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1775 Battle of Bunker Hill...
1775 Battle of Bunker Hill...
Item # 704104
October 12, 1775
NEW ENGLAND CHRONICLE OR ESSEX GAZETTE, Cambridge, Mass., Oct. 12, 1775
* Battle of Bunker - Breed's Hill
* Charleston, Boston, Massachusetts
* General Thomas Gage account
Certainly a terrific issue as page 3 begins with a letter, signed in type by: Tho. Gage, in which he gives his account of the historic Battle of Bunker Hill, dated June 25 just 8 days after the battle.
In this letter Gage offers much detail, beginning: "I am to acquaint your Lordship of an action that happened on the 17th instant between his Majesty's troops and a large body of the rebel forces...The troops formed as soon as landed; the light infantry posted on the right...This appearance of the rebels strength...occasioned an application for the troops to be reinforced...These troops advanced...orders were executed with perseverance under a heavy fire from the vast numbers of the rebels...The rebels were then forced from other strong holds..." with much more. Near the end he notes: "...The loss the rebels sustained must have been considerable from the great numbers they carried off during the time of action...This action has shewn the superiority of the King's troops...".
And the back page has an entire column taken up with a list of the casualties at Bunker Hill, with the list headed with: "Return of the Officers, Non-commissioned Officers, and Privates, killed & wounded of his Majesty's troops at the Attack of the Redoubts & Intrenchments on the Heights of Charles-Town, June 17, 1775 transmitted by General Gage...", and just below this listing is an interesting editorial on the battle of Bunker Hill, critical of the British action.
It begins with: "The account of the late action between the Americans and the troops of General Gage is one of the most evasive and unsatisfactory that was ever yet obtruded on the public..." the balance of this text is seen in the photos below, and ends with: "...if every time the General sends out his brace of thousands, the one half of them should either drop or be rendered useless, we shall soon see an end to the war in America, but yet it cannot be expected to terminate in our own favour."
As if this very significant content was not sufficient for one issue, page 2 has an exchange of letters between Thomas Gage and G. Washington concerning the treatment of prisoners, the letters signed in type by each. A small page 2 item notes: "This morning a commission passed the Great Seal of England constituting & appointing General Gage to be Captain General and General Governor over all North America."
There are other various news items relating to the Revolutionary War as well.
Four pages, never bound nor trimmed, archivally strengthened at the blank spine, there are several other archival mends at margin tears and elsewhere all quite discrete, a non-archival mend on page 3, a few minor chips at the blank spine, generally in nice condition.
AI notes: The Battle of Bunker Hill, fought on June 17, 1775, during the early stages of the American Revolution, took place across the Charlestown Peninsula outside Boston, with most of the action unfolding on nearby Breed’s Hill rather than Bunker Hill itself. After colonial militia fortified the high ground to block British advances, General William Howe ordered repeated frontal assaults against their position, resulting in some of the fiercest fighting of the war’s opening year. Under leaders such as Colonel William Prescott, Israel Putnam, and Dr. Joseph Warren (who was killed in the battle), the patriots held their lines through two major British attacks and only gave way on the third assault when their gunpowder and ammunition ran out. Although the British ultimately claimed the field, they suffered staggering losses—over 1,000 killed or wounded compared to about 400 American casualties—shocking the British command and proving to both sides that the colonial militia could stand toe-to-toe with professional soldiers. This costly “victory” emboldened the revolutionaries, turning the battle into a symbol of American determination and laying the groundwork for a prolonged and resolute struggle for independence.
Category: Revolutionary War
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