BUNKERS-HILL
By a Lieutenant Colonel in the Continental Army.
This mighty Era big with dread alarms,
Aloud calls each American to arms.
Let ev'ry Breast with martial ardour glow,
Nor dread to meet the proud usurping foe.
What tho' our bodies feel an earthly chain,
Still the free soul, unblemish'd and serene
Enjoys a mental Liberty,—a charm,
Beyond the power of fate itself to harm.
Should vict'ry crown us in the doubtful strife—
Eternal honours mark the hero's life.
Should Wounds and slaughter be our hapless doom—
Unfading laurels deck the Martyr's Tomb:
A sure reward awaits his soul on high,
On earth his memory shall never die,
For when we read the fatal story o'er,
One tear shall drop for him who is—no more,
Who nobly struggled to support our laws,
And bravely fell in freedom's sacred cause.
Let virtue fire us to the martial deed;
We fight to conquer and we dare to bleed:
Witness ye fathers! whose protracted time,
Fruitful of story, chronicles the clime.
These howling deserts, hospitably tame,
Erst snatch'd you martyrs, from the hungry flame;
'Twas Heav'n's own cause, beneath whose shelt'ring power,
Ye grew the wonder of this present hour—
| The task—be ours with unremitted toil, | } |
| To guard the rights of this dear-purchas'd soil, | |
| From Royal plund'rers, greedy of our spoil, |
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ
| Warren | } | American Officers. |
| Putnam | ||
| Gardiner | ||
| Gage | } | British Officers. |
| Howe | ||
| Burgoyne | ||
| Clinton | ||
| Lord Pigot | ||
| Sherwin, Aide-de-camp to General Howe. | ||
Soldiers, &c.