The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-06-17
BuNKER HILL.

This 18th day Of june viii be quite hoh-
day with the good people OF Boston, Deins
the hundredth anniversary Of an event more
noted in her history than any other
June 18th. IT'S. fierce encounter took
place early in the day on the penlnsuia. .p-
proach TO Boston, between the troops q inc
crown on one side, and the congresa'eo
armed populace Of the'surrounding country
Massachusetts colony then numbered scarcely
a5o GOO souls. her sister colony Connecticut
not many more than 200, ooo' htue nhouo
Island about GO, 900, New Hampshire scarcely
13e. 600, and Vermont about $4,000.
The people were primitive and poor: In al
the elements of defensive war the present city
Of Boston. with her 100000 inhabitants. is
more effective than all New England was at
that era. Less than sixty days had passed
aimee the barbarous murders OF Lexington
and Concord, and while news flew fast for
those times, there were places within five
hundred miles Of Boston, where the Colonlsts
of New York and Pennsylvania had not heard
of the massacre Of April 18th, when the guns
Of Bunker's Hill were rolling their echoes
over Boston Harbor and far out over the salt
water. e
Early in June the combined forces OF the
four colonies numbered perhaps IL, GOO men,
united only in common purpose, out III
armed, ill-furnished and destitute OF dlsci-
pline. Their officers, Ward, Putnam, Thomas,
Stark, Pomeroy, Prescott and Grizzly were ex-
perienced soldiers, though not educated to
the military art. The arrival OF Howe, Gin
ton and Burgogne May %, from England Dy
the Cerberus man-of-war, raised the British
force in Boston to 10, 900 veterans. Gage was
hemmed in by rebels, nor did his arrogant
and supercilious proclamations improve bis
case. Hunger pervaded the American camps.
Raids of foragers became common, some
times with bloody results.
A hundred years ago this morning there
was much excitement and commotion IN the
city of Boston; the rumbling OF artillery, the
CHATTER Of cavalry, the marching and counter
marching of troops, and the heavy resonance
Of the guns Of the British man-of-war Lively
PLAYING in vain on the new earthworks o.
the rebels on Breeds HILL which had sprung
no in the night as if by magic.
Long after noon the four thousand British
troops, chiefly veterans, splendidly attired,
thoroughly armed and carefully disciplined
were landed and ordered forward to the at
tack of the rude rebel works, defended by
unframed militia, who had worked all night
and were by accident suffering from thirst
and hunger. But Dr. Warren, President Of
the Provincial Congress. soon joined them
followed by the chivalric Putnam. Fifteen
hundred brave rebels manned the redoubts
The attack of the British was repulsed with
slaughter. Reinforced and sheltered by the
smoke Of Charlestown, the regulars again ad'
vanced and were again driven back with
greater losses. ..
The rebels finally yielded to numbers, dis.
cipline and valor, for their antagonists were
veterans and Britons, who left SO officers and
965 men killed or wounded. the rebels losing
lis killed and missing, 305 wounded and 81
! prisoners, in all 45O; all in battle OF two
/ hours duration. Even the greatest loser
could claim no victory, and really gained ns
ground. II was one of the hardest Tough
fields on record; bloody drama SO full O
Intense interes. that even now, after bloodie
| collisions between American armies twenty
times as large, it stands out in the memory il
bold relief. 'Fi
The battlefield is densely overgrown with
stately buildings, A ponderous and nobl'
monument rises there to commemorate wha
can not possibly be forgotten while fragmen
of this free Republic endures. The drains
has been celebrated in eloquence and possy
and to-day, in that great and generous city
the inhabitants will join with vast throngs o
visitors in celebrating the hundredth return
of the anniversary of defeat worth thou
sand victories, Of battle whose memories
will grow fresh and green as the world grow
old. 80
There are numerous descen dants OF thos
British soldiers who bravely fought their wa.
| ND to the rebel breastworks on Bunker's Hill
nov living in the Republic which grew out Q
the rebel colonies. There are many OF tn
descendants Of the rebels who fought viii
Warren and Putnam, who were themselve
Erebels in grander revolution. HUNDRED
years are gone, but the same bold, firm AM
chivalric spirit which led the men of ITO +
battle against oppression still survives, witt
as thorough hatred Of tyranny, with as keel
Q sense of wrong, and with as ardent Low
for political liberty as those of the abused
overtaxed, insulted and unrepresented colon
lists. 1t should be remembered by those VIII
celebrate the battles Of our great American
revolution that abuse Of power and violation
of right are only needed to prove that tn
commendable spirit Of rebellion still survives
| THE WHARF LEASE. @