The home of Mrs. Martha Duncan, with its shrubbery and garden neatly kept, was selected by General Howe as a residence. He hoped it would not greatly inconvenience her; he would gladly remunerate her for any trouble he might make. It would be a pleasure to have her for a hostess. His own servant would attend to his personal wants.
"Of course, mother," said Abraham, "we cannot prevent him from taking possession of our home; we may as well make the best of it, accept the inevitable, and spoil the Egyptians if we can. He seems to be a gentleman, a man of honor, and will, doubtless, pay us well. Besides, possibly we may learn something that can be turned to good account, if we keep our eyes and ears open, and our wits about us."
"It will be only a plain table, my lord, I can provide. Since the provincials have closed around us, the market has been bare of provisions," said Mrs. Duncan.
"I am aware of it, madam, but I doubt not you will be able to furnish appetizing food, possibly a joint of roast mutton from the flocks of sheep accessible to us on the islands in the harbor, a fresh mackerel or cod. We are not yet shut in from the sea, and possibly we may soon have free access to the surrounding country, for I hear there is much discontent among the provincials, and their numbers are rapidly melting away, now that the first excitement is over," responded Lord Howe.
"Possibly I may be able to provide early vegetables,--lettuce, dandelions, greens, asparagus, and water-cresses, my lord, if you will allow my negro servant, Cato, to pa.s.s the patrol to Charlestown," said Mrs. Duncan.
"I will give him such permission," he replied, writing a pa.s.s, directing the sentinels along the wharves, and the marine patrol in the harbor, to pa.s.s the negro servant, Cato.
Not only Cato, but Mrs. Duncan and her son, Abraham, ship-carver and artist, were attentive to the wants of General Howe, receiving shining guineas in return. It was a pleasure to the British commander, just arrived from England, to talk with a young gentleman so well informed and of such attainments as the son of his hostess.
"I dare say, Mr. Duncan, you are quite well acquainted with the country around Boston?" said his lordship.
"I have been up the Charles and Mystic by boat many times, my lord, and visited Cambridge to enjoy the festivities of Cla.s.s Day, and the orations of graduates at Commencement. I have rambled the Roxbury fields and pastures for strawberries, and am pretty well acquainted with the various localities."
General Howe spread out a map and asked many questions in regard to the surrounding hills, valleys, woods, and cleared lands. He was surprised to see how well Mr. Duncan could sketch them in with his pencil upon the map which Ensign De Berniere had drawn. Lord Howe introduced him to Generals Pigot and Clinton, who were pleased with the intelligent replies to their questions.
There came a day in June when Abraham heard General Howe say to the other commanders that the Charlestown Hills ought to be occupied at once, for fear the rebels might seize them. Were they to do so, Boston might be bombarded, and the ships driven from their anchorage.
"Doctor Warren and General Ward ought to know that," Abraham said to himself.
There were only a few words in the letter which Abraham Duncan tucked under the cuff of Cato"s coat-sleeve the next morning, when he stepped into his boat to cross the river and gather young asparagus and water-cresses for General Howe"s dinner. Cato was directed to hand the slip of paper to Deacon Larkin"s negro, Jim, who would know what to do with it.
Faithful and true to their kind-hearted masters were Cato and Jim, pa.s.sing the letter from hand to hand, till it reached Doctor Joseph Warren in consultation with General Artemus Ward and the committee of safety in Cambridge.
"Bunker"s Hill is to be occupied at once."[67]
[Footnote 67: The two eminences in Charlestown were named Breed"s and Bunker"s Hill respectively,--that upon which the redoubt was constructed was Breed"s Hill; the rail fence behind which the troops from New Hampshire fought was on the slope of Bunker"s Hill.]
That was all, except an ink blot.
"It is authentic,--from a trustworthy Son of Liberty," said Doctor Warren.
"It has no signature," said General Ward.
"Therefore is not treasonable. Besides, it does not state who is to occupy Bunker"s Hill,--the British or ourselves," the doctor replied.
"How do you know it is genuine--from the writing?"
"No; the hand is disguised. Nevertheless, I know the writer. He informs me that the British intend to take possession of Charlestown Heights."[68]
[Footnote 68: General Gage at the outset saw the value of Charlestown Heights from the military standpoint, but was not able to make any movement to take possession of the ground till the arrival of his reinforcements.]
"Are you sure it is authentic information?"
"I have no doubt of it. The writer is in position to learn what they intend to do. He is a very quiet man, but has his eyes and ears open.
It is not the first time he has shown his devotion to our cause. You say he has not signed it; true he has not written his name, not even the initials, yet his signature is upon the sheet,--the insignificant ink-blot. It would not be accepted as testimony in a court-martial, but it is sufficient for me," said Doctor Warren.
