Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1855-07-11

left their homes ut a moments warning. and
were imppiirnt TO urn-weaken by camp
discusses and the smnll-pox-wit a stock OF pow
der 81 scanty that stratagem was resorted to by
the commander In c1ncehi tho dehclencY oven
from his officers.
Thus the summer aud the autumn wore AWAY
aud every week Increased the public impotence.
nn1 added IL the epbaras stnents Of " ashipgton
IIis private letters nt this time are filled with the
most touching remarks ON his distressiul condi-
ton. In a letter 10 president Reed. OF the ilth
Of January ls96 he says, Z'1he reflection on
my situation. ana That of this army. produces ma
ny an unhappy hour. when all around me are
wrapped in slrer. Few people know the predie
nmeni We are IL OH n thousand accounts. fewer
still. will believe. if any disa~ter happens to these
lines. from what cause If flows. hive often
thought how mnah happier | should haVe been If,
instead of accepting the command nn1er the CIR
enmstances. | had taken my musket on my shonl.
der aud entered the ranks; or, II could have JUS
tilted the measure 10 ppsterity aud my own CON
science. had retired 10 the baek county aud lived
in Il wigwam.''
A, length however. the re enlistment Of the ar
nv was completed advanced lines were thrown
up-ordnnnee captured Mt liconderoga had been
transported,by Knox with prodigious effort across
the eonntry-ammnnition had been taken by Nan.
" in his prize ships-slells were furnished from
the ROYAL arsenal al New York 1t was Washing
toms wish 10 cross the ice to Boston. to carry the
town by assault md destroy the royal army. The
ice, however, did not make till the middle of Fob.
uary; aud then it was decided by a council of war
that the town oonid not be assaulted with sue
cess.
1t was then resolved 10 repeat On u grander
scale, with full preparation and ample means,the
hasty operation which had brought ON the battle
Of Bunker Hill. II was determined first to occu-
py the Heights or Dorchester, aud us soon as an
impregnnble position wns secured there to estab
lish batteries on Nook's Hill and other rising
ground nearest Boston. The fleet in the harbor
was within raneeo Of the heights; the town was
commanded from the hills below. The occapa-
zion of these points waald ofneee-sity compel the
enemy 10 take III decisive aeiioa.efto eyaeoate
the tawn.
Wa.hingiaa.# Gaaah preferfing tue holder
measnse.= yielded IL tie decision 81 his council
aud threw hi- ~lale eeai into the wptk.Za l,lan
for a grand combined movement Wa n.atalrds-
The Heights nj Dorchester were H. be occupied
on tn night Of tae ith If March. in urtSr TINT
the anticipated battle might e foaehton tie an.
niyersary ofthe ever memorable 9TH al March,
l770. As soan as the conflict was engaged on
the Heights. Putnam was to cross from Cam
bridge with Il body of 900 mon. and III two di-
visions in Boston. aud forcing his way through
the town burst open the Notifications ON the neck
aud thus admit a division of tho American army
from Ro1bury. To distract and occupy the at.
ttilitbtl III ilt thtlIlNr TIC ttAb WIS F'fhtfib
bombarled from Soinervillr, Inst Cambridge and
l,oAbury during the nights Of the I'd, 3D. and 18th
Of March.
am told by professional men that these dis
positions cyincr con .umnate military skill; and
show that Washington, too often compelled by
hi, situation 10 pursue the Fabian policy, pos
sessed a talent for military combinations that en-
titles him to "A place beside the greatest captains
IF the last century.
The lfh of NIareh, tie day 81 long aud anx-
ieuslY expected, ut length arrives. The tronps
are putin motion in the evening from the Amor
ieall lines ut hpNhnrY an Dorchester An adj
aaIced gunrd ofetl1 precol.e>: the eaits with IN
treneuing iools ealne nezti neNttfe main body,
l.2uD strong. under General Thomas; the whole
followed by "A 'fnin ri 2ao wagons loaded with
flscines, aAbians and bundles of hay. They
cross Dorchester Neck without being perceived,
Ind reach Their destination in two divisions one
each al the Heights.
Bundle, of hay were placed ON the side of the
causeway mt themost exposed parts, rs u pro-
lection in care the enemy should discover aHd at
tempt 10 interrupt the movement. Under this
shelter. parties from the American army passed
several times during the night, without being
perceived, though II Wis bright moonlight. Ihis
WIS owing, no doubt, To the eannonade and BON
bardmpnt Of the town, from the opposite quarter
by which, also. the whole surrounding country
was thrown into n state of uleXpeetatlon
anl alarm. The operations were conducted by
Gridley. an experienced engineer of the old
French war, and before morning the deiencea
though incomplete, were adequate against grape
shot and musketry.
Washington was present ON the Heights. Ii
the strietness Of military duty the presence OF the
COMMANDMENT chief was not required, perhaps
not even permitted; but the operation was toe M
portant To be trusted entirely to Uncertainties
ACCOMPANIED by Mr.. James Bowdoin, then a youth
of seventeen, afterwards your respected fellow
citizen and the representative of Dorchester IN
the Convention of Massachusetts which adopted
the Constitution Of the United States, whose head
quarters were ct Cambridge, repaired, on this
eyentful night, to Dorchester Heights. He hns
left no record descriptive of the scene, or of his
thoughts and emotions at what he must have re-
gnrded, at that time, us the most ~eyenttul hour
of his life, aud the most critical moment of the
war.
The moon, shining in its full %lustre'' ithey are
the words of Washington through the clear,eold
air of early March, revealed every object with
that spectral dictinctness with which things pres
ent themselves TO the straining eve at Il great
iuneture. All Immediately around him intense
movement, but carried ON il death like silence;
nothing heard but the ineessant tread of busy
feet. and the dull sound of the mattock upon the
soil frozen SO deep as 10 make 1T necessary 10
place the chief reliance ON the fascines and gabi.
ens. Beneath him the slumbering batteries of
the castle. the readstead and harbor, filled with
the vessels of the royal fleet, motionless, except
as they swung round at their mornings at the
turn of the midnight tide; the beleagured eity,oc-
cuPied with "a powerful army and Il considerable
non combantant population, startled into unnat-
ural vigilance by the incessant and destructive
cannouade, but yet unobserYant OF the great ope-
rations in progress SO near them; the surrounding
country dotted with a hundred rural settlements.