the room, that I this day declare, with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with."

The next day, the delegates of all the colonies resolved unanimously in congress "to maintain and assist him, and adhere to him, the said George Washington, Esquire, with their lives and fortunes in the same cause."

By his commission, he was invested with the command over all forces raised or to be raised by the United Colonies, and with full power and authority to order the army as he should think for the good and welfare of the service, "in unforeseen emergencies using his best circumspection, and advising with his council of war; and he was instructed to take "special care that the liberties of America receive no detriment."

Washington knew that he must depend for success on a steady continuance of purpose in an imperfectly united continent, and on his personal influence over separate and half-formed governments, with most of which he was wholly unacquainted. He foresaw a long and arduous struggle; but a secret consciousness of his power bade him not to fear; and, whatever might be the backwardness of others, he never admitted the thought of sheathing his sword or resigning his command, till the work of vindicating American liberty should be done. To his wife he unbosomed his inmost mind: "I hope my undertaking this service is designed to answer some good purpose. I rely confidently on that Providence which has heretofore preserved and been bountiful to me."

1775. June.

His acceptance changed the aspect of affairs. John Adams, looking with complacency upon "the modest and virtuous, the amiable, generous, and brave general,” as the choice of Massachusetts, said: "This appointment will have a great effect in cementing the union of these colonies." "The general is one of the most important characters of the world; upon him depend the liberties of America." All hearts turned with affection towards

Washington. This is he who was raised up to be, not the head of a party, but the father of his country.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

PRESCOTT OCCUPIES BREED'S HILL.

JUNE 16-17, 1775.

1775.

June.

THE army round Boston, of which Washington in person was soon to take command, was "a mixed multitude," as yet" under very little discipline, order, or government." The province of Massachusetts had no executive head, and no unity even in the military department. Ward was enjoined to obey the decisions of the committee of safety, whose directions were intercepted on their way to him by the council of war. Thus want of confidence multiplied the boards to which measures were referred, til affairs wore an aspect of chaos. The real strength of the forces was far inferior to the returns. There were the materials for a good army in the private men, of whom great numbers were able-bodied, active, and unquestionably brave, and there were also officers worthy of leading such men. But, by a vicious system of recruiting, commissions were given to those who raised companies or regiments; and many had crowded themselves into place from love of rank or pay, without experience, spirit, or military capacity. This also led to the engagement of unsuitable men, and in some cases to false muster-rolls. nearly every company, many were absent with or without leave. No efficient discipline or proper subordination was established. Canvas and sails, collected from the seaport towns, had furnished a small but insufficient supply of tents, and troops were quartered in the colleges and private houses. There was a want of money and of clothing; of engineers; but, above all, of ammunition. The scanty store of powder was reserved almost exclusively for the

In

small arms, and used with great frugality. "Confusion and disorder reigned in every department, which in a little time must have ended either in the separation of the army or fatal contests with one another."

Of the soldiers from the other colonies, the New Hampshire regiments only had as yet been placed under the command of Ward. The arrival of Greene quieted a rising spirit of discontent, which had threatened to break up the detachment from Rhode Island; but some of their captains and many subalterns continued to neglect their duty, from fear of offending the soldiers, from indolence, or from obstinacy. Of the men of Connecticut, a part were with Spencer at Roxbury; several hundred at Cambridge with Putnam, the second brigadier, who was distinguished for bold advice, alertness, and popular favor; and was seen constantly on horseback or on foot, working with his men or encouraging them.

1775. June.

The infirmities of Ward combined to increase the caution which the state of the camp made imperative. He was unwilling to hazard defeat, and inclined to await the solution of events from the negotiations of the continental congress. It was sometimes even suggested that the Americans could never hold Cambridge, and that they had better go back and fortify on the heights of Brookline. "We must hold Cambridge," was Putnam's constant reply; and he repeatedly but vainly asked leave to advance the lines to Prospect Hill. Yet the army never doubted its ability to avenge the public wrongs; and danger and war were becoming attractive.

