governor, and said, " There is an old man here, who is a Provincial Major, and wishes to be at home with his wife and children ; he can do no good here or any where else : I believe your Excellency had better keep some of the young men, who have no wife or chil- dren to care for, and let the bid fellow go home with me." This justifiable finesse had the desired effect. At the house of Colonel Schuyler, Major Putnam became acquainted with Mrs. Howe, a fair captive, whose history would not be read without emotion, if it could be written in the same affecting manner in which I have often heard it told. She was still young and handsome herself, though she had two daugh- ters of marriageable age. Distress, which had , taken somewhat from the original redundancy of her bloom, and added a softening paleness to her cheeks, rendered her appearance the more engaging. Her face, that seemed to have been formed for the assemblage of dimples and smiles, was clouded with care. The natu- ral sweetness was not, however, soured by despondency and petulance, but chastened by humility and resignation. This mild daughter of sorrow looked as if she had known the day of prosperity, when serenity and gladness of soul were the inmates of her bosom. That LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. 67 day was past, and the once lively features now assumed a tender melancholy, which wit- nessed her irreparable loss. She needed not the customary weeds of mourning, or the fal- lacious pageantry of woe, to prove her widow- ed state. She was in that stage of affliction when the excess is so far abated as to permit the subject to be drawn into conversation, without opening the wound afresh. It is then rather a source of pleasure than pain to dwell upon the circumstances in narration. Every thing conspired to make her story interesting. Her first husband had been killed and scalped by the Indians some years before. By an un- expected assault, in 1756, upon Fort Dummer, where she then happened to be present with Mr. Howe, her second husband, the savages carried the fort5 murdered the greater part of the garrison, mangled in death her husband, and led her away with seven children into captivity. She was for some months kept with them ; and during their rambles she was fre- quently on the point of perishing with hunger, and as often subjected to hardships seemingly intolerable to one of so delicate a frame. Some time after the career of her miseries began, the Indians selected a couple of their young men to marry her daughters. The fright and disgust which the inteUigence of this intention occasioned to these poor young creatures, added infinitely to the sorrows and perplexities of their frantic mother. To pre- 68 LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. vent the hated connexion, all the activity of female resource was called into exertion. She found an opportunity of conveying to the governor a petition, that her daughters might be received into a convent for the sake of securing the salvation of their souls. Happily the pious fraud succeeded. About the same time the savages separated, and carried off her other five children into different tribes. She was ransomed by an elderly French officer for four hundred livres. Of no avail were the cries of this tender mother — a mother desolated by the loss of her children, who were thus torn from her fond embraces, and removed many hundred miles from each other, into the utmost recesses of Canada. With them (could they have been kept together) she would most willingly have wandered to the extremities of the world, and accepted as a desirable portion the cruel lot of slavery for life. But she was precluded from the sweet hope of ever beholding them again. The insufferable pang of parting, and the idea of eternal separation, planted the ar- rows of despair deep in her soul. Though all the world was no better than a desert, and all its inhabitants were then indifferent to her, yet the lovehness of her appearance in sorrow had awakened affections, which, in the aggra- vation of her troubles, were to become a new source of afflictions. The officer who bought her of the Indians had a son who also held a commission, and tIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 69 resided with his father. During her continu- ance in tiie same house, at St. John's, the double attachment of the father and the son rendered her sitiiation extremely distressing. It is true, the calmness of age delighted to gaze respectfully on her beauty ; but the impetu- osity of youth was fired to madness by the sight of her charms. One day, the son, whose attentions had been long lavished upon her in vain, finding her alone in a chamber, forcibly- seized her hand, and solemnly declared that he would now satiate the passion which she had so long refused to indulge. She recurred to entreaties, struggles, and tears, those preva- lent female weapons which the distraction of danger not less than the promptness of genius is wont to supply ; while he, in tlie delirium of vexation and desire, snatched a dagger, and swoie he would put an end to her life if she persisted to struggle. Mrs. Howe, assuming the dignity of conscious virtue, told him It was what she most ardently wished, and begged him to plunge the polgnard through her heart, since the mutual importunities and jealousies of such rivals had rendered her life, though innocent, more irksome and insupportable than death itself Struck with a momentary compunction, iie seemed to relent, and relax his hold ; and she, avalliug herself of his irresolution, or absence of mind, escaped down the stairs. In her disordered state she told the whole transaction to his fathei, who directed 7 70 LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. her, in future, to sleep in a small bed at the foot of that in which his wife lodged. The affair soon reached the governor's ears, and the joung officer was, shortly afterwards, sent on a tour of duty to Detroit. This gave her a short respite ; but she dreaded his return, and the humiliating insults for which she might be reserved. Her chil- dren, too, were ever present to her melan- choly mind. A stranger, a widow, a captive, she knew not where to apply for relief She had heard of the name of Schuyler — she was yet to learn, that it was only another appella- tion for the friend of suffering humanity. As that excellent man was on his way from Que- bec to the Jerseys, under a parole, for a limit- ed time, she came, with feeble and trembling steps, to him. The same maternal passion which sometimes overcomes the timidity of nature in the birds, when plundered of their callow nestlings, emboldened her, notwith- standing her native diffidence, to disclose those griefs which were ready to devour her in silence. While her delicate aspect was heightened to a glowing blush, for fear of of- fending by an inexcusable importunity, or of transgressing the rules of propriety, by repre- senting herself as being an object of admira- tion, she told, with artless simplicity, all the story of her woes. Colonel Schuyler, from that moment, became her protector, and en- deavoured to procure her hberty. The per- LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 71 son who purchased her from the savages, un- willing to pai t with so fair a purchase, de- manded a thousand Uvres as her ransom. But Colonel Schuyler, on his return to Quebec, obtained from the governor an order, m con- sequence of which Mrs. Howe was given up to him for four hundred livres; nor did his active goodness rest until every one of her five sons was restored to her. Business having made it necessary that Col- onel Schuyler should precede the prisoners who were exchanged, he recomuiended the fair captive to the protection of his friend Put- nam. She had just recovered from the mea- zles when the party was preparing to set oflf for New-England. By this time the young French officer had returned, with his passion rather increased than abated by absence. He pursued her wheresoever she went, and, al- though he cotild make no advances in her af- fection, he seemed resolved, by perseverance, to carry his point. Mrs. Howe, terrified by his treatment, was obliged to keep constantly near Major Putnam, who informed the young officer that he should protect that lady at the risk of his life."* In the long march from captivity, through an inhospitable wilderness, encumbered with five small children, she suffered incredible • Two or three inqidents respecting Mrs. Howe, which were received by the author from General Putnam, and inserted in the former editions, are omitted in this, as they appeared, oa fartheP information, to be mistakes* 72 LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. hardships. Though endowed with masculine fortitude, she was truly feminine in strength, and must have fainted by the way, had it not been for the assistance of Major Putnam. There were a thousand good offices which the helplessness of her condition demanded, and which the gentleness of his nature de- lighted to perform. He assisted in leading her little ones, and in carrying them over the swampy grounds and runs of water, with which their course was frequently intersected. He mino-led his own mess with that of the widow and the fatherless, and assisted them in supplying and preparing their provisions. Upon arriving within the settlements, they ex- perienced a reciprocal regret at separation, and were only consoled by the expectation of soon mingling in the embraces of their former acquaintances and dearest connexions. After the conquest of Canada, in 1760, she made a journey to Quebec, in order to bring back her two daughters, whom she had left in a convent. She found one of them married to a French officer. The other havino- con- tracted a great fondness for the religious sis- terhood, with reluctance consented to leave them and return. We now arrive at the period when the prowess of Britain, victorious alike by sea and by land, in the new and in the old world, had elevated that name fo the zenith of national glory. The conquest of Quebec opened the LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. 73 way for the total reduction of Canada. On the side of the Lakes, Amherst having cap- tured the posts of Ticonderoga and Crown- Point, apphed himself to strengthen the latter. Putnam, who had been raised to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and present at these ope- rations, was employed the remainder of this and some part of the succeeding season, in superintending the parties which were detach- ed to procure timber and other materials for the fortification. In 1760, General Amherst, a sagacious, hu- mane, and experienced commander, planned the termination of the war in Canada, by a bloodless conquest. For this purpose, three armies were destined to co-operate, by differ- ent routes, against Montreal, the only remain- ing place of strength the enemy held in that country. The corps formerly commanded by General Wolfe, now by General Murray, was ordered to ascend the river St. Lawrence ; an- other, under Colonel Haviland, to penetrate by the Isle Aux Noix ; and the third, consist- ing of about ten thousand men, commanded by the General himself, after passing up the Mohawk-River, and taking its course by the Lake Ontario, was to form a junction by fall- ing down the St. Lawrence. In this progress, moie than one occasion presented itself to manifest the intrepidity and soldiership of Lieutenant-Colonel Putnam. Two armed ves- sels obstructed the passage, and prevented the 74 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. attack on Oswegatchie. Putnam, with one thousand men, in fifty batteaux, undertook to board them. This dauntless officer, ever sparing of the blood of others, as prodigal of his own, to accomplish it with the less loss, put himself (with a chosen crew, a beetle and wedges) in the van, with a design to wedge the rudders, so that the vessels should not be able to turn their broadsides, or per- form any other manoeuvre. All the men in his little fleet were ordered to strip to their waistcoats, and advance at the same time. He promised, if he lived, to join and show them the way up the sides. Animated by so daring an example, they moved swiftly, in profound stillness, as to certain victory or death. The people on board the ships, be- holding the good countenance with which they approached, ran one of the vessels on shore, and struck the colours of the other. Had it not been for the dastardly conduct of the ship's company in the latter, who compelled the Captain to haul down his en- sign, he would have given the assailants a bloody reception : for the vessels were well provided with spars, nettings, and every cus- tomary instrument of annoyance as well as defence. It now remained to attack the fortress, which stood on an island, and seemed to have been rendered inaccessible by an high abattis of black-ash, that every where pra- LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 75 jected over the water. Lieutenant-Colonel Putnam proposed a mode of attack, and offer- ed his services to carry it into elfect. The General approved the proposal. Our parti- zao, accordingly, caused a sufficient number of boats to be fitted for the enterprize. The sides of each boat were surrounded with fas- cines, musket proof, which covered the men completely. A wide plank, twenty feet in length, was then fitted to every boat in such manner, by having an angular piece sawed from one extremity, that, when fastened by ropes on both sides of the bow, it mio;ht be raised or lowered at pleasure. The design was, that the plank should be held erect while the oarsmen forced the bow with the utmost ex- ertion against the abattis; and that afterwaids being dropped on the pointed brush, it should serve as a kind of bridge to assist the men in passing over them. Lieutenant-Colonel Put- nam having n^ade his dispositions to attempt the escalade in many places at the same mo- ment, advanced with his boats in admirable order. The garrison perceiving thcbc extraor- dinary and unexpected machines, waited not the assault, but capitulated. Lieutenant-Col- onel Putnam was particularly honoured by General Amherst, for his ingenuity in this in- vention, and promptitude in its execution. The three armies arrived at Montreal within two days of each other ; and the conquest of Canada became complete without the loss of a single drop oi blood. 76 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. At no great distance from Montreal stands the savage village called Cochnawaga. Here our partlzan found the Indian chief who had formerly made him prisoner. That Indian was highly delighted to see his old acquaint- ance, whom he entertained in his own well- built stone house with great friendship and hospitality; while his guest did not discover less satisfaction in an opportunity of shaking the brave savage by the hand, and proifering him protection in this reverse of his military fortunes. When the belligerent powers were consid- erably exhausted, a rupture took place be- tween Great Britain and Spain, in the month of January,! 762, and an expedition was form- ed that campaign, under Lord Albermarle, against the Havannah. A body of Provinci- als, composed of five hundred men from the Jerseys, eight hundred from New-York, and one thousand from Connecticut, joined his Lordship. General Lyman, who raised the reg- iment of one thousand men in Connecticut, be- ing the senior officer, commanded the whole : of course, the immediate command of his regi- ment devolved upon Lieutenant-Colonel Put- nam. The fleet that carried these troops sail- ed from New-York, and arrived safely on the coast of Cuba. There a terrible storm arose, and the transport in which Lieutenant-Colonel Putnam had embarked with five hundred men, was wrecked on a rift of craggy rocks. The weather was so tempestuous, and the surf. LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 77 which ran mountain-high, dashed with such violence against the ship^ that the most experi- enced seaman expected it \Vould soon part asunder. The rest ot" tlie fleet, so far from being able to aiford assistance, widi difficulty rode out the gale. In this deplorable situation, as the only expedient by which they could be saved, strict order was maintained, and all those people who best understood the use of tools, instantly employed in constructing rafts from spars, plank, and whatever other materi- als could be procured. There happened to be on board a large quantity of strong cords, (the same that are used in the whale fisnery) which, being fastened to the rafts, after the first had wath inconceivable hazard reached the shore, were of infinite service in preventing the oth- ers from driving out to sea, as also in dragging them athwart the billows to the beach; by which means every man was finally saved. With the same presence of mind to take ad- vantage of circumstances, and the same pre- caution to prevent confusion on similar occa- sions, how many valuable lives, prematurely lost, might have been preserved as blessings to their families, their friends, and their country ! As soon as all were landed, Lieutenant-Col- onel Putnam fortified his camp, that he might not be exposed to insult from the inhabitants of the neighbouring districts, or fioni those of Carthagena, who were but twenty-four miles distant. Here the party remained unmolested several days, until the storm had so much 78 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. abated as to permit the convoy to take thena oft'. They soon joined the troops before the Havannah, who, having been several weeks in that unhealthy climate, already began to grow extremely sickly.* The opportune arrival of the Provincial reinforcement, in perfect health, contributed not a little to forward the works, and hasten the reduction of that important place. But the Provincials sutfered so misera- bly by sickness afterwards, that very few ever returned to their native land again. Although a general peace among the Euro- pean powers was ratified in 1763, yet the savages on our western frontiers still continu- ed their hostilities. After they had taken several posts, General Bradstreet was sent, in 1764, with an army, against them. Colonel Putnam, then, for the first time, appointed to the command of a regiment, was on the expedi- tion, as was the Indian chief whom I have sev- eral times had occasion to mention as his cap- ture r, at the head of one hundred Cochnawaga warriors. Before General Bradstreet reach- ed Detroit, which the savages invested. Cap- tain D'Ell, the faithful friend and intrepid fel- low-soldier of Colonel Putnam, had been slain * Colonel Haviiand, an accomplished officer, several times men- tioned in these memoirs, who brought to America a itgaiient of one thousand Irish veterans, had but seventy men re'mi',iuing alive when he left the Havannah. Colonel Haviiand, during this siege, having once with his regiment engaged and routed five htmdred Spaniards, met Colonel Putnam on his return, and said— *' Put- iiau), give me a pinch of snufF." ** I never carry any," returned Pulnnni. *' I have aiways just such luck," cried Haviiand ; " the vascaliy Spaniards have, shot away my pocket, snuffbox and alU" LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 79 in a desperate sally. He having been detach- ed with five hundied men, in 1763, by Gene- ral Amherst, to raise the siege, found means of throwing the succour into the fort. But the garrison, commanded by Major Gladwine, a brave and sensible officer, had been so much weakened, by the lurking and insidious mode of war practised by the savages, that not a man could be spared to co-operate in an at- tack upon them. The commandant would even have dissuaded Captain D'EU from the attempt, on account of the great disparity in numbers; but the latter, relying on the disci- pline and courage of his men, replied, ''God " forbid that I should ever disobey the orders of " my General," and immediately disposed them for action. It was obstinate and bloody ; but the vastly superior number of the savages enabled them to enclose Captain D'Ell's party on every side, and compelled him, finally, to fight his way, in retreat from one stone house to another. Havinc: halted to breathe a mo- ment, he saw one of his bravest sergeants ly- ing at a small distance, wounded through the thigh, and wallowing in his blood. Where- upon he desired some of the men to run and bring the sergeant to the house, but they de- clined it. Then declaring, "that he never '' would leave so brave a soldier in the field to " be tortured by the savages," he ran and en- deavoured to help him up — at the instant a volley of shot dropped them both dead to- gether. The party continued retreating from 80 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. house to house until they regained the fort ; where it was found the conflict had been so sharp, and lasted so long, that only Mty rnen remained alive of the five hundred who had sallied. Upon the arrival of General Bradstreet, the savages saw that all further efforts, in aims, would be vain, and accordingly, after many fallacious proposals for a peace, and frequent tergiversations in the negociation, they con- cluded a treaty, which ended the war in A- merica. Colonel Putnam, at the expiration of ten years fiom his first receiving a commission, alter having seen as much service, endured as many hardships, encountered as many dangers, and acquired as many laurels as any officer of his rank, with great satisfaction laid aside his uni- form, and returned to his plough. The various and uncommon scenes of war in which he had acted a respectable part, his intercourse with tlie world, and intimacy with some of the first characters in the army, joined with occasional reading, had not only brought into view what- ever talents he possessed from nature, but, at the same time, had extended his knowledge, and polished his manners, to a considerable degree. Not having become inflated with pride, or forgetful of his old connexions, he had the good fortune to possess entirely the good will of his fellow citizens. No character stood fairer jn the pubhc eye for integrity, LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 8l bravery, and patriotism. He was employed in several offices in his own town, and not un- frequently elected to represent it in the Gene- ral xAssembly. The year after his return to private Hfe, the minds of men were strangely agitated, by an attempt of the British Parlia- ment to introduce the memorable Stamp Act in ikmerica. I'his germe of policy, whose growth was repressed by the moderate temperature in which it was kept by some administrations, did not fully disclose its fruit until nearly eleven years afterwards. All the world knows how it then ripened into a civil war. On the twenty-second day of March, 1765, the Stamp Act received the royal assent. It was to take place in America on the first day of November following. This innovation spread a sudden and universal alarm. The pohtlcal pulse in the Provinces, from Maine to Georgia^ throbbed in sympathy. The Assemblies, in most of these colonies, that they might oppose it legally and in concert, appointed Delegates' to confer together on the subject. This first Congress met, early in October, at New-York. They agreed upon a Declaration of Rights and Grievances of the Colonists; together with separate Addresses to the King, Lords, and Commons of Great- Britain. In the mean time, the people had determined, in order to prevent the stamped paper from being dis- tributed, that the Stamp-Masters should not enter on the execution of their office. That 82 LIFE OF GENERAL TUTNAM. ajDpolntment, In Connecticut, had been confer- red upon Mr. Inc'ersol, a very dignified, sensi- ble, and learned native of the colony, who, upon being solicited to resign, did not, in the first instance, give a satisfactory answer. In consequence of \\ hich, a great number of the substantial yeomanry, on horseback, furnished with provisions for themselves, and provender for their horses, assembled in the eastern counties, and began their march for New- Haven, to receive the resignation of Mr. In- gersol. A junction with another body was to have been formed in Branford. But having learned at Hartford, that Mr. Infrersol would be in town the next day to claim protection from the Assembly, they took quarters there, and kept out patroles during the whole night, to prevent his arrival without theii knowledge. The succeeding morning they resumed their tr>nrch, and met Mr. Ingersol in Wethersfield. They told him their business, and he, after some little hesitation, mounted on a round table, read his resignation."^ That finished, * The curious may be pleased to know that the resignalidn was expressed in these explicit terms : Wethersfield., September ^'h 1'65. *•! do hereby promise, that I never will receive any stamped papers whicii mav arrive from Enrt'pe, in consetpsence of an act lateij' passed in the Parliament of Great-Britain ; nor officiate as Slamp-Master or Distributor of Stamps, within tiie col(.n) ol Con- necticut, either directly or indirectly. And 1 do hereliy notify to all the inhabitants of his Majest>'s colony of Cf)nnt-cticut (i otwith- standing: the said office ot trust has been cl!toiiess, and afterwards was escorted by aboit five hundred horse to Hartford, wiiere he a^rain read his resignation, amidst the un- bounded acclamations of the people. 1 have chosen to style this collection the yeomnnnj^ the multitude, or the people, because I could not make use of the English word mob, wriicb generally signifies a disorderly concurrence of the rabble, without conveying an erroneous idea. It is scarcely necessary^to add, that the people, their objects being effected, without ollcring disturbance, dispersed to their homes.* Colonel j^utnam, who instigated the people to these measures, was prevented from at- tending by accident. But he was deputed soon after, with two other gentlemen, to wait on Governor Fitch on the same subject. The questions of the Governor,and answers of Put- nam, will serve to indicate the spirit of the times. After some conversation, the Governor asked, " What he should do if the stamped paper should be sent to him by the King's • To ^ive a trait of the urbanity tliat urevailed, it raav not be am.ss to mention a jest that passed in the cavalcade to Hartford, and Mas received witli the most perfect ^ood humour. Vfr. In- ^ersol, who by chance rode a white hor-e/being asked " What he thought, lo find himself attended bv such a retinue '"—replied, t.iat he had now a clearer idea than ever he had bef(u-e conctiv- ert ot that passage m the Revelations, which deseiibes Death on a pule horse, anil hell folloivin^ him." 84 LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. authority ?" Putnam replied, "lock it up until we shall visit jou again." " And what will you do then?" "We shall expect you to give us the key of the room in which it is deposit- ed ; and, if you think fit, in order to screen yourself from blame, you may forewarn us, upon our peril, not to enter the loom." "And what will you do afterwards?" "Send it safely back again." "But if 1 should refuse admission?" " In such a case, your house will be kvelled with the dust in five minutes." It was suppos- ed, that a report of this conversation was one reason why the stamped paper was never sent from New-York to Connecticut. Such unanimity in the Provincial Assemblies, and decision in the yeomanry, carried beyond the Atlantic a conviction of the inexpediency of attempting to enforce the new Revenue System. The Stamp Act being repealed, and the measures in a manner quieted. Colonel Putnam continued to labour w^ith his own hands, at farming, without interruption, except, for a little time, by the loss of the first joint of his right thumb from one accident, and the com- pound fracture of his right thigh from another: that thigh, being rendered nearly an inch shorter than the left, occasioned him ever to limp in his walk. The Provincial officers and soldiers from Connecticut, who survived the conquest of the Havannah, appointed General Lyman to re- ceive the remainder of their prize money, in England. A company, composed partly of LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. 