‘
[p. 44] men set fire to the building very suddenly, it is thought the whole seventeen perished in the flames.
We burnt 10 houses and brought off 6 or 7 muskets.
Three or four houses are still standing.
The whole was performed in less than an hour, without the loss of a single man, either killed or wounded, notwithstanding the enemy kept up a considerable fire of musketry from
Bunker's Hill.’
The
Cobble Hill referred to was the eminence on which was for many years the
McLean Asylum, and the mill dam afforded the Continentals a short route into the beleaguered town.
It also afforded a means of escape for at least one British deserter, as seen in the issue of January, 25:—
‘Since our last we have had several deserters from the enemy,— one of them stationed at Charlestown Mills, pitched his companion over the dam, and then run for Cobble Hill.’
We trust that the other sentinel did not find a watery grave, but ‘all's fair in love and war.’
Charlestown at the time of the ever memorable battle was compactly built between
Breed's Hill, where the monument now stands, and
Charles River, with a comparatively small number of houses northward along the road now called Main street. The buildings destroyed at this time were probably near the site of the Edes' mansion, now noted as the birthplace of
Prof. Morse of telegraph fame.
Between foes and friends, the old town named for King Charles who granted the charter to
Matthew Cradock's Company, was well nigh obliterated.
Its territory once entirely surrounded that of
Medford, and embraced that of
Burlington,
Wilmington,
Woburn,
Winchester,
Somerville and parts of
Arlington,
Medford, and
Malden.
Its corporate existence became finally absorbed in that of
Boston in 1874.
The ‘three or four houses’ that
Major Knowlton left could have afforded but little shelter to the
British troops whom editor or ‘printer’
Hall styled ‘ministerial butchers.’
The result of the action was that the lines were closer drawn against the enemy in
Charlestown.
We will refer again to
Mr. Hall's paper:—
