Sep 15, 2011 - Sale 2253

Sale 2253 - Lot 54

Unsold
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
UNRECORDED BRITISH BROADSIDE ON BUNKER HILL (AMERICAN REVOLUTION--1775.) Account of a Battle Fought in America, on the 17th of June, 1775. Letterpress broadside, 11 3/4 x 6 1/2 inches; tightly trimmed, with marginal loss affecting a few letters including title, worn at one fold, contemporary inked notations, early 20th century silked backing; matted and tipped into a vellum cover with related letter from Clarence Brigham of the American Antiquarian Society laid down. [London, 1775?]
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Additional Details

Presents the report of colonial governor Thomas Gage, which was written eight days after the Battle of Bunker Hill, and which arrived in England a month after that. Gage depicts a heroic British victory against overwhelming odds, describing "the Rebels Strength, and the large Columns seen pouring in to their Assistance" and praising his men's steadiness "under a heavy Fire from the vast Numbers of the Rebels." Gage's report is followed by a summary of the hundreds of British casualties by regiment. A contemporary hand has added at bottom "total killed 219." The news in this report was so distressing to the British leadership that an order removing Gage from his command was issued almost immediately.
This text appeared in the London Gazette of 25 July 1775, and was soon reprinted in several other British publications, but no broadside printings are otherwise known.