85 military, and partly of other gentlemen, whose object was to obtain from the crown ^ grant of land on the Mississippi, also committed to him the negociation of their affairs. When several years had elapsed in applications, a grant of land was obtained. In 1770, General Lyman, with Colonel Putnam, and two or three others, went to explore the situation. After a tedious voyage, and a laborious pas- sage up the Mississippi, they accomplished their business. General Lyman came back to Connecticut with the explorers, but soon returned to the Natchez : there formed an establishment and laid his bones. Colonel Putnam placed some labourers with provisions and farming utensils upon his location ; but tlie increasing troubles shortly after ruined the prospect of deriving any advantage from that quarter. In speaking of the troubles that ensued, I not only omit to say any thing on the obnox- ious claim asserted in the British declaratory act, the continuation of the duty on tea, the attempt to obtrude that article upon the A- merlcans, the abortion of this project, the Bos- ton Port Bill, the alteration of the charter of Massachusetts, and other topics of universal notoriety ; but even wave all discussion of ir- ritations on the one part, and supplications on; the other, which preceded the war betweea Great-Britain and her colonies on this conti-^ neat. It will ever be acknowledged by those 86 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. who were best acquainted with facts, and it should be made known to posterity, that the king of England had not, in his extensive do- minions, subjects more loyal, more dutiful, or more zealous for his glory than the Americans j and that nothing short of a melancholy persua- sion, that the " measures which for aiany years had been systematically pursued by his minis- ters, were calculated to subvert their constitu- tions," could have dissolved their powerful attachment to that kingdom which they fondly called their parent country. Here, without digression to develope the cause, or describe the progress, it may suffice to observe, the dispute now verged precipitately to an awful crisis. Most considerate men foresaw it would terminate in blood. But rather than suffer the chains, which they believed in prepara- tion, to be rivetted, they nobly determined to sacrifice their lives. In vain did they depre- cate the infatuation of those transatlantic counsels which drove them to deeds of despe- ration. Convinced of the rectitude of their cause, and doubtful of the issue, they felt the most painful solicitude for the fate of their country, on contemplating the superior strength of the nation with which it was to contend. America, thinly inhabited, under thirteen distinct colonial governments, could have little hope of success, but from the pro- tection of providence, and the unconquerable spirit of freedom which pervaded the mass of LIFE OF GENERAL PUTx\AM. 87 the people. It is true, since the peace she had surprisingly increased in wealth and pop- ulation ; but the resources of Britain almost exceeded credibility or conception. It is not wonderful, then, that some good citizens, of weaker nerves, recoiled at the prospect ; while others, who had been officers in the late war, or who had witnessed, by travelling, the force of Britain, stood aloof. All eyes were now turned to find the men who, possessed of mil- itary experience, would dare, in the approach- ing hour of severest trial, to lead their undis- ciplined fellow-citizens to battle. For none were so stupid as not to comprehend, that want of success would involve the leaders in the punishment of rebellion. Putnam was among the first and most conspicuous who stepped forth. Although the Americans had been, by many who wished their subjugation, indiscreetly as indiscriminately stigmatized with tiie imputation of cowardice — he felt — he knew for himself, he was no coward ; and from Avhat he had seen and known, he believed that his countrymen, driven to the extremity of de- fending their rights by arms, would find no difficulty in wiping away the ungenerous as- persion. As he happened to be often at Bos- ton, he held many conversations, on these sub- jects, with General Gage, the British Com- mander in Chief, Lord Percy, Colonel Sheriff, Colonel Small, and many officers with whom he had formerly served, who were now at the 88 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. Head-Quarters. Being often questioned, " in case the dispute should proceed to hostilities, what part he would realljtake?" he always answered, "with his country; and that, let what- ever might happen, he was prepared to abide the consequence." Being interrogated, "wheth- er Ae, who had been a witness to the prowess and victories of the British fleets and armies, did not think them equal to the conquest of a country which was not the owner of a single ship, regiment, or magazine ?" he rejoined, that "he could only say, justice would be on our side, and the event with providence : but that he had calculated, if it required six years for the combined forces of England and her colonies to conquer such a feeble country as Canada, it would, at least, take a very long time for England alone to overcome her own widely extended colonies, which were much stronger than Canada : That when men fought for every thing dear, in what they believed to be the most sacred of all causes, and in their own native land, they would have great ad- vantages over their enemies who were not in the same situation; and that, having taken into view all circumstances, for his own part, he fully believed that America would not be so easily conquered by England as those gen- tlemen seemed to expect." Being once, in particular, asked, " whether he did not seri- ously believe that a well appointed British army of hye thousand veterans could march LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 89 through the whole continent of America ?" he replied briskly, " no doubt, if they behaved civilly, and paid well for every thing they wanted ; — but" — after a moment's pause add- ed — " if they should attempt it in a hostile manner (though the American men were out of the question) the women, with their ladles and broomsticks, would knock them all on the head before they had got half way through." This was the tenor, our hero hath often told me, of these amicable interviews; and thus, as it commonly happens in disputes about future events which depend on opinion, they parted without conviction, no more to meet in a friendly manner, until after the appeal should have been made to Heaven, and the issue confirmed by the sword. In the mean time, to provide against the worst contingency, the militia in the several colonies was sedulously trained ; and those select companies, the flower of our youth, which were denominated minutemen, agreeably to the indication of their name, held themselves in readiness to march at a mo- ment's warning. At length the fatal day arrived, when hos- tilities commenced. General Gage, in the evening of the 18th of April, 1775, detached from Boston, the grenadiers and light infantry of the army, commanded by Lieutenant- Colonel Smith, to destroy some military and other stores deposited by tlie province at Con- cord. About sunrise the next morning, the 90 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. detachment, on marching into Lexington, fired upon a company of miiitia who had just re- asserahled ; for having been alarmed iale at night, with reports that the regulars we>/e ad- vancing to demolish the stoies, they collected on their parade, and were dismissed with or- ders to reassembre at beat of drum, it is es- tablished bj the affidavits ot more than thirty persons who were present, that the first fire, which killed eight of the militia, then begin- ning to disperbc, was given by the British, without provocation. The spark of war, thus kindled, ran with unexampled rapidity, and raged with unwonted violence. To repel the aggression, the people of the bordering towns spontaneously rushed to arms, and poured their scattering shot from every convenient station upon the regulars, who, after marching to Concord, and destroying the magazine, would have found their retreat intercepted, had they not been reinforced by Lord Percy, with the battalion companies of three regiments, and a body of marines. Notwithstanding the junc- tion, they were hard pushed, and pursued until they could find pjotection from their shif)s. 0/ the British, two hundrt'd and eighty- three were killed, wounded, and taken. The Americans had thirty-nine killed, nineteen wounded, and two made prisoners. Nothing could exceed the celerity with which the intelligence flew every where, that blood had been shed by the British troops. The country, in motion, exhibited but one LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 91 scene of hurry, preparation and revenge. Put- nam, who was plowing when he heard the news, lelt his plough in the middle of the field, unyoked his team, and without waiting to change his clothes, set olf for the theatre of action. But findino: the British retreated to Boston, and invested by a sufficient force to watch their movements, he came back to Connecticut,* levied a regiment, under au- thority of the legislature, and speedily return- ed to Carabiidge.t He was now promoted to be a Major-General on the Provincial staff, * General Putnam was absent only one week from the army at Cambridge ; and then, for the purpose of consuitation with the Legislature of Connecticut, at ihat time in session; and at the par- ticular request of that bodv- Having assisted by his advice in the organization of a miliiary force for the campaign of 1775, he re- turned immediately t« the Army before Boston, leaving ordeis for the tro >ps to follow with as little delay as possible, after the mea could be enlisted (^ Editor. J f An article, void ot foundation, mentioning an interview be- tween General Gage and General Putnam, appeared in the Eiigiisli Gazettes m these words: 'General Gage, viewing the Amei-'>«aa army with his telescope, saw General Putnam in it, which surpris- ed him ; and he contrived to get a message de'ivered to him, that he wanted to spenk to him. Putnam, wiihuut anv hesitation, wait- ed upon him. Genei-al Gage showed him his fortifications, and advised him to lay down his arms. Genei'al Putnam replied, he could force his fortifications in hali an hour, and advised General Gage to go on board the ships with his troops* 'rhe apprehension of an attack is adduced with ranch more veri- similitude in M'Fingal. as the reason « h v General (age would not suffer the inhabiiants to go from the town of Boston, after he had promised to grant permission : *So (iage of late agreed, you know. To let the Floston people go : Yet when he saw, 'gainst troops that brav'd him. They were the only guards tliat savM him. Kept off that Satan of a Putnam From breaking in to maul and mutl'n him, He'd too much wit such leagues t' observe. And shut Ihera in again to starve.' M'Fingal. Canto I. 92 LIFE OV GENERAL PUTNAM. by his colony ; and, in a little time, confirmed by Congress, in the same rank on the Conti- nental eslabHshment. General Ward, of Mas- sachusetts, by common consent, commanded the whole ; and the celebrated Dr. Warren was made a Major-General. Not long after this period, the British Com- mander in Chief found the means to convey a proposal, privately, to General Putnam, that if he would relinquish the rebel party, he might rely upon being made a Major-General on the British establishment, and receiving a great pecuniary compensation for his services. General Putnam spurned at the offer; which, however, he thought prudent at that time to conceal from public notice. It could scarcely have been expected, but by those credulous patriots who were prone to believe whatever they ardently desired, that officers assembled from colonies distinct in their manners and prejudices, selected from laborious occupations, to command a hetero- geneous crowd of their equals, compelled to be soldiers only by the spur of occasion, should long be able to preserve harmony among themselves, and subordination among their followers. As the fact would be a phenome- non, the idea was treated with mirth and mockery by the friends to the British govern- ment. Yet this unshaken embryo C'fa military corps, composed of militia, minutemen, volun- teers, and levies, with a burlesque appearance LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 93 of multiformity in arms, accoutrements, cloath- ing and conduct, at last grew into a regular army — an army which, having vindicated the rights of human nature, and established the independence of a new empire, merited and obtained the glorious distinction of the patriot army — the patriot army, whose praises for their fortitude in adversity, bravery in battle, moderation in conquest, perseverance in sup- porting the cruel extremities of hunger and nakedness without a murmur or sigh, as well as for their magnanimity in retiring to civil life, at the moment of victory, with arms in their hands, and without any just compensa- tion for their services, wi!l only cease to be celebrated when time shall exist no more. Enthusiasm for the cause of liberty, substi- tuted in the place of discipline, not only kept these troops together, but enabled them at once to perform the duties of a disciplined army. Though the commanding officers from the four colonies of New-Eno-land were in a manner independent, they acted harmoniously in concert. The first attention had been pru- dently directed towards forming some little redoubts and intrenchments ; for it was well known that lines, however slight or untena- ble, were calculated to insjire raw soldiers with a confidence in themselves. The next care was to bring the live stock from the isl- ands in Boston bay, in order to prevent the enemy (already surrounded by land,) from 9 94 LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. making use of them for fresh provisions. In the latter end of May, between two and three hundred men were sent to drive off the stock from Hog and Noddle islands, which are situ- ated on the north-east side of Boston harbour. Advantage having been taken of the ebb-tide, when the water is fordabie between the main and Hog island, as it is between that and Noddle-island, the design was effecteci. But a skirmish ensued, in which «ome of the ma- rines, who had been stationed to guard them, were killed : and as the firing continued be- tween the British w^ater-ciaft and our party, a reinforcement of three hundred men, with two pieces of artillery, was ordered to join the latter. General Putnam took the command, and having himself gone down on the beach, within conversing distance, and ineffectual- ly ordered the people on board an arm- ed schooner to strike, he plied her with shot so furiously that the , crew made their escape, and the vessel was buint. An armed sloop was likewise so much disabled as to be towed off by the boats of the fleet. Thus ended this affair, in which several hun- dred sheep, and some cattle were removed from under the muzzles of the enemy's cannon, and our men, accustomed to stand fire, by being for many hours exposed to it, without meeting with any loss. The Piovlncial Generals having received advice that the British Commander in Chief designed to take possession of the heights on LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 95 the peninsula of Charlestovvn, detached a thousand men In the niglit of the 16th of June, under the orders of General Warren, to in- trench themselves upon one of these emiicn- ces, named Bunker-Hill. Though retarded bj accidents, from beginning the work until nearly midnight, jet, bj dawn of daj, they had constructed a redoubt about eight rods square, and commenced a breast-work from the left to the low grounds ; which an insuf- ferable fire iVom the shipping, floating batte- ries, and cannon on Copp's Hill, in Boston, prevented them Irom completing. At mid-day four battalions of foot, ten con:ipanies of grena- diers, ten companies of light-infantry, with a proportion of artillery, commanded by Major- General Howe, landed under a heavy cannon- ade from the ships, and advanced in three lines to the attack. The light-infantry being formed on the right, was directed to tur-n the left flank of the Americans ; and the grena- dier's, supported by two battalions, to storm the redoubt in front. Meanwhile, on applica- tion, these troops wer'e augmented by the 47th regiment, the 1st battalion of marines, together with some companies of light-infan- try and grenadiers, which formed an aggre-' gate force of between two and three thousand men.* But so difficult was it to reinforce th© * The preceding paragTaph was copied froio aErillsh Register, beip^ the English account of the troops sent to the attack of Bun- ker-Hill, and the i the nigl.t of th.e 4tli of March, 1770,) General Washington had concerted apian for avail- ing himself of tiiat occasion, to attack the town of KJoston itself. Four thousand chosen men were held in readisiess to embark at the mouth oi' Cambridge river, on a signal to be given if the garri- son should ajjpear to be so weakened by the detachment made from it as to justify an assault. Tuese tjoops were to embark ia two divisions, the first to be led by Brigadier-Gent-ral Sullivan, the second by Btigadier-General Green^ ai;d the whole to be under the comraand of Major-lTleneral Putnam. The boats w . re to be preced- ed by three floating batteries, which were to keep up a heavy fire on that part of the town where the troops were to land It was pro. posed that the first division should hmd at the powder-house, and gain possession of Beacon Hill ; the second at Karlon's Point, or a little south of it, and after securing that post, to join the ether divi- sion, force the enemy's works, atid open the gates in order to give admission to the troops from Koxbury, C Editor. J 10^ LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. ' As a part of the hostile fleet lingered for some time in Naotasket-Roacl, about nine miles below Boston, General Washington con- tinued himself in Boston, not only to see the coast entirely clear, bat also to make many indispensable arrangements. His Excellency, proposing to leave Major-General Ward, with a few regiments, to linisli the fortiiications in- tended as a security against an attack by water, in tlie mean lime despatched the great- er part of the army to New-York, w^here it was most probable the enemy would make a descent. Upon the sailing of a fleet with troops in the month of January, Major-General Lee had been sent to the defence of that city; who, after having caused some works to be laid out, proceeded to -follow that fleet to South-Carolina. The Commander in Chief was now exceedingly solicitous that these works should be completed as soon as pos- sible, and accordingly gave the following " Orders and Instructions for Major-General Putnam, "As there arc the best reasons to believe that the enemy's fleet and army, which left Nantasket-Road last Wednesday evening, are bound to New-York, to endeavour to possess that important post, and, if possible, to secure the communication by Hudson's river to Can- ada, it must be our care to prevent them from accomplishing their designs. To that end I LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. 103 have detached Brigadier-General Heath, with the whole hody of riiienien, and five battalions of the Continental army, by tiie way of Nor- wich, in Connecticut, to New-York. These, by an express arrived yesterday from General Heath, I iiave reason to beheve, are in New- York. Six more battalions, under General Sullivan, march this niorning by the same route, and will, I hope, arrive there in eight or ten days at fartliest. The rest of the army will iimiiediately follow in divisions, leav- ing only a convenient space between each di- vision, to prevent confusion, and want of ac- commodation upon their march. You will, no doubt, make the best despatch in getting to New-York. Upon your arrival there, you will assume the command, and immediately proceed in continuing to execute the plan proposed by Major-General Lee, for fortifying that city, and securing the passes of the East and North rivers. If, upon consultation with the Brigadiers General and Engineers, any al- teration in that plan is thought necessary, you are at liberty to make it: cautiously avoiding to break in too much upon his main design, unless where it may be apparently necessary so to do, and that by the general voice and opinion of the gentle men above-mentioned. '^You will nieet the Quarter-Master-Gene- ral, Colonel Miffiin, and Commissary-General,''^ * Colonel Joseph Trumbullj eldest son to the Governor of that name. 104 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. at New- York. As these are both men of ex- cellent talents in their different departments, you will do well to give them all the authority and assistance they require : And should a council of war be necessary, it is my direction they assist at it. " Your long service and experience will, better than my particular directions at this distance, point out to you the works most proper to be first rais<3d ; and your perseverance, activ- ity, and zeal will lead you, without my recom- mending it, to exert every nerve to disappoint the enemy's designs. "Devoutly praying that the power which has hitherto sustained the American arms, may continue to bless them with the divine pro- tection, I bid you — farewell. "Given at Head Quarters, in Cambridge, this twenty-ninth of March, 1776. " G. Washington." Invested with these commands. General Putnam travelled by long and expeditious stages to New-York. His first precaution, upon his arrival, was to prevent disturbance, or surprise in the night season. With these objects in view, after posting the necessary guards, he issued his orders."^ He instituted, ♦ GENER VL ORDERS. "Head-Qicarfers, J\'e-iV-Vorh, ^pril 5. 1776. *' The soldiers are strict!}' enjosned to retii e to their barracks and quarters at tattoo-beating, and to remain there until the re- veille is beat. • LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 105 likewise, other wholesome regulations to me- liorate the pohce of the troops, and to pre- serve the good agreement that subsisted be- tween them and the citizens. Notwithstanding the war had now raged, in other parts, with unaccustomed severit}' for nearly a year, jet the British ships at JN'ew- York, one of which had once fired upon the town to intimidate the inhabitants, found the means of being supplied with fresh water and provisions. General Putnam resolved to adopt eifectual measures for putting a period to this intercourse, and accordingly expressed his prohibition* in the most pointed teims. Nearly at the same moment, a detachment of a thousand Continentals was sent to oc- cupy Governor's Island, a regiment to fortify Red Hook, and some companies of riflemen *' Necessity obligees the General to desire the inhabitants ot" the oitv to observe the same rule, as no person will be periuitleti to pass any sentry after this night with^-ut the- conntersgn. *' Tlje inhabitants, whose business rcjuire it, may know the countersign, by applying to any of the Bi'igade- Majors." * PLlOMIBmON. Head' Quarters, JVexo-York. Jpr?' S 1776. «*The General informs the i'. habitants, tiiat it is become hIj-^o- lutely neceesary that all communication between the iniiiisurial fletjt and the shore should be immediately slopped for that jjur- post' he has given positive nr.lers, the ships should no longer be furnished with p»' "In this new way of ferry'ng." The soldier flew ; the sailor too ; And, scar'd almost to death, Sir, Wore out their shoes to spread the news, * And ran till out of breath, Sir. Now up and down, throughout the town. Most frantic scenes were acted ; And some ran here, and some ran there. Like men almost distracted. Some fire cried, which some denied. But said the earth had quaked : And girls and boys, with hideous noise» Ran through the town half naked. Sir William* he, snug as a flea. Lay all this time a snoring ; * Sir William KoiifC. IQ* 110 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. ure. To this machine, called the American Turtle, was attached a magazine of powder^ which it was intended to be fastened under Nor dreamt of harm, as lie lay wai'm In bed with Mrs. L*r*ng. Now in a fright, he starts upright, Awak'd by such a clatter : He rubs boih eyes, and boldly cries^ " For God's sake, what's the matter 1" At his bed-side he then espied - Sir Erskirie* at command, Sir; Upon one foot he had one boot. Arid t'other in his hand. Sir. ** Arise ! arise !" Sir Erskine cries ; " Tlie rebels — more's the pity — " Without a boat, are ail on float, *' And rang'd before the city. ''' The niotlev crew, in vessels new, *' With Satan for their guida. Sir, ''^ Pack'd up in bags, or wooden kegs, **Come driving down the tide, Sir: " Therefore prepare for bloody war i " These kegs nmsl all be routed, »^ Or surely we despis'd sliall be, *' And British courage doubted." The Royal band now ready stand. Ail raiig'd in dread ai*ray, :^ir, W^ith stomachs stout, to see it out. And make a bloody day, Sir. The cannons roar from shore to shore. The small arms make a rattle : Since wars begnn, I'm sure no man E'er saw so strange a battle. The rebel I" vales, the rebel dales, With rebel trees surrounded. The distant woods, t!-e hills and floods, AVith rebel echoes sounded. * Sir William Erskine. i The British officers were so fond of the tvord rebel, thai theu fiften applied it mast ab&urdly. LIFE OF GENERAL PUTXAIVL 111 the botioni of a ship, with a driving screw, in such sort, that the same stroke which disen- gaged it from the machine, should put the internal clock-work in motion. This beino- done, the ordinary operation of a gun-lock at the distance of half an hour, an hour, or any determinate time, would cause the powder to explode, and leave the effects to the com- mon laws of nature. The simplicity, yet combination discovered in the mechanism of this wonderful machine, were acknowledged by those skilled in physics, and particularly hydraulics, to be not less ingenious than novel. The fish below swam to and fro, AltackM froai ev'rv quarter; " Wliy sure," thought ihcy, " the Dcvii'3 to pay *' Mong'st folks above the water." The kegs, 'tis said, tbonp^h strongly made Of reboi staves antl hoops, Sir, Couhi not oppose their pow'rful foes. The conqu'ring British troops, Sir. From morn to night those men of migU^. Display'd amazing courage; And when the sun was fairly down, lletir'd to sup their porridge. An hundred men, with each a pen, Or mo"e, upon my word. Sir, It is most true, would be too few Their valour to record. Sir. Such feats did they perform that day, U[)On those wicked kegs, Sir, Thf.t years to come, if they get home. They'll raak^ then* boasts and brags, Sir. Mr. Bushnell, having been highlv recommended for his talents by Fresident Stiles, General Parsons, and some other gentlemen of science, v/ is appointed a Captain in the corps of sappers and miners; in which capacity he continued to serve with that corps until the conclusion of the war. 112 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. The inventor, whose constitution was too fee- ble to permit him to perform the labour of rowing the Turtle, had taught his brother to manage it with perfect dexterity ; but unfor- tunately his brother fell sick of a fever just before the arrival of the fleet. Recourse was therefore had to a sergeant in the Connecticut troops ; who, having received whatever in- structions could be communicated to him in a short time, went, too late in the night, with all the apparatus, under the bottom of the Eagle, a sixty-four gun ship, on board of which the British Admiral, Lord Howe, com- manded. In coming up, the screw that had been calculated to perforate the copper sheathing, unluckily struck against some iron plates where the rudder is connected with the stern. This accident, added to the strength of the tide which prevailed, and the want of adequate skill in the sergeant, occasioned such delay, that the dawn began to appear, where- upon he abandoned the magazine to chance, and after gaining a proper distance, for the sake of expedition, rowed on the surface to- wards the town. General Putnam, who had been on the wharf anxiously expecting the result, from the first glimmenng of light, be- held the machine near Governor's-Island, and sent a whale-boat to brin^ it on shore. In about twenty minutes afterwards the magazine exploded, and blew a vast column of water to an amazing height in tne air. As the LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. 