Bunker Hill dead may lie under gardens

Boston Globe ^ | March 8, 2009 | Brian MacQuarrie

[Pharmboy]

In Boston, history is always just below the surface. And in Charlestown, underneath a row of genteel gardens, in the middle of a teeming city, is believed to be a mass grave containing the bones of possibly dozens of British soldiers killed in one of the most important battles in American history.

The site, part of the sprawling Bunker Hill battlefield, has been pinpointed by a curator from Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia and a Charlestown historian who are confident they know where the bodies were buried - 15 feet underground in what had been a rebel-dug ditch that featured some of the day's most ferocious fighting.

Above ground, few residents on quaint, stately Concord Street appear to know they might be living atop a historic, makeshift grave.

"No wonder our plants grow so well," said Anne McMahon, when told that long-forgotten remains are believed to lie beneath her rose bushes.

"There could be a dozen or two dozen bodies there," said Erik Goldstein, a curator at Colonial Williamsburg who has studied the Bunker Hill battlefield extensively.

[Pharmboy]

Grenadiers were physically bigger infantrymen that arose during the 17th century. Their purpose was to throw grenades (crude explosives) during battle. However, they often wound up blowing themselves up and the grenades were dropped, but big, tougher front-line "grenadiers" continued into the 18th century nonetheless. The Brit and Hessian Grenadiers wore tall fur hats to make themselves look even bigger.

[nmh]

Read later.

Thanks for going to the trouble to post all this.

It’s really interesting.

[Pharmboy]

Hessian Grenadiers on the left in brass hats

A British Grenadier (the hat was bear fur)

RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington ping list (FreepMail me if you want to be on the list)

[gusopol3]

the city over-view ( I was confused for a minute) is from 1840’s, not 1775.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

BTTT

[Blogger]

bump for later.

[Pharmboy]

Sorry to bother you, but could you please remove the url in the source and place "Boston Globe" as the source.

Thanks...
Your Obdt. Svt.
P_____y

[Beowulf9]

I didn’t realize grenades went back to the 17th century! Thanks for posting this.

Wonder if the homes over this area have hauntings?

I’m glad for this country, but I have to say the Brits were a valiant fighting men.

[Pharmboy]

Sorry, but I was having a hard time getting Hessian Grenadiers to post. Here's a few renactors...

[AnAmericanMother]

The British Grenadiers (1790 version).

Played in a set with the original version of "Yankee Doodle" and another tune I'm not sure of (I'm not as familiar with Revolutionary War music as I ought to be - anybody recognize it?)

[Jack Hammer]

I’ve always found it highly ironic that if the British had simply occupied Charestown Neck, they could have cut off all food, water, and supplies to the colonials. With such a de facto siege, using the surrounding sea as a wall, they would have won the battle with few casualties or none. The only recourse left to the colonials would have been a frontal assault on the British line, or surrender.

The dumb British commander, after the fashion of the time, thought is “cowardly,” and preferred his own frontal assault - with corresponding losses.

[Pharmboy]

They had to LIGHT the grenade and THEN throw it...you can see why this tactic was relatively short-lived.

[Sparky1776]

Jeez, nice to know the Globe is finally catching up with history, I was taught this 40 years ago in elementary school.

[null and void]

I’m glad for this country, but I have to say the Brits were a valiant fighting men.

Indeed. IMHO, it would be appropriate to return the remains to their homeland, and where possible, their families.

[Beowulf9]

“Indeed. IMHO, it would be appropriate to return the remains to their homeland, and where possible, their families.”

That’s a nice thought, but they’d have to identify the bodies, if they do find them.

Yes, it’d be nice for them to go back home after so long on foreign soil.

[Beowulf9]

Whoa.

[Pharmboy]

Thanks for posting...I had never heard the 1790 version of The British Grenadiers. Excellent.

And, as you likely know, Yankee Doodle was originally a British tune that our boys co-opted. And "...called it macaroni" was a reference to a club in London where its members considered themselves quite fashionable, so "macaroni" was 18th talk for chic.

[AnAmericanMother]

Their brass hats don't fit.

I feel for 'em, I've been in theatrical costuming for years and oddball stuff like the old mitre hats will give you fits.

[Pharmboy]

You are correct, sir. American sharpshooters always went after Brit and Hessian officers, and the Brits lost an incredible number of officers that day. It was an empty victory for them.

However, Bunker Hill set the Americans up for the devastating loss at the Battle of Brooklyn the next year: the Yanks thought that they could meet the Euros as equals on the field of battle, but (at that time) they were no match for the trained troops. At Bunker Hill they dug in, and lasted much longer; at Brooklyn, they faced them in the field.

[AnAmericanMother]

The "Macaroni" was also an early species of rather effeminate dandy that infested London in the mid-eighteenth century. They were called "Macaronis" because they blended the Italian and English styles of dress to very ill effect (interestingly, a "macaronic carol" is sung partly in Latin and partly in the vulgar tongue - like "In dulci jubilo" which is Latin/German in the original but sung in Latin/English in the U.S.)

The Macaronis were mostly known for their skin-tight breeches (that the Regency Bucks of the 1810s later adopted), outrageous color combinations (especially their waistcoats), and VERY silly wigs:

I think we're well shed of them!