Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1875-06-24
The Battle of Bunker BIZ.

| will not try to tell over again the
story of the battle, for it is in every
history. 1t is enough now to know that
at one o'clock the British army landed
in good order at Moulton's Point, ana
Immediately formed in three lines,
while the barges returned to Boston
fer more troops, who arrived at three;
that the British, some three thousand
strong. advanced upon the American
works; that they were driven back
With fearful slaughter; that they ad-
y.nced again, with the flames of the
burning town to veil their movements,
and were again repulsed; that they raj
lied again with reinforcemeDts against
the Americans, who were not only
worn down with labor and fasting, but
out of ammunition; snd at about five
O'Clock, after this bloody conflict of an
hour and half with raw volunteers,
these picked soldiers of the British
army took possession of the hill that
had served them for retreat on the
famous 18th OF April, with more than
a. thousand dead and wounded as the
price OF their victory, among these 226
being among the killed. The Ameri-
cans had 14O killed, 271 wounded, and
80 captured, or AL in all, in force
probably not exceeding fifteen hundred
men actually engaged. The British,
nv the most truthful accounts, had less
than four thousand men engaged on the
field, according to Mr.. Richard Froih-
inoham's excellent history Of the bat
tie, but he apparently does not include
the sailors and gunners in the British
ships who were SO active in the fight,
and who killed the first American in
That was sad evening for Bostou
and all the people around it. The sun
that went down in splendor behind the
min. of that burned town, after that
dav of summer loveliness, shone upon
a Golrotha of death. British. and
Americans who had been in arms
against each other were one now in the
pain Of wounds, the agony o. bereave.
rnent. and the need of the Divine Com,
forter. The chimes OF Christ Church
did not probably ring out after the din
~ hattie had ceased and night came
ON. hut they must have tolled when
Nsior Pictairn's body was brought
there for the burial service, and
interred under the church. He was
brave and kindly man, who has ap
I,areutly been misunderstood, and
identified with acts of atrocity which
he abhorred. His name heads the large
list of British officers who were killed
or wounded in the battle-thirteen
killed and seventy wounded, proper
tion so large as to put this battle on
footing with the carnage of Quebec sno
of Minden. The losses on the Ameri
can side were not SO many nor so con
spicuous; but one man fell whose deatf
was life to his companions and hi
cause. and, with all allowances for 10
cal and personal friendship and patriot
ic exaggeration, there is no doubt thai
when DR.. Joseph Warren died, New
England liberty had its martyr, and
America had hero who fought for hel
ihenceforth with weapons that are moi
carnal. and with a valor that knows M
WEAKNESS, and wants no food or cloth
inp or arms. Warren was noble man
and did a great deal for the patrio
cause. but his life and his death mean
more than he or any one else knew a
The time. He was, as we shall see,
text out of the book of humanity ano
of God that history was then enrolling
-lDr. Samuel Osgood, in Harper
Magazine for July.