On this date in 1775, some 2,400 government troops under the command of Major General Howe crossed Boston harbor to dislodge a ragtag band of roughly fifteen hundred militia types, separatists, and other unlawful combatants who had dug in on the heights of the Charlestown peninsula overlooking the harbor.
Despite ferocious resistance from the rebels, the brave government troops advanced into the teeth of the enemy fire and captured the top of the hill, taking thirty prisoners. The rebels left 140 dead behind. Government casualties are unreported, but believed to be in excess of thirty percent. General Clinton remarked that "A few more such victories would have shortly put an end to British dominion in America."
The Brits shoulda learned from April 19, 1775. Lord Hugh Percy said, "Whoever looks on them as an irregular mob, will find himself very much mistaken. They have men amongst them who know very well what they are about..."
ReplyDelete- Fischer, David H. 1994. Paul Revere's Ride NY & Oxford: Oxford University Press.
A pretty accurate account, it's one of the Royal Welch Fusiliers' proudest battle honours.
ReplyDeleteYou left out the fact that the insurgents were armed with illegal weapons, and that some of them had already killed soldiers sent to disarm them earlier.
C'mon Tam, you know that it isn't sporting to call them "unlawful combatants", we have to call them "militants"
ReplyDeleteJust like CNN preaches in accordance with the prophecy of the Obamessia.