stairs in the front, which led up to a second story in said barracks, to which I immediately repaired, and ordered the commander, Capt. Delaplace, to come forth instantly, or I would sacrifice the whole garrison; at which the captain came immediately, to the door with breeches in his hand, when I ordered him to delivery me the fort instantly; he asked me by what authority demanded it. I answered him, In the name of Great Jehovah and the continental congress.' The thority of congress being very little known at that ti he began to speak again, but I interrupted him, and with my drawn sword near my head, again demanded an immediate surrender of the garrison; with which he then complied, and ordered his men to be forthwith paraded without arms, as he had given up the garrison. In the mean time some of my officers had given orders, and in consequence thereof, sundry of the barrack doors were beat down, and about one third of the garrison imprisoned, which consisted of said commander, a lieutenant Feltham, a conductor of artillery, a gunner, two sergeants, and forty-four rank and file; about one hundred pieces of cannon, one thirteen inch mortar, and a number of swivels. This surprise was carried into execution in the gray of the morning of the tenth of May, 1775. The sui seemed to rise that morning with a superior lustre; and Ticonderoga and its dependencies smiled on its coquerors, who tossed about the flowing bowl; and wished succes to congress, and the liberty and freedom of America. Happy it was for me at that time that the tut pages of the book of fate, which aftewards unfolde miserable scene of two years and eight months imp onment, were hid from my view."

57. Battle of Bunker Holt.

The following" full and correct account" of the battle of Bunker Hill, is taken from a pamphlet published in Boston, June 17, 1825.

After the affair of Lexington and Concord, on the 19th of April, 1775, the people, animated by one.common impulse, flew to arms in every direction. The husbandman changed his plough-share for a musket; and about 15,000 men, 10,000 from Massachusetts, and the remainder from New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, assembled under General Ward in the environs of Boston, then occupied by 10,000 highly disciplined and well equipped British troops, under the command of Generals Gage, Howe, Clinton, Burgoyne, Pigot, and others.

Fearing an intention, on the part of the British, to occupy the important heights at Charlestown and Dorchester, which would enable them to command the surrounding country, Colonel Prescott was detached, by his own desire, from the American camp at Cambridge, on the evening of the 16th of June, 1775, with about 1000 nilitia, mostly of Massachusetts, including 120 men of Putnam's regiment from Connecticut, and one artillery company, to Bunker Hill, with a view to occupy and fortify that post. At this hill the detachment made a short halt, but concluded to advance still nearer the British, and accordingly took possession of Breed's Hill, a position which commanded the whole inner harbour of Boston. Here, about midnight, they commenced throwing up a redoubt, which they completed, notwithstanding every possible effort from the British ships and batteries to prevent them, about noon the next day.

So silently had the operations been conducted through the night, that the British had not the most distant notice of the design of the Americans, until day-break presented to their view the half-formed battery and daring stand made against them. A dreadful cannonade, accompanied with shells, was immediately commenced from the British battery at Copps' Hill, and the ships of war and floating batteries stationed in Charles River.

The break of day, on the 17th of June, 1775, presented a scene, which for daring and firmness could never be surpassed; 1000 unexperienced militia, in the attire of their various avocations, without discipline, almost

without artillery and bayonets, scantily supplied with ammunition, and wholly destitute of provisions, defying the power of the formidable British fleet and army, determined to maintain the liberty of their soil. or moisten that soil with their blood.

Without aid, however, from the main body of the army, it seemed impossible to maintain their position; the men having been without sleep, toiling through the night, and destitute of the necessary food required by nature, had become nearly exhausted. Representations were repeatedly made, through the morning, to head quarters, of the necessity of re-enforcements and supplies. Major Brooks, the late revered governor of Massachusetts, who commanded a battalion of minute-men at Concord, set out for Cambridge about nine o'clock, on foot, (it being impossible to procure a horse,) soliciting succour: but as there were two other points exposed to the British, Roxbury and Cambridge, then the head quarters, at which place all the little stores of the army were collected, and the loss of which would be incalculable at that moment, great fears were entertained lest they should march over the neck to Roxbury, and attack the camp there, or pass over the bay in boats, (there being at that time no artificial avenue to connect Boston with the adjacent country,) attack the head quarters, and destroy the stores: it was therefore deemed impossible to afford any re-enforcement to Charlestown heights, till the movements of the British rendered evidence of their intention certain.

