During the nighttime hours of June 17, 1775, cannon explosions
in the distance awoke John Quincy Adams and his mother Abigail. John Quincy was only eight years of age, the eldest son of John Adams, who was then a delegate in
Philadelphia at the Second Continental Congress. The night of terror with the British
troops attacking the Patriots on Bunker Hill in Boston seared memories of
terror in the young Adams child. Over 70 years later, he wrote about the
incident and that frightening time in their lives.
Abigail Adams |
He penned the recollections of his family’s expulsion from
Boston the year before, taking refuge in their Braintree farm. He described
Boston as a “walled and beleaguered town,” under the control of the British
under General Thomas Gage. For twelve months John Quincy, his mother and
siblings lived on their farm in the fear that Gage’s troops would invade the
homes in the countryside and butcher them “in cold blood.” With his father
gone, the burden on John Quincy must have seemed overwhelming.
And then on June 17, their fears were flamed anew with the
roar of guns and cannons in the distance:
“…on
the 17th. Of June lighted the fires of Charlestown -- I saw with my own eyes
those fires, and heard Britannia's thunders in the Battle of Bunker's hill and
witnessed the tears of my mother and mingled with them my own, at the fall of
Warren a dear friend of my father, and a beloved Physician to me. He had been
our family physician and surgeon, and had saved my fore finger from amputation
under a very bad fracture.” (Massachusetts Historical Society)
Dr. Joseph Warren was known to John Quincy as his family
physician. But to the Revolutionaries in Massachusetts, Warren had become a
major leader in the Patriot cause. According to Nathaniel Philbrick in Bunker
Hill:
“Over
the course of the two critical months between the outbreak of hostilities at
Lexington Green and the Battle of Bunker Hill, he (Warren) became the most
influential patriot leader in the province of Massachusetts…While his more
famous compatriots John Adams, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams were in
Philadelphia at the Second Continental Congress, Warren was orchestrating the
on-the-ground reality of a revolution.”
John Quincy Adams |
For John Quincy Adams, the Battle of Bunker Hill became a
personal loss, one from which he never seemed to completely recover. According
to Philbrick, “Even after John Quincy Adams had grown into adulthood and become
a public figure, he refused to attend all anniversary celebrations of the
Battle Of Bunker Hill.”
The memory must have been far too painful, even for a future
President of the United States.
Video from John Adams
* *
*
When I was a girl I walked up the 294 steps to the top of
the Bunker Hill Monument, the granite edifice that memorializes this famous
battle of the American Revolution. You can still visit the monument, but the
stairs are currently closed for repairs. For more information on the Bunker
Hill Museum, click here.
Admission is free.
Elaine Marie Cooper grew up in Massachusetts, visiting the sites where the American Revolution began. You can read her historical fiction about the opening days of that war in Fields of the Fatherless.
Very interesting post, Elaine.
ReplyDeleteYour Fields of the Fatherless made such an impression on me. So glad you you highlighted this significant event that has not gotten the recognition it deserves.
Thank you, Janet. It was one of those "hidden from the history books" stories that begged to be told. And yes, the sacrifices of so many warranted remembrance. Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteNice post! They were perilous times that birthed this nation. Good reminder.
ReplyDeleteThis country was birthed literally on the colonists doorsteps. A great personal sacrifice for so many. Thanks for stopping by, Pegg!
Delete