113 whole business had been kept an Inviolable secret, he was not a little diverted with tiie various conjectures, whether this stupendous noise was produced by a bomb, a meteor, a water-spout, or an earthquake. Otlier opera- tions of a most serious nature rapidlj suc- ceeded, and prevented a repetition of the ex- periment. On the tw^enty-second day of August, the van of the British landed on Long Island, and was soon followed by the whole army, except one brigade of Hessians, a small body of Brit- ish, and some convalescents, left on Sta ten- Island. Our troops on Long Island had been commanded during the summer by General Greene who was now sick ; and General Put- nam took the command but two days before the battle of Flatbush. The instructions to him, pointing in the first place to decisive ex- pedients for suppressing the scattering, un- meaning, and wasteful fire of our men, con- tained regulations for the service of the guards, the Brigadiers and the Field-officers of the day ; for the appointment and encouragement of "proper scouts, as well as for keeping the men constantly at their posts ; for preventing the burning of buildings, except it should be necessary for miiitary purposes, and for pre- serving private property fVom pillage and de- struction. To these regulations were added, in a more diffuse, though not less spirited and professional style, reflections on the distinction 114 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. of an army from a mob ; with exhortations for the soldiers to conduct themselves manfully in such a cause, and for their Commander to oppose the en^^my's approach with detach- ments of his best troops; while he should endeavour to render their advance more diffi- cult by constructing abbatis, and to entrap their parties by forming ambuscades. General Putnam w^as within the lines, when an engage- ment took place on the 27th, between the British army and our advanced corps, in which we lost about a thousand men in killed and missing, with the Generals Sulhvan and Lord Stirling made prisoners. But our men, though attacked on all sides, fought with great bravery ; and the enemy's loss was not light. The unfortunate battle of Long-Island, the masterly retreat from thence, and the actual passage of part of the hostile fleet in the East- River, above the town, preceded the evacua- tion of New- York. A promotion of four Major-Generals, and six Brigadiers, had pre- viously been made by Congress. After the retreat from Long-Island, the main army, con- sisting, for the moment, of sixty battalions, of which twenty were Continental, the residue levies and militia, was, conformably to the ex- igencies of the service, rather than to the rules of war, formed into fourteen brigades. Major- Gcneral Putnam commanded the right grand division of fi\e brigades, the Majors-General Spencer and Greene the centre of six brigades, MPE OP GENETIAL PUTNAM* 115 and Major-General Heath the left, which was posted near King's- bridge, and composed of two brijxades. The whole never amounted to twenty thousand effective men; while the British and German forces, under Sir William Howe, exceeded twenty-two thousand : in- deed, the minister had asserted in parliament that they would consist of more tnan thirty thousand. Our two centre divisions, both commanded by General Spencer, in the sick- ness of General Greene, moved towards Mount Washington, Harlaem Heights, and Horn's Hook, as soon as the final resolution was taken in a council of war, on the twelfth of September, to abandon the city. That event, thus circumstanced, took effect a few days after. On Sunday, the fifteenth, the British, after sending three ships of war up the North- River, to Bloomingdale, and keeping up, for some hours, a severe cannonade on our lines, from those already in the East-River, landed in force at Turtle Bay. Our new levies, com- manded by a State Brigadier-General, fled without making resistance. Two brigades of General Putnam's division, ordered to their support, notwithstanding the exertion of their Brigadiers, and of the Commander in Chief himself, who came up at the instant, conducted themselves in the same shameful manner. His Excellency then ordered the Heights of Harlaem, a strong position, to be 116 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. occupied. Thither the forces in the vicinitj, as well as the fugitives, repaired. In the mean time General Putnam, with the remain- der of his command, and the ordinary out- posts, was in the city. After having caused the brigades to begin their retreat by the roule of Blooming^dale, in order to avoid the enemy, wlio were then in the possession of the main road leading to lling's-bridge, he gal- lopped to call off the pickets ami guards. Having myself been a volunteer in his division, and acting Adjutant to the last regiment that left the city, I had frequent o[)purtunities, that day, of beholding him, for the purpuseof issu- ing orders, and encouraging the troops, flying, on his horse covered with foam, wherevei his presence was most necessary. Without his extraoidinary exertions, the guards mu^t have been inevitably lost, and it is probable the entire corps would have been cut in pieces. When we were not far from BloomingdaJe, an Aid-de-camp came from him at full speed, to ir?forra that a column of British infantry was descending upon our riglit. Our lear was soon fired upon, and the Colonel of our regi- ment, whose order w'as just ccmmunicated for the tront to file off to the left, w^as killed on tbe spot. With no other loss we joined the array, after dark, on the Heights of Harlaem. Before our brigades came in, we were given up for lost by all our friends. So criti- cal indeed was our situation, and so narrow LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 117 the gap bj which we escaped, that the instant we had passed the enemy closed it by extending their hne from river to river. Our men, who had been fifteen hours under arms, harassed by marching and countermarching, in conse- quence of incessant alarms, exhausted -as they ■were by heat and thirst, (for the day proved insupportably hot, and few or none had can- teens, insomuch, that some died at the brooks where they drank) if attacked, could have made but feeble resistance. If we take into consideration the debilitat- ing sickness which weakened almost all our troops, the hard duty by which they were worn down in constructing numberless de- fences, the continual want of rest they had suffered since the enemy landed, in guarding from nocturnal surprise, the despondency in- fused into their minds by an insular situation, and a consciousness of inferiority to the enemy in discipline, together with the disadvanta- geous terms upon which, in their state of sep- aration, they might have been forced to engage, it appears highly probable that day would have presented an easy victory to the British. On the other side, the American Commander in Chief had wisely countenanced an opinion, then universally credited, that our army was three times more numerous than it was in reality. It is not a subject for aston- ishment, tiiat the British, ignorant oT the exist- ing circumstances, imposed upon as to the 11 118 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAMi numbers bj reports, and recollecting wbat a feAV brave men, slightly entrenched, had per- formed at Bunker-Hill, should proceed with great circumspection. For their reproaches, that the rebels, as they affected to style us, loved digging better than fighting, and that they earthed themselves in holes like foxes, but ill concealed at the bottom of their own hearts the profound impression that ac- tion had made. Cheap and Gontemptible as we had once seemed in their eyes, it had taught them to hold us in some respect. This respect, in conjunction with a fixed belief, tliat the enthusiastic spirit of our opposition niustsoon subside, and that the inexhaustible resources of Britain would ultimately triumph, without leaving any thing to chance (not the avarice or treachery of the British General, as the factious of his own nation w ished to in- sinuate,) retarded their operation, and afforded us leisure to rescue from annihilation the mis- erable relics of an army, hastening to dissolu- tion by the expiration of enlistments, and the country itself from irretrievable subjugation. In truth, we are not less indebted to the mattock at one period, than to the musket at another, for our political salvation. It required great talents to determine when one or the other was most profitably to be employed. I am aware how lashionable it has become to compare the American Com- mander in Chief, for the prudence displayed LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 119 in those dilatory and defensive operations, so happily proseruted in the early stages of the war, to the illust.ioMs Roman, who acquired immortality in restoring the Commonwealth by delay. Advantageous and flattering as the comparison at first appears, it will be found, on examination, to stint the American Fabius to tlie smaller moiety of his merited lame. Diii HE not. in scenes of almost unparalleled activity, discover specimen* of transcendent abilities ; and might it not be proved, to pro- fessional men, that boldness in council, and rapidity in execution, were, ai least, equally with prudent procrastination, and the quality of not being compelled to action, attributes of his military genius ? This^ however, was an occasion, as apparent as pressing, for attaining his object hy delay. From that he had every thing to gain, nothing to lose. Yet there were not wanting politicians^ at this very time, who querulously blamed these Fabian meas- ures, a.'id loudly clamoured that the immense labour and expense bestowed on the fortifica- tion of New-York, had been thrown away ; that if we could not face the enemy there after so manv preparations, we might as well relinquish the contest at once, for we could no where make a stand ; and that if General Washington, with an army of sixty thousand men, strongly entrenched, declined fighting with Sir William Howe, who had little more than one third of that number, it was not to 120 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. be expected he would find anj other occa- sion that might induce him to engage. But General Washington, content to sutTer a tem- porary sacrifice of personal reputation, for the sake of securing a permanent advantage to his country, and regardless of those idle clam- ours for which he had furnished materials, by making his countrymen, in order the m.ore effectually to make his enemy believe his force much greater than it actually was, in- flexibly pursued his system, and gloriously demonstrated how poor and pitiful, m the es- timation of A GREAT MIND, are the censorious strictures of those novices in war and politics, who, with equal rashness and impudence, pre- sume to decide dogmatically on the merit of plans they could neither originate or compre- hend ! That night our soldiers, excessively fatigued by the sultry march of the day, their clothes wet by a severe shower of rain that succeeded towards the evening, their blood chilled by the cold wind that produced a sudden change in the temperature of the air, and their hearts sunk within them by the loss of baggage, ar- tillery, and works in which they ha J been taught to put great confidence, lay upon their arms, covered only by the clouds of an uncom- fortable sky. To retrieve our disordered affairs, and prevent the enemy from profiting by them, no exertion was relaxed, no vigilance remitted on the part of our higher officersv ,LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 121; The regiments which had been least exposed to fatigue that day, furnished the necessary picquets to secure the army from surprise. Those whose military lives had been short and unpractised, felt enough besides lassitude of body to disquiet the tranquiUity of their repose. Nor had those who were older in service, and of more experience, any subject for consolation. The warmth of enthusiasm seemed to be extinguished. The force of dis- cipline had not sufficiently occupied its place to give men a dependence upon each other. We were apparently about to reap the bitter fruits of that jealous policy, which some lead- ing men, with the best motives, had sown in our federal councils, when tliey caused the mode to be adopted, for carrying on the war by detachmentG of militia, from apprehension that an established Continental army, aft^r defending the country against foreign inva* sion, might subvert its liberties themselves. Paradoxical as it will appear, it may be profit- able to be known to posterity, that while our very existence as an independent people was in question, the patriotic jealousy for the safe- ty of our tutu re freedom had been carried to such a virtuous but dangerous excess as well nigh to preclude the attainment of our Jnde- pe/idence. Happily that limited and hazard- ous system soon gave room to one more en- lightened and salutary. This may be attri- buted to the reiterated arguments, the open 11* 122 LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. remonstrances, and the confidential communi- cations of the Commander in Chief; who, though not apt to despair of the RepubUc, on this occasion expressed himself in terms of unusual despondency. He declared, in his letters, that he found, to his utter astonish- ment and mortification, that no reliance could be placed on a great proportion of his pres- ent troops, and that, unless efficient measures for estabhshing a permanent force should be speedily pursued, we had every reason to fear the final ruin of our cause. Next morning several parties of the enemy appeared upon the plains in our front. On receiving this intelligence. General Washing- ton rode quickly to the out-posts, for the purpose of preparing against an attack, if the enemy should advance with that design. Lieutenant-Colonel Knowlton's rangers, a fine selection from the eastern regiments, who had been skirmishing with an advanced party, came in, and informed the General that a body of British were under cover of a small eminence at no considerable distance. His Excellency, willing to' raise our men from their dejection by the splendour of some little success, ordered Lieutenant*Colonel Knowl- ton, with his rangers, and Major Leitch, with three companies of Weedon's regiment of Vir- ginians, to gain their rear; while appearances should be made of an attack in front. As %Qou as the enemy saw the party sent to de- LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 123 coy ihem, they ran precipitately down the hlil, took possession of some fences and bushes, and commenced a brisk firing at long shot. Unfortunately Knovvlton andLeitch made their onset rather in flank than in rear. The enemy changed their front, and the skirmish at once became close and warm. Major Leitch^ hav- ing received three balls through his side, was soon borne from the field ; and Colonel Knowl- ton, who had distintjuished himself so gallantly at the battle of Bunker-Hill, was mortally wounded immediately after. Their mep, how- ever, undaunted by these disasters, stimulated with the thirst of revenge for the loss of their leaders, and, conscious of acting under the eye of the Commander in Chief, maintained the conflict with uncommon spirit and persever- ance. But the General, seeing them in need of support, advanced part of the Maryland regiments of Griffith and Richardson, together with some detachments from such eastern corps as chanced to be most contiguous to the place of action. Our troops this day, with- out exception, behaved with the greatest in- trepidity. So bravely did they repulse the British, that Sir William Howe moved his reservcy with two field pieces, a battalion of Hessian grenadiers, and a company of Chas- seurs, to succour his retreating troops. Gene- ral Washinp;ton, not willinf( to draw on a * Major Leitcb, after languishing some days, died of a lockeiT jaw. 124 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. general action, declined pressing the pursuit. In this engagement were the second and third battahons of light infantry, the forty-second British regiment, and the German Chasseurs, of whom eight ofiicers, and upwards of seventy privates were w^ounded, and our people buried nearly twenty, who were left dead on the field. We had about forty wounded : our loss in killed, except of two valuable officers, was very inconsiderable. An advantage,"^^ so trivial in itself, produced^ in event, a surprising and almost incredible ef- fect upon the whole army. Amongst the troops not engaged, who, during the action, were throwing earth from the new trenches, with an alacrity that indicated a determination to defend them, every visage was seen to bi ight- * A transcript from General "Wasliinjton's Publii- Orders o'.tlie seventeeath will, better than any other flocumetit that couit' be. aflduced, show his seiuiment oa the conduct of the t^Ao ',)rectMii?ig days, and how fervesitly he wished to foster t!ie good disposiiioiiis discoYered on the last. "ORDERS. " Head- Quarters, Harlaem Heights- , September 17, 1776. ** Paroje, Leitch. Countersign, Virginia. •• The General most heartily thanks the troops commanded yes- terday by Major Leitch, who first, advanced upon the enemy, and the others who so resolutely supportetl them. Th.r behaviour yes- terdny was such a contrast to that oi some of the troops the day liefore, as must show what may be done, w here officers and soldiers ■will exert themselves. Once more, therefore, the General calls upon officers and men, to act up to the n«ib!e cause in which they are engaged, and to support the honour and libevlies of their coun- try. *' The gallant and brave Colonel Knowlton, who would have been an honour to aciy country, having fallen yehtcrdav, while eriorionsly fiifhting, Captain Brown is to take the command cf the party late- ly led by Colonel Knowltoc. Officers aud men are to obey hiili: accordingly." LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. 125 en, and to assume, instead of the gloom of despair, the glow of animation. This change, no less sudden than happy, left little room to doubt that the men, who ran the day before at the sight of an enemy, would now, to wipe a way the stain of that disgrace, and to recover the coniidence of their General, have conduct- ed themselves in a vevj diiferent manner. Some alteration was made in the distribution of corps to prevent the British from gaining either flank in the succeeding night. General Putnam, who commanded on the rischt. was directed in orders, in case the enemy should attempt to force the pass, to apply for a rein- forcement to General Spencer, who command- ed on the left. General Putnam, who was too good an husbandman himsejf not to have a respect for the labours and improvements of others, strenuously seconded the views of the Com- mander in Chief in preventing the devastation of farms, and the violation of private property. For under pretext that the property in this quarter belonged to friends to the British gov- ernment, as indeed it mostly did, a spirit of rapine and licentiousness began to prevail, which, unless repressed in the beginning, fore- boded, besides the subversion of disciphne, the disgrace and defeat of our arms. Our new defences now becoming so strong as not to admit insult with impunity, and Sir William Howe, not choosing to place too much 126 LIFE 05* GENERAL PUTNAM. at risk in attacking us in front, on the 12tli day of October, leaving liord Percy with one Hessian and two British brigades, in his Hnes at Harlaeni, to cover New-York, embarked with the main body of his army, vvitli an in- tention of landing at Frog^s JS^eck^ situated near the town of West-Chester, and httle more than a league above the communication called King's-bridge, which connects New- York Island with the oiain. There was no- thing to oppose him; and he effected his de- barkation by nine o'clock in the morning. The same policy of keeping our army as com- pact as possible ; the same system of avoiding being forced to action ; and the same precau- tion to prevent the interruption of supplies, reinforcements or retreat, that lately dictated the evacuation of New-York, now induced General Washington to move towards the strong grounds in the upper part of West- Chester county. About the same time General Putnam w^as sent to the western side of the Hudson, to provide against an irruption into the Jerseys, and soon after to Philadelphia, to put that town into a posture of defence.* Thither i * From the preceding paragj-apli it woukl feem that General Putnam was detaclied, first to New-Jerst^y, ami soon afterwards to Philadelphia, immediately after the movement of the British army to Frog's neck. The t:uth is, he was with the army at White- Plains, nnd had part in the actifsn fought there the 'J8th of Octo''er. It was the position of Brigadier-General Al'Dougal nhich was at- tacked, and ^V^ashington ordered a detachment of the army under Major-General Putnam to support liim. Some days after this a^- LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 127 attend him, without stooping to dilate on the subsequent incidents, that might swell a folio, though here compressed to a single para- graph; without attempting to give in detail the skilful retrograde movements of our Com- mander in Chief, wfio, after detaching a garri- son for Fort Washington, by pre-occupjing with extemporaneous redoubts and entrench- ments, the ridges from jMile-Square to White- Plains, and by folding one brigade behind another, in rear of those ridges that run paral- lel with the Sounds brought offali his artillery, stores, and sick, in the face of a superior foe ; ■without commenting on the partial and equivo- cal battle fought near the last mentioned vil- lage, or the cause why the British, then in full force, (for the last of the Hessian infantry and British light-horse had just arrived) did not more seriously endeavour to induce a general engagement; without journalizing their milita- ry manoeuvres in falling back to King's-bridge, capturing Fort Washington, Fort Lee, and marching through the Jerseys; without enu- merating the instances of rapine, murder, lust, and devastation, that marked their progress, tion, General Putnam was ordered to cross the Hudson, and pro- vide against an irruption of the eiiemv into Nevv-Jersey. He was soon tbllowcd hy \Vashing:ton with pari of Isis army, which lO'k post in the vicinity of Fort Leo, and, aftei- the fall of chat F; rt. General Putnam was constantly ahout his person dui-in?^ the whole retreat through New-Jei-se), and among the last of the fugitive ar- my which crossed the Delaware: — ih' nit was t'lat lie \>aS(.rdered to Philadelphia to fi>rtify aod defend tliat city, which ' ■ ngress had ordered to he defended to the last extremity. CEcliior.J 32'8 LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. and filled our bosoms with fiorror and Indigna- tion ; witliout describing how a division of our dissolving army, with General Washington, was driven before them beyond the Delaware; without painting tiie naked and forlorn condi- tion of these much injured men, amidst the rigours of an inclement season; and without even sketching the consternation that seized the States at this perilous period, when Gene- ral Lee, in leading from the north a small reinforcement to our troops, was himself tak- en prisoner by surprise ; when every thing seemed decidedly declining to the last extremi- ty, and when every prospect but served to augment the depression of despair — until the genius of one man, in one day, at a single stroke, wrested from the veteran battalions of Britain and Germany the fruits acquired by the total operations of a successful campaign, and re-animated the expiring hope of a whole nation, by the glorious enterprize at Trenton. While the hostile forces, rashly inflated with pride by a series of uninterrupted suc- cesses, and fondly dreaming that a period would soon be put to their labours, by the completion of their conquests, had beon pur- suing the wretched remnants of a disbanded army to the banks of the Delaware, General Putnam was diligently employed in fortifying Philadelphia, the capture of which appeared indubitably to be their principal object. Here, by authority and example, he strove to concili- LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 129 ale contending factions, and to excite the citi- zens to uncommon efforts in defence of every thifii^ interesting to freemen. His persorjal industry was unparalleled. His orders,^ vviih respect to extinguishing accidental fires, ad- vancing the public works, as well as in regard to other important objects, were perfecdy mili- tary and proper. But his healtii was, for a while, impaired by his unrelaxed exertions. The Commander in Chief having, in spite of all obstacles, made good his retreat over the Delaware, wrote to General Putnam from his Camp above the Falls of Trenton, on the very day he re-crossed the river to surprise the Hessians, expressing his satisfaction at the re- estabiishrnent of that General's health, and in- forming, that if he had not himself been well convinced before of the enemy's intention to possess themselves of Philadelphia, as soon as the frost should form ice strong enougli to * As a specimen, the following is preserved : "GE>fERAL ORDERS. hlt.h ro3y possi!>Iy be better eflcclcd by engaging some 138 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. with their readiness in giving, and confidence of receiving such reciprocal aid as the exigen- cies might require, served to supply the detect of force. This manner of doing duty not only put our own posts beyond the reach of sudden insult and surprise, but so exceedingly harassed and intimidated the enemy, that foragers were sel- dom sent out by them, and never except in very large parties. General Dickenson, who commanded on General Putnam's left, discov- ered, about the 20th of Januar}', a foraging party, consisting of about four hundred men, on the opposite side of the Mill-stone^ two miles from Somerset court-house. As the bridge was possessed and defended by three field-pieces, so that it could not be passed, General Dickenson, at the head of four hun- dred militia, broke the ice, crossed the river where the water was about three feet deep, resolutely attacked, and totally defeated the foragers. Upon their abandoning the convoy, a few prisoners, forty waggons, and more than a hundred draft horses, with a considerable booty of cattle and sheep, fell into his hands. of those people who have obtained Protections to go in, under pre- tence of asking advice, than by any other means. *• You will also use every means in your power to obtain and conimunicate the earliest accounts of the enemy s movements; and to assemble, in the speediest manner possible, your troops either for offence or defence. " fiiven at f/ead- Quarters, the fourth day o/Febrnari/, \777. " GEO. WASHlNCrrOX ' LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 139 Nor were our operations on General Put- nam's right flank less fortunate. To give countenance to the numerous friends of tiie British government in the county of Mon- mouth appears to have been a principal motive with Sir William Howe for stretching the chain of his cantonments, by his own confes- sion,* previously to his disaster, rather too far. After that chain became broken, as I have already related, by the blows at Trenton and Princeton, he was obliged to collect, dur- ing the rest of the winter, the useless remains in his barracks at Brunswick. In the mean- time. General Putnam was much more suc- cessful in his attempts to protect our dispersed and dispirited friends in the same district ; who, environed on every side by envenomed adversaries, remained inseparably rivetted in affection to American independence. He first detached Colonel Gurney, and afterwards Ma- * Extract of a letter from General Sir William Howe to Z/orc? George Ge'rmaine, dated j\^e-iv-YortCy December 9,0y 177G. Having mentioned the fruitless attempt of Lord Cornwallia to find boats at Corryers ferry to pass the Delaware — he proceeds tlius: **The passage of the Delaware being thus rendered impractica- ble, his Lordship took post at Pennington, in which place and Trenton the two divisions remained until the fourteenth, when the weather having become too severe to keep the field, and the win- ter cantonments being arranged, the troops marched from both places to their respective stations, Tlie chain, I own, is rather too extensive, but I was indr.ced to occupy Burlington to cover the county if Monmouth, in which there arc many loyal inhabitants ; and trusting to the almost general submission of the country to the southward of this chain, and to the strength of the corps plated in the advanced posts, I conclude the troops will be in perfect seca- rity.'