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VOL. XIV. (2) WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 103 
a distance from their homes about whom you cannot 
make enquiries.” 
The result of this was that Irishmen seeking to enlist 
in the Marines were refused; so that the Irish regiments 
hated them ; and the Marines retorted by “ chaffing” the 
Irish soldiers at every opportunity. Whenever one of 
them found a man of the Connaught Rangers in a public 
house, or sometimes in the street, he would annoy him by 
calling out—“ Lie down, eighty-eighth, and let the Marines 
pass to the front!” and then would follow a fight. 
Neither of these men had the slightest idea, Colonel 
Holland says, of the meaning of the words, which origi- 
nated in an order given in the battle of Bunker’s Hill. I[ 
quote Col. Holland’s words: 
“At Bunker’s Hill, during the War of Independence, 
the British forces suffered a very serious reverse. The 
Americans were entrenched in a very strong position 
under excellent cover, and were mostly armed with the 
Kentucky Rifle;* a vastly superior weapon, both in 
accuracy and range, to the old “Brown Bess” of the 
British. Moreover, most of the Americans were _ back- 
woodsmen, and about the best marksmen in the world. 
To reach the American lines the British had to march up 
the open slopes, fully exposed to the sweeping fire of 
American sharpshooters, who, sheltered by their entrench- 
ments were bound to sweep away their exposed assailants. 
The Old 88th Regiment, or Connaught Rangers, were in 
the first line of attack, with a battalion of the Royal 
Marines behind them in the second line as their supports. 
The Rangers suffered terribly. Half the regiment were 
killed, and their ammunition had run out; it was time to 
relieve them, and the General rode up and ordered them 
to lie down, in the usual manner of relieving under fire. 
t Colonel Holland is mistaken here; neither army had rifles. Both were armed 
with the old “smooth bore.” 
