[Footnote: Paul Revere caused two lights to be hung up in the steeple of Christ Church. They were seen in Charlestown; messengers set out, and he soon followed on his famous midnight ride. (Read Longfellow's poem.)]
When the red-coats, as the British soldiers were called, reached Lexington, they found a company of minute men gathering on the village green. Riding up, Pitcairn shouted, "Disperse, you rebels; lay down your arms!" They hesitated. A skirmish ensued, in which seven Americans—the first martyrs of the Revolution—were killed.
[Illustration: PUTNAM SUMMONED TO WAR.]
The British pushed on and destroyed the stores. But alarmed by the gathering militia they hastily retreated. It was none too soon. The whole region flew to arms. Every boy old enough to use a rifle hurried to avenge the death of his countrymen, From behind trees, fences, buildings, and rocks, in front, flank and rear, so galling a fire was poured, that but for reinforcements from Boston, none of the British would have reached the city alive. As it was, they lost nearly three hundred men.
Effects of the Battle.—The news that American blood had been spilled flew like wild-fire. Patriots came pouring in from all sides. Putnam left his cattle yoked in the field, and without changing his working clothes, mounted his fastest horse, and hurried to Boston. Soon twenty thousand men were at work building intrenchments to shut up the British in the city. Congresses were formed in all the colonies. Committees of safety were appointed to call out the troops and provide for any emergency. The power of the royal governors was broken from Massachusetts to Georgia.
[Footnote: Israel Putnam, familiarly known as "Old Put," was born in Salem, Mass., 1718. Many stories are told of his great courage and presence of mind. His descent into the wolf's den, shooting the animal by the light of her own glaring eyes, showed his love of bold adventure; his noble generosity was displayed in the rescue of a comrade scout at Crown Point, at the imminent peril of his own life. He came out of one encounter with fourteen bullet-holes in his blanket. In 1756, a party of Indians took him prisoner, bound him to a stake, and made ready to torture him with fire. The flames were already scorching his limbs, and death seemed certain, when a French officer burst through the crowd and saved his life. At Fort Edward, when all others fled, he alone fought back the fire from a magazine in which were stored three hundred barrels of gunpowder, protected only by a thin partition. "His face, his hands, and almost his whole body, were blistered; and in removing the mittens from his hands, the skin was torn off with them." The British offered him money and the rank of major-general if he would desert the American cause; but he could neither be daunted by toil and danger, nor bribed by gold and honors.]
BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL (June 17).—The patriot leader, Gen. Ward, having learned that the British intended to fortify Bunker Hill, determined to anticipate them. A body of men, under Col. Prescott, were accordingly assembled at Cambridge, and, after prayer by the president of Harvard University, marched to Charlestown Neck. Breed's Hill was then chosen as a more commanding site than Bunker Hill. It was bright moonlight, and they were so near Boston that the sentinel's "All's well," was distinctly heard. Yet so quietly did they work that there was no alarm. At daylight the British officers were startled by seeing the redoubt which had been constructed. Resolved to drive the Americans from their position, Howe crossed the river with three thousand men, and formed them at the landing. The roofs and steeples of Boston were crowded with spectators, intently watching the troops as they slowly ascended the hill. The patriot ranks lay quietly behind their earthworks until the red-coats were within ten rods, when Prescott shouted "Fire!" A blaze of light shot from the redoubt, and whole platoons of the British fell. The survivors, unable to endure the terrible slaughter, broke and fled. They were rallied under cover of the smoke of Charlestown, which had been wantonly fired by Gage.
[Illustration: THE PRAYER BEFORE THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL.]
Again they were met by that deadly discharge, and again they fled. Reinforcements being received, the third time they advanced. Only one volley smote them, and then the firing ceased. The American ammunition was exhausted. The British charged over the ramparts with fixed bayonets. The patriots gallantly resisted with clubbed muskets, but were soon driven from the field.
[Footnote: General Warren was among the last to leave. As he was trying to rally the troops, a British officer, who knew him, seized a musket and shot him. Warren had just received his commission as major-general, but had crossed Charlestown Neel in the midst of flying balls, reached the redoubt, and offered himself as a volunteer. He was buried near the spot where he fell. By his death America lost one of her truest sons. Gage is reported to have said that his fall was worth that of five hundred ordinary rebels.]