* 140 LIFE OP GExNERAL PUTNAM. jor Davls,"^ with such parties of militia as could be spared, for their support. Several skirmishes ensued, in which our people had al- ways the advantage. They took, at different times, many prisoners, horses and waggons from foraging parties. In effect, so well did they cover the country, as to induce some of the most respectable inhabitants to declare, that the security of the persons, as well as the salvation of the property of many friends to freedom was owing to the spirited exertions of these two detachments ; who, at the same time that they rescued the country from the tyranny of tories, afforded an opportunity for the militia to recover from their consternation, to embody themselves in warlike array, and to stand on their defence. During this period, General Putnam having received unquestionable intelligence that a party of refugees, in British pay, had taken post, and were erecting a kind of redoubt at Lawrence's Neck, sent Colonel Nelson, with * As there happened to be in my possession a copy of one of his letters to tliose officers, it was thought M-orthy of insertion here, in order to demonstrate his satisfaction with their conduct. "To •VJajor John Davis, of tlie third Battalion of CoiDberland *' County Militia. " Sir, ** I am much oWiged to 3'ou for your activity, vigour, and dili- gence since you have been under my command ; you will, tlierefore, inarch your men to Philadelphia, and there distliiirge them ; re- turning into the store all the ammunition; arms and accoutremtj»nts you received at that place. ** I am, Sir, your humble servant, " ISRAEL PUTNAM. t( Princeton^ February 5, 1777." LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 141 one hundred and Mty militia, to surprise them. That officer conducted with so much secrecy and decision as to take the whole prisoners. These refui>ees^ were commanded bj Major Stockton, belonging to Skinner's brigade, and amounted to sixty in number. A short time after this event Lord Corn- waUis sent oul another Coraging part} tow^ards Bound-Brook. General Putnam, having le- ceived notice from his emissaries, detached Major Smith, with a few riflemen, to annoy the party, and followed himself with the rest of his force. Before he could come up, Major Smith, who had formed an ambush, attacked the enemy, killed several horses, took a few prisoners and sixteen baggage-waggons, wim- out sustaining any injury. By such opera- tions, our hero, in the course of the w^inter, captured nearly a thousand prisoners. In the latter part of February General Washington advised General Putnam, that, in consequence of a large accession of streno;th from New-York to the British army at Bruns- wick, it was to be apprehended they would soon make a forward movement towards the ' Ext'^dct of a letter from General Put k am to the Council of Safety of Pejinsi/lvaniay dated at Princeton, February i8, 1777 *« Yesterday evenin,s^ Colonel Nelsoo, with a hundred and fifty men, at Lawrence's Neck, attacked sixty men ««f Cortlandr Skin- ner's Bi'igade, cominan'Jed bs llie enemy's renowneu Land PiLO I Major Richard Stockton, icutul them, j.;d took the whole prisoners — among them the Maj i-, a Taptnin «nd three sub- alterns, with seventy stand of arms. Fifty of the Bedford JPenU' sylvania Riflemen behaved like veterans^ 13 142 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. Delaware : in which case the latter was direct- ed to cross the river with his actual force, to assume the command of the militia who might assemble, to secure the boats on the west side of the Delaware, and to facilitate the passage of the rest of the army. But the enemy did not remove from their winter-quarters until the season arrived when green forage could be supplied. In the intermediate period, the correspondence on the part of General Putnam with the Commander in Chief consisted prin- cipally of reports and enquiries concerning the treatment of some of the following descriptions of persons : either of those who came within our lines with flags and pretended flags, or who had taken protection from the enemy, or who had been reputed disaffected to our cause, or who were designed to be comprehended in the American Proclamation, which required that those who had taken protections should give them to the nearest American officer, or go within the British lines. The letters of his Excellency in return, generally advisory, were indicative of confidence and approbation. When the spring had now so far advanced that it was obvious the enemy would soon take the field, the Commander in Chief, after desiring General Putnam to give the officer who was to relieve him at Princeton, all the information necessary for the conduct of that post, appointed that General to the command of a separate army in the Highlands of New- York. LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 143 It is scarcely decided, from any documents vet published, whether the preposterous plans prosecuted by the British Generals in the cam- paign of J 777, were altogether the result of their orders from home, or whether they part- ly originated from the contingences of the mo- ment. The system which, at the time, tended to puzzle all human conjecture, when devel- oped, served also to contradict all reasonable calculation. Certain it is, the American Com- mander in Chief was, for a considerable time, so perplexed with contradictory appearances, that he knew not how to distribute his troops, with his usual discernment, so as to oppose the enemy with equal prospect of success in different parts. The gathering tempests me- naced the northern frontiers, the posts in the Highlands, and the city of Philadelphia; but it was still doubtful where the fury of the storm would fall. At one time Sir William Howe was forcing his way by land to Philadelphia ; at another, relinquishing the Jerseys ; at a third, facing round to make a sudden inroad ; (hen embarking with all the forces that could be spared from New-York ; and then putting out to sea, at the very moment when General Burgoyne had reduced Ticonderoga,and seem- ed to require a co-operation in another quar- ter. On our side, we have seen that the old Con^ trnental army expired with the year 1776 ; since which, invention had hern tortured with 144 LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. expedients, and zeal with efforts to levy an- other; for on the success of the recruiting service depended the salvation of the country. The success was such as not to puff us up to presumption, or depress us to despair. The arnij in the Jersejs, under the orders of the General in Chief, con&isted ol all the troops raised south of the Hudson ; that in the north- ern department, of \he New-Hampshise brig- ade, two brigades of Massachusetts, and the brigade of New-Yovk, together with some ir- regular corps ; and that in the Highlands, of the remaining two brigades of Massachusetts, the Connecticut line, consisting of two brigades, the brigade of Rhode-Island, and one regiment of New-York. Upon hearing of the loss of Ticonderoga, and the progress of the British towards Albany, General Washington ordered the northern array to be reinforced with the two brigades of Massachusetts, then in the Highlands; and, upon finding the army under his immediate command out-numbered by that of Sir William Howe, which had, by the cir- cuitous route of the Chesapeak, invaded Penn- sylvania, he also called from the Highlands one of the Connecticut brigades, and that of Rhode-Island to his own assistance. i In the neighbourhood of General Putnam there was no enemy capable of exciting alarms. The army left at New-York seemed only de- signed for its defence. In it were several en- tire corps, composed of tories, who had flock- LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 145 ed to the British standard. There was, besides, a band of lurking miscreants, not properly en- rolled, who staid chiefly at West-Chester; from whence thoy infested the country be- tween the two armies, pillaged the cattle, and carried off the peaceable inhabitants. It was an unworthy policy in British generals to patronize banditti. The whig inhabitants on the edge of our lines, and still lower down, who had been plundered in a merciless man- ner, delayed not to strip the tories in return. People most nearly connected and allied fre- quently became most exasperated and invete- rate in malice. Then the ties of fellowship were broken— then friendship itself beino- soured to enmity, the mind readily gave way to private revenge, uncontrolled retaliation^ and all the deforming passions that diso-race himianity. Enormities, almost without a name, were perpetrated, at the description of which,- the bosom, not frozen to apathy, must glow- with a mixture of pity and indignation. To prevent the predatory incursions from below, and to cover the county of West-Chester, Gen- eral Putnam detached from his Head-Quarters, at Peeks-Kill, Meigs's reo^iment, which, in the- course ot the campaign, struck several parti-- zan strokes, and achieved the objects for which' it was sent. He likewise took measures, with- out noise or ostentation, to secure himself from being surprised and carried within the British lines by the tories, who had formed a plan tor- 146 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. the purpose. The Information of this intend- ed enterprise, conveyed to him through several channels, was corroborated by that obtained and transmitted by the Commander in Chief. It was not wonderful that many of these to- nes were able, undiscovered, to penetrate far into the country, and even to go with letters or messages from one British army to another. The inhabitants who were well affected to the royal cause, afforded them every possible sup- port, and their own knowledge of the different routes gave them a farther facility in perfonn- ing their perigrinatlons. Sometimes the most active loyalists, as the tories wished to denom- inate themselves, who had gone into the Brit- ish posts, and received promises of commissions upon enlisting a certain number of soldiers, came back again secretly with recruiting in- structions. Sometimes these, and others who came from th© enemy within the verge of our camps, were detected and condenmed to death, in conformity to the usages of war. But the British generals, who had an unlimited supply of money at their command, were able to pay with so much liberality, that emissaries could always be found. Slill, it is thought that the intelligence of the American commanders was, at least, equally accurate ; notwithstanding the poveUy of their military chest, and the mabil- ty of rewarding mercenary agents, for secret services, in proportion to their risk and merit. A person, by the name of Palmer, who was a lieutenant in the tory new levies, was de- LIFE OF GENE Pi AL PUTNAM. 147 tected In the camp at Peek's Kill. Governor Try on, who commanded the new levies, re- claimed him as a British officer, represented the heinous crime of condemning a man corn- missioned by his Majesty, and threatened ven- geance in case he should be executed. Gene- ral Putnam wrote the following pithj reply. '; Sir, " Nathan Palmer, a lleutenantin your King's service, v^^as taken in my camp as a Spy — -he was tried as a Spy — he was condemned as a Spy — and you may rest assured. Sir, he shall be hanged as a Spy.'''' " I have the honour (o be, &c. ^' Israel Putnam. '"'" His Excellency Governor Tryon. "P. S. Afternoon. He is hanatcli al! the men nor on ('utv to F'jrt Alontgomerv, without wailing for orders. About fiye hurt LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 149 ent redoubts. The garrison, inspired by the conduct of their leaders, defended the works with distinguished valour. But, as the post had been designed principally to prevent the pass- ing of ships- and as an assauU in rear had not been expected, the works on the land side were incomplete and untenable. In the dusk of twilight, the British ejitered with their bajo- nets fixed. Their loss was inconsiderable. Nor was that of the garrison great. Gover- nor Clinton, his brother General James Clin- ton, Colonel Dubois, and most of the officers and men eifected their escape under cover of the thick smoke and darkness that suddenly prevailed. The capture of this fort by Sir Henry Clinton, tog-ether w^ith the consequent removal of the chains and booms that ob- structed the navigation, opened a passage to elred men raarcVicd instantly under Colonel Meigs; and the author, with Dr. Bearddk'j , a surgeon in llie brigade, rode, at full speed, through a bye path, to let the garrison know, tliat a reinforcement was on its march. Notwithstanding all the haste these officers made to and over tlie river, the fort was so com])letely invested on their arrival, that it was impossible to enter. I'hey went on board the new frigate wliicli !a) near the fortress, and had the niislbitune to bo idle, though not unconcerned syieciators of the storm. They saw t .e minutest actir.n?: distinctly when the works were carried. 'I'he frigate, after receiving several platoons, slipped her cable, iind pr^iceeded a little way up the river; hut the wind and tide he- eoniiiig adverse., the crew set hjr on fire, to prevent hei- falling in- to tMe hands of the enemy, whose ships were a!)proaching. The louring darkness of the night, the profound stillm^ss that reigned, the interrupted flashes of t'le flames that iiluniinaied the waters, thc! l()ng shaditws of the clifls th.jt now and then were se.n, the ex. plosiOu >f the cannon which were left loaded in the ship, and the revoMherating echo wliicli resounded, at intervals, between the atiipi^-uious taonntains on botii sid s of the river, composed an awful nighc-pJM e for pcsoMS pr'"pare<) by the preceding scene, to con-' tempbic subjects of hon'id sublimity. 150 LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. Albany, and seemed to favour a junction of his force with that of General Burgoyne. But the latter having been compelled to capitulate a few days after this event, and great numbers of militia having arrived from New-England, the successful army returned to New- York ; yet not before a detachment from it, under the orders of General Vaughan, had burnt fhe defenceless town of Esopus, and several scat- tering buildings on the banks of the river. Notwithstanding the army in the Highlands had been so much weakened, for the sake of strengthening the armies in other quarters, as to have occasioned the loss of Fort Montgom- ery, yet that loss was productive of no conse- quences. Our main army in Pennsylvania, after having contended with superior force in two indecisive battles, still held the enemy in check; while the splendid success which at- tended our arms at the northward, gave a more favourable aspect to the American af- fairs, at the close of this campaign, than they had ever before assumed. When the enemy fell back to New- York by water, we followed them a part of the way by land. Colonel Meigs, with a detachment from the several regiments in General Parsons's brio-ade, bavins; made a forced march from Crompond to West-Chester, surprised and brcke up for a time the band of freebooters, of whom he brought olT fifty, together with many cattle and horses which they had recent- ly stolen. LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. 151 Soon after this enterprise General Putnam advanced towards the British lines. As he had received intelligence that small bodies of the enemy were out, with orders from Gov- ernor Tryon to burn Wright's mills, he pre- vented it by detaching three parties, of one hundred men in each. One of these parties fell in vrith and captured thirty-five, and an- other forty of the new levies. But as he could not prevent a third hostile party from burning the house of Mr. Van Tassel, a noted whig and a committee-man, who was forced to go along with them, naked and barefoot, on the icy ground, in a freezing night, he, for the pro- fessed purpose of retaliation, sent Captain Bu- chanan, in a whale-boat, to burn the house of General Oliver Delancy on York-Island. Bu- chanan eifected his object, and by this expedi- tion put a period, for the present, to that un- meaning and wanton species of destruction. While General Putnam quartered at New- Rochel, a scouting party, which had been sent to West-Farms, below West-Chester, sur- rounded the house in which Colonel James Delancy lodged, and, notwithstanding he crept under the bed the better to be concealed, brought him to Head-Quarters before morn- ing. Thig officer was exchanged by the Brit- ish General without delay, and placed at the head of the cow-boys, a licentious corps of ir- regulars, who in the sequel, committed un- heard of depredations and excesses. 152 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. It was distressing to see so beautiful a part of the country so barbarously wasted, and of- ten to witness some peculiar scene of female misery : for most of the female inhabitants had been obliged to fly within the lines pos- sessed by one army or the other. Near our quarters was an affecting instance of human vi- cissitude. Mr. William Sutton, of Maroneck, an inoffensive man, a merchant by profession, who lived in a decent fashion, and whose fam- ily had as happy prospects as almost any in the country, upun some imputation of toryjsm, went to the enemy. His wife, oppressed with fifrief in the disao^reeable state of dereliction, did not long survive. Betsey Sutton, their eldest daughter, was a modest and lovely young woman, of about fittcen years old, when, at the death of her mother, the care of five or six younger children devolved upon her. She was discreet and provident beyond her years; but when we saw her, she looked to be feeble in health — bioken in spiiit — wan, melancholy, and dejected. She said '^ that their last cow, which furnished milk for the children, had lately been taken awiy — that they had frequently been plundered of their wearing apparel and furniture, she believed by both parties — that thej had little more to lose — and that she knew not where to procure bread for the dear little ones, who had no fa- ther to provide for them" — no mother — she was going to have said — but a torrent of tears LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. 153 choaked articulation. In coming to that part of the country again, after some campaigns had elapsed, I found the habitation desolate, and the garden overgrown with weeds. Up- on inquiry, I learnt, that as soon as we left the place, some ruffians broke into the house while she lay in bed, in the latter part of the night; and thai, having been terrified by their rudeness, she ran, half-naked, into a neigh- bouring swamp, where she continued until the morning — -there the poor girl caught a violent cold, which ended in a consumption. It finish- ed a life without a spot — and a career of suf- ferings commenced and continued without a fault. Sights of wretchedness always touched with commiseration the feelinirs of General Putnam, and prompted his generous soul to succour the afflicted. But the indulgence which he show- ed, whenever it did not militate against his du- ty, towards the deserted and suffering families of the tories in the State of New-York, was the cause of his becoming unpopular with no inconsiderable class of people in that State. On the other side, he had conceived an uncon- querable aversion to many of the persons who were entrusted with the disposal of tory-prop- erty, because he beheved them to have been guilty of peculations and other infamous prac- tices. But although the enmity between him and the sequestrators was acrimonious as mu- tual, yet he lived in habits of amity with the 14 154 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. most respectable characters in public depart- ments, as well as in private lile. His cbaracter was also respected by the en- emy. He had been acquainted with many of the principal officers in a former war. As flags frequently passed between the out-posts, durjng his continuance on the lines, it vvas a crnnjiion practice to forward newsjapcrs by tlum ; and as those printed by Rlvington. tr-.e royal printer in JNew-York, were iriiamous for the falsehoods with which they abounded, General Putnam once sent a pa( ket to his old fiifud General Robertson, with this billet: " Major-G( nei-al Putnam presents his comjli- m^nts to Major-General Robertson, and sends bin some American newspapers for his | eiu- sal— w^hen Genera! Robertson shall have done whh them, it is requested they be given to RivingtoD, in order that he may print some truth." Late in the year we left the lines and re- paired to the Highlands ; for upon the loss of Fort Montgomery, the Commander in Cliief determined to build another fortification for the drfence of the river. His Excellency, ac- cordingly, wrote to General Putnam to fix up- on the spot. After reconnoitering all the dif- ferent places proposed, and revolving in his own mind their relative advantages for ofi'ence on the water and defence on the land, he fix- ed upon West-Pojnt. It is no vulgar praise to say, that to him belongs the glory of having LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 155 chosen this rock of our military salvation. The position tor water-batteries, which might sweep the chanii**! whure the river formed a riolit angle, made it iLe most proper of any tor cofninHndifii^ the navigation ; while tiie roeky ridg-es that rose in awful sublimity bf:hiud e'dcn otner, rendered it impreg-nabk-, and even inca./abie of being invested by less than twen- ty thousaiid men. The British, who consider- ed tiiis post as a sort of American Gibraltar, never attempted it but by the tre.^chery of m American officer. All the woild ivncws that this project failed, and that West-Point con- tinues to be the receptacle of every thing val- uable in mihiary preparations to the present day. in the month of January, 1778, when a snow, two feet dt^ep, lay on the earth. General Parsons's brio-ade went to West- Point and broke ground. Want of covering for the troops, together with want of tools and mate- rials for the works, made the prospect truly gloomy and discouraging. It was necessary tiiat means should be found, thoupfh our cur- rency was depreciated, and our treasury ex- hausted. The estimates and requisitions of Colonel la Radiere, the engineer who laid out the works, altogether disp-opoitioned to oiu' circumstances, seived only to put us in mind of our poverty, and, as it were, to satirize our resources. His petulent behaviour and unac- coaimodating disposition added further em- 156 LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. barrassments. It was then that the patriotism ot Governor Chnton shone in full lustre. Plis exertions to furnish supplies can never be too much commended. His influence, aiising from his popularity, was unlimited : jet he hesitated not to put all his popularity at risk, whenever the federal interests demanded. JNotwilh- stariding the impediments that opposed our progress, witli his aid, before the opening of the campaign, the works were in great for- Avardness. According to a resolution of Congress, an inquiry was to be made into the causes of mil- itary disasters. Major-General M'Dougall, Brigadier-General Huntington, and Colonel Wigglesworth composed the Court of Inquiry on the loss of Fort Montgomery. Upon full knowledge and mature deliberation of facts on ihe spot, they reported the loss to have been occasioned by want of men, and not by any fault in the commanders. General Putnam, who during the investiga- tion was relieved from duty, as soon as Con- gress had approved the report, took command of the right wing of the grand army, under the orders of the General in Chief. This was just after the battle of Monmouth, when the three armies which had last year acted sepa- rately joined at the White-Plains. Our effec- tive force, in one camp, was at no other time so respectable as at this juncture. The army consisted of sixty regular regiments of loot, LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. 157 formed into fifteen brigades, four battalions of artillery, four regiments of horse, and several corps of State troops. But as the enemy kept close within their lines on York Island, nothing could be attempted. Towards the end of au- tumn we broke up the camp, and went first to Fredericks burgh, and thence to winter-quar- ters. In order to cover the country adjoining to the Sound, and to support the garrison of West- Point, in case of an attack, Major-General Putnam was stationed for the winter at Read- inp-, in Connecticut. He had under his orders the brigade of New-Hampshire, the two biig- ades of Connecticut, the corps of infantry com- manded by Hazen, and that of cavalry 'by Sheldon. The troops, who had been badly fed, badly cloathed, and worse paid, by brooding over their grievances in the leisure and inactivity of winter-quarters, began to think them intolera- ble. The Connecticut brigades formed the. design of marching to Hartford, vj^here the General Assembly was then in session, and of demanding redress at the point of the bayonet,. Word having been brought to General Put- nam, that the second brigade was under arms for this purpose, he mounted his horse, gallop- ped to the cantonment, and thus addressed them : " My brave lads, whither are you go- ing ? Do you intend to desert your officf'rsj and to invite the enemy to follow you into the 14* 158 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. country ? Whose cause have you been fighting ami suffering so long in — is it not your own? Have you no property, no parents, wives or children ? You have behaved like men so far — all the world is full of your praises — and posterity will stand astonished at your deeds : but not if you spoil all at last. Don't you consider how much the country is distressed by the war, and that your officers have not been any better paid than yourselves ? But we all expect better times, and that the coun- try will do us ample justice. Let us all stand by one another, then, and figiit it out like brave soldiers. Think what a shame it would be for Connecticut men to run away from their officers." After the several regiments had re- ceived the General as he rode along the line with drums beatings and presented ar7m, the ser- geants who had then the command, brought the men to an order^ in which position they continued while he was speaking. Wijen he had done, he directed the acting Major of Brigade to give the word for them to shoul- der, march to their regimental parades, and lodge arms; all which they executed with promptitude and apparent good humour. One soldier, only, who had been the most active, was confined in the quarter-guard ; from whence, at night, he attempted to make his escape. But the sentinel, who hau also been in the mutiny, shot him dead on the spot, and #ius the aifair subsided. LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 159 About tiie middle of winter, while General Putnam was on a visit to his out-post at Horse- Neck, he found Governor Trjon advancing upon that town with a corps ofiifteen hundred men. To oppose tliese General Putnam had only a picquet of one hundred and iiltj men, and two iron tield-pieces, ^without horses or drag-ropes. He, however, planted his cannon on tiie high ground, bj the meeting-house, and retarded their approach by firing several times, until, perceiving the horse (supported by the infantry) about to charge, he ordered the picquet to provide for their safety, by re- tiring to a swamp inaccessible to horse, and secured his own, by plunging down the steep precipice at the church upon a full trot. This precipice is so steep., where he descended, as to have artihcial stairs, composed of nearly one hundred stone steps, for the accommoda- tion of foot passengers. There the Dragoons, "who were but a sword's length from him, stopped short; lor the declivity was so abrupt, that they ventured not to follow ; and, betbre they could gain the valley, by going round the brow of the hill in the ordinary road, he was far enough beyond their reach. He continu- ed his route, unmolested, to Stanford ; from whence, having strengthened his picquet I y the junction of some militia, he came back again and, in turn, pursued Governor Tryon in his retreat.