Life of Count Rumford. 83 



British troops from Boston, that on the following Satur- 

 day, June 17, the fortifications were thrown up on the 

 heights of Charlestown by a detachment of New Eng- 

 land soldiers, sent from Cambridge by General Ward, 

 just before midnight on Friday, resulting in the Battle 

 of Bunker Hill, of which it has been generally believed 

 that Major Thompson was at least a spectator. 



As the College buildings at Cambridge were now 

 used as barracks, Colonel Baldwin records on the I5th, 

 " They are beginning to remove the Library." The 

 books were transported to Concord, Massachusetts, 

 some eighteen miles into the country. Major Thomp- 

 son assisted in this labor, glad thus to recognize his ob- 

 ligations to the College. 



Mr. Johnston, above quoted, as writing from infor- 

 mation communicated to him by the son of Thomp- 

 son's eldest step-brother, says that, after the battle at 

 Charlestown, Thompson was favorably introduced by' 

 some officers at Cambridge to General Washington, 

 who had just assumed the command; and that, had it 

 not been for the opposition of some of the New Hamp- 

 shire officers, he would have had the place in the Ameri- 

 can artillery corps which was given to Colonel Gridley. 



The following letter of Thompson's was found in a 

 file of Colonel Baldwin's papers. Its probable date was 

 August, 1775. 



" DEAR SIR, I observed in the General Orders of Sunday 

 last that each Sargent and Corporal in the Army was to wear 

 an Epaulet to distinguish them from the Commissioned Officers 

 and from the private soldiers. I herewith send you samples of 

 some which I apprehend will answer the end, and if you will be 

 so kind as 'to get them approved of by the General, and engage 

 any considerable number for me, you may depend on having 



