ALEXANDER WILSON. 
lix 
nothing that I could think deserving of the name, till a gentleman, 
who stood by, pointed out a white monument upon a height beyond 
Charlestown, which he said was the place. I explored my way 
thither without paying much attention to other passing objects ; 
and, in tracing the streets of Charlestown, was astonished and hurt 
at the indifference with which the inhabitants directed me to the 
place. I inquired if there were any person still living here who 
had been in the battle, and I was directed to a Mr Millar, who 
was a lieutenant in this memorable affair. He is a man about sixty, 
stout, remarkably fresh coloured, with a benign and manly coun- 
tenance. I introduced myself without any ceremony — shook his 
hand with sincere cordiality — and said, with some warmth, that I 
was proud of the honour of meeting with one of the heroes of 
Bunker’s Hill- — the first unconquerable champions of their country. 
He looked at me, pressed my hand in his, and the tears instantly 
glistened in his eyes, which as instantly called up corresponding 
ones in my own. In our way to the place, he called on a Mr Carter, 
who, he said, was also in the action, and might recollect some 
circumstances which he had forgotten. With these two veterans 1 
spent three hours, the most interesting to me of any of my life. 
As they pointed out to me the rout of the British — the American 
retrenchments — the place where the greatest slaughter was made 
— the spot where Warren fell, and where he was thrown amid 
heaps of the dead, — I felt as though I could have encountered a 
whole battalion myself in the same glorious cause. The old 
soldiers were highly delighted with my enthusiasm : we drank a 
glass of wine to the memory of the illustrious dead, and parted 
almost with regret. 
“ From Boston to Portland, in the district of Maine, you are almost 
always in the neighbourhood, or within sight, of the Atlantic. The 
country may be called a mere skeleton of rocks and fields of sand ; 
in many places entirely destitute of wood, except a few low scrubby 
junipers ; in others, covered with pines of a diminutive growth. On 
entering the tavern of Portland, I took up the newspaper of the day, 
in which I found my song of Freedom and Peace , which I after- 
wards heard read before a numerous company, (for the Supreme 
Court was sitting,) with great emphasis, as a most excellent song, 
but I said nothing on the subject. 
