STORIES OF REVOLUTIONARY WAR SOLDIERS

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William Prescott

" William Prescott was born at Goshen, Massachusetts in 1726. He early engaged in the service of mother Britain and acted a distinguished part at the capture of Cape Breton in 1758. He was a Colonel of militia when the war commenced and one of the first in the field. He commanded at the sanguinary battle at Bunker's and Breed's Hill on the 17th of June 1775. With 1200 men hastily collected and with a temporary breastwork, made principally by excavating a shallow ditch and placing two rail fences parallel near each other and filling the interval with fresh mowed grass, and he continued to repulse 5,000 veteran troops, with a slaughter equalled only at the battle of New Orleans, until his ammunition was expended when he retreated with a loss of 453 men,killing 1,054 of the enemy. Colonel Prescott then entered the regular service and continued in the Army until 1777 and then resigned. He was a volunteer at the capture of Burgoyne and rendered essential service. After the Revolution he served in the legislature and filled various civil offices with fidelity. He was brave, noble, generous and humane. In his "Memoirs" General Lee beautifully remarks:"When future generations shall inquire where are the men who gained the brightest prize of glory in the arduous contest which ushered in our nation's birth? Upon Prescott and his companions in arms will the eye of history beam. The military annals of the world rarely furnish an achievement which equals the firmness and courage displayed on that proud day by the gallant band of Americans and it certainly stands first in the brilliant events of the war." Colonel Prescott died in 1795 sincerely mourned."

Source: The Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution by L. Carroll Judson