THADDEUS BURR TO GENERAL WOOSTER.

Fairfield, June 25, 1775; 12 o’clock.

SIR: Captain Jonathan Maltbie, who went express from here last Sabbath, has this day returned from Watertown, which place he left last Thursday, at four o’clock, afternoon, and the intelligence brought by him being so direct, I thought it my duty to forward it to you, which is as follows, viz:

Copy of a letter from Mr. Lade Lothrop, one of the Provincial Congress at Watertown.

“ Watertown, June 22, 1775.

“Before this reaches you, you will doubtless hear of the engagement of last Saturday, between our Troops and those of the Army at Boston; but lest you should not be well informed, I will now undertake to give you as regular an account as can at present be obtained. Last Friday evening a detachment from the camp at Cambridge marched to Charlestown, and there took possession of Breed’s Hill, about half a mile from the ferry; their intrenching tools not coming up in season, it was twelve o’clock before they began their works. As soon as daylight appeared they were discovered from Boston, when the men-of-war in the ferry, the battery from Copp’s Hill, and the floating batteries, kept up a continual cannonading and bombarding, which fortunately did but little execution, although our intrenchments were very far from being completed. This continued till about two o’clock, when a large Army of between four and five thousand men, (as we since hear from Boston,) under the command of General Howe, landed on the back of the hill, and marched up with great seeming resolution towards our lines. Our men reserved their fire till the enemy had advanced very near, when a general engagement ensued. The fire from our lines was so excessively heavy, and made such a terrible slaughter, as obliged the enemy twice to give way, although many of their officers stood in the rear with their swords pointed at their backs, ready to run them through. Our men kept up a continual blaze upon them for about an hour, with such execution as is scarce credible. The enemy then came on the flanks, marched up, and forced their way over the ramparts with fixed bayonets, cutlasses, and hand-grenades, which obliged our little brave Army, consisting only of about five hundred men at most, to retreat.

“The Town of Charlestown was fired in various parts during the action, and is now consumed to a wretched heap of rubbish. I kept my ground at Watertown; but what with the thundering of cannon and small arms, the conflagration of Charlestown, the wagons and horse-litters, with the wounded men coming to the hospital in this Town, and the streaming of expresses to and fro, exhibited such an awful scene as I pray God Almighty I may never again behold. The brave and worthy Doctor Warren was killed, stripped, and buried within the intrenchment.

“Our numbers killed are not yet known; but by the best account I can obtain it will not much exceed fifty, and the wounded short of a hundred. Several credible persons have since made their escape by water from Boston, some of whom I well know. The latest out says, that upwards of fourteen hundred of the enemy were killed and wounded, with eighty-four officers; and that twenty-eight of our men were made prisoners, and the enemy had buried forty-one of our dead. All agree that the loss of the enemy in killed and wounded is more than one thousand. General Howe says, you may talk of your Mindens and Fontenoys, &c., but he never saw nor heard of such carnage in so short a time. All the surgeons in the Army, with what they could get in Boston, were not sufficient to dress the wounded. Although they were twenty-four hours, night and day, in removing them from Charlestown, with the assistance of many of the inhabitants of Boston, whom they pressed into the service, many died in the streets on their way to the hospitals.

“N. B. Doctor Mather had his whole furniture, with his library, plate, &c., consumed in the fire at Charlestown.”

I have employed Mr. Samuel Penfield to go with this; if you think it proper to forward this account to New-York, he will be ready to serve you.

You will excuse my sending it open, as I think it best for every one to know with what bravery our men have acted, and how God in his providence seems to appear for us.

Mr. Penfield will also hand you a paper from Cambridge, which contains some particulars.

I am, in the utmost haste, Sir, your friend and humble servant,

THADDEUS BURR.

To General Wooster, at Greenwich.

The Congress of the Colony of the MASSACHUSETTS-BAY,
To ANDREW GILMAN, Gentleman:

We, entertaining a good opinion of your prudence, courage, and good conduct, do appoint, and you, the said Andrew Gilman, are hereby appointed to the honorary title of Lieutenant; and you are to be considered of that rank not only among the good people of this Province, but also among all our friends and brethren through the Continent; and we confide in your readiness to promote the common cause of America among our good brothers the Indians of the several tribes which you may have opportunity to be acquainted with, as well as with the inhabitants of the Province of Quebeck. By order of Congress.

Watertown, June 25, 1775.

In Provincial Congress, Watertown, June 25, 1775.

Resolved, That Lieutenant Andrew Gilman be and hereby is ordered and instructed to use his utmost influence to cultivate a friendly and peaceable disposition in the Indians at St. François, and all other parts adjoining, and to give intelligence of their Temper and disposition from time to time, as he shall have opportunity, and as the importance of affairs may require; and also of the Canadians at Quebeck, and other adjacent parts of Canada, so often as it may be in his power: for which service be shall receive a proper reward. By order of Congress.

JAMES WARREN, President.

JOHN LANE TO MASSACHUSETTS CONGRESS.

Watertown, June 25, 1775.

John Lane having been employed by the honourable Congress to go to Penobscot to treat with the Indians there, and the said Congress, in consequence of his services, haying resolved that he shall have a Captain’s commission, provided he enlist a company of fifty-six effective men to join the Army at Cambridge; and be being now going to proceed on that business, humbly prays that your Honours would direct the Receiver-General to pay him or his order two months pay, as a Captain in the Colony service.

JOHN LANE.

To the Honourable Provincial Congress.

MASSACHUSETTS CONGRESS TO GOVERNOUR TRUMBULL.

In Provincial Congress, Watertown, June 25, 1775.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOUR: From advices received divers ways, we have the greatest reason to determine that all the British Troops already destined, or that may yet be ordered to America this season, will come to Boston, it being evidently their design, if possible, to rout our Army before that place, destroy all our magazines, and thereby to strike terrour and faintness into the hearts of all the friends to right and liberty throughout the Continent, to revive and animate their scattered friends, and break the union of the Colonies, and in that way insure final success to their tyranny. This being undoubtedly the plan of our enemies, it is of inexpressible consequence that the ground which we have taken should, at all events, be maintained. Your Honour is no doubt fully sensible that our Army, for the present, is unavoidably checked with regard to offensive operations, for a reason of which you are not unapprized, but, however, we have the means of acting on the defensive.

As Boston is impregnable against every thing but great artillery, very few Troops are sufficient to keep it; and as there are two passes at least, very distant from each other, by which the enemy will probably attempt to advance into the country, it is thereby necessary that we should throw our Army into at least two grand divisions, each of which ought to be able to withstand almost the whole strength of the enemy. Your Honour is acquainted that it was first supposed to be necessary that thirty thousand men should be raised