The Times from Shreveport, Louisiana • Page 96

Ml Oct. 19, 1J75 THE SHREVEPORT TIMES Boston: Cannon Volley Sounds Breed's Hill Battle each side; it was to be strongest on the south facing Charlestown at the bottom of the hill and Boston across the Charles River. At about midnight Colonel Prescott's men began to throw up the earth atop Breed's Hill; with only four hours until dawn, they worked in nervous haste. The Americans didn't try to work quietly and the British heard noise, but they offered no tThe Press And the American jt Revolution Prescott's men opened fire with stag-, gering effect. As many recoats fell, others bravely tried to push on, but deadly fire forced them to retreat.

General Howe was dismayed at the devastating sight of his well trained soldiers being mowed down like grass. Joining Pigot, Howe decided to try again. The British marched upward on the bloody hill, stepping over fallen comrades. In their bright uniforms, (especially the officers') they made splendid targets, and at fifty yards the Americans could hardly miss. The British were horribly decimated.

Running short of bullets, the Patriots had rammed buckshot, rusty nails, and even pieces of glass into their, muskets. In the face of this the redcoats fell back again. In grim determination Howe and. Pigot ordered their men to drop their packs and to climb the hill once more. And joined by General Clinton with fresh troops the British made the final assault.

General Howe, his handsome uniform stained with sweat and spat-, tered with blood, personally led the right side. The American forces were prac-. tically out of powder and shot and Colonel Prescott knew that there was little chance of holding the hill now. Although the colonials saved their fire until the enemy was within close range, they didn't have enough powder left to hold off the British. Prescott ordered a retreat.

walked along it encouraging his forces. As the hot June day developed, the Americans were weary, hungry, and grimy with sweat and dirt. Still supplies and reinforcements did not arrive. Without Prescott's untiring efforts there might not have been a fight that day: doffing his coat, hat and wig his sweaty bald head glistening in the sun he urged the men on in their work. Howe's army of 2400 regulars looked like a scarlet tide spreading over the base of the hill as they landed on Charlestown.

Laden with full packs and three days' rations they were ready for the assault at about three o'clock. General Robert Pigot was to march through the tall grass towards the redoubt, but this was at first considered secondary to a flanking movement against the American left by General Howe. The latter hoped to encircle the entranchments and capture the colonials. But Colonel Prescott, in anticipation of this, had sent Captain Thomas Knowlton with Connecticut troops to man a low barricade of rail fences, hay and stone walls. Fortunately, too, Colonel John Stack of New Hampshire arrived with reinforcements to help defend the left flank.

Howe's advance here was turned back by withering musket fire that left 96 redcoats dead. As hundreds in Boston watched, Pigot led his men up the hill to within 100 feet of the entrenchments before British officers, however, saw no need to hurry to meet this American challenge. Meanwhile, the tired men on Breed's Hill, who had spent most of the night with pick and con- tinued to strengthen their position and to build some low outer works. Aroused from lethargy, General Gage now held a British council of war. All agreed that Breed's Hill had to be taken, but how to do it was debated.

General Clinton wanted to land a force near Charlestown neck and isolate the Americans. This was logical but Gage thought differently. Perhaps he felt it unwise to place soldiers between two divisions of the enemy. Would not a frontal assault be more effective? Such an attack led by General Wlliam Howe would impress the American rabble with British might, and they would no doubt flee in terror before Howe's bayonets. It would be early afternoon before the tide would be right for a landing on the eastern end of the peninsula.

Meanwhile the British ships and the batteries on Copp's Hill in the northend of Boston began a cannonade of the American position. Little damage was done, but the deafening roar frightened the men. There was a moment of panic when a cannon ball killed one of the militia outside of the redoubt. Colonel Prescott, spattered with the brains and blood of the victim, immediately leaped to the parapet and daringly they might be easily cut off and isolated by the British. This peninsula was connected to the mainland by a neck so narrow that it often overflowed at high tide.

But rashness and not reason prevailed among the restless militia who wanted to drive the enemy out of Boston. The order given, 1000 to 1200 men with varied arms, a day's rations and entrenching tools gathered on Cambridge common. After President Langdon of Harvard College prayed for their success, the force marched towards Charlestown. An eyewitness left a graphic description of them: "To a man, they wore small clothes, coming down and fastening just below the knee, and long stockings with cowhide shoes ornamented with large buckles, while not a pair of boots graced the company. The coats and waistcoats were loose and of huge dimensions, with colors as varied as the barks of oak, sumach and other trees could make them, and their shirts were all made of flax, and like every part of the dress, were homespun." Officers might have uniforms but not the men.

Entrenchments were to be laid out by Colonel Richard Gridley, an experienced military engineer. Although the council had explicitly ordered the fortification of Bunker's Hill, the officers decided on Breed's Hill about 600 yards closer to Boston. Gridley laid out a square redoubt about 40 yards long on By Dr. Francis G. Walett Worcester State College 1975 American Antiquarian Society At the council of war at Cambridge called by General Artemas Ward, the officers of the American soldiers besieging Boston drtated what to do.

Spies had brought word that very day (June 16, 1775) that the British were planning to occupy Dorchester Heights just south of Boston. What coun-termoves should the Patriots make? The Committee of Safety had urged that Charlestown peninsula across the Charles River from Boston be fortified. Ward was reluctant to go so because of the. dangers involved and the serious shortage of power. General Joseph Warren, the famous doctor and Patriot leader of Boston, felt the same way.

One who argued differently was General Israel Putnam of Connecticut, affectionately known as "Old Put." This broad shouldered farmer with long and hard service in the Indian War was a dominant figure in the council. Outspoken, aggressive, and explosive at times, Putnam was very much for action. He proposed the immediate fortification of the heights of Charlestown. Colonel William Prescott of Groton, who was to lead the action, agreed and the others went along. It was foolhardy for the Americans to venture onto Charlestown where challenge.

By daybreak a rude breastwork about six feet high with wooden firing platforms had been erected. It was clearly visible from ships and from Boston. When the cannon of H.M.S. Lively fired a few balls at the fresh earthworks shortly after dawn, they did little or no damage. Bostonians were roused early that day June 17, 1775, by the roar of the cannon, and they wanted nervously to see what the enemy would do.

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