A host of British officers, many of them bearing names
distinguished for valor and honorable lineage, went down before the
volleys of the Provincials, while the latter had also a sorrowful tale
to tell. Warren had fallen, one of the last to leave the redoubt; old
Pomeroy had his musket shattered, but drew off in good order, taking it
along with him for repairs; McClary was killed by a cannon-ball, while
boasting that the shot was not cast that would end his life; and so the
story went.
One of the strangest happenings was the end of Major Pitcairn, who had
ordered the first shots fired at Lexington, and who, one of the first
over the redoubt, was killed by a negro soldier named Salem, falling
into the arms of his son. It came about, some time after, that the
pistols he had carried at Lexington (which were taken from his holsters
when his horse was shot under him, and he lay on the ground feigning
himself dead) were presented to General Putnam. He carried them through
all his subsequent campaigns, and at present they may be found in the
custody of the Library at Lexington.
One field-piece only was saved out of six guns taken by the Provincials
into battle, and it was near the last one left in the field that the
enraged Putnam took his stand, between his retreating men and the
advancing foe, until "his countrymen were in momentary expectation of
seeing this compeer of the immortal Warren fall.
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