Washington and his Comrades in Arms | Page 5

was boiling hot and the soldiers carried
heavy packs with food for three days, for they intended to camp on
Bunker Hill. Straight up Breed's Hill they marched wading through
long grass sometimes to their knees and throwing down the fences on
the hillside. The British knew that raw troops were likely to scatter
their fire on a foe still out of range and they counted on a rapid bayonet
charge against men helpless with empty rifles. This expectation was
disappointed. The Americans had in front of them a barricade and
Israel Putnam was there, threatening dire things to any one who should
fire before he could see the whites of the eyes of the advancing soldiery.
As the British came on there was a terrific discharge of musketry at
twenty yards, repeated again and again as they either halted or drew
back.
The slaughter was terrible. British officers hardened in war declared
long afterward that they had never seen carnage like that of this fight.
The American riflemen had been told to aim especially at the British
officers, easily known by their uniforms, and one rifleman is said to
have shot twenty officers before he was himself killed. Lord Rawdon,

who played a considerable part in the war and was later, as Marquis of
Hastings, Viceroy of India, used to tell of his terror as he fought in the
British line. Suddenly a soldier was shot dead by his side, and, when he
saw the man quiet at his feet, he said, "Is Death nothing but this?" and
henceforth had no fear. When the first attack by the British was
checked they retired; but, with dogged resolve, they re-formed and
again charged up the hill, only a second time to be repulsed. The third
time they were more cautious. They began to work round to the weaker
defenses of the American left, where were no redoubts and
entrenchments like those on the right. By this time British ships were
throwing shells among the Americans. Charlestown was burning. The
great column of black smoke, the incessant roar of cannon, and the
dreadful scenes of carnage had affected the defenders. They wavered;
and on the third British charge, having exhausted their ammunition,
they fled from the hill in confusion back to the narrow neck of land half
a mile away, swept now by a British floating battery. General
Burgoyne wrote that, in the third attack, the discipline and courage of
the British private soldiers also broke down and that when the redoubt
was carried the officers of some corps were almost alone. The British
stood victorious at Bunker Hill. It was, however, a costly victory. More
than a thousand men, nearly half of the attacking force, had fallen, with
an undue proportion of officers.
Philadelphia, far away, did not know what was happening when, two
days before the battle of Bunker Hill, the Continental Congress settled
the question of a leader for a national army. On the 15th of June John
Adams of Massachusetts rose and moved that the Congress should
adopt as its own the army before Boston and that it should name
Washington as Commander-in-Chief. Adams had deeply pondered the
problem. He was certain that New England would remain united and
decided in the struggle, but he was not so sure of the other colonies. To
have a leader from beyond New England would make for continental
unity. Virginia, next to Massachusetts, had stood in the forefront of the
movement, and Virginia was fortunate in having in the Congress one
whose fame as a soldier ran through all the colonies. There was
something to be said for choosing a commander from the colony which
began the struggle and Adams knew that his colleague from
Massachusetts, John Hancock, a man of wealth and importance, desired

the post. He was conspicuous enough to be President of the Congress.
Adams says that when he made his motion, naming a Virginian, he saw
in Hancock's face "mortification and resentment." He saw, too, that
Washington hurriedly left the room when his name was mentioned.
There could be no doubt as to what the Congress would do.
Unquestionably Washington was the fittest man for the post. Twenty
years earlier he had seen important service in the war with France. His
position and character commanded universal aspect. The Congress
adopted unanimously the motion of Adams and it only remained to be
seen Whether Washington would accept. On the next day he came to
the sitting with his mind made up. The members, he said, would bear
witness to his declaration that he thought himself unfit for the task.
Since, however, they called him, he would try to do his duty. He would
take the command but he would accept no pay beyond his expenses.
Thus it was that