"Halt, you
infernal cowards!" he yelled. "Halt here and make a stand. We can stop
them yet!" But he was overborne by the resistless stream, and with an
impious imprecation on his lips he dismounted, near a field-piece, "and
seemed resolved to brave the foe alone." One man only, a sergeant, took
his stand beside him, but he was soon shot down, and brave Old Put was
left without support. "The enemy's bayonets were just upon him when he
retired," probably the last unwounded warrior to retreat from Bunker
Hill!
CHAPTER XIII
HOLDING THE ENEMY AT BAY
The battle had been fought, and had resulted even better than the then
enraged Putnam himself could have anticipated, for although technically
defeated, the Provincials had achieved a real victory, the fruits of
which were to be enjoyed by generations then unborn. For they had
conquered themselves as well as the enemy, whom they had met with calm
confidence; and had they been better supplied with ammunition, that
enemy would never have seen the inside of the redoubt and the
breastworks.
British bayonets defeated them finally, as opposed to clubbed muskets
and stones cast by despairing men, whose very last thought was of
retreat.
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