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JUNE 26. -THE Massachusetts occasional newspaper of today,
gives the following account of the action at Boston on the seventeenth: -" This
town was alarmed at break of day, by a firing from the Lively ship-of-war; and
a report was immediately spread that the provincials had broke ground, and were
raising a battery on the heights of the peninsula of Charlestown, against the
town of Boston. They were plainly seen, and in a few hours a battery of six
guns played upon their works. Preparations were instantly made for the landing
a body of men; and some companies of grenadiers and light infantry, with some
battalions, and field artillery, amounting in the whole to about two thousand
men, under the command of Major-General Howe and Brigadier-General Pigot, were
embarked with great expedition, and landed on the peninsula without opposition,
under cover of some ships-of-war and armed vessels.
The troops formed as soon as landed; the provincials on
the heights were perceived to be in great force, and strongly posted. A redoubt
thrown up on the 16th at night, with other works full of men, defended with
cannon, and a large body posted in the houses of Charlestown, covered their
right; and their left was covered by a breastwork, part of it cannon proof,
which reached from the left of the redoubt to the Mystic river.
Besides the appearance of the provincials' strength, large
columns were seen pouring in to their assistance; but the king's troops
advanced. The attack began by a cannonade, and notwithstanding various
impediments of fences, walls, &c., and the heavy fire they were exposed to,
from the vast number of provincials, and their left galled from the houses of
Charlestown, the troops made their way to the redoubt, mounted the works and
carried it. The provincials were then forced from other strongholds, and
pursued till they were driven clear of the peninsula, leaving five pieces of
cannon behind them. Charlestown was set on fire during the engagement, and most
part of it consumed. The loss they sustained must have been considerable, from
the vast number they were seen to carry off during the action, exclusive of
what they suffered from the shipping. About a hundred were buried the next day
after, and thirty found wounded on the field, some of whom are since dead.
About one hundred and seventy of the king's troops were killed and since dead
of their wounds; and a great many were wounded.
This action has shown the bravery of the king's troops,
who under every disadvantage, gained a complete victory over three times their
number, strongly posted, and covered by breastworks. 1
1 Rivington's Gazetteer, July
13: -Another account from Boston mentions, that the provincials occupied a post
at Charlestown on a commanding ground, which overlooked Boston, at 1, 500 yards
distance, which works they had constructed in the night. It consisted of a
redoubt, with cannons mounted, and a continued intrenchment to a drained swamp
on one side and defended by the houses in Charlestown on the other, which were
filled with provincial troops. On the approach of day, the British artillery
began to fire on the provincials' works, from a battery of six 24-pounders, and
a howitzer from Copp's hill towards the north end, which played principally
upon the redoubt. About two o'clock in the afternoon, the grenadiers and light
infantry, consisting of twenty companies, with the 5th, 38th, 43d, and 52d
regiments, embarked, and were landed on Charlestown point, about six hundred
and fifty yards from the provincials' works, which, being formed, the boats
returned for the 63d and 47th regiments, the marines, and ten pieces of
artillery, the whole under the command of Major-General Howe, who had a low
swampy land to pass, and to surmount a higher piece of ground, formed by nature
for defence. The fire of six field-pieces and a heavy one of musketry from the
provincials continued without intermission, on the British troops, and they
still poured in fresh men from Cambridge, from the moment the forces marched
from the encampment; signals being made by three guns from Roxbury church, and
smoke from hill to hill, and the bells ringing, so that before the action was
over, they were reinforced with a large body of men. At last, after an
obstinate attack of an hour, reaching the summit very gradually, the British
troops stormed the redoubt, and the provincials retired. They were cautiously
pursued until another rising ground was obtained, which entirely commands the
whole peninsula, but more immediately the neck of land.
The loss in killed and wounded of the
provincials cannot be accurately ascertained. Five field-pieces and four
hundred intrenching tools, with twenty-nine prisoners, fell into the hands of
the British troops.
One armed ship, two sloops, and five
floating batteries fired on the neck, but they did not altogether answer the
end intended, as they neither prevented reinforcing or retreating. -Rivingtons
Gazetteer, July 13.
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