Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-07-05

Don't fire, boys, till you see the
whites of their eyes"
There Is scarcely a grammar schooi
scholar in the greater city who can't
cite the date and occasion when the
above command was uttered. Behind
two rail fences between which grass
had been thrown for protection l,5oo
colonials in homespun were crouching
in wait for the attack OF a picked
force of trained English soldiers, 3,O0o
strong, on the afternoon Of June II,
1775.
They had intrenched themselves on
the slope of Breeds Hill, overlooking
the Charles river and Boston. On one
previous occasion, in the Lexington
Concord retreat of the British, the
same colonials had met the brilliantly
uniformed soldiers of the king and
had found them not invincible; indeed
they had picked them off from behind
stone wall and hedge to the number OF
273.
On that sunshiny June afternoon In
ITS, however, they were first to try
their strength in an actual engage
ment with the flower of the British
army. Burdened with heavy KNAPP
sacks the troops of the mother coun-
try toiled up the hill. Gen. Gage, in
command. expected an easy victory
He had not reckoned with the marks
manship Of citizens trained to the use
of the gun from childhood.
Half way up the slope the English
regulars commenced a desultory fir
ing. Across the Charles river from
Copp's Hill and from the ships and
floating batteries in the river British
gunners opened with a shower OF
round shot and grape upon the hastily
thrown up redoubt Within the Amer
lean lines all was silent.
I'VE are short Of ammunition, boys
shouted Col. Prescott, so make every
shot count. When you see the whites
Of their eyes, aim at their Wristbands;
you will know the officers by their
handsome red coats"
When the British canonade COM
menced to pick off a citizen here and
there behind the breastworks the
Americans could hardly be restrained
from opening fire on the advancing
soldiers of Gen. Howe Gen. Putnam,
in command Of the Connecticut volun-
teers, made his way along the line,
however, and threatened to cut down
the first man who fired before the or
der was given.
At length the soldiers of the king
had climbed so near the apparently de-
serted line of defence that as one
colonial expressed it, I'VE could hear
them grunt as they climbed the hill"
Col. Prescott waited an instant long
er. Then:
GIVE it to 'em, boys!" he shouted.
Each colonial bullet, aimed with
deadly intensity, brought down a man.
They fell in rows like hay before
the scythe," said an eye witness. Such
was the withering fire that after two
more volleys the green slope Of the
hill changed color where the soldiers
Of the king lay in winnows with their
bright red coats hiding the green
sward.
Such craftsmanship was more than
flesh and blood could stand. The reg
ulars broke rank and fled for cover.
Gen. Gage was furious. Whole platoons
and companies had been wiped out.
He ordered that Charlestown be burn
ed. Re-enforced by 400 marines un-
der Major Small, Gen. Howe led a
second assault upon the American re-
doubt, over the bodies Of his dead.
With British doggedness they advanc-
ed under cover Of a hot auxiliary fire
from Copps Hill, their artillery and
the smoke from the burning village Of
Charlestown. AS they had previously
done, the Americans reserved their
fire until the British had almost
reached their breastworks. Then there
poured forth such a sheet Of flame
from behind the grass redoubt as
made the British line stop still.
The raw provincials, whose valor
had so often been snered at, had TAX
en- the measure of the kings soldiers
as the terrible gaps in the red ranks
showed. The officers in particular suf-
fered. Gen. Howe at one time stood
entirely alone, every one of his aids
having been shot from around him.
Both Gems. Howe and Pigot struggled
in vain to preserve their lines. Their
efforts were in vain, however. The
greatest disorder prevailed and when
a second volley swept the ranks the
British regulars retreated in great dis
order down the hill.
Gen. Clinton, who had witnessed
both repulses from Boston, crossed
over in a boat and Joined the shatter-
ed ranks as a volunteer. Gen. Gage
demonstrated against leading his men
a third time against such a fire, but
others. resolved upon carrying the hill
determined upon victory or death.
The ammunition of the colonials
was exhausted. British artillery plant
ed near the frail breastwork swept II
from end to end. Despite the fast
failing supply of ball and powder,
however, the provincials stood to their
intrenchment to the last Gen. Howe
was wounded in the foot and Col.
Abercrombie and Majors Williams and
Speedlove fell mortally wounded, shot
by the few remaining bullets which
Col. Prescott had distributed among
his men.
Finally, destitute Of ammunition,
the colonials gathered heaps of stones
and threw them at the regulars, who
by this time had passed the rail fence
intrenchment and were climbing the
walls Of the redoubt to which the
Americans had retired for last stand.
Stones and clubbe1 muskets, however,
were but poor defence against rifle
balls, artillery grape and the hot shot
which poured in on them from the
English vessels Somerset, Lively and
Falcon, and the floating batteries in
the river, so the provincials retired in
good order across Charlestown Neck.