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[413] been moored, where their guns raked the isthmus of
Chap. XXXVIII.} 1775. June 17.
Charlestown. Between the hours of twelve and one, by order of General Gage, boats and barges, manned by oars, all plainly visible to Prescott and his men, bore over the unruffled sheet of water from Long Wharf to Moulton's Point in Charlestown, the fifth, the thirty-eighth, the forty-third, and the fifty-second regiments of infantry, with ten companies of grenadiers, ten of light infantry, and a proportion of field artillery, in all about two thousand men. They were commanded by Major General Howe, who was assisted by Brigadier General Pigot. It was noticed that Percy, pleading illness, let his regiment go without him. The British landed under cover of the shipping, on the outward side of the peninsula, near the Mystic, with a view to outflank the American party, surround them, and make prisoners of the whole detachment.

The way along the banks of the river to Prescott's rear lay open; he had remaining with him but about seven or eight hundred men, worn with toil and watching and hunger; he knew not how many were coming against him; his flank was unprotected; he saw no signs of reinforcements; the enemy had the opportunity to surround and crush his little band. ‘Never were men placed in a more dangerous position.’ But Howe, who was of a sluggish temperament, halted on the first rising ground, and sent back for more troops. The delay cost him dear.

When Prescott perceived the British begin to land on the point east by north from the fort, he made the best disposition of his scanty force, ordering the train of artillery with two field pieces, and the

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