Spectacular he was from his birth, and even today his name upon a
page is enough to set up a whole theatre in our imaginations. Just one
incident comes to me at this moment. It is so closely associated with
the region with which this book is concerned, that I cannot but set it
down in passing.
The story runs that it was a mistake in an order which sent General
Knox of Silliman's Brigade to a small fort one mile from town (that
is, about Grand Street), known as "Bunker's Hill"--not to be
confounded with the other and more famous "Bunker"! It happened to be
a singularly unfortunate position. There was neither food nor water in
proper quantities, and the munitions were almost non-existent. The
enemy was on the island.
Whether Major Burr, of Putnam's division, was sent under some regular
authority, or whether he characteristically had taken the matter into
his own hands, the histories I have read do not tell. But they do tell
of his galloping up, breathless on a lathered horse, making the little
force understand the danger of their position, pleading with his
inimitable eloquence and advancing the reasons for their retreat at
once.
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