a proclamation issued by General Gage.
No longer were the selectmen of any towns in the Province of
Massachusetts to have anything to say. Martial law was to supersede
civil authority. The provincial soldiers were rebels and traitors who
must lay down their arms at once and go home, if they would hope for
pardon; but there was no pardon for Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who
must pay the extreme penalty of the law for inciting the people to
rebel against their kind and lenient king.

"We ask no favor of King George; he began the war, we will end it,"
said the soldiers as they read the proclamation.

XIX.

BUNKER HILL.

If the British regarded Charlestown Heights of such importance, why
should not the provincials seize them? It must be done. Twilight was
still lingering on the western horizon when the troops selected for
the expedition paraded on Cambridge Common. Colonel William Prescott
was to command them. He had fought at Louisburg, and was cool and
brave. With uncovered heads the regiments stood in front of the
meetinghouse while Reverend Mr. Langdon, president of the college,
offered prayer. Lieutenant Walden, having been upon Bunker Hill, led
the way, followed by soldiers from Connecticut and Massachusetts, and
two carts loaded with picks and shovels. They marched in silence.
Lieutenant Walden conducted them across the Neck and up the slope of
the Hill. It was nearly midnight before it was decided just where
Colonel Gridley should mark out the contemplated fortifications.[69]
Lieutenant Walden conducted Captain Nutting and ten sentinels to the
ferry landing. They were but a little distance from the frigate
Somerset at anchor in the stream. Farther up, towards Lechmere's
Point, were the Glasgow, Cerberus, and Symetry. Down the river, off
Moulton's Point, lay the Lively and Falcon.

[Footnote 69: The orders to Prescott contained no definite
instructions in regard to which of the hills should be fortified, and
the veteran engineer, Gridley, doubted whether it would be best to
begin the works on the highest eminence or the lower one, nearer the
shipping. It seems probable his intention was to construct works on
both hills, but a lack of picks and shovels compelled him to confine
his work to the single redoubt on Breed's Hill.]

Leaving the sentinels to guard the shore, he rode to the summit of the
hill, where the men were hard at work, delving in silence with pick
and spade. There were not sufficient i