before he was himself killed. Lord Rawdon, who played a
considerable part in the war and was later, as Marquis of
Hastings, Viceroy of India, used to tell of his terror as he
fought in the British line. Suddenly a soldier was shot dead by
his side, and, when he saw the man quiet at his feet, he said,
"Is Death nothing but this?" and henceforth had no fear. When the
first attack by the British was checked they retired; but, with
dogged resolve, they re-formed and again charged up the hill,
only a second time to be repulsed. The third time they were more
cautious. They began to work round to the weaker defenses of the
American left, where were no redoubts and entrenchments like
those on the right. By this time British ships were throwing
shells among the Americans. Charlestown was burning. The great
column of black smoke, the incessant roar of cannon, and the
dreadful scenes of carnage had affected the defenders. They
wavered; and on the third British charge, having exhausted their
ammunition, they fled from the hill in confusion back to the
narrow neck of land half a mile away, swept now by a British
floating battery. General Burgoyne wrote that, in the third
attack, the discipline and courage of the British private
soldiers also broke down and that when the redoubt was carried
the officers of some corps were almost alone. The British stood
victorious at Bunker Hill. It was, however, a costly victory.
More than a thousand men, nearly half of the attacking force, had
fallen, with an undue proportion of officers.


Philadelphia, far away, did not know what was happening when,
two days before the battle of Bunker Hill, the Continental
Congress settled the question of a leader for a national army. On