* As he rode down the preci- • In tiiis rclrcai, though uilh a very i'.ferinr force, (iineral Putnam made about filiy prisoners, part ot whom were wounded, 160 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. pice, one ball, of the many fired at him, went through his beaver : But Governor Trjon, by way of compensation for spoihng his hat, sent him, soon alterwards, as a present, a complete suit of clothes. In the campaign of 1779, which terminated the career of General Putnam's services, he commanded the Maryland line, posted at But- ter-Milk falls, about two miles below West- Point. He was happy in possessing the friend- ship of the officers of that line, and in living on terms of hospitality with them. Indeed, there was no family in the army that lived better than his own. The General, his second son Major Daniel Putnam, and the writer of these memoirs, composed that family. This cam- paign, principally spent in strengthening the works of West-Point, was only signalized lor the storm of Stony-Point by the light-infantry under the conduct of General Wayne, and the surprise of the post of Powles-Hook by the corps under the command of Colonel Henry Lee. When the army quitted the field, and marched to Morris-Town, into winter-quarters, Gt neral Putnam's family went into Connecti- cut for a few weeks. In December the Gene- ral b'.gan his journey to Moriis-Town. Up- on the road between Pomfret and Hartford, and the whole were the next day sent, under the escort of an offi- Cti"s j^ujird, to the Biilisi lin« s :->r t.xcr;a< -f. It was for the liu- msiiii-y jii.ci kindness of i-'uij .in to t!.<. wouiid'-d piisom rs, that CJovernoi* Trjon complimented him with the " suit cl ciothes." LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 161 he felt an unusual torpor slowly pervading his right hand and foot. This heaviness crept giadually on, until it had deprived him of the use of his limbs on that side, in a consid- erable degiee, before he reached the house of his friend Colonel Wadsvvorth. Still he was unwilling to consider his disorder of the para- lytic kind, and endeavoured to shake it otf by exertion. Having found that impossible, a temporary dejection, disguised, however, un- der a veil of assumed cheerfulness, succeeded. But reason, philosophy, and religion, soon re- conciled him to his fate. In that situation he has constantly remained, favoured with such a portion of bodily activity as enables him to walk m\d to ride moderately ; and retaining, unimpaired, his relish for enjoyment, his love of pleasantry, his strength of memory, and all the faculties of his mind. As a proof that the powers of memory are not weakened, it ought to be observed, that he has lately re- peated, from recollection, all the adventures of his life, which are here recorded, and which had formerly been communicated to the com- piler in detached conversations. In patient, yet fearless expectation ^( the approach of the King of Terrors, whom he hath full often faced in the field of blood, the Christian hero now enjoys, in domestic retire- ment, the fruit of his early industry. Having in youth provided a competent subsistence for old age, he was secured from the danger of 162 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. penury and distress, to which so many officers and soldiers, worn out in the pubiio seivite, have been reduced. To ilhistrate his merits the more fully, tliis Essay will be concluded with a copy of the last letter wiitlen to him, by General Washington, in his military char- acter. " Head-Quarters, 2d Jvne, 1783. " Dear Sir, ''Your favour of the 20th of May I receiv- ed with much pleasure. For I can assure you that among the many worthy and meritorious officers with whom I have had the happiness to be connected in service through the course of this war, and from whose cheeriul assistance in the various and Uynyg vicissitudes of a complicated contest, thf name of a Putnam is not forgotten ; nor will be but with that stroke of time which shall obliterate from my mind the remembiance of all tiiose toiU and fatigues through which w^e imve struo:gled for the pie- sersation and establishment of the Rights^ Liibert!es, and Independence n^ o\a\ Country. " Your congratulanons on the happ> pro- spects of peace and independent secujity, with tfieir attendant blessijios to the United States, I receive with great satisfaction ; and beg that you will accept a return of my gratu- lations to you on this auspicious event — an LIFE ^F GENERAL PUTNAM. 163 event, in which, great as it is in itself, and glo- rious as it will probably be in its consequences, you have a right to participate largely, from the distinguished part you have contributed towards its attainment. " But while I contemplate the greatness of the object for which we hive contended, in J felicitate you on tlie happy issue of our toils and labours, which have terminated with such general satisfaction, I lament tliat you should feel the ungrateful retu ns of a country, in whose service you have exhausted your bodi- ly strength, and expended the vigour of a youthful constitution. I wish, however, that your expectations of returning liber Jity may be veritied. I liave a hope they may — but should they not, your ca e will not be a lin- gular one. Ingratitude has been experienced in all ages^ and Republics, in partcular. have ev- er been famed for the exercise of that unnatural and SORDID vice. " The Secretary at War, who is now here, informs me that you have evM*--be(!n considered as entitled to full pay since ytfur absence from the field, and that you will still be co[isidered in that liglit until the close of the war; at which period you will be equally entitled to the same emoluments of half-pay or commutation as other officers of your rank. The same opinion is also given by the Pay- Master-Gene ral, w^ho is now with tl:e arjny, empowered by Air. iMorris for the settlement 164 LIFE OF GENERAL PU'J'NAM. of all their accounts, and who will attend to your's whenever jou shall think proper to send on lor the purpose, which it will proba- bly be best for jou to do in a short time. " I anticipate, with pleasure, the day, and that, 1 trust, not far oft when I shall quit the busy scenes of a mihtary employment, and re- tire to the more tranquil walks of domestic life. In that?, or whatever other situation Providence may dispose of my future days, THE REMEMBRANCE OF THE MANY FRIENDSHIPS AND CONNECTIONS I HAVE HAD THE HAPPINESS TO CONTRACT WITH THE GENTLEMEN OF THE ARMY, WILL BE ONE OF MY MOST GRATEFUL REFLECTIONS. Under this contemplation^ and impressed ivith the sentiments of benevolence ond regard^ I commend you^ my dear Sir^ my other friends^ and with them^ the interests and happi- ness of our dear country, to the keeping and PROTECTION OF AlMIGHTY GoD. " I have the honour to be, &c. "George Washington. •' To the Honourable " Major-General Putnam." LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. 165 The remainder of the life of General Put- nam was passed in quiet retirement with his family. He experienced few interruptions in his bodily health, (except the paralytic debili- ty with which he was afflicted) retained full possession of his mental faculties, and en- joyed the society of his friends until the 17th of May, 1790, when he was violently attack- ed with an inflammatory disease. Satisfied from the first that it would prove mortal, he was calm and resigned, and welcomed the ap- proach of death with joy, as a messenger sent to call him from a life of toil to everlasting rest. On the 19th of May, 1790, he ended a life which had been spent in cultivating and de- fending the soil of his birth. Much of his life had been spent in arms, and the military of the neighbourhood were desirous that the rites of sepulture should be accompanied with martial honours : they felt that this last tribute of respect was due to a soldier, who, from a patriotic love of country, had devoted the best part of his life to the de- fence of her rights, and the establishment of her independence — and who, through long and trying services, was never once reproach- ed for misconduct as an officer; but when disease compelled him to retire from service, left it, beloved and respected by the army and his chief, and with high claims to the grateful remembrance of his country. 15 166 LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. Under these impressions, the grenadiers of the 11th regiment, the independent corps of artillerists, and the mihtia companies in the neighbourhood, assembled each at their ap- pointed rendezvous, early on the morning of the 21st, and having repaired to the late dwelling house of the deceased, a suitable es- cort was formed, attended by a procession of the Masonic brethren present, and a large concourse of respectable citizens, which moved to the Congregational meeting house in Brook- lyn; and, after divine service performed by the Kev. Dr. Whitney, all that was earthly of a patriot and hero was laid in the silent tomb, under the discharge of vollies from the infan- try, and minute guns from the artillery. LIFE OP GENERAL PUTNAM. 167 The folloiving eulogtium was pronounced at the grave of General Putnam % Dr, A, Waldo, " Those venerable relics ! once delighted in the endearing domestic virtues, which con- stitute the excellent neighbour — husband — parent — and worthy brother ! liberal and sub- stantial in his friendship; — unsuspicious — open — and generous; — just and sincere in dealing; a benevolent citizen of the world — He concen- trated in his bosom, the noble qualities of an Honest Man. " Born a hero — whom nature taught and cherished in the lap of innumerable toils and dangers, he was terrible in battle ! But, from the amia bier ess of his heart — when carnage ceased, his humanity spread over the ^e/t?, like the refreshing zephyrs of a summer's evening ! — The prisoner — the wounded — the sick — the forlorn — experienced the delicate sympathy of this Soldier's Pillar — The poor, and the needy, of every description, received the char- itable bounties oithis Christian Soldier. " He pitied littleness — loved goodness — ad- mired greatness, and ever aspired to its glo- rious summit ! The friend, the servant, and almost unparalleled lover of his country; — worn with honourable age, and the former toils of war — Putnam ! ' Rests from his la* hours.' 16i5 LIFE OP GENERAL I>UTNAM. " Till mouldering worlds and tumblino; systems burst I When the last trump sliall renovate his dust- Still by the maiidat«^ of eternal truth, His soul will * iiourish in immortal youth !' " " TLls all who knew him know; — this all who lov''d hiiB, tell." The late Rev. Dr, Divight, President of Tale Colleget WHO knew General Putnam hitimati'lify has 'portray- ed his ciiaracter faitiifuiiij in the following inscrip- tion, wnich is engraven on his tomb* Sacred be this Monument to the memory of ISR\EL PjTNAM, EsqUIRE, . ~ senior Major General in the armies of the United States of America; who was born at Salem, in the Province of Massachusetts, on the rtii day of January, A. D. in 8, and died on the 19th day of May, A. D. 1790. Passenger, if thou art a Soldier, di'op a tear over the dust of a Hero who, ever attentive iothe lives and happiness of his mei^^ dared to lead where any dared to follow ; if a Patriot, remember the distinguis'jed and gallant services rendered thy country by the Patriot who sleeps beneath this marble > if thou art honest, generous and worthy, render a cheerful tribute of respect to a man, whose generosity was singular, whose honesty was proverbial; who raised himself to universal esteem, and offices of eminent distinction, by pe* sonal worth and a Hseful life. APPENDIX. VVVVVVVV^A/VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV^-VVVVVV%;VV%'VVVX/V^VVVVVXiVVVVVVV-vSl HISTORICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF li\IJ 196 BUNKER filLL BATTLE. He was rewarded by a captaincy in Gov- ernor Shirley's American regiment on the British establishment. The peace left him on half pay, and in 1752 he attended the governor to the Kennebeck, and erected forts Western and Halifax. In 1755 he again entered the service as. chief engineer and colonel of infantry. In 1756 he was commander of the provincial artille- ry under General Winslow in the expedition against Crown Point, and proceeded to Lake George, where he erected fortifications. In 1757 he sailed for Halifax intended for Lou- isbourg, but the expedition was arrested by the French fleet. In 1758 he revisited his earliest field of glory, and was at the second taking* of Louisbourg: under General Am- herst. He had the superintendance of the ordnance stores, and was so distinguished in the siege, as were all the New England troops, that the general tendered him the whole valuable furniture of the governor's house, a present which he with chivalrous delicacy declined. In 1759 General Amherst conferred on him the distinguished honor of commanding the artillery under the immortal Wolfe at the siege of Quebec. BlfNKER HILL BATTLE. 197 General Amherst found it impossible to join the expedition against Quebec as he in- tended ; notwithstanding which the audacious commander, seconded by the heroic Gridlej and his other officers, determined to achieve the conquest alone. He landed his army in the night under the heights of Abraham, mounted the precipice, and won the glorious battle, in which Gridley proved himself wor- thy to fight by his side. His country acknowledged his services and rewarded them. The Magdalen islands with an extensive seal and cod fishery, and half pay as a British officer, w^ere conferred on him. At the commencement of the American re- volution his British agent, by order of govern- ment, enquired to what party he devoted his services. His magnanimous answer was, *^ he " never drew his sword but in the cause of jus- *• tice, and such he considered to be his coun- *• try's." His half pay ceased, and the arrears already due he had too much spirit to receive. The British army in Boston, at the time of Lexington battle, were about four thousand troops under General Gage, the governor of Massachusetts. He had served with eclat both in America and Europe, had married an American lady, was popular in the country, and disposed to moderate expedients, until he 198 BUNKER HltL BATTLE. sacrificed his own judgment to the advice of violent partizans. By the last of May large reinforcements ar- rived, and the whole consisted of the followino: regiments ; the fourth, fifth, tenth, fourteenth, three companies of the eigliteenth, twenty third, thirty fifth, ^hirtj eighth, forty third, forty seventh, Miy second, fifty ninth, sixty third, two companies of the sixty fifth, and the sixty seventh. These amounted to about ten thousand troops under Generals Gage, Howe, Clinton, Burgoyne, Pigot, Grant and Robinson, Lords Percy and Rawdon, Colonels Abercrombie, Williams and others, the most distinguished officers and choicest troops of the British empire. The fifty second, the royal Irish and the twenty third or Welsh fusileers, had been the most signalized. This last was the Prince of Wales regiment in elegant uniform with a strong national spirit and esprit de corps."^ There was also a squadron of cavalry, for whose use a house of God was unwisely and sacrilegiously assumed. '■ From a tradition that a former Prince of Wales had ridden from his principality into England on a goat ; a very large one, witli gilded horns, was always maintain- ed by the corps, and they celebrated the anniversary of the feat by a procession, rejoicing and exultation. BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 199 The light infantry of the regiments were encamped on the heights of West Boston, facing Cambridge ; a very strong battery for cannon and mortars was erected on Copps HilL facing Charlestown, and very strong lines and batteries were formed across the neck on the side of Roxbnry, The British were equally sanguine, and as confident of success as their enemy, for whom, as soldiers, they entertained a sovereign con- tempt. This opinion was nourished by their officers who had served with those of the Pro- vincials, when they were degraded below the British officers of similar commissions, and the generals w^ere allowed no rank with those of the mother country. They were confirmed in the same opinion from the ordinary arms and the uncouth dress of the American troops, which they had worn unchanged from the plough or the workshop, and the want of dis- cipline and subordination which signalized their camp. They were also enthusiastic admirers of their government and constitution. They held the king and parliament in religious vene- ration, and considered them as omnipotent on earth as Deity in heaven. They looked up- on the Americans as foul, ungrateful and un- natural rebels, and burned with indignation to inflict on them exemplary punishment. 200 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. Their narrow quarters galled their pride ; Burgojne declared they would' have elbow room, and General Gage proclaimed his mor- tification " that the Americans affected to hold the British army besieged." Notwith- standing the superior and increasing numbers of the foe, they determined to leave the town, and take Charlestown and Dorchester heights. The busy preparation had commenced to possess themselves of the latter on the eight- eenth day of June, but the Americans before that provided other occupation for their arms. The Americans were impatient to be led against the enemy. They were unable to appreciate the necessity of discipline, or to understand the unorganized situation of every department of the army; but the hardships and expense of service they sorely realized. Many of the officers were favourable to the wishes of the men. They had been used to the loose service of rangers, and could not weigh the requisitions of a regular army. General Putnam, Colonel Prescott, and other veterans, demanded that advantage should be taken of this disposition of the men, and their wishes gratified. The utility of the frequent and successful skirmises they had jil- reaay engaged in was immense. They prom- ised themselves still higher advantage from an affair more important, but short of a general BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 201 engagement. They knew that, could the en- emy be induced to engage a formidable de- tachment, their inferiority with the musket would make them deeply rue any advantage they might gain, while it would convert our army into soldiers; and these beneficial re- sults would be doubled, could the Americans be covered by entrenchments. Putnam, to show his correct estimation of his countrymen, as raw troops, advanced his favorite maxim, •• the Americans are not at all afraid of their •• heads, though very much afraid of their "legs; if you cover these they w'ill light for- " ever." Before the Council of War, in con- tinual session, these arguments were under consideration. The same momentous question had been de- bated in the Commitiee of Safety. They re- ceived information, from their secret emis^^aries, that the enemy intended to advance into the country, and possess themselves of the very commanding heights of Charlestovvn and Dorchester. Tiie necessity of anticipating them in a project so fatal to America was mo^t solemnly urged for the purpose of pre- venting their advance into the country, des- troying their shipping, and making the town itself too hot for them. But this course was opposed by formidable, and almost insuperable difficulties. The ar- 18 202 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. my seemed called on to maintain a rigid de- fence till they were better disciplined and prepared for battle; and what was of vastly more w^eight, they had not gunpowder. There were eleven barrels only in the public depots, and but sixt) seven in Massachusetts. TThese heights completely overlooked the town, and it was impossible for the enemy to suffer the Americans to keep them without the most desperate efforts, and a general en- gagement. This and the cannonade we should be necessitated to support, to answer that of the enemy, (for if omitted it would betray our secret impotency as to powder) were entirely beyond our means. General Pomeroy, how- ever, took council of his courage, and with unbounded confidence in the skill of his coun- trymen " would fight the enemy with but hve " cartridges a piece. He himself was practised "in hunting, and always brought home two, "and sometimes three deer, with but tliree " charges of powder. But the men had gen- " erally supplied themselves with powder as " militia, and the public could easily make good " the deficiency." General Putnam, to encourage discipline and ^emulation, and brave the enemy, maichtd in face of them with all the troops from Cam- bridge to Chariestown. about the iOth dav of June. And about the same time, to support liie policy of engaging the enemy in an aiiair, BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 205 he attentively reconnolfred the country with other olficers. A position perfectly suited to their purpose, and which does iiiimortal honor to their coup d'ceil and military skill, they found in the fields of Charlestown. They re- paired to the place, and with minute accuracy examined the position. By the direction of General Ward, Colonel Gridley and Colonel Heushaw, accompaniecj by Mr. Devens, one of the Committee oi' Safe- ty from Charlestown, had examined this part of the country in May, and reported in favor of fortifying Prospect Hill first, Bunker Hill next, and lastly Breed's Hill. The settlement of Charlestown and the fields are situated on a peninsula, with Charles River on the south, and Mystic River on the. north. It is eleven hundred yards across from north to south, and one mile forty three rod§ in length from east to west, at which extremi- ty the two rivers approach each other, and form a neck of land but one hundred and thir- ty yards over. Breed's Hill is long, the east- ern end rather steep, the western sinking gradually ; the south side is very steep, and at the bottom of it was Charlestown. It i$ sixty two feet in height. The north is like- wise steep, and was protected at the bottom by a deep impassable slough ; beyond this| proceeding north, you cross a tongue of lancP 264 BUNKEft HILL BATTLE. twenty feet in height above Mjstic River, the shore of which terminates it on tlie norih side* This tongue of land runs east to within two hundred and fifty yards of Morton's Hill and parallel with Breed's Hill. Morton's Hill lies northeast from Breed's, and is thirty five feet in height. The ground between the tongue of land and Breed's Hill, and bejond the east- ern end of it and Morton's Hill was low and marshy. On the driest parts of this low land, however, were a number of brick kilns. The tongue of land at its western extremity termi- nates in Bunker Hill, which on this side has a considerable slope, and on all its other sides is exceedingly steep. It is one hundred and ten feet high, bears northwest A^orn Breed's, and the summits of the two are distant from each other one hundred and thirty rods By Bun- ker Hill Breed's is completely commanded. A narrow road ran from the neck over Bunker Hiil, between the tongue of land and Breed's Hill, and entirely round Breed's Hill, ap- proaching very near its summit on the south. Even the daring enterprise of Warren hesi- tiated at the accunmlated dangers and diOicul- ties, apparently insurmountable, which oppos- ed our taking and maintaining possession of the heights of Chailestown. But the Council of War and Committee of Safetj, of which he was chairman, and in which he opposed the measure, adopted a aiiferent opinion. Like a BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 205 genuine patriot, his own opiiiion was forgot- ten, and he joined heart and hand with his brethren to command success. On the fifteenth of June, the Committee of Safety passed the following votes : " Whereas this Committee lately applied to " the Honourable the Congress of this colony^ " for an augmentation of the army now in the " vicinity of Boston, and as some circumstan-» ** ces have since taken place, which strength- " ened the arguments then used in favor of the '^ said augmentation ; particularly that many '' of the then expected reinforcements for Gen- " eral Gage's armj are arrived ; that General " Gage has issued a very extraordinary pro- *' clamation, in which the inhabitants of Mas- " sachusetts are, in the most explicit manner^ ''declared rebels; and various accounts have " been brought to this Committee of the move- '' ment of General Gage's army, and that he " intends soon to make another attempt to *' penetrate into the countrv : From the con- *' sidcratlon of ail which premises, together " with that of our army. Resolved, that the *' good and welfare of the colony requires that " there be an imniediaie augmentation of said "army, that such soldiers in the army as be ^' destitutt^ of arms be immediately supplied '' therewifh, that surh iti/insents of militia as ^ be destitute of otficers bu iaimeawtely fiiie':J 206 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. '^ up, in such manner as the Honourable Con- ^' gress may direct; and that all the militia in " the colony be ordered to hold themselves in " readiness to march, on the shortest notice, " completely equipped, having thirty rounds of " cartridges per man ; all v^hich is earnestly " recommended to the immediate consideration '' of the Honourable Congress, now sitting in " Watertown. To which the Committee would " beg leave to add a general recommendation " to the people, to go to meeting armed on the " Lord's day, in order to prevent being thrown " into confusion." On the same day they passed the following vote, which, for secrecy, was not recorded un- til] the 19th of June: " Whereas it appears of importance to the " safety of this colony that possession of the " hill called Bunker Hill, in Charlestqwn, be " securely kept and defended, and also some " one hill or hills on Dorchester Neck be like- ^ wise secured, therefore resolved unanimous- *' ly, that it be recommended to the Council of •* War that the above mentioned Bunker Hill " be maintained by sufficient force being post- *' ed there; and as the particular situation of *' Dorchester Neck is unknown to this Com- ^ mittee, they advise that the Council of War ^ take and pursue such steps respecting the ^ same, as to them shall appear to be for ti>« BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 20t " security of this colony." On the same day it was ordered, " that Captain Benjamin " White and Colonel Joseph Palmer be a " committee to join with the committee from " the Council of War, to proceed to the Rox- •• bury camp, there to consult with the general " officers on matters of importance, and to "communicate to them a resolve this day *' passed, in this Committee, respecting Bun- " ker Hill in Charlestown, and Dorchester " Neck." The Provincial Congress prepared an eloquent and energetic answer to Governor Gage's proclamation, to be issued on the 16th of June, in which Governor Gage and Admi- ral Graves are excepted from the general am- nesty, to respond to the proscription of Han- cock and Adams ; but this paper contest was forgotten in the bloody battle which ensued* THE BATTLE. On the 16th of June, 1775, the approaching dog star shed its influence over the American camp. The earth was parched up; but the patriotism of the soldiers was more powerful than the sun, and their well strung nerves were proof against its enervating influence. With the advice of the Council of War, General Ward issued orders to Colonel Wil- liam Prescott, to the commander of Colonel Frve's regiment, and Colonel Bridge, to he prepared iov an expedition, with all their men fit for service, and one day's provisions. The same order issued for one hundred and twenty of General Putnam's regiment, and one com- pany of artillery with two field pieces. With these troops Colonel Prescott was or- dered to proceed to Charlestown In the even- ing, take possession of Bunker Hill, and erect the requisite fortifications to defend it. JHis> iStJNKER HILL BATTLE. 