We'll not turn tail and run as the lobster backs
did; but go out of here like men, if so be we may."

It was no longer a battle. There were no armies contending; but it had
become a fight of the rabble, where each man was striving to defend
himself or deal death as best he might, and at such close quarters that
those of the Britishers nearest us had no opportunity to reload their
weapons. Therefore, save for the fact of having bayonets, they were in
little better condition than were we.

We who called ourselves part of the American army were much like a
handful of rats surrounded by a pack of dogs, save that there was in our
hearts the satisfaction of knowing we had twice bested these same
soldiers who were fighting for money alone, and would have beaten them
back the third time but for the misfortune of not having the wherewithal
to deal out death as we had done before.

How we succeeded in getting out of the redoubt I cannot well say. In a
street brawl where forty or fifty men are engaged, those in the thickest
of the fight have no idea of what may be going on around them, and so it
was with me. We Minute Boys remained in a solid body so far as was
possible, aiding each other whenever the opportunity came to ward off a
blow from a comrade's head, or striking down with musket or stone a
Britisher who was about to thrust his bayonet into a companion's heart.

I only know distinctly that when what was left of our company succeeded
in fighting their way backward out of the redoubt, Colonel Prescott and
Doctor Warren were yet facing the Britishers as if it was their purpose
to be the last to leave this poor fortification, and immediately we were
come into the open where the lobster backs could use their bayonets to
greater advantage, it was a case of depending upon our legs entirely,
for the red-coats strove mercilessly to cut us to pieces.

Our people were doing their best to gain Bunker hill, where were four or
five hundred men of the American army striving bravely to cover our
retreat by pouring a heavy fire into the red-coated ranks, and save for
this aid we had never lived to gain Charlestown Neck.

After we had turned to run, and I did not do so until Hiram Griffin
demanded fiercely that I must in order to save my life, I heard some one
shout that Doctor Warren had been killed, and during two or three
minutes, mayhap, even while I was putting forth my best efforts at
running, did it seem as if it mattered little