Bunker Hill

deceived his associates when “he pretended that he was going to Roxbury,” in “Extracts from Dr. Belknap’s Note-books,” pp. 91–98. Edward Warren writes about his conversation with a woman who claimed that Joseph Warren visited her pregnant mother on the day of the Battle of Bunker Hill, in
The Life of John Warren
, pp. 22. Allen French discusses Howe’s strategy and quotes the oft-cited words of Howe’s mentor James Wolfe on how to attack an entrenchment, in
FYAR
, pp. 234–35; French also cites Clinton’s account of how the floating batteries were unsuccessfully moved over to the Mystic River, p. 230. Burgoyne describes Howe’s deployment of troops as “perfect” in his June 25, 1775, letter to Lord Stanley in
SSS
, pp. 133; Burgoyne also describes how he and Clinton on Copp’s Hill received the order to burn Charlestown. The detail that one British carcass “fell short near the ferry way; a second fell in the street, and the town was on fire” is in Samuel Swett’s
History of Bunker Hill Battle
, p. 38, as is the mention of the detachment of men from the
Somerset
. Henry Dearborn writes in “An Account of the Battle of Bunker Hill” of how the smoke from Charlestown “hung like a thundercloud” (p. 9). According to John Clarke, who quotes Howe’s speech to his officers and soldiers in Samuel Drake’s
Bunker Hill: The Story Told in Letters
, Howe made his remarks as Charlestown went up in flames beside them (p. 43). The presence of “innumerable swallows” is mentioned in a footnote in Samuel Swett’s
History of Bunker Hill Battle
, p. 33. William Prescott in his August 25, 1775, letter writes of being left with “perhaps 150 men in the fort” in the appendix to
HSOB
, p. 396. Ebenezer Bancroft in his Narrative, in John Hill’s
Bi-Centennial of Old Dunstable
, writes of how “our men turned their heads every minute to look on the one side . . . for the reinforcements” (p. 60).
    A June 26, 1775, letter from an unnamed American tells of the provincials being “arrayed in red worsted caps and blue great coats, with guns of different sizes,” in
LAR
, p. 150; this same writer speaks of Joseph Warren having “dressed himself like Lord Falkland in his wedding suit and distinguished himself by unparalleled acts of bravery during the whole action” (p. 151). Falkland was a royalist during the English Civil War who, growing increasingly disillusioned with the conflict, reputedly courted death and was killed in the Battle of Newbury in 1643. On Warren’s activities after leaving Townsend prior to crossing Charlestown Neck, see Frothingham’s
LJW
, pp. 513–15. Samuel Swett tells how Warren was greeted in the redoubt “with loud hurrahs,” p. 32. James Wilkinson is the source for Warren’s words to Prescott, reported to Wilkinson by Warren’s apprentice William Eustis, who was at the redoubt that day, in
History of the Battle of Breed’s Hill
, p. 15. John Jeffries’s claim that the younger son of John Lovell, loyalist master of the Boston Latin School, was responsible for the improperly sized cannonballs is in Samuel Swett’s
History of Bunker Hill Battle
, supplement, p. 24. The terrain through which the regulars advanced toward the provincial forces is described in “The Criticism of the Battle . . . , August 3, 1779” in the appendix to
HSOB
, p. 399. Henry Clinton’s description of Howe’s troop formation as “one long straggling line two deep” is cited by Allen French in
FYAR
, p. 235. Burgoyne’s description of Charlestown burning is in his June 25, 1775, letter to Lord Stanley in
SSS
, pp. 133–34. Henry Lee writes of “the conflagration of a town . . . blazing in their faces,” in “Reflections on the Campaign of Sir William Howe,” in Charles Coffin’s
History of the Battle of Breed’s Hill
, p. 8. John Eliot’s claim that Joseph Warren believed Britain “never would send large armies” is in
Brief Biographical Sketches
, p. 472.
    Prescott’s son recounts how his father told the men in the redoubt to hold their fire and “aim at their
hips
,” in Frothingham’s
Battle-Field of Bunker Hill
, p. 20. Ebenezer Bancroft recounts how Prescott instructed them “to take particular notice of the
fine coats
” in John Hill’s
Bi-Centennial of Old Dunstable
, p. 61. James Wilkinson recounts how Stark had made a mark in the bank along the Mystic to indicate when the provincials should open up on the British; Stark also recounted how he had told