209 orders were to be kept profoundly secret, and piovisions and refreshments were to be sent m the morning, with as nranj more troops as should be necessary to reinforce him. Not an officer in the army could have been selected more wortliy the honor, or more ad- equate to the arduous undertaking than Col- onel Prescott. In this veteran, age already beg^n to display its ravages ; but the fire of his youth was undamped. He was of Pepj)er- ell, and was early left in affluence by the de- cease of his father. He soon received a com- mission in the provincial army, and, with ma- ny of his neighbourhood who enlisted, he joined the forces under General Winslow, and assisted in the conquest of Nova Scotia. His military talents attracted instant admiration, and he was urged by the British oflicers to accept a commission in the royal army. At- tachment to his brave soldiers and country- men, however, did not permit him to separate himself from them, and he returned to his es- tate. The soldiers who had served under him still considered him their head. Like the chief of some feudal clan, he received them all with open doors at his hospitable mansion. In the habits he had acquired in camps his property Vvas expended for their relief, com- fort or entertainment, as fieely as they were ready on every occasion to shed their blood for his honor, and under his command. 210 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. His figure was tail and commanding, and his countenance grave, ardent and impressive as his character. With this presence, and his long and formidable sword, he needed no unil'oi m to distinguish him as a leader. In a simple cahco frock he headed the detachment of about one thousand nren, who left camp at dark, and proceeded to Charlestown. Colonel Prescott led the way with two sergeants, hav- ing dark lanterns open onlj to the rear, about six paces in front of the troops. General Putnam having the general super- intendance of fhe expedition, and the chief engineer, Colonel Gridiej, accojupanied the troops. Profound mystery hung over the object of the expedition till they crossed Chailestown Neck and found the waggons loaded with intrenching tools. The officers were hastening to order the arms to be stacked, and fortiiications com- menced, when a most serious confusion arose as to the construction of their orders, and the point to be fortified. None of the hiils ex- cept Bunker had yet been distinguished by name. And though this was the most com- manding and most defensible position, it was too far from the enemy to annoy their army and shipping. This hill seemed specified BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 211 •nlj by mistake, and Breed's Hill was far better adapted to the important objects of the expedition, and better suited the adventurous spirit of the commanding officers. Their most invaluable moments were wasted without coming to a conclusion, though the wary and scientific engineer again and again urged them to determine at once on the ground, or it would be impossible to complete the requisite fortifications. Breed's Hill was at length concluded on, and Colonel Gridley immediately laid out the works upon it with a genius and skill which would have honored any engineer in the highest advance of military science. The redoubt on the summit of the hill was about eio^ht rods sqrjare. The strongest side, on front, in the form of a redan, faced Charlestown, and pro- tected the south side of the hill. The eastern side commanded a \ery extensive field, and in a line with this, running north down the side of the hill to the impassable slough, was formed a breastwork, which, at the southern extremity, was separated from the redoubt by a narrow passage way or sdMy port, pro- tected in front by a blind. In the rear of the redoubt was a passage or gate way opening toward the slouii^h. The works marked out. tools wevf^ distrib- uted to the men ; but midnigiit ariived before 212 BUNKER HILL BATTLE* the first spade entered die ground. These brawny jeomen were literally, however, working for their lives as well as their liber- ties, and performed prodigies of labour. They were instructed and stimulated by General Putnam, Colonel Prescott, and other officers, among whom was Major Brooks, distinguish- ed by the well deserved confidence of the ar- my. Just entered on manhood he relinquish- ed a lucrative profession at the call of his country. Commanding a battalion of minute men, he commenced his military career at the battle of Lexington and received tiie same rank in the army. He was imperatively call- ed home, by dangerous sickness in his family, and received no order to march with his regi- ment. But the danger of his fellow soldiers was a sufficient summons, and he hastened to join his corps, which he overtook at the neck. There was an unobscured starlight, and the movements of the neighbouring enemy demanded observation. Colonel Prescott pro- ceeded with Major Brooks to the shore to reconnoitre them. Every thing was quiet; they distinctly heard the enemy relieving guard, and were rejoiced at the welcome cry from the centries, however unfounded, *^ All's well !" The men quietly at their labours, General Putnam in the morning repaired to his camp, BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 213 to prepare for the anticipated crisis, and to be mounted afresh, for his gait over horseneck was not more expeditious ihan his ordinary- riding, and his horse required to be reheved. Watchful as Argns, Prescott could hardly conjecture that «he enemy were so negligent of military caution, as to suffer his powerful force to appioach tiieir very threshold un- observed. He advanced anew to examine their situation ; again all was quiet. But the blazing sun began his approaches, and the grey of the morning was dissipated. The veil was lifted from the astonished eyes of the British; but thej would hardly credit their senses on perceiving their daring enemy above them, overlooking their whole position, with formidable entrenchments, which had sprung up as by enchantment. The cannon of the Lively opened on the Americans and roused their countrymen from secure repose, to participate in the same surprise and as- tonishment. General Gage was thunderstruck at the unwelcome information, -and sent an imme- diate summons to his officers to meet him in a council of war. Some other frigates, floating batteries, the vSomerset line of battle ship, a formidable 19 214 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. battery of the heaviest pieces, and a mortar on Copps Hill, opened a tremendous fire on the Americans, sufficient to appal even vete- ran troops. This fire was some time without effect, but the men venturing in front of the works, one of them was killed by a cannon shot. A subaltern officer acquainted Colonel Prescott, and asked what should be done. " Burj " him." " What." said the green astonished officer, "without prayers !" A chaplain, who was present, insisted on performing service over this first victim, and collected many of the soldiers around him, heedless of peril. Prescott ordered them to disperse; but reli- gious enthusiasm prevailed, and the chaplain again collected his congregation in the midst of the enemy's fiie, when the deceased was ordered to be taken and buried in the ditch. To dispel the terror which this event ex- cited, Prescott mounted on the works, and directed the laboi\ Heedless of all the fire of the enemy, he was VMought up to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, and transfer-red his own exaltation into every private under him. From oppressive heat, and the vehe- mence of his addi'ess, his false hair was thrown off, and waving his swoi'd, he some- times upbraided his men in anger, and some- times encouraged them with approbation, or BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 215 amused them with hiimour. Perfectly under- standing his cotintr men, he was complete master of theij' souls. Not the great Sn- Avarrow himself was ever more neo;!igent of appearance, or evor Inspired his faltljful Ibl- lowers with a confidence more entire or more deserved. General Gage was reconnoitring the ene- my. He handed the telescope to Wiliard. a mandamus counsellor, and Inquired, " who is " that officer commandin"- ?" He instantly 'e- cognized his brother- in4aiv^ Colonel l^rrscott, "Will he fight?" asked Gage. '^ Yes, sir, " depend upon it, to the last drop of blood in "him, but 1 cannot answer for his men," was the reply. The sufferings of the men were great; the heat was e?:cessive; during a sleepless night they iiad unremittedly labored, w^ithout even water, and their small stock of provisions was exhausted. Their officers felt for them, and wished Colonel Prescott to send to Cambridge a request to be relieved. He called a coun- cil, but instantly crushed the slighest hope of a relief. " The enemy would not dare attack " them, and if they did would be defeated. " The men who had raised the works were " the best qualified to defend them. They •• had already learned to despise the fire of 216 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. " the enemy. They had the merit of the la- " bor, and should enjoy the honor of the vie- " tory." With renewed ardor the men con- tinued their labors. Captain Nutting with his company, and Captain Walker with a small detachment,* were ordered into Charlestown, near the fer- ry, by Colonel Prescott, to observe the ene- my's movements. General Gage met his officers in council. They did not hesitate as to the indispensable necessity of driving the enemy from their for- midable position, but found it impossible to agree on the mode of attack. General Clin- ton and General Grantt advocated attacking the enemy in rear. "Their men could " embark at the bottom of the common in *' boats, land at Charlestown INeck, under •' protection of a fire from the floating batle- •• ries and frigates, and Vv'ould have the enemy ^' in their power;" and this appeared to be the prevailing opinion. But General Gage would not adopt a measure so adventurous. It was opposed to every well founded military • * This doubtless gave rise to Gordon's statement, tliat two regiments were in Charlestown. t Declaration of General Grant in presence of Mr. Cotton, now living. BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 217 rule, and was in fact contrary to the dictates of prudence. They would expose themselves between two armies, one of them superior to their own in numbers, and the other strongly posted and fortified ; they would be attacked in front and rear, and in fact completely sur- rounded, without the possibility of a retreal being secured to them in case of disaster. It was therefore determined to land and attack the enemy in front. At daybreak General Putnam ordered Lieu- tenant Clark to send and request of General Ward a horse for him to ride to Bunker Hill. The lieutenant went himself, but the gene- ral's impatience could not await an answer. On his return he found him mounted and de- parting. The result of General Gage's council of war soon became apparent. The enemy were observed moving with rapidity through the streets of Boston; a corps of dragoons ma* nceuvring within view of the Americans sud- denly galloped off the ground ; the rattling of artillery carriages and waogons was heard, and every note of preparation for a military movement. Prescott then believed the enemy would hazard an attack and was in ecstasy; "Now. my boys, we shall have a fight, and ** shall beat them too," he observed. Fearless. 19* 218 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. himself he ihougljt the world so too, and his coniidence was too imphcit in the raw tnmps and inexperienced commanders collerli ig, for as an army they can hardly be said to'!»ave collected, at Cambridge. It was nine o'ch)ck; provisions and drink had been reqiiested from General Ward, but none had arrived, noi any troops to replace those at the entrenchments. Cjlonei Prescott called another council of war; again he refused to hear a word as to displacing his men, but consented to send to General Ward for refreshments and reinforce- ments. Majo*' Brooks was selected to proceed to Cambridge and wait on General Ward for this purpose. For greater expedition he was di- rected to take one of the artillery horses, but the order was vehemently opposed by Captain Gridley, who feared for the safety of his pieces if a single horse was taken from him. Prescott then directed him to proceed on foot with as much despatch as possible. He arriv- ed at head quarters about ten, and delivered his instructions to General Ward. The gen- eral hesitated as to the policy of sending re- inforcements to Charlestown, and doubted whether the real intention of the enemy was to make his attack on that point. At Cam- bridge and Watertown were the scanty depots of ammunition, ordnance stores and materiel BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 219 (tff every species belonging to the army. On these th.e salvation of the country seemed to depend, and he presumed the enemy intended to seize die prCvsent opportunity, to make an attack on head quarters, and gain pobsessioD ol" the depots. The Committee of Safety was then In ses- sion in the Vfiy house in uliicli the general quartered, and to them he coaioiunicatcd tiie information and request, brouglu by Major Brooks. Richard iJevens, one ot the nsem- bers, was of Charlestown. His anxiety that his estate and native town should be protect- ed from the inroad of the enemy, amounted almost to phrenzy; his importunity viih ttie general and the committee to have ample re- inforcements sent to Colonel Prescott was equally vehement and impassioned. The com- mittee recommended sending reinforcements, and the general consented that orders should go to the New Hampshire troops, stationed at Medford, to proceed to Charlestown and re- inforce Colonel Prescott, and these orders were immediately sent to Colonel Stark and Colonel Reed. General Warren, the Chairman of the Com- mittee of Safety was present. The day be- fore he had officiated as President of the Con- gress at Watertown, and had passed the night 220 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. there, engaged in the accumulated concerns of the pubhc. His friend, Honorable El bridge Gerry, had learned the determination to take and fortify Bunker HilL He remonstrated with him against the glaring imprudence of the measure, with our defective means. '' We *' had not powder to maintain the desperate " conflict which must ensue, and should all be '' cut to pieces." General Warren confessed he entertained the same opinion; but it was de- termined otherwise, and he was resolved to share the fate of his countrymen. His friend conjured him not to expose his invaluable life where his destruction would be useless and inevitable. '• I know it," said the hero, '* but I "live within sound of the cannon, and should "die were I to remain at home while my fel- "low citizens are shedding their blood forme "and my country." He arrived at Cambridge by daylight, complained of headache and tb.rew himself on the bed. On receiving information that the enemy were coming out. General Ward sent to notify him. He jumped from his bed, declared *' his headaciie was gone " then," and after meeting with the Committee of Safetj, mounted his horse, and with his fu- sil and sword repaired to tlie post of dana-t r. He joinr'd General Putnam, and they conj^ult- ed on n>easures to be pursued. General Put- nam intormed him that '- from long experience " he perfectly comprehended the character of " the British army ; they would ultimately sue- ^^UN'KER HILL BATTLE. 221 <'ceed and drive us from the works, but from "the mode of attack they had ciiosen, it was 'Mn our power to do them iniinite aiischief, " though we must be prepared for a brave and "orderly retreat, when we could maintain our "ground no longer." Warren expressed his full assent to these opinions and agreed to be governed by them. At eleven the New Hampshire troops re- ceived orders from Cambridge. About fiiteen charges of loose powder and balls were dis- tributed to each, and they were directed to form these into cartridges immediately. Few of the men, however, poi^sessed cartridge box- es, but employed only powder horns ; and scarcely two of their guns agreeing in calibie, they were obliged to alter the bails accord- ingly. At the long wharf, in Boston, four battalions of British infantry, ten companies of grena- diers, and ten of light infantry, were embark- ed in boats. Some ot these were taken from transports, and had never disembarked since their voyage. They were now to land, not like Antaeus, to gain new strength ffom the earth, but to shed their liie's blood on her bosom. About one o'clock a large portion of these troops, together with six pieces of cannon and 22*2 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. howitzers, landed at Morton's Point. Here thej irnnjediatelj discovered a most disastrous mistake ; the cartridges sent for the use of the artillery were too large for the pieces. They Were immediately sent back, and a new sup- ply obtained. At tlie same time General Howe, the commander of the forces, discover- ing on his near approach the formidable na-^ ture of the enemy's position, requested rein- forcements from General Gage. About two o'clock the remainder of the forces leave Winnisimit Ferry and land at Morton's Point ; and soon after the relnforcemf^nts, the forty seventh battalion, a battalion of marines, ex- cept a few of this corps who were preparing to embark, a few compa?)ies of grenadiers and light infantry, land under the eastern end of Breed's Hill, at Madlin's shipyard. All these troops cannot be estimated at less than five thousand; If the coips were but half full there were four thousand three hundred and fifty. While the enemy were landing General Put- nam ordered Captain KnowTton, with the Connecticut troops, to take post behind a rail fence, which ran across the tongue of land, from the road to Mystic River, a distance of two hundred and fifty yards. In front of this whole line of fence was a thick orchard, and another, more spare, in the rear. These troops pulled up the neighbouring fences, and placmg them near the one at which they were posted, threw in the new mown grass between. BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 223 Few of the fields, however, were mown, and this cover was a mere shadow of a defence. This fence was one hundred and ninety yards in rear of the breastwork, and eighty yards in rear of the head or western end of the slough, leaving a very extensive opening between the breastwork and rail fence, by which the left flank of the breastwork, and troops resting on the slough, were entirely exposed to cannon shot; and a considerable space, one hundred yards diagonally, between the slough and the rail fence, was open to the advance of infantry. This was the weak point and the very key of the American posi- tion. The detachments in Charlestown were now recalled by Colonel Prescott, and took post at a narrow cart way, which ran from the southeastern angle of the redoubt, directly south, to the narrow way rouqd the hill. They placed the fences together, and threw in grass, as was done on the left. The thundering cannonade of the enemy soon spread the information of an approaching engagement. The American citizens in the neighbourhood flocked to the scene, and the soldiers voluntarily ran to arms, and entreat- ed to be led against the foe. Colonel Litllf^'s jsegiment had just arrived from Esaex and 224 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. were not even commissioned Awaiting no orders, thej left ihelr quarters In West Cam- bi itige, marched to General Ward and tender- ed their services. The Connecticut troops were equally anx- ious to join their general ; ihej were all un- der arms, and sent to head quarters for orders. But General VVaid informed them they had already the post of honor, for the Biitish were expected to land at Inman's farm their present position. For greater caution Colonel Gardner's re- giment, and one or two others, were marched half way to Charlestown there to wait further orders. But the enemy's intentions were now clearly pronounced, by their preparation to land at Charlestown. Orders were in haste despatched to a number of infantry regiments —Captain Callender's company and Major Gridley's battalion of artillery, to proceed in- stantly to Charlestown to reinforce their coun- trymen. Colonel Prescott had stretched the endur- ance and exertions of his detachment to the utmost of the human constitution. They had thrown up a defence good against muskets, and most of it against artillery. But the com- manding summit of Bunker Hill, of vital impor- tance to them in case of retreat, was not yet BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 225 fortified. Putnam was anxious and mortified tliat a post, on which his defence and reputa- tion so materially depended, should be entire- ly neglected. His mother wit, cultivated in the school of experience, under British officers, the most distinguished masters of the day, per- fectly comprehended the immense importance of entrenching. He seemed to have intuitive- ly seized the maxims of Csesar's learned cam- paigns, as well as to anticipate the scientific results of such modern defences as General Jackson's. He ordered the entrenching tools to be carried by a large detachment to the rear. The first division of the enemy awaiting the remainder of the detachment, which had not yet embarked, were quietly dining, and most of them for the last time, from their crowded and cumbrous knapsacks. General Putnam seized the opportunity of hastening to Cambridge, whence he returned with the reinforcements. He had to pa^s a galling enfilading fire of round, bar and chain shot, which thundered across the neck from the Glasgow frigate in the channel of Charles River, and two floating batteries hauled close to the shore. And now the brave Stark arrived with his regiment. General Putnam reserved a part 20 220 BUKKER HILL BATTLE. of it, to throw up a work on Bunker Hill, and ordered hirn to press on to the lines as quick as possible, with the remainder. Thej pro- ceeded with the other New Hampshire regi- ment under Colonel Reed, and joined the Connecticut troops at the rail fence. About five thousand British troops, and a new supply of artillery ammunition, had land- ed. Major General Howe was their com- mander, a distinguished soldier, and like all his family, of undaunted bravery ; under him was General Pigot, and the other renowned chiefs were. Colonels Nesbit, Abercrombie, Clarke, Majors Butler, Williams, Bruce, Spendlove, Smelt, Mitchell, Pitcairn, Short, Small, Lords Percy and Rawdon. The troops were in columns, waiting the signal to advance. They and their enemy opposed to them were in a vast amphitheatre, formed by elevated heights which rise from Boston Bay, surrounding them on every other side at the distance only of a few miles. These heights were covered with Americans, who had been brought from a dis- tance, by anxious curiosity, to witness a scene so sublime, and learn the event of a contest, on which the fate of a new world depended; and many of them to witness the fate of a par- ent, brother or husband engaged. The heights and the steeples in Boston were similarly crowded by the inhabitants and British sol- diers. And many a soldier's wife witnessed BUNKER HttiL BATTLE. 