CHAPTER
XXXI.

Una

The Continental Congress proceeded, meanwhile, to the delicate task of appointing a commander-in-chief. 1775. nimity on this important occasion was much promoted by John Adams, very anxious to conciliate the good-will and support of the southern colonies. George Washington, present as a member of Congress from Virginia, was nominated by Johnson of Maryland, and unanimously chosen. He accepted the appointment in a modest speech, in which he declined any compensation beyond payment of expenses. Artemas Ward, Charles Lee, Philip Schuyler, and Israel Putnam, were chosen major generals; Horatio Gates, adjutant general, with the rank of brigadier. Ward and Putnam were already in com.. mand in the camp before Boston, the one as captain gen eral, under a Massachusetts commission, the other as a Connecticut brigadier. Schuyler had been recommended as a major general by the New York Provincial Congress Gates, an Englishman by birth, formerly in the British service, had recently sold out his commission of major and settled in Virginia. Lee was a person of very eccentric habits, a mere soldier of fortune, but possessing a high reputation for military experience and science, having served with distinction both in Europe and America. He held, at the time of his election, a lieutenant colonel's commission in the British service. During the last eighteen months he had been traveling through America, and had recently been induced by Gates to purchase lands in Virginia. For some unknown private cause, he was bitterly hostile to the British ministry. Congress undertook to indemnify him for any pecuniarv loss he might sustain by entering into their service, and subsequently advanced him $30,000 for that purpose. Before accepting this American appointment, he resigned his British commission in a formal letter to the Secre

XXXI.

tary of War. A strenuous opposition was made in Con- CHAPTER gress to the appointment of both Lee and Gates. Washington urged it on account of their military knowledge 1775. and experience, but they both occasioned him afterward a great deal of trouble.

Pomeroy, Heath, and Thomas, of Massachusetts; June 22 Wooster and Spencer, of Connecticut; and Greene, of Rhode Island, already holding colony commissions as general officers, were commissioned as brigadiers. To these were added Sullivan, a member of Congress from New Hampshire, and Montgomery, of New York, a native of the north of Ireland. Though bred a lawyer, and without military experience, Sullivan soon proved himself an able officer. Montgomery had served with credit in a subaltern rank at the siege of Louisburg, and under Wolfe at Quebec. Within two or three years past he had disposed of his commission, had married into the Livingston family and settled in New York, and, along with Schuyler, had been recommended for military rank by the New York Provincial Congress, of which he was a member. The colonels and other inferior officers in the camp before Boston were confirmed in their commands, and presently received Continental commissions. The selection of general officers by Congress occasioned a good deal of heartburning, particularly the Connecticut appointments. Wooster and Spencer, who had led regiments in the last French war, complained loudly at being superseded by Putnam, who had not risen in that service beyond the rank of lieutenant colonel. A representation on this subject was made to Congress by the Connecticut officers and the Connecticut Assembly. There were objections, also, to Pomeroy's outranking Thomas, which Pomeroy disposed of by declining a commission.

Before these new arrangements were completed an im

XXXI.

CHAPTER portant battle had been already fought. Largely re-en. forced by the arrival of additional troops, under Generals 1775. Howe, Burgoyne, and Clinton, distinguished and accom plished officers, the British army in Boston had been increased to twenty regular regiments, amounting to upward of ten thousand men. Thus strengthened, Gage had June 12. issued a proclamation of martial law, offering pardon, however, to all who would forthwith return to their allegiance, John Hancock and Samuel Adams excepted, whose guilt was too flagitious to be overlooked. The New England army before Boston, sixteen thousand strong, consisted of thirty-six regiments, twenty-seven from Massachusetts, and three from each of the other colonies. John Whitcombe, who had led a regiment in the French war, and Dr. Joseph Warren, president of the Congress and chairman of the Committee of Safety, June 15. had been appointed first and second major generals of the Massachusetts forces.

To make the blockade of Boston more complete, by order of the Committee of Safety, Colonel Prescott, with twelve hundred men, including a company of artillery June 16. with two field pieces, marched at nightfall to take possession of Bunker Hill, a considerable eminence just within the peninsula of Charlestown, and commanding the great northern road from Boston. By some mistake, Prescott passed Bunker Hill and advanced to Breed's Hill, at the southern end of the peninsula, and much June 17, nearer Boston. Before morning the troops had thrown

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up a considerable redoubt, greatly to the surprise of the
British, who opened immediately a fire upon them from
the batteries in Boston and the ships in the harbor.
der the direction of Gridley, and encouraged by Prescott,
in whom great confidence was felt, the provincials la-
bored on undisturbed by the fire, and by noon they had

XXXI.

thrown up a breast work extending from the redoubt, CHAPTE down the northern slope of the hill, toward the water. Cannon mounted in the redoubt would command the 1775. harbor, and might make Boston itself untenable. To avert this threatened danger, three thousand men, pickof the British army, led by Generals Howe and

ed

corps

Pigot, embarked in boats from the wharves in Boston, June 17 and landed at the eastern foot of Breed's Hill. Such was the want of order and system in the provincial camp, and so little was the apprehension of immediate attack, that the same troops, who had been working all night, still occupied the intrenchments. General Putnam was on the field, but he appears to have had no troops and no command. It was the same with Pomeroy and Warren, whom the rumor of attack had drawn from Cambridge. Two New Hampshire regiments, under Stark, arrived on the ground just before the action began, and took up a position on the left of the unfinished breastwork, but some two hundred yards in the rear, under an imperfect cover, made by pulling up the rail fences, placing them in parallel lines a few feet apart, and filling the intervening space with the new-mown hay which lay scattered on the hill. Other troops had been ordered to Charlestown; but, owing to a variety of causes, only a few arrived in season to take part in the battle. The artillery had been increased to six pieces, but the supply of ammunition was very short.

About three in the afternoon of a brilliant summer's day, the British troops advanced toward the redoubt, supported by a redoubled fire from the ships and the batteries. The neighboring hills, and the roofs and steeples of Boston, were crowded with anxious spectators The assailants pressed forward till within a hundred yards of the provincials, when they were suddenly check

CHAPTER ed by quick and heavy volleys from the redoubt ano XXXI. breastwork, delivered with the unerring aim of marks1775. men. Before a fire so deadly the regulars wavered,

broke, and fell back in disorder to the landing place.
Soon, however, they were rallied by their officers, and
again brought up to the charge. During the first at-
tack some scattering shots had come from the houses
on the British left. Infuriated by repulse, Gage gave
orders for setting the village of Charlestown on fire.
The wooden buildings burned rapidly, and the tall spire
of the meeting-house was soon wrapped in flames.
While this conflagration added new horrors to the scene,
the British line again moved forward. Again the same
fatal fire drove them back in confusion to the landing
place. General Clinton passed over from Boston to give
his assistance. The troops, by great efforts on the part
of the officers, were rallied and led a third time up the
hill, and now with better success. The powder of the
provincials began to fail, and no supply was at hand.
Some British artillery pushed into the gap between the
breastwork and the rail fence, planted their pieces, and
swept the breastwork from end to end.
The grena-

diers assailed the redoubt on three sides at once, and
carried it at the point of the bayonet. Pending the
main attack, the British light infantry advanced upon
Stark's troops behind the rail fence, but were warmly
received, and kept at bay till the redoubt was carried:
after which the whole body of the provincials, abandon-
ing five pieces of cannon, made good their retreat over
Charlestown Neck, being covered by the troops which
they met advancing to their assistance.

The provincials might consider such a defeat as little less than victory. Out of three thousand British troops engaged, over one thousand were killed or wounded—a