The First American Army Read Online Free PDF Page A

skirmishes through the end of 1775 and in the winter of 1776. Detachments of troops from one side would be sent somewhere to do something—anything to draw attention—and soldiers from the other side would attempt to stop them. These mini-engagements were a part of Pvt. John Greenwood’s life. One of the earliest came just after the British had seized control of Bunker Hill and hauled cannon to the top of it.
    Several dozen British soldiers rowed ashore at Lechmere’s Point to steal some cows, and a detachment of Americans, including Greenwood, was sent to stop them. They had to cross Willis Creek, waist-deep following several days of heavy rainfall, with their muskets held above their heads in order to reach the point. As soon as the men emerged from the creek, soaking wet, they were fired upon by British artillerists on top of Bunker Hill who had spotted them.
    Greenwood wrote, “As eight or ten of us were in a huddle running up the hill, a ball from a twenty-four-pounder struck about three feet before me, driving the dirt smack in our faces. We ran on and just got down so as to get a shot at them before they pushed off.”
    The skirmish at Lechmere Point, won by the Americans when they later posted cannon there, was one of a dozen. One of the hottest occurred in late May, in the section of the Boston area known as Chelsea. The Americans were determined once again to retrieve livestock taken by the British. The Americans tried to sneak up on the British but were spotted. Pvt. James Stevens was caught like the rest.
    “The (British) regulars saw our men and fired on them. The firing then began on both sides and the firing was very warm. There come a man and ordered us over a knoll right into the mouths of (their) cannon. We got on to the top of the knoll and the grapeshot and cannonballs came so thick that we retreated back to the road. Marched down to the ferry. The regulars shouted. Our men got the cannon and plastered them and gave them two or three gunsides. The firing then set in some measure and there was a terrible cry amongst the regulars.” 9
    There were American attacks on British ships that attempted to land troops or to navigate Boston harbor near Charlestown. In one, General Israel Putnam ordered his men, hidden in a ditch, to wait until one ship, the
Diana,
and several accompanying barges were right in front of them before they opened fire. Their musket balls hit the schooner and barges like sheets of hail. One eyewitness said that the British “were engaged with great fury by our men along the shore.” A few moments later, Putnam ordered two cannon nearby to fire on the
Diana
. The well-placed shot ripped into the sails and rope rigging of the ship, setting it on fire. The flames could be seen throughout Boston that night.
    Greenwood recorded these daily skirmishes between the armies. The much vaunted Pennsylvania riflemen, as bored as everyone else as the occupation and siege dragged on, spent many nights taking potshots at British soldiers in the city, or anyone they believed to be a British soldier, or, sometimes, anything that moved. The marksmen did kill some soldiers and wounded others, but their aim was nowhere near as accurate as legend had it—and they all bragged—and they often shot up the homes of residents. One night a rifleman mistook another rifleman for a British soldier and shot him. One evening some artillerists lobbed shells at British fortifications in the town and a shell burst in a guardhouse, shearing the legs off of several of the ten Redcoats in it and badly damaging the legs of the others.
    The British harassed the regiments of Greenwood and others in similar fashion, their regulars often firing at Continental Army sentries. Few were hit, but the shooting was relentless. One private, Sam Haws, reported that he was fired at by the “wicked enemy” just about every day that he worked as a sentry in August 1775. 10 Many of the nervous sentries, Greenwood said, bribed others