22T the events, with a melancholy foreboding that she was left a widow, and her home three thousand miles across the ocean. A tremendous cannonade from Boston open- ed on the camp at Roxburj, to contain the Americans who were there under arms. It added to the continued roar of the batteries and shipping against Charlestown, and the bat- tle was commencing. It was indeed a scene interesting beyond the reach of human imagi- nation. The field artillery opened on the works ; it was the signal to advance^ The Americans faintly responded with their two small pieces. They had fired a few useless shot at Copps Hill, but there were no embrasures in the im- perfect redoubt ; their slight platform was broken, and the artillery cartridges were re- served. The drums beat to arms. Putnam left hi$ works, commenced on Bunker Hill, and led the troops into action. Little's regiment arrived ; he ordered them to their posts. Captain Warner's company advanced to the rail fence on the right of the redoubt, Captain Perkins' to the exposed po- sition between the breastwork and rail fence on the left, and the remainder found th^it 228 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. places in the line. Colonel Jonathan Brewer, With his regiment^ and Captain Callcnder, with his artillery, also arrived. • Tfie veteran General Pomeroy heard the peajjng artihery, which seemed to invite him to b'in]e; he was si soldier too brave, and a p^^tiiot too ardent, to resist a summons so a/;ieeab!e. He requested a horse of General Yi 'aid: to carry hina to the field; delighted at an aid so important, it was instantly suppHed. ^'[th his uKJsket and cartridges he repaired to the neck; inquiring of a sentry posted there, and viewing the gro?ind and the tremendous fire across, he was alarmed not for himself, but for the horse he had borrowed; he delivered him to the sentry, and coolly marched across. He advanced to the rail fence at the left. His ap- proach gave new confidence to the men ; thej received him with the highest exultation, and the name of General Pomeroy rang through the line. In early life he had been an ingeni- ous mechanic, and many a soldier was sup- plied with arms of his manufacture. Had Vulcan himself supplied the Grecians with his celestial armor, and appeared in their ranks, they would not have been more certain of victory. General Warren took post at the redoubt. Colonel Prescott offered liim the command, but he had not yet received his commission, BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 229 and tendered the colonel his assistance as a volunteer ; " he was happy to learn service " from a soldier of experience." The columns of the enemy were advancing slowly, and halted at intervals, to give the ar- tillery an opportunity to render a passage over the works practicable. General Howe, re- markably tall, and a prominent mark, advanc- ed two hundred yards in front of the troops to reconnoitre. The fifth regiment, one of grenadiers, and another of light infantry, move under cover of the tongue of land, at the foot of it display^ and advance in front to the rail fence; except nine of the light companies, who move by the right flank on the shore of Mystic River to turn the American left. This attack was led by General Howe. The fifty second regiment, thirty eighth, thirty fifth, forty seventh, three grenadier and three light companies, and the marines, under cover of Breed's Hill, display, and are led by General Pigot against the redoubt and breast- work. The lines advanced and soon opened to view. The American marksmen are with dif- ficulty restrained from firing. General Put- nam rode through the line, and ordered that 20* 230 BUNKER hill' BATTLE. no one should fire till they arrived within eight rods, nor any one till commanded. "Powder " was scarce and must not be wasted. They " should not fire at the enemy till they saw " the white of their eyes, and then fire low^ " take aim at their waistbands. They were " all marksmen, and could kill a squirrel at "a hundred yards; reserve their fire, and the " enemy were all destroyed. Aim at the hand- "some coats, |Dick off the commanders." The same orders were reiterated by Prescott at the redoubt, by Pomeroy, Stark, and all the veteran oflacers. The enemy were within gunshot of the re- doubt ; a few of the sharp shooters could not resist the temptation and fired. Prescott was indignant at this contempt of his orders ; wav- ing his sword he swore instant death against the first who disobeyed again, appealed to their well known confidence in him, and pro- mised to give them orders at the proper mo- ment. The enemy were at eight rods distance, the deadly muskets were levelled, when Prescott commanded his men to take good aim, be sure of their mark, and fire. He was effectually obeyed. The whole front rank was swept away, and many a gallant officer laid low. They were, however, ccuntrjmen of those who gave the fire, and received it with the BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 23 I same cool courage with which it was given. Rank succeeded rank, and returned the fire, but the odds was fearful; the Americans were well protected by the works ; the efibrts and courage of the enemy were in vain, and with surlj reluctance they were compelled to re- treat. Warren animated and encouraged the men, and with the rest ot the officers, set them an example with his musket ; there was scarcely an officer of any grade, except Putnam and Prescott, without one. Perfect as was the fire of the American infantry, their artillery was as grossly defec- tive in every respect. This arm requires science, experience and knowledge of position. But the artillery companies were just selected from the infantry, and entirely ignorant of their duty. Callender carried his pieces into action, but his cartridges required adjusting. Totally in violation of mihtary disciphne, he left his post without orders, and was retiring to a se- cure place under cover of the hill, to prepare for firing. Putnam observed this appearance of retreat and was fired with indignation ; he ordered him instantly to his post; Callender remonstrated, but Putnam threatened him with instant death, if he hesitated, and forced him back. His men. however, were disgusted with a part of the service they did not understand, 232 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. most of them had muskets and mingled in the fight ; the pieces were entirely deserted, and the captain relinquished them. The British had neglected the only ma- noeuvre which would have defeated the ene- my, to mount the works and charge with the bayonet. The Americans had scarcely a bay- onet to a company, and it must have succeed- ed. Under cover of the hill they prepared for another onset. Their fellow soldiers on the right arrived about the time of this attack on the redoubt to within about one hundred yards of the x\mcricans. They were throwing down a fence, when a few marksmen fired on them. Putnam was enrao^ed at this disobedience of an order on which the salvation of the army depended ; he rode to the spot, his sword whistling through the air; in his indignation he threatened to cut dowa the first who dared to fire again without orders. The discharge from these few muskets, however, drew the hre from the enemy's line, which continued moving; on, and when about eicrht rods from the fence, the fatal order was given ; the fire of the Americans mowed them down with the same tremendous seventy, as at the redoubt. The officers especially fell victims to their deadly aim. BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 233 Dining this tremendous fire of musketry and roar of cannon, McClarj's gigantic voice was distinctly heard, animating and encourag- ing the men as though he would Inspire every ball that sped with his own tire and energy. The British fired their heaviest voilies of musketry widi admirable coolness and regu- larity, but without aim, at the Americans, and almost every hall passed harmless over them. Their artillery had been stopped by the brick kilns in the low ground, and produced lilde effect. This wing of the army having cover- ed the ground with their dead, were at length compelled likewise to retreat ; and the huzza of viotory reechoed through the American line. General Ward had by this time despatched sufficient reinforcements, but they did not reach the field. The fire across the neck wore an aspect too terrific for raw troops to venture in it. Putnam fiew^ to the spot to overcome their fears and hurry them on be- fore the enemy returned. He entreated, threatened and encouraged them ; lashing liis horse with the flat of his sw ord, he rode back- ward and forward across the neck, through the hottest fire, to convince them there was no danger. The balls however threw up clouds of dust about him, and the soldiers were perfectly convinced that he was invul- nerable, but not equally conscious of being so 234 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. themselves.* Some of these troops, however^ ventured over. The battalion of artillery under Major Gridley bad proceeded but a few hundred rods down the road to Charlestown when they were halted, and this officer determined not to proceed to the hill but wait and cover the retreat, which he considered inevitable. He was young and inexperienced, and totally inadequate to the important command which had been conferred on him in compliment to his father, Colonel Gridley. He was con- founded widi the dangers and difficulties of his situation, and never recovered his self possession during the day. While the artillery was halted in this situa- tion. Colonel James Frye, (who was absent from his regiment on duty the day before, but the battle approaching, had found his way to the field,) riding from Charlestown galloped up to them and demanded of the senior captain,t " why this unseasonable halt !" He was aston- ished at the reply, and ordered them instantly to the field. This veteran also animated their courage by the glorious recollection " this day * The principal fact here is proved by the deposition of Mr. Samuel Bassett ; the otlier circumstances by oral testimony. t Yet living, and from whom we have this anecdoff . BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 235 " 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 the enemy." The artillery proceeded. Gridley joined them; but his aversion to joining in the en- gagement was invincible, and he ordered them on to Cobble Hill to fire at the Glasgow and floating batteries. The order was so palpably absurd, with their three pounders, that Cap- tain Trevett absolutely refused obedience, ordered his men to follow him, and marched for the lines. Major Gridley was sensible his artillery would be hazarded without infantry to cover them. Colonel Mansfield had been ordered with his regiment to reinforce the troops at Charlestown, but being peremptorily com- manded by Major Gridley, whom he consid- ered high military authority, to cover his pieces, he complied in violation of his orders. General Putnam left the neck for Bunker Hill to bring up the reinforcements. He there found Colonel Gerrish with his regiment and some other scattered troops. The colonel had been a captain in the provincial army of 1756; he was of unwieldy corpulence and a disposition by far too quiet for a soldier's. He had marched his men rapidly from Cam- 236 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. bridge, and unwisely halted them here to rest. The blazing sun and tremendous fire of the enemy combmed were far too powerful for the faintness of his military ardor to overcome. The men were disorganized and dispersed on the west side of 4\ie hill, and covered by the summit from the fire. Putnam ordered them on to the lines ; he entreated and threatened them, and some of the most cowardly he knocked down with his sword, but all ih vain. The men com[)lained they had not their offi- cers ; he offered to lead them on himself, but " the cannon were deserted and they stood no " chance without them " The battle indeed appeared here in all its horrors. 1 he Brit- ish musketry fired high and took effect on this elevated hill and it was completely ex- posed to the combined fire from their ships, batteries, and field pieces. The enemy were by this time organized anew and weie again advancing to the attack. Putnam's duty called him to the lines. At this time Captain Ford appeared with his company. He served in a regiment under the veteran Lieutenant Colonel Parker and Major Brooks. Of them he had learned the duties of a soldier. He had already signalized him- self at Lexington battle by killing five of the enemy. His orders were to proceed to the lines and rf^nforce the troops ; he obeyed, marched unconcerned across the neck and - BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 237 was proceeding down Bunker Hill, when Putnam was delighted with an aid so oppor- tune. Callender's deserted cannon were at the foot of the Jiiil ; he ordered Captain Ford with his company to draw them into hne. The captain remonstrated " his company were " totally ignorant of the discipline and em- '* ployment of artillery." But the general per- emptorily persisting in his order, he obeyed ; his company moved with the cannon and the sjeneral himself to the rail fence. The heroic enemy with unwavering step and firm undaunted bravery appeared again before the murderous lines which had already compelled them to retreat. They had nearly the same obstacles to overcome as before. Their cumbrous knapsacks, tall and almost impassable grass, and a torrid sun blazing in face of them they had to contend against, as well as an enemy every way worthy of them. One new obstacle they had to pass, the dead bodies of their fellow soldiers which covered the ground. But this served rather to stimu- late them to still more daring efforts to re- venge their fall. The last of the reinforce- ments, a few companies of marines, arrived on the left. The Americans were now more confident and perfect than before in a manoeuvre which had been crowned with success. It was in- 21 238 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. deed perfectly simple, but equally fatal to the foe. They received orders to reserve their fire till the enemy approached still nearer than before. At six rods only they were per- mitted to return the fire. The British artil- lery approached by the narrow road between the tongue of land and Breed's Hill, within three hundred yards of the rail fence, and almost In a line with the redoubt, and opened on the lines to prepare a way for their In- fantry. The latter commenced a regular and tremendous volley by platoons, and their fire soon became general. But unfortunately for them, though perfect in drill discipline, and regular movements of parade, they were as grossly unskilful in what was a thousand times more important, a knowledge of their wea- pons. Their aim was too elevated, and the enemy were hidden behind their works. Some of their balls however took effect, and a few of the privates fell victims. The brave Major Moore was mortally wounded. Major Buck- minster received a ball through the shoulder and was crippled for life. To add new horrors to the scene, vast col- umns of smoke were now observed over Charlestown, and passed to the south over the American lines. General Howe on his first advance had sent word to General Bur- goyne and General Clinton on Copps Hill, that his left flank was annoyed by musketry BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 239 from Charlestovvn, and ordered them to burn it down. A carcass was fired, but fell sbort near the ferrv way; a second fell in the street, and the town was on fire. The confla- gration was completed by a detachment of men who landed from the Somerset. The whole town was combustible. The flames as- cended to heaven on the lofty spire of the church, and resembled the eruptions of a vast volcano in solemn grandeur and sublimity. Tiie advance of the enemy was not obscured by the smoke from Charlestown ; they were in full view of the Americans. Putnam now, with tiie assistance of Captain Ford's compa- ny, opened his artillery upon them. He had on this day performed the service of general, engineer and guide, and he now turned can- nonier, with splendid success.; and to the high- est satisfaction of his surrounding countrymen. Each company of artillery had but twelve? cartridges, and these were soon expended. He pointed the cannon himself, the balls took effect on the enemy, and one case of canister made a lane through them. As in Milton's battle, " Foul dissipation followed and forced rout." With w'onderful courage, however, the enemy closed his ranks, and the fire became general on both sides. The Americans suffered the enemy to approach still nearer than before ; 240 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. men and officers fell in promiscuous heaps ; whole front ranks of them were swept away. • General Ward was without staff officers to bear his commands, excepting one aid and a secretary, who performed the duty. During the whole day these were mounted and on full speed between Breed's Hill and head quarters. Loss and neglect of orders were the inevita- ble consequence. Colonel Gardner's regi- ment and others who had been posted between Cambridge and Charlestown, to wait further orders, were overlooked. The battle was raging, and no orders arrived. The colonel was a gentleman of rank, had been a member of the legislature, and commanded a regiment of militia, which, marching to Lexington to join in the engagement there, suddenly open- ed on the British artillery; being entirely void of cover they dispersed. His gallant soul Mi their conduct as a stigma on himself, and he resolved on the earliest opportunity to wipe the spot from his escutcheon. A glorious oc- casion was before him, and he panted to em- brace it — to reap the honors of victory, or death and lasting fame. The latter fate was decreed him. He called to him his officers, and oifered to lead them into battle ; most of them with three hundred of his men followed him. He led them over Bunker Hill, viewed with unconcern the battle scene on the hill be- fore him, terrible as Mount Sinai, and witli BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 241 glorious anticipations, was descending to the engagement, when a masket ball entered his groin, and the wound proved mortal. He gave his men his last solemn injunction, to conquer or die, and was carried off the field. He soon met Captain Trevett advancing with his artil- lery, and an interesting and heroic interview ensued between the colonel and Captain Tre- vett's second Lieutenant Gardner, his son, a mere youth of nineteen. The son was in ao-o- nj at the desperate situation of his father, and would have attended him off the ground. But the colonel prohibited this. " He should not " be alarmed at his situation, he was engaged '• in a good cause and must march on and do " his duty." The distracted son obeyed, and his dying father had the consolation to learn that his last injunction and glorious example were not lost ; and that his son was worthy of him. These reinforcements, with Captain Clark and Captains Chester and Coit, who soon fol- lowed with their companies, supplied the places of those who had expended their ammu- nition and left the ground, and of the detach- ment sent off with the entrenching tools, who, in contempt of their orders, never returned. The British had a long time borne the mur- derous fire of the 'enemy, but their astonish^ log fortitude and daring efforts were useless- 21* 242 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. against the insuperable difficulties thej encoun- tered. Nearly a thousand of their number had fallen, with an incredible proportion of the bravest officers. The distinguished Col- onels Abercrornbie and Williams, and Major Spend love, had purchased fame with their lives. The gallant Major Small was left standing alone, every one shot down about him. The never erring muskets were levelled at him, and a soldier's fate was his inevitable destiny, had not Putnam at the instant appeared. Each recognized in the other an old fiiend and fellow soldier; the tie was sacred; Putnam threw up the deadly muskets with his sword, and arrested his fate. He begged his men to spare that officer, as dear to him as a brother. The general's humane and chivalrous gene- rosity excited in them new admiration, and his friend retired unhurt. The undaunted Howe still led on his men in the hottest of the battle. His friend and volunteer aid, Gordon, and Captain Addison, a descendant from the author of the Spectator, were slain, and almost every other officer of his staff or near him was shot. Mortified and indignant at so much blood wasted in vain, he seemed to court an honorable death to hide him from the disgrace of a second deleat by an enemy he despised as peasants and re- HUNKER HILL BATTLE. 243 bels. His life seemed charmed, and he was compelled to follow his' army, who again re- treated and left their enernv to taste, a second tmie, the jojs ot victory. The exultation of the Americans was glori- ous and well deserved, but it was, alas, short lived. They had leisure to realize the entire hopelessness of their situation. Their ammu- nition was expended, and they were as desti- tute of every offensive weapon as the naked savages, their predecessors. Prescott found a few artillery cartridges, which he distributed to his men, and they determined to show a re- solute front to the enemy, to club their mus- kets, and even employ the stones thrown up with the parapet against them. Their only hope, however, was from a want of fortitude in the enemy, and that they had twice this day proved was slender indeed. General Howe gave his men orders to pre- pare again to advance. Some of the officers remonstrated, that it would be mere butchery to lead them on again, but the generals, and nearly every officer, were indignant at a dis- tant suspicion of their yielding the victory to these rebels, an undisciplined rabble, of inferior numbers, after all their boasting, and atler they had poured out every epithet of contempt against them. To conquer or die was their resolve. 244 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. Bloody experience at last opened their eves to their eorrei^ious errors. Their overvvceninjr confidence was laid aside, and a calculated, deliberate and judicious plan of attack adopt- ed. The overloaded knapsacks were relin- quished ; firing with musketry was prohibited, and a charge with the bayonet resorted to. The attack was to be more concentrated; while the troops at the rail fence were amus- ed by a show of force, the grand effort was to be against the redoubt and breastwork, and particularly the right flank. The accomplished and chivalrous General Clinton now joined and brought his splendid talents into the council, and his distinguished gallantry into the field. Immediate and in- conceivable was the sensation his appearance produced at this moment of deep despondence. From Copps Hill he had observed with shame and indignation the double rout of his country- men, and particularly that the two distinguish- ed battalions, the marines and forty seventh, were staggered and w^averlng. Without wait- ing for orders, he threw himself into a boat, passed over, and soon breathed into them his own exalted heroism. General Howe a third time commanded a forward movement to scale the works and rush on the enemy with the bayonet. He came to the left to lead on to the redoubt himself- BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 245 Clinton joined General Pigot and the marines on the loft to turn the right flank of the ene- my. The artillery were ordered to advance still farther than before on their old rout, and turn the left of the breastwork to rake the line. General Howe at last became sensible that this was the most vulnerable point and key of the enemy's position. The Americans made every preparation possible to repel the last desperate effort of the enemy. Putnam again rode to the rear, and exhausted every art and effort to bring on the scattered reinforcements. Captain Bay- ley, only, of Colonel Gerrish's regiment, ad- vanced to the lines, and Captain Trevett now arrived at the rail fence with his pieces. The enemy stripped off their knapsacks, and many of them their coats ; the artillery pushed on by the road on the north, the forty seventh and marines near the road on the south side of the hill, and the remains of the royal Irish and other regiments, and part of the grena- diers and light infantry in front. Their past efforts had exhausted the strength and spirit of many of the men who lingered in the rear, and their gallant officers were compelled to urge them on with their swords. Some of the less resolute fired their pieces, but the great masses obeyed their orders, and with firmness moved on to the charo-e. Thev arrived under 24:6 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. the fire of the Americans, who improved to advantage their last opportunity for ven- geance. Every shot took effect. The gallant Howe at last received a ball in the foot, wliero only like Achilles he seemed to be vulnerable, but continued to animate his men. A few only of the Americans had a charge of ammunition remaining. They had sent lor a supply in vain ; a barrel and a half only were in the magazine. They resorted next to stones, but these served only to betray their weak- ness, and lent new energy to the foe. The artillery advanced to the open space between the breastwork and rail fence ; this ground was defended by some brave Essex troops, covered only by scattered trees. With resolution and deadly aim they poured the most destructive volliee'on the enemy. The cannx)n, however, turned the breastwork, en- filaded the line, and sent tlieir balls through the open gateway or sally port, directly into the redoubt, under cover of which the troops at tlie breastwork were compelled to retire. The enemy bravely l>ore the deadly fire, and continually closing his broken ranks, de- liberately advanced on every side of the re- doubt except the north. They were now un- der the eastern side of the redoubt and cover- ed from the fire. The Americans retired to BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 247 the side opposite to take them as they rose. Lieutenant Prescott, a nephew of the colonel, received a ball throup:h the arm ; it hung bro- ken and useless by his side. The colonel or- dered him to content himself* with encourag- ing his men. But he contrived to load his piece, and was passing by the sally port to rest against the enemy, when a cannon ball cut him to pieces. Young Richardson of the royal Irish, was the first to mount the works, and was instant- ly shot down ; the front rank which succeeded shared the same fate. Among these mounted the gallant Major Pitcairn, and exultingly cried " the day is ours," when a black soldier named Salem,* shot him through and he fell. His agonized son received him in his arms and tenderly bore him to the boats. It was he who caused the first effusion of blood at Lex- ington. In that battle his horse was shot un- der him, while he was separated from his troops ; with presence of mind he feigned him- self slain ; his pistolst were taken from his holsters, and he was left for dead, when he seized the opportunity and escaped. * A coiitiibution was made in the army for this sol- die)', and he was presented to Washington, as having performed this feat. t This trophy afterwards belonged to General Put- nam, and yet remains in his family, from whom we have, tiie above anecdote. 248 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. The heroic but dlrDinutive Pigot ran up the southeast corner of the redoubt, assisted by a tree left standing there, and desperately led on his men. Troops succeeded troops over the parapet, and Prescott exhausted every re- source to repel them, even with the buts of his oruns. o But he had now his last great victory to achieve, to which all his past toils, dangers and privations, were nothing. He had twice conquered the enemy ; he had now, a more difficult task, to conquer himself, to bend down his lofty soul, and turn his back to the enemy. Perfectly careless of his own life, he had no right to triile witli the lives of his men. It was a sacred deposit they had entrusted to his honor, a bond which he never forfeited. In- stead of an useless waste of life, with a " nil desperandum," he quelled his revolting spirit and ordered a retreat. General Ward had gratified at last the ar- dent wishes of the Connecticut troops to join their beloved general. Captains Chester, Clark and Coit were on the ground with their troops, and Major Durkee's impatience had before this brought him mounted to the field, to join his old commander and comrade of for- mer wars. Putnam's imagination had already inscribed the victory of Bunker Hill on his coat of arms, when a dark cloud flew across BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 249 the brilliant prospect. The retreat of the right wing burst upon him. The gallant veteran Gridley now received a ball through the leg, and was carried off. He had served all night at the entrenchments, and had all day assisted in defending his own works, and proving their excellence. Prescott's troops fought their way through the surrounding enemy. The veteran Captain Bancroft was charging his piece, a British soldier leaped from the parapet, touching him as he came to the ground, and levelled at him; they fired together ; the captain tore him to pieces and escaped unhurt. One of the men without ammunition perceived Lieutenant Prescott's loaded musket by its deceased mas- ter ; a Briton obstructed his passage ; seizing the loaded musket he brought his antagonist to the ground. Colonel Bridge, who came with the first de- tachment, was one of the last to retreat, and was twice severely wounded, in the head and neck. His lieutenant colonel, the veteran Parker, who had escaped through the whole war of 1756, in which he had signalized him- self, and especially at the desperate siege of Fort Frontinac, received a ball in the thigh, and was left mortally wounded in the re- doubt. 22 250 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. The chivalrous Warren lingered to the last. His exalted spirit disdained as a disgrace a retreat the most inevitable. He aniaiated the men to the most desperate daring ; and when hope itself had fled, he still disdained to fly. With suilen reluctance he followed his coun- trymen, and seemed to court that ball from the enemy, which a {ew yards from the re- doubt, passed through his head, and secured to him the eternal gratitude of his country- men, and immortal fame throughout the world. Small here repaid the debt of gratitude he owed the enemy. He recognized Warren, his intimate friend, as he was leaving the re- doubt, called to him for God's sake to stand and save his life ; he turned and seemed to recognize him, but kept on. Small command- ed the men not to fire at him; he threw up the muskets with his sword, but in vain, the fatal ball had sped. The enemy came on, exhausted by their desperate efforts, under a blazing sun, and broken by the well directed fire. They had not force to employ the bayonet, and were too much broken and muigled with the enemy to fire their pieces. Their right and left w^mgs ivere indeed facing each other, with the Amer- icans between ; their fire would have cut down both friend and foe. While they formed them- selves anew, the Americans collected, and BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 251 made a brave and orderly retreat. Putnam put spurs to his foaminsc horse and threw hini- self^etween the retreating forct^ and the ene- my, wiio were but twelve rods from him;* his countrymen were in momentary expectation of' seeing this compeer of the immortal War- ren tall. He entrea»ed them to rally and re- new the fight, to finish his works on Bunker Hill, and again give tlie enemy battle on that unassailable position, and pledged his honor to restore to them afi easy victory. Captain Smith of General Ward's regiment came with his company to reinforce, joined in the retreat, and assiste(5 to keep the enemy at bay. The Americans had retreated about twenty rods before the enemy had time to rally and pour in a destructive fire on them, which des- troyed more than they had lost before during the day. Colonel Prescott's adjutant was shot and crippled. Captain Dow, of his regi- ment, was also crippled by a wound in the leg, and Captain Bancroft had a part of his hand carried off. * Deposition of Lyman, then a lieutenant, and pre- sent, and Miner, a private in the same company. This is confirmed too by the testimony of a distinguished offi- cer of the revolution, yet living, ^vho had served with. General Putnam in tlie French war, and was present him* $tU and badly wounded. 