With the letter came a copy of a proclamation issued by General Gage.
No longer were the selectmen of any towns in the Province of Ma.s.sachusetts to have anything to say. Martial law was to supersede civil authority. The provincial soldiers were rebels and traitors who must lay down their arms at once and go home, if they would hope for pardon; but there was no pardon for Samuel Adams and John Hanc.o.c.k, who must pay the extreme penalty of the law for inciting the people to rebel against their kind and lenient king.
"We ask no favor of King George; he began the war, we will end it,"
said the soldiers as they read the proclamation.
XIX.
BUNKER HILL.
If the British regarded Charlestown Heights of such importance, why should not the provincials seize them? It must be done. Twilight was still lingering on the western horizon when the troops selected for the expedition paraded on Cambridge Common. Colonel William Prescott was to command them. He had fought at Louisburg, and was cool and brave. With uncovered heads the regiments stood in front of the meetinghouse while Reverend Mr. Langdon, president of the college, offered prayer. Lieutenant Walden, having been upon Bunker Hill, led the way, followed by soldiers from Connecticut and Ma.s.sachusetts, and two carts loaded with picks and shovels. They marched in silence.
Lieutenant Walden conducted them across the Neck and up the slope of the Hill. It was nearly midnight before it was decided just where Colonel Gridley should mark out the contemplated fortifications.[69]
Lieutenant Walden conducted Captain Nutting and ten sentinels to the ferry landing. They were but a little distance from the frigate Somerset at anchor in the stream. Farther up, towards Lechmere"s Point, were the Glasgow, Cerberus, and Symetry. Down the river, off Moulton"s Point, lay the Lively and Falcon.
[Footnote 69: The orders to Prescott contained no definite instructions in regard to which of the hills should be fortified, and the veteran engineer, Gridley, doubted whether it would be best to begin the works on the highest eminence or the lower one, nearer the shipping. It seems probable his intention was to construct works on both hills, but a lack of picks and shovels compelled him to confine his work to the single redoubt on Breed"s Hill.]
Leaving the sentinels to guard the sh.o.r.e, he rode to the summit of the hill, where the men were hard at work, delving in silence with pick and spade. There were not sufficient implements for all, but when one was out of breath, another took his place, and before the first glimmer of dawn appeared, the trench had been made breast deep.
"Four o"clock and all"s well!" came from the sentinel on the Somerset, but a moment later a sheet of flame and a white cloud burst from the side of the Lively, and the roar of a gun broke the stillness of the morning.
The thunder rolled far away, arousing the British army, the people of Boston, General Gage, and Lord Howe from their slumbers. Berinthia Brandon, from her chamber window, beheld the warship Lively shrouded in smoke. Upon the green hill, where, the day before, the farmers had been swinging their scythes, and where the partially cured hay was lying in windrows, she could see a bank of yellow earth. Again the thunder of the guns jarred her window, but at a signal from the Somerset the firing ceased.
Before sunrise all Boston was astir, moving towards Copp"s Hill, gazing from windows and roofs upon the growing fortifications.
Generals Gage and Howe ascended the steeple of Christ Church and looked at the embankment with their telescopes.[70] A little later officers were hurrying along the streets with orders to the several regiments to be ready to march at a moment"s notice. Drums were beating; battalions moving towards Long Wharf, the selected rendezvous, from whence the troops were to be transported in boats to Moulton"s Point, ascend the hill, and send the provincials flying from their chosen position.
[Footnote 70: The headquarters of General Gage were in the house of Mr. Galloup, on Hull Street, a stone"s-throw from Christ Church. The house, a two-story wooden building with a gambrel roof, is still standing (1895).]
Such was the information brought to the Brandon home by Abraham Duncan.
"You will have a splendid chance to see the battle from the housetop,"
he said to Captain Brandon.
Cannon carriages were rumbling through the street, pa.s.sing the Brandon home, wheeling into the burial ground, and coming into position. The gunners loaded the pieces and lighted their port fires, waved their lint-stocks, and touched them to the priming. Flames and smoke belched from the muzzle of the guns with deafening roar, sending the missiles upon the fortification.
While the cannoneers were reloading the guns, Berinthia, upon the housetop with a telescope, saw a man leap up from the intrenchment and stand in full view upon the bank of earth, swinging his hat and shaking his fist.
"Oh father! mother! it is Tom! He"s swinging his hat! Just see him!"
she cried.
Again the cannon flamed, but with the flashing Tom leaped back into the trench and was safe from the shot.
"I"m glad he"s there. He"s got the true stuff in him," said Mr.
Brandon.
"I"m afraid he"ll be killed!" exclaimed Mrs. Brandon, manifesting the mother"s solicitude and love.