94 



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&\)t Jfarmar's iHcmtijto Disitor 



ami hold possession of the peninsula of Charles- 

 town. S.iys I lie Animal Register — 



They accordingly made ihe necessary prepar- 

 ations, anil sent a body of men hither at night 

 with the greatest privacy, to throw up works up- 

 on Bunker's Hill, an high ground that lies just 

 without the isthmus or neck of land that joins 

 the peninsula to the continent. This peninsula 

 is very similar to that on which Boston stands, 

 excepting that the isthmus is considerable wider, 

 and that Bunker's hill is much higher than any 

 hill in the latter. The towns are only separated 

 hy Charles river, whirh in that part is only about 

 the breadth of the Thames between' London and 

 Southwark; so ibat Charlestowu seemed to hold 

 the same connection with Boston that the 

 Borough does with that city. 



The party that was sent upon this service car- 

 ried on their works w.ith such extraordinary or- 

 der and silence, that though the peninsula was 

 surrounded with slops of war, they were not 

 heard during the night, and used such incredible 

 dispatch in the execution, that they had a small 

 hut strong reddidit, considerable entrenchments, 

 and a breastwork, that was in some parts cannon 

 proof, far advanced towards completion by break 

 of day, June 17, 1775. The sight of the works 

 was the first notice that alarmed the Lavely men 

 of war early in the morning, and her gnus called 

 the town, camp and fleet to behold a sight which 

 seemed little less than a prodigy. 



A heavy and continued fire of cannon, howitz- 

 ers, and mortars, was fiom thence carried on 

 upon the works, from Ihe ships, floating batteries 

 and from the top of Copp's hill in Boston. Such 

 a great and incessant roar of artillery would have 

 been 8 trial to the firmness of old soldiers, and 

 must undoubtedly have greatly impeded the 

 completion of the works; it is however said, 

 that they bore this severe fire with wonderful 

 firmness, and seemed to go on with their busi- 

 ness as if no enemy had been near, nor danger 

 in the service. 



Gen. Gage caused the generals Howe and 

 Pigot to drive the provincials from their works 

 with something like 2000 picked men : — 



The attack was begun by a most severe fire of 

 cannon and howitzers, under which the troops 

 advanced very slowly towards the enemy, and 

 halted several times, to afford an opportunity for 

 Ihe artillery to ruin the works, and to throw the 

 provincials into confusion. Whatever it pro- 

 ceeded from, whether from the number, situation 

 or countenance of the enemy, or from all to- 

 gether, the king's forces seem to have been un- 

 usually staggered in this attack. — In this conflict, 

 Charlestowu, whether by carcasses thrown from 

 the ships, or from the troops is uncertain, was 

 unfortunately set on fire in several places, ami 

 burnt to the ground. The provincials stood this 

 severe and continued fire of small arms and ar- 

 tillery, with a resolution and perseverance which 

 would not have done discredit to old troops. 

 They did not return a shot until the king's forces 

 had approached almost to the works, when a 

 most dreadful fire took place, by which a num- 

 ber of our bravest men and officers fell.— No 

 wond«'r, if under so heavy and destructive a fire 

 our troops were thrown into some disorder. It 



is said that Gen. Howe was, for a few sei ds 



left nearly alone; and ii is certain, that most of 

 the officers near his person were either killed or 

 wounded. His coolness, firmness and presence 

 ol mind on this occasion cannot be loo much 

 applauded.— Gen. Clinton, who arrived from 

 Boston during the engagement, by a happy ma- 

 noeuvre rallied ih,. troops almost instantaneously, 

 ami la-ought them a»aio.io the charge: they at- 

 tacked the works, with Jixed bayonets and irresist- 

 ible fury, and forced them in every quarter. 

 Though many of the provincials were" destitute 

 of bayonets, and. as they affirm, their ammuni- 

 tion was expended, a number of them fought 

 desperately within the works, and were not 

 drove from them without difficulty. They a| 

 length retreated over Chai Icstown neck, which 

 was enfiladed by the guns of the Glasgow man 

 of war and two batteries, » • • 



The loss io killed and wounded amounted to 

 1054, of Whom 336 were killed.— The battle ol 

 Quebec, of the late war, wiih all its glory, and 

 the vastuess of ih e consequences of which it 

 was productive, was not so destructive to our 



officers, as this affair of intrench merits cist up 

 in a lew homs. 



The late of Charlestowu was also a matter of 

 melancholy contemplation to the serious and 

 unprejudiced of all parlies. It was the first set- 

 tlement made in the colony, and was considered 

 as the mother of Boston, that town owing its 

 birth and nurture to emigrants from the former. 

 Charlestowu was large, handsome, and well 

 built, both in respect to its public and private 

 edifices : it contained about 400 houses, and had 

 the greatest trade of any port in the province 

 except Boston. 



No prisoners were taken: their (the provin- 

 cials) loss was comparatively small, amounting 

 to about 450 killed, wounded, missing and 

 prisoners. 



The foregoing graphic succinct account from 

 the British Annual Register for 1775 of the bat- 

 tle of Bunker Hill is in strong confirmation of 

 the facts which we •have had from separate indi- 

 viduals of New Hampshire who took part in that 

 battle. Stark's regiment of Granite State men 

 was stationed at Floyd's bill, the prominence 

 upon which the remnant walls of the Catholic 

 convent have stood for the last twenty years. He 

 marched over the Charlestowu neck of the af- 

 ternoon of that day, and took his independent 

 position between the thrown up works and Mys- 

 tick river. The grass had been previously 

 mown upon this ground, and Stark ordered his 

 men to gather the hay and stow it along and 

 through a post and rail fence running from the 

 fort at the higher point of the hill down towards 

 the_ water. This was his breast work. Captain 

 Moore of Pembroke, the Irish grandfather of the 

 late Maine Senator in Congress, in June 1812, 

 told us his story of this fight: he commanded a 

 company of Stark's regiment of which the late 

 Gen. Michael M'Clary of Epsom, was ensign. 

