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.
Pages:
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28