106 THE SERVICES OF LIEUT.-COLONEL FRANCIS DOWN MAN, R.A. 
it in several pieces, and told the Admiral it was not the first time he had 
drawn his sword like a scoundrel on a naked man. 
Since you left us the rebels have hoisted a flag on the high hill, on 
one side is an appeal to heaven, on the other Qui transtulit , sustinet. 
The devil a one of them come within shot of us lately. We have 
tumbled down three or four ; not one of them appears, but we fire at 
him as you would at a blackbird on a hedge. The day they hoisted 
the flag they fired a cannon, and put out a pompous, and like all 
other things, a lying advertisement, they say when the Israelites fired, 
the Philistines put themselves in battle array. 
We have thrown up a couple of fleches, one on the right and another 
on the left of the road side that we came along on the 19th of April 1 2 in 
front of the works. We neither know whether we winter on the hill, 
or where, or what will become of us. 
Colonel Cleaveland 3 has put Mr. Martin under an arrest. Martin 
told him he would bring him on his knees before the House of 
Commons for his late behaviour. Cleaveland has offered him his 
freedom, but he won't accept of it. 
Yours etc. 
PART II. 
Campaigns in the American War of Independence , 1777-8. 
The War of Independence had been two years in progress when 
Captain Downman arrived in New York, in June 1777. But though 
the army had been uniformly successful in its encounters with the 
American troops, yet, as all the efforts of the English Government to 
conciliate the rebellious colonies had been fruitless, no real advance 
had been made towards a settlement of the existing differences. 
Before giving Downman's personal experiences, it will not be amiss to 
give a brief outline of events previous to the commencement of his 
narrative. 
The battle of Bunker's Hill, June 1775, was followed by a close 
blockade of Boston, and at the same time an attempt was made by a 
rebel force to seize Quebec and win Canada to the side of the colonies, 
but the inhabitants were thoroughly loyal and the enterprise entirely 
failed. 
In March, 1776, General Howe, who had succeeded General Gage in 
command of the army, evacuated Boston and retired to Halifax, Nova 
Scotia, until the arrival of a fleet under Lord Howe, together with 
reinforcements, enabled him in July to proceed to New York, which 
Washington had meanwhile occupied with his army. In the operations 
1 On the retreat from the affair at Lexington. 
2 Kane’s List, No. 83. Commanding the Royal Artillery in North America. 