 In close ranks, the British grenadiers,furiuing after 

 crossing the river from Boston under Ihe protec- 

 tion of the guns of the Glasgow frigate and other 

 artillery, marched up the side hill lo encircle and 

 surround the fort. Stark had directed his men 

 not lo fire a gun until they could see the "whites of 

 their eyes," as he expressed himself, nor until he 

 should direct: "they did not return a shot" from 

 behind their hay rampart until the proper time 

 arrived to pour in upon them that "most dread- 

 ful fire," by which, according to the British writer, 

 "the king's forces seem to have been unusually 

 staggered." The advancing British grenadiers 

 shot, as was their practice, without taking aim, 

 losing their ammunition without probably strik- 

 ing a single man. As Capt. Moore described 

 the scene to us, Stark overlooked the whole line 

 of his regiment at the upper end in full exposure 

 of his person, deliberately taking from his box 

 of Scotch snuff pinches while the enemy was 

 advancing. Mown down at the first file of ball 

 of the ranks in line, the British troops " thrown 

 into disorder," retreated once; re-forming and 

 advancing with their officers in the rear, a second 

 time they were " staggered" and repulsed. The 

 failure of ammunition only forced Stark to order 

 the retreat of his men, not however until in the 

 hard fighting where Warren fell on Ihe westerly 

 side of ihe hill, the British hail taken possession 

 of the fort, and the town was in flames. Willi 

 the ardor of youth the gallant Capt. Moore de- 

 scribed the enthusiasm of the men at arms about 

 him, who participated in this unrivalled destruc- 

 tion of British lives With comparatively small 

 loss on their part. The brave Miij. Andrew 

 .M'Clary, uncle to Michael, was an officer of 

 Stark's regiment : so fired was he with animation 

 alter the retreat from the bill over the Charles- 



town neck had become indispensable, lhat lin- 

 gering while swinging his sword in defiance, a 

 cannon hall from the water craft striking him, 

 bounding in Ihe air in a convulsive jump, he fell 

 dead upon the ground. The loss in killed and 

 wounded by the British at Bunker Hill, greater 

 than ihe numbere stated in Ihe Annual Register, 

 was nearly four for one of the American provin- 

 cials. Hundreds of the soldiers of Bunker Hill, 

 within our recollection, resided in New Hamp- 

 shire: they are almost all gone. The only man 

 of them remaining in the State whom we now 

 recollect, is the venerable Israel Hunt, senior, of 

 Nashua, formerly Dunstable. The sole remain- 

 ing uncle to the editor of the Visitor, Thomas 

 Hill, of West Cambridge, a pensioner of the 

 revolution, now eighty-seven years old, was in 

 the battle of Bunker Hill : he was then fifteen 

 years of age. With his father, Abraham Hill, a 

 trained soldier of the previous French war, and 

 an elder brother of the same name (all living in 

 the neighborhood) he carried arms and volun- 

 teered for throwing up the breast works. Re- 

 treating from the hill, the elder brother received 

 a shot through the rim of the hat upon bis head. 



- 



Monument to Revolutionary Patriots. — 

 A beautiful granite obelisk was erected on Fri- 

 day, at West Cambridge; in memory of twelve 

 American citizens who were slain by the British, 

 April 19, 1775, and who were all buried in one 

 common grave. The monument is creditable to 

 the artist ical skill of the workmen who erected 

 it, as well as to the patriotism of ihe people of 

 West Cambridge, who freely furnished the funSfe 

 required to defray the expenses of the work. — , 

 Boston Times, June 27. 



[This monument, which does credit to the en- 

 terprise of our townsman, Luther Roby, Esq., 

 was procured at the instance of the editor of the 

 Visitor, from the pure granite ledge of Rattle- 

 snake mountain within the limits of Concord. 

 As a sample of ihe purest granite — the most 

 perfect and substantial rock of the world— it 

 may be seen within a few rods of the iVest 

 Cambridge railroad depot, which is only fifteen 

 minutes' ride from Boston. When mortimcnts 

 of marble and other limestone or freestyle rock 

 shall crumble — when even the prepaid Quincy 

 granite shall become of rough, unccmely exte- 

 rior — the purer original from the capital of ihe 

 Granite State shall remain for agesbearly in the 

 smoothness and perfection of it/first artificial 

 preparation. Visitors from 'af parts of the ^ 

 world, as an object of curiosityAi" in many fu- 

 ture ages look upon the jn/riptiona of this 

 " model of perfect work" fro/ the most endur- 

 ing material, erected to cou/'cmorate the patri- 

 otism and ihe valor of tho/who fell in that first • 1 

 struggle for Liberty whi/ is destined to make 

 mankind intelligent nnd/ ee 



Farmius 



Buckingham. 



New MM, I*- R, June 14, 1848. 



Mr. Editor:— H/' n o ue eu a reader of your ' 

 paper in years pas/ nt | feeling an interest in the 

 great object in w/' n . vo " are engaged, I venture 

 lo write you a/ w lines, thinking they may be 

 of some servi<y™ J' 011 - 



I am one o/" e Boston typos, and have come 

 inio New WTipshire to spend a short time in 

 relaxation, '"-'' e ' can ue free from the dust and 

 confined / ot " me c ". v . ' "«ve found a most 

 delightfi/l' 01 (o1 ' m ' s purpose, at the residence 

 of Mr./' ,m Channel. His farm is situated on 

 the pj/'aqna river about a mile from the New 

 |y a| .]yfactories, and near the line between New 

 Mm/* " l "' Durham. His house stands on a 



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