It is so closely associated with the region with which this book is concerned, that I cannot but set it down in passing.
The story runs that it was a mistake in an order which sent General Knox of Silliman's Brigade to a small fort one mile from town (that is, about Grand Street), known as "Bunker's Hill"-- not to be confounded with the other and more famous "Bunker"! It happened to be a singularly unfortunate position.

There was neither food nor water in proper quantities, and the munitions were almost non-existent.

The enemy was on the island.
Whether Major Burr, of Putnam's division, was sent under some regular authority, or whether he characteristically had taken the matter into his own hands, the histories I have read do not tell.

But they do tell of his galloping up, breathless on a lathered horse, making the little force understand the danger of their position, pleading with his inimitable eloquence and advancing the reasons for their retreat at once.

The men were stubborn; they did not want to retreat.