Page:Sketch of Connecticut, Forty Years Since.djvu/205

 animated, and collected. He was wounded in the foot, hut disregarded it till the action was over. Major Pitcairn, who was so active at Lexington, distinguished himself here. At the taking of the redoubt, he was one of the first to spring upon our breast-work. "The day is ours," he shouted with a clear, glad voice. He had scarcely closed his lips, ere a ball passed through his body. His son, Captain Pitcairn, a fine young man, caught him in his arms as he fell, and bore him to the boat, where he soon died.

"The enemy complained of the great proportion of valuable officers, who were that day fatally singled out by our marksmen. Ninety were among the slain and wounded; some of them the flower of their army and nobility. General Gage himself confessed a total loss of nearly eleven hundred. Among us, those who died upon the field of battle or soon after, amounted to about one hundred and thirty. More than twice that number were wounded. The whole of these, including prisoners, fell short of five hundred. We were defeated solely by the want of ammunition, and when we retired were obliged to leave several pieces of artillery behind us. It was a stirring time, Madam, and every thing was well enough, except our being obliged to retreat. I always wish to leave that out of the story."

"It was a retreat, my friend," she answered, "which produced the effect of a victory. This was a battle where the vanquished seemed to reap the harvest, and the victors to mourn. It might almost be styled the Thermopy-