252 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. The American left wing were openly con- gratulating themselves on their victory, when their flank was opened by the retreat o£ the right. The enemy pressed on them, ancfthey were in their turn compelled to retire. Put- nam covered their retreat with his Connecti- cut troops, and dared the utmost fury of the enemy, in tlie rear of the whole. These pur- sued with little ardor, but poured in their thundering voUies, and showers of balls fell like hail around the general.* He addressed himself to every passion of the troops, to persuade them to rally, to throw up his works on Bunker Hill, and make a stand, and, as the last resort, threatened them with the eternal disgrace of deserting their general. He took his stand near a field piece, and seem- ed resolved to brave the foe alone. His troops, Iiowever, felt it impossible to withstand the overwhelming force of the British bayonets ; they left him. One sergeant only dared to stand by his general to the last ; fie was shot down, and the enemy's bayonets were just upon the general, before he retired. '• This fact we have from a respectable friend, whu was present and yet lives, Philip Johnson, Esq. of >: ew- buryport. His honor and veracity is surpassed by n(» man's. See also deposition of Captain Hills, then en^ sign to KnowltODv BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 253 General Pomeroy continued to animate the men, and cut down the enemy himself, till a well hove ball shattered his musket. The re- treat having commenced, he disdained to turn his back; but with backward step and lower- ing front shouldered the fragments of his piece, and carried off his men, encouraging them to pour in their formidable fire on the enemy. Captain Trevett, like Callender, was de- serted by his men. His lieutenants, Swasey and Gardner, stood by him, with but seven others, one of whom was Moses Porter, al- ready a promising artillerist. He persuaded about thirty of the infantry to join in saving one of his pieces, the other he was compelled to abandon. A British company noticed the piece, and determined to seize the prey; they pursued, on the top of Bunker Hill were with- in thirty yards of them, levelled their muskets and fired.. The captain gave up all for lost, when but one dropped dead, and another wounded, the remainder rapidly descended the hill, and carried off with honor the only piece saved out of six taken to the field. Gen- eral Putnam ordered it to Cambridge. The Charlestown company of Colonel Gardner's regiment was the last to retreat. They were fighting at their own doors, on, their own natal soil. They were on the exr- treme left, covered by some loose stones 22. # 254 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. thrown up on the shore of Mjstic River, dur- Hig the day, by order of Colonel Stark. At this most important pass into the country, against which the enemy made their most des- perate efforts, like Leonidas' band they had taken post, and like them they defended it; till the enemy had discovered another. One piece of cannon at the neck opened on the enemy and covered the retreat. But these were in no condition, and discovered no incli- nation to renew the engagement, or pursue their advantage, except by a formidable can- nonade from their field pieces. They remain- ed on Bunker Hill, and lay on their arms dur- ing the night. The same was done on Win- ter Hill by the New Hampshire troops, and by the rest of the Americans on Prospect Hill, directly in face of the enemy. Major Brooks was retained at Cambridge by General Ward, till the last reinforcements were sent to Charlestown, when he marched with the two remaining companies of his regi- ment, and met at the neck the Americans re- treating. Benjamin Thompson, better known as Count Rumford, attended him as a volunteer. He was assisting the army by his mathemati- cal learning, his estimates and surveys, but had solicited an appointment in vain, and had BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 255 made great but fruitless interest for the com- mission in the artillery which was bestowed on Major Gridlej. For this gross injustice done to his distinguished merit, his country suffered well deserved punishment in the mis- conduct of his rival, and by the final loss of his services, except what they received, in common with all mankind, from his splendid philosophical discoveries, his glorious and beneficent political labors. McClary, as attentive to the wants of his men as desperate in fighting them, galloped to Medford and returned with dressings for the wounded. He ordered Captain Dearborn to advance toward the neck with his compa- ny, whilst he crossed over to reconnoitre the enemy. He was returning with Lieutenant Colonel Robinson and others, and boasting that the shot commissioned to kill him was not yet cast, when a cannon ball from the Glasgow tore him to pieces. No smaller weapon seemed worthy to destroy the gigan- tic hero. The veteran Gridley entered his sulky at Bunker Hill to be carried off. The enemy perceived the prey, shot his horse and riddled the sulky with balls; but their rage was im- potent; meeting some obstruction in the road^ he had left the carriage a moment before. 2i)6 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. Prescott repaired to Cambridge, furious as a lion driven from his lair, foaming with in- dignation at the want of support when victory was in his grasp, — a victory dearly purchased with the precious blood of his soldiers, family and friends. He demanded but two fresh re- giments of General Ward, and pledged his life with them to drive the enemy to his boats. He had not yet done enough to satisfy him- self, though he had done enough to satisfy his country. He had not indeed secured final victory, but he had secured a glorious immor- tality. Two young men in Boston were employed to take the wounded from the boats to the hospitals. A young lieutenant, shot through the body, was carried by them in a chair to his encampment. Passing the streets, pale and faint with loss of blood, he attracted the humane and generous compassion shown by the inhabitants to the wounded ; enmity for- gotten, they were all at their doors with re- freshing drink for them. At the encampment they met Captain Pit- cairn, covered with blood. Struck with the appearance, the heutenant inquired of him the cause, but his grief was too big for utterance, " vox faucibus hoesit." A sergeant informed him, the captain's father was shot at the BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 257 breastwork, and the captain carried him to the boat, where he died in his arms. The hospital was established in a different place, to which they repaiied, and witnessed a scene to melt the most obdiu'ate enemy. The hospital and even the yard was overload- ed with wounded, praying in vain for the sur- geons to arrest the current of \\[e^ fast ebbing fi-om their wounds, but which, from the numbers, it was impossible to dress. Loud and melancholy waiHngs for the dead, from widows of the common soldiers, were heard in every street, and struck on the heart of the passenger. The number of the Americans during the battle was fluctuating, but may be fairly es- timated at little more than two thousand men. Their loss was one hundred and fifteen killed, three hundred and five wounded, and thirty captured, in all four hundred and fifty.^ The following is the loss of the respective corps : Regiments. Killed. Woumied. Colonels Stark and Reed 15 45 Colonel Scammons 2 Genish 5 2 Whitcomb 5 8 ^ Bievv er 7 11 •^ General Ward's orderly book. 258 SUNKER HILL BATTLE. Regiments, Killed Woundei?. Colonel Little 7 23 Gardner 6 7 Gri^llej 4 General Putnam's regiment, 1 Ca|;tain Coit and ' I 15 30 Captiiii Chester's companies J General Ward " ' 1 6 Colonel Bvidge 16 29 Prescott 42 28 F.je 15 31 . Nixon 3 10 — • Wo(fdi)ridge 1 5 Doolitile 9 Provincial JVewspapeVi July 15, 1775. The Brld-^li loss was one thousand and fifty four, Includiug eighty nine officers ; of these two hundred and twenty six were killed, in- cluding nineteen officers, and eight hundred and twenty eight w^ounded, seventy of whom were officers. The fifth regiment had one officer killed, the fourth one, twenty second one, thirty fifth two, thirty eighth one, forty third one, forty seventh three, fifty second five, four of them were the highest officers of the regiment, and thr> only pain they expressed from their wounds, was from having received them through the back. The sixty third had one killed, sixty fifth one, sixty seventh one, marines six, and General Howe's aid de camp. The fourth regiment had four wounded, fifth seven, tenth five, fourteenth one, eighteenth one, twenty third four, thirty fifth three, thir- ty eighth nine, forty third three, forty seventh BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 259 five, fifty second five, Mty ninth one, sixty third two, sixty fifth four, marines twelve, Page, of the engineers, and Jardin, secretary to General Howe. All the grenadiers of one company were shot storming the works ex- cepting ^\e<, and these were led on by the oldest soldier. The grenadiers of the Welsh fusiliers were reduced to eight, and twenty two out of thirty nine grenadiers of the fifty second regiment were killed. * In this battle the British gained a nominal victory, but the Americans the only prize con- tended for ; they destroyed entirely the phy- sical and moral force of the British army, im- prisoned them within their narrow lines, and prevented their excursions. The enemy nev- er after recovered their enterprise and confi- dence in America, and by this single battle the final success of the American revolution was secured. * Gentlemen's Magazine for 1775, and Essex Gazette, 13 July, 1775. SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. General Ward received from the General Congress the appointment of first major gene- ral and second in command of the American army. On the arrival of General Washington at Cambridge, he assumed the command of the right wing at Roxburj, and his general disposition of the troops about Boston was sanctioned by the approbation of the comman- der in chief."^ From extreme ill health, he resigned his commission in April, 1776; but notwithstanding his resignation was accepted, at the earnest request- of Congress and Gen- eral Washington, he continued in command, near Boston, until the 20th of March, 1777. He was afterward a member of Congress un- der the old confederation and present consti- tution, and died in 1800, aged seventy three. The life of General Putnam has been de- tailed by abler hands. * Marshall, vol. 2, p. 242. 23 262 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. General Thomas was appointed first hng" adier general under the United States, in 1776 was appointed major general, and on the death of Montgomery repaired to Canada to command the American forces before Quebec. Their situation was nearly desperate ; but he was too adventurous to relinquish the enter- prise without one attempt to secure the fa- vors of fortune. He endeavoured to burn the enemy's naval force before the city by a fire ship, intending to attack the place during the conflagration ; but the fire ship miscarried, and the general was compelled to order a re- treat, during which he died of the small pox at Chamblee. General Pomeroy expressed his strong sense of the blindness of fortune, that, of the two volunteer generals in the battle, Warren, the young and chivalrous soldier, the eloquent and enlightened legislator, should fall, and he escape, old and useless, unhurt. From age he declined the honorable appointment of brigadier general of the United States army, and retired from service. But, Hke the vete- ran war horse, when the echoes of his majestic Connecticut rang with the clarion of battle, he spurned the peaceful retreat which his long life and long services demanded. He preferred even a regiment to inaction, and as a colonel marched to join the kindred spirits who composed our army in the Jerseys. His BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 263 Exposures produced a pleurisy, which proved fatal at Pecksklll in New York, where his country owes hiui a monument, and bravery and patriotism perennial fame. When Putnam was ordered on what may well be styled a tbrlorn hope, to land at Bos- ton with a detachment, in face of the army and batteries of the enemy, Colonel Prescott solicited of him the honor of participating the desperate undertaking. But heaven frowned at an excess of presumption which her past favors had encouraged 5 a violent hurricane arrested the enterprise* The colonel continued in the service of the United States, accompanied General Wash- ington to New York, and on the disastrous retreat through the Jerseys, he alone was able to keep his men in the ranks. They proved themselves worthy the hero of Bunker Hill, kept the enemy in respect, were exhibit- ed to the army as an example worthy imita- tion, and the colonel received the cordial thanks of Washington in general orders. In 1777 he, with a corps of volunteers, join- ed General Gates, and served with him till victory crowned our arms, and Burgoyne's whole army was the trophy. 264 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. When peace ensued, he became a member of the legislature, and in 1787 distinguished himself as a magistrate as he had in 1775 as a soldier. From the miseries and poverty which succeeded the war, many of the suffer- ers were driven to oppose the course of legal authority. The enlightened patriot employed his potent influence to stay the tempestuous waves of insurrection. He collected his friends and proceeded to Concord armed to protect the court in session there against the conspirators. He lived to advanced age, and we are happy to add he was a christian. The veteran Colonel Joseph Frye,* who had served in the war of 1756, was at th© siege of Louisbourg, and taken prisoner in Fort William Henry, immediately after the battle the 21st June, was appointed major general by the Provincial Congress. He serv- ed some time in the revolutionary war, and lived to a very advanced age, at Fryeburgh, which received its name from his family. Colonel Gardner lived a few days after the battle, and on being asked if he was Avell enough to see his son, " yes," answered the hero, " if he has done his duty." Being in- formed that he had distinguished himself, he ' Biothcr of Colonel James Frye. BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 265 saw him, and died with the glorious consola- tion of leaving the invaluable legacy of his own fame and his country's gratitude to a son worthy to support the honors of his name. The life of Major Brooks since the battle of Bunker Hill has been far too distinguished in the military and political history of America to be noticed satisfactorily in a supplement. Some biographer may hereafter confer on the public, a donation worthy their gratitude, a dis- tinct account of this hero and statesman. But this cannot be anticipated till the last enemy of man has overcome the amiable modesty, for which he is equally distinguished as for all his higher excellencies, and the requisite informa- tion be obtained from his papers which has often been solicited in vain from himself. When General Washington arrived at Cambridge his regiment was distinguished for the superior discipline he had introduced, and General Gates pronounced him one of the first disciplinarians in service. He was ap- pointed first inspector of the army under rhe Baron Steuben, and afterwards adjutant gene- ral for the army on the North River. He was distinguished in nearly all the im- portant battles of the revolution. He was \i\ the battle on Long Island with the reinforce- ment, and in that of White Plains. Historj 23* 266 BUxNKER HILL BATTLE. has recorded him among the most distlngufsh* ed commanders of t-he army which achieved tfie conquest of Burgojne, and he was in the battle of Monmouth as adjutant general. From their earliest acquaintance he was a favorite of Washington, enjoying his uniform friendship, and was honorably distinguished, by his selecting him, among the seven generals of his choice, to serve with him in 1798. During the last war he had the superintend- ance of the militia of Massachusetts, directed the forces with admirable skill, and secured the country from inroads of the enemy. For some years he has been elected gover- nor and commander in chief of the Common- wealth of Massachusetts, by the voice of the people, to the universal satisfaction of all par- ties. Over the liberties and free constitutions he established as a warrior, he now presides as a legislator with distinguished ability. The brave Knowlton, from the first mo- ment of the batde to the latest period of the re- treat, showed himself worthy the distinguish- ed honor of being selected as the first among the Connecticut captains. He afterwards received the commission of' lieutenant colonel, and at the battle of Harlem BUxVKim HILL BATTLE. 267 Heights, was sent by Washington to get into the enemy's rear j a bloody action ensued ; Knovvlton and his men fought the whole force of the enemy, of vastly superior numbers, be- fore the Americans could attack in front, and got the better of them. He restored by this gallant affair a glorious moral force to the ar- my nearly extinguished by disasters ; but it was at the expense of many brave men in the unequal contest ; his assistant officer, Major Latch, was slain, with three balls through him, and he himself reaped immortal honor and im- mortal life together. -WashiDgton paid due honors to his memory in general orders, and declared, " he had died "a glorious death, which every soldier ought " to wish for, and would have been an honor ^' to any country on earth." The same indignation felt by Colonel Pres- cott, at the loss of the battle, was general in the army, and throughout the country ; a scruti- ny, most severe and unrelentmg, was instituted into the conduct of every one, to bring con- dign punishment on those whose misconduct had caused the final issue. Even Colonel Bridge, notwithstanding the severity of his la- bors, and the dangerous and honorable wounds he received, had to pass the ordeal of a court martial. 268 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. Notwithstanding this inquisitorial research, we are happy to add, out of near three thou- sand, who, at different stages of the battle, must have been engaged in it, and most of them for the first time, four only were discov- ered guiltj of misconduct. Of these. Major Gridley was tried for neglect of duty, Briga- dier General Green being president of the court, which " find him guilty of breach of " orders, and therefore dismiss him from the '• Massachusetts service; but on account of his "inexperience and youth, and the great confu- "sion which attended that day's transaction in " general, they do not consider him incapable " of a Continental commission, should the gen- " eral officers recommend him to his Excel- " lency." Colonel Mansfield was obviously guilty of an error only arising from inexperience. Two only were found guilty of cowardice ; of these Colonel Gerrish was certainly guilty of a want of military ardor and activity, but this was a constitutional defect. He was not accused be- fore the committee of Congress by General Putnam, and, in the opinion of the very re- spectable judge advocate who tried him, and who yet lives, he was far too harshly treated. The only officer apparently guilty of cow- ardice, Captain Callander, is a glorious in- stance of the buoyancy of real New England BUNKER HILL BATTLE, 269 heroism, and the redeeming efficacy of a pure conscience, a mind conscious of rectitude. The furious denunciation of Putnam, the con- demnation of the court, and thundeiing pro- scription of Washington, would liave crashed any one forever, who was armed with a pano- ply less divine. A committee of Congress was appointed to inquire into the truth of a report, that some officers of the army had been guilty of mis- conduct ; they report, that they had made in- quiry of General Putnam and other officers, who were in the hottest of the battle, and that the general charged Captain Callender and another artillery officer, with infamous cow- ardice, one of the principal causes of the do- feat, and informed them that lie would quit the service if these officers were not made an example of, and that one of them ought to be shot. The court martial condemned Captain Callender, and General Washington approved the judgment, ^' not only from the particular *' guilt of Captain Callender, but the fatal "consequence of such a conduct to the army, " and to the cause of America in general." Notwithstanding this, our hero resolved to compel the world to acknowledge, by his fu- ture conduct, that his past had been mistaken. He continued with his corps as a volunteer, and desperately exposed himself in twvy ac- 27i BUKKER HILL BATTLE. tion. The brave and beneficent General Knox extended to him his friendship. At the battle on Long Island, the captain and lieutenant of the company of artillery, with which he served, were shot; he assumed the command, and fought the pieces to the last; refused to retreat, and the bayonets of the soldiers were just upon him, when a Brit- ish officer, admiring his chivah-ous and des- perate courage, interfered and saved his life. General Washington expressed his high ap- probation of his conduct, gave him his hand with his most cordial thanks ; ordered the sen- tence of the court martial condemning him, to be erased from the orderly book, and re- stored to him his commission. He held his commission during the war, and left the ser- vice at the peace, with the highest honor and reputation. Captain Dearborn was afterwards highly distinguished during the revolutionary war for his bravery and enterprise. He volunteer- ed at the head of a company of men, selected from the regiment to accompany Arnold, in the winter of 1775, through the trackless wilds, to Quebec; an enterprise, which, in dar- ing, hardihood and courage, is not surpassed by the immortal passage of the Alps by Han- nibal. He was major of a battalion of light BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 271 infantry at Saratoga, and his services were ac- knowledged by Gates in the highest terms of approbation. Cilley's regiment, of which he was lieutenant colonel, was the most distin- guished corps in the battle of Monmouth, and the salvation of the army was owing to their heroic courage. General Washington ac- knowledged the service, and sent to inquire what regiment it was. " Full blooded yankees "by sir," was the answer of Dearborn. He was afterwards secretary at war appoint- ed by Mr. Jefferson ; and during the last war was the first major general and senior officer of the American array. Porter, the promising artillerist, who stood by his piece and his captain to the last, has since then risen through every grade of office to the rank of brigadier general in the army, to which he has ever since belonged ; and has maintained an uniform and distinguished repu- tation as one of the first artillery officers in service. The important post of Norfolk was entrusted to his command the last war, and he is now stationed at Boston in command of the very district which he so bravely contributed to defend in 1775. General Howe, notwithstanding his wound, remained on the field the whole night, watch- ing the enemy's movements, and protecting his own position ; supporting himself against 272 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. some hay, he ordered his attendants to pre- vent him from falling asleep. The morning after the battle, a young gen- tleman from Boston went on the ground, and recognized the body of Warren, and mention- ed the fact. General Howe would not credit the account ; it was too improbable that the president of Congress was in the battle. One of the most eminent physicians of that or the present day, and yet living in Boston, was on the field ; he had gone over during the battle to dress the British wounded, and was yet dressing them and the wounded American pris- oners, with his usual humanity and skill. Gen- eral Howe asked him if he could identify Doctor Warren ; he recollected the doctor had lost a finger nail and wore a false tooth, and inform- ed the general that Doctor W'arren had (i\e days before ventured over to Boston in a ca- noe to get information, invited him to join the American troops as surgeon, and informed him that he was himself to receive a commis- sion in the army. General Warren was in- stantly recognized, and Howe declared this victim alone was worth five hundred of his me IX, BUNKER HILL BATTLE. 273 Omitted pages 92 and 93* Immediately after the battle, the rank of major general was conferred on Colonel Grid- ley. America commenced her revolution with but four pieces of cannon, and to his mechani- cal science and ingenuity she was indebted for the first mortars and cannon ever cast in the country. After being confined some months by his wound, he repaired to Cambridge and super- intended the fortifications erecting round bos- ton. On the 4th March, 1776, he was again engaged in erecting fortifications in the night, and the address, science and prodigies of la- bor, displayed at Dorchester Heights, were perhaps never exceeded, except on Breed's Hill. These works expelled the enemy from Boston. General Gridiey fortified the heighta of this place and the islands in the harbor, and General Washington urged him to ac- company the army, but his advanced age for- bad. He retired on half pay. In 1795 he assisted in laying the corner stone of the state house, as he had in 1775 to lay the corner stone of the state, and lived in re- markable health to the age of eighty six, a model of courtliness, beneficence and hospi- 24 274 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. tality, as well as all the high perfections of a soldier. Colonel Stark will be recognised as the he- ro of Bennington, but it is not so generally known that he employed an ingenious and successful expedient to strike a panic into the enemy and assist him in achieving his glorious victory. He had one iron cannon, but neither powder sufficient to employ it, nor balls ; he ordered an officer, however, to charge it, wha objected the want of balls ; "no matter," said the colonel^ " load it with blank cartridge, and "let the discharge be the signal for all the " troops to rush on the enemy." The Hes- sians were panic-struck at the thundering re- port, his troops rushed on with loud hurras*, and the victory was complete* ; ERRATA. Page 272, line 4, after "gentleman from Boston" add the following note. General Winslow, yet living. Another friend of the author, yet living, was within six feet of Warren when he fell, and received himself a ball through the thigh. Page 183, 1. Unread Major Box, an experi- enced, &;c. P. 202, 1. 2, for defence, read defensi^^e. P. 211, 1. 17, for side, on front, read side, or front. P. 222, 1. 4 from bottom, for spare, read sparse. P. 233, 1. 14,/or huzza, read hurra. P. 263, 1. 2, for Peckskill, read Peekskill. P. 267, 1. 1 1, for Latch, readhehch. P. 189, 1. 4 from bottom, omdt his, P. 199, 1. 3 from bottom, omit and. P. 272, 1. 3 from bottom, ybr Howe, read the enemy. P. 183, 1. IS, for two, read four. P. 221, f. 19, a/- ier Boston, insert the principal part of. Same page, 1. 28, erase a large portion of. P. 258,^ L 1 5^ for Provincial, read Providence. P. 2579- L 22, after killed, add and missing. 276 BUNKER HILL BATTLE. We neglected to mention that Honorable James. Winthrop, and James Swan, Esquire, accompanied the reinforcements to Breed's Hill, with their muskets, as volunteers, fought valia*itly, and the former was wounded. Note. The author was necessarily absent from town during the whole time the work w^s in the press. THE Ex\D.