Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1858-06-26
BUNKER HILL BATTLE.

Il is a fit occasion on which to call attention
to the description which our classic historian,
Mr.. Bancroft, has given of the thrilling scenes
of the seventeenth Of June, 1915, in his last VOL
ume-a narrative as chaste and smooth as it is
correct and interesting.
After giving the details Of the formation of
the army and the circumstances which OCCASION
ed the order for the occupancy of Bunker Hill,
Mr.. Bancroft thus describes the march of Pres
colt to Breeds Hill -
"Soon after sunset the party composed of
three hundred Of his own regiment, detachments
from those of Frye and of Bridge, and two hun
dred men of Connecticut, under the gallant
Thomas Knowlton, Of Ashford, were ordered to
parade on Cambridge common. They were n
body of husbandmen, not in uniform, bearing
for the most part no other arms than fowling
pieces which had no bayonets, and carrying in
horns and pouches their stinted supply OF pow
der and bullets. Langdon, the president Of
Harvard College, who one of the chaplains
to the army, prayed with them fervently; then,
as the late darkness of the midsummer evening
closed in, they marched for Charlestown in the
face of the proclamation, issued only four days
before, by which all persons; taken in arms
against their sovereign, were threatened under
martial law with death by the cord as rebels and
traitors. Prescott and his party were the first
W 6iNt tiit TOT IllustlI, Hc
was resolved never to be taken alive
When with hushed voices and silent tread,
they and the wagons laden with intrenching
tools had passed the narrow isthmus, Prescott
called around him Richard Gridley, an expert
enced engineer, and the field officers, to select
the exact spot for their earthworks. The COM
mittee of safety had proposed Bunker Hill but
Prescott had received orders to march to
Breeds HILL Needless of personal danger he
obeyed the orders as he understood them and
with the ready assent of his self devoted COM
panions, who were bent on stratening the En-
glish TO the utmost, it was upon the eminence
nearest Boston, and best suited to annoy the
town and the shipping in the harbor that un-
der the light of the stars the engineer drew the
lines of redoubt of nearly eight rods square.
The bells of Boston had struck twelve before
the first sod was thrown up. Then every man
of the thousand seized in his turn the pickaxe
and spade, and they piled their tools with such
expedition that the parapet soon assumed form
and height, and capacity for defence. we shall
keep our ground thus Prescott related that he
silently revolved his position, if some screen,
however slight can be completed before discov-
cry The Lively lay in the ferry, between Bos-
ton and Charlestown, and little to the east
ward were moored the Falcon and the Somer-
set, ship of the line the veteran not only set
watch to patrol the shore, but bending his ear
to catch every sound, twice repaired to the mar
gin of the water, where he heard the drowsy
sentinels from the decks of the men of war still
cry: All is WELL Putnam also during the
night came among the men of Connecticut on
the hill; but he assumed no command over the
detachment.
The few hours that remained of darkness hur-
ried away, but not till the line of crcumvalla-
ton was already closed. AS day dawned, the
seamen were reused to action, and every one in
Boston was startled from slumber by the can
non of the Lively playing upon the redoubt.-
Citizens of the town, and British officers, and
tory refugees, the kindred of the insurgents,
crowded to gaze with wonder and surprise at
the small fortress of earth freshly thrown up,
and the rebels who were still plainly seen at
their toll. A battery of heavy guns was forth
with mounted on Copp's Hill, which was direct
ly opposite, at distance of but twelve hundred
yards, and an incessant shower of shot and
bombs was rained upon the works; but Pres
colt, whom Gridley had forsaken, calmly con-
sidered how he could best continue his line OF
defence"
After relating the details of the movements
of the contending forces towards the battle
ground, Mr. Bancroft thus states the origin Of
the celebrated rail fence frail breastwork-what
all acknowledge to be the key of the American
position. The warrant for the fact as to the or
der given by Prescott in his own autograph let
ter:-
"When Prescott perceived the British begin
to land on the point east by north from the fort,
he made the best disposition of his scanty force
ordering the train of artillery with two field pie
ces, and the Connecticut forces under Knowl-
ton, 'to go and oppose them'
At about two hundred yards in the rear Of
the still unfinished breastwork, fence of posts
with two rails, set in a low stone wall, extended
for about three hundred yards or more towards
the Mystic The mowers had but the day be-
fore passed over the meadows and the grass lay
on the ground in cocks and windrows. There
the men of Connecticut, in pursuance of Pres
colts order, took their station. Nature had
provided something of abreastwork,' or ditch
had been dug many years before. They groun-
ded arms and made slight fertilization against