The British forces gave signs of shame at their confinement and inactivity. "Bloody work" was expected, and it was rumored that they were determined, as far as they could, to lay the country waste with fire and sword. The secretary of state frequently assured the French minister at London that they would now take the field, and that the Americans would soon tire of the strife. The king of England, who had counted the days necessary for the voyage of the transports, was "trusting soon to hear that Gage had dispersed the rebels, destroyed their works, opened

a communication with the country," and imprisoned the leading patriots of the colony.

The peninsula of Boston, at that time connected with the mainland by a very low and narrow isthmus, had at its south a promontory then known as Dorchester Neck, with three hills commanding the town. At the north lay the peninsula of Charlestown, in length not much exceeding a mile; in width, a little more than a half mile, but gradually diminishing towards the causeway, which kept asunder the Mystic and the Charles, where each of those rivers meets an arm of the sea.

1775.

Near its north- June. eastern termination rose the round smooth acclivity of Bunker Hill, one hundred and ten feet high, commanding both peninsulas. The high land then fell away by a gradual slope for about seven hundred yards, and just north by east of the town of Charlestown it reappeared with an elevation of about seventy-five feet, which bore the name of Breed's Hill. Whoever should hold the heights of Dorchester and Charlestown would be masters of Boston.

About the middle of May, a joint committee from that of safety and the council of war, after a careful examination, recommended that several eminences within the limits of the town of Charlestown should be occupied, and that a strong redoubt should be raised on Bunker Hill. A breastwork was thrown up across the road near Prospect Hill; and Bunker Hill was to have been fortified as soon as adequate supplies of artillery and powder should be obtained; but delay would have rendered even the attempt impossible. Gage, with the three major-generals, was determined to extend his lines north and south, over Dorchester and Charlestown; and, as he proposed to begin with Dorchester, Howe was to land troops on the point; Clinton in the centre; while Burgoyne was to cannonade from Boston Neck. The operations, it was believed, would be very easy; and their execution was fixed for the eighteenth of June.

This design became known in the American camp, and raised a desire to anticipate the movement. Accordingly, on the fifteenth of June, the Massachusetts committee of

safety informed the council of war that, in their opinion, Dorchester Heights should be fortified; and they recommended unanimously to establish a post on Bunker Hill. Ward, who was bound to comply with the instructions of his superiors, proceeded to execute the advice.

The decision was so sudden that no fit preparation could be made. The nearly total want of ammunition rendered the service desperately daring; in searching for an officer suited to such an enterprise, the choice fell on William Prescott, of Pepperell, colonel of a regiment from the north

1775.

west of Middlesex, who himself was solicitous to June 16. assume the perilous duty; and on the evening after the vote of the committee of safety, a night and day only in advance of the purpose of Gage, a brigade of one thousand men was placed under his command.

Soon after sunset, the party, composed of three hundred of his own regiment, detachments from those of Frye and of Bridge, and two hundred men of Connecticut, under the gallant Thomas Knowlton, of Ashford, were ordered to parade on Cambridge common. They were a body of husbandmen, not in uniform, bearing for the most part no other arms than fowling-pieces which had no bayonets, and carrying in horns and pouches their stinted supply of powder and bullets. Langdon, the president of Harvard College, who was one of the chaplains to the army, prayed with them fervently; then, as the late darkness of the midsummer evening closed in, they marched for Charlestown in the face of the proclamation, issued only four days before, by which all persons taken in arms against their sovereign were threatened under martial law with death by the cord as rebels and traitors. Prescott and his party were the first to defy the menace. For himself, he was resolved "never to be taken alive."

When, with hushed voices and silent tread, they and the wagons laden with intrenching tools had passed the narrow isthmus, Prescott called around him Richard Gridley, an experienced engineer, and the field officers, to select the exact spot for their earthworks. The committee of safety had proposed Bunker Hill; but Prescott had "received