The fire from the Glasgow frigate and two floating batteries in Charles River, were wholly directed with a view to prevent any communication across the isthmus that connects Charlestown with the main land, which kept up a continued shower of missiles, and rendered the communication truly dangerous to those who should attempt it. When the intention of the British to attack the heights of Charlestown became apparent, the remainder of Putnam's regiment, Col. Gardiner's regi ment, (both of which, as to numbers, were very imper fect,) and some New Hampshire militia, marched, not

withstanding the heavy fire, across the neck, for Charlestown heights, where they arrived, much fatigued, just after the British had moved to the first attack.

The British commenced crossing the troops from Boston about 12 o'clock, and landed at Morton's Point, S. E. from Breed's Hill. At 2 o'clock, from the best accounts that can be obtained, they landed between 3 and 4,000 men, under the immediate cornmand of Gen. Howe, and formed, in apparently invincible order, at the base of the hill.

The position of the Americans, at this time, was a redoubt on the summit of the height, of about eight rods square, and a breast-work extending on the left of it, about seventy feet down the eastern declivity of the hill. This redoubt and breast-work was commanded by Prescott in person, who had superintended its construction, and who occupied it with the Massachusetts militia of his detachment, and a part of Little's regiment, which had arrived about one o'clock. They were dreadfully deficient in equipments and ammunition, had been toiling incessantly for many hours, and it is said by some accounts, even then were destitute of provisions. A lit tle to the eastward of the redoubt, and northerly to the rear of it, was a rail fence, extending almost to Mystick river; to this fence another had been added during the night and forenoon, and some newly mown grass thrown against them, to afford something like a cover to the troops. At this fence the 120 Connecticut militia were posted.

The movements of the British made it evident their intention was to march a strong column along the margin of the Mystick, and turn the redoubt on the north, while another column attacked it in front; accordingly, o prevent this design, a large force became necessary at the breast-work and rail fence. The whole of the re-enforcements that arrived, amounting in all to 800 or 1000 men, were ordered to this point by General Putnam, who had been extremely active throughout the night and morning, and had accompanied the expedition.

At this moment thousands of persons of both sexes

1

had collected on the church steeples, Beacon Hill, house tops, and every place in Boston and its neighbourhood, where a view of the battle ground could be obtained, viewing, with painful anxiety, the movements of the combatants; wondering, yet admiring the bold stand of the Americans, and trembling at the thoughts of the formidable army marshalled in array against them.

Before 3 o'clock the British formed, in two columns, for the attack; one column, as had been anticipated, moved along the Mystick river, with the intention of taking the redoubt in the rear, while the other advanced up the ascent directly in front of the redoubt, where Prescott was ready to receive them. General Warren, president of the provincial congress and of the committee of safety, who had been appointed but a few days before a major-general of the Massachusetts troops, had volunteered on the occasion as a private soldier, and was in the redoubt with a musket, animating the men by his influence and example to the most daring determination.

Orders were given to the Americans to reserve their fire till the enemy advanced sufficiently near to make their aim certain. Several volleys were fired by the British with but little success; and so long a time had elapsed, and the British allowed to advance so near the Americans without their fire being returned, that a doubt arose whether or not the latter intended to give battle; but the fatal moment soon arrived: when the British had advanced to within about eight rods, a sheet of fire was poured upon them and continued a short time with such deadly effect that hundreds of the assailants lay weltering in their blood, and the remainder retreated in dismay to the point where they had first landed.

From daylight to the time of the British advancing on the works, an incessant fire had been kept up on the Americans from the ships and batteries-this fire was now renewed with increased vigour.

After a short time, the British officers had succeeded in rallying their men, and again advanced, in the same order as before, to the attack. Thinking to ivert the