Peabody Weekly News, April 1997

by S.M. Smoller

                PEABODY -  The annual parade of the Veterans of Foreign Wars will march through Peabody Square at 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 21st - four days after the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill.

                It is fitting that the parade will begin at the intersection of Washington and Foster streets which are both named for generals of the American Revolution.  Two months after commanding the Danvers Minute Men at the Battle of Lexington, two months later, he saw action at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

                Quartered at Brighton, then called Little Cambridge, on June 17, 1775, he was personally directed to conduct a load of ammunition to Bunker Hill and distribute it. It was the scarcity of ammunition that prompted Colonel William Prescott to encourage the soldiers at Bunker Hill to make each shot count by stating, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.”

                Foster and his group of men headed toward the hill with wagons filled with casks of gun powder and ammunition.  He met the Americans, who had “spend all their powder”  on their retreat near Charleston neck.  Foster distributed the gunpowder “loose from the casks” to the soldiers.

                J.W. Hanson in “The History of Danvers” reported that Gideon Foster reminisced about his role in the battle, saying that he delivered the gundpowder “freely with our hands and our dippers, to their horns, their pockets, their hats, and whatever else they had that would hold it.  I well remember the blackened appearance of those busy in this work,  - not unlike those engaged in the delivery of coal on a hot summer’s day.  At the same time, we were thus occupied, the enemy’s shot was constantly whistling by: but we had no time to examine their character or dimensions.  I have often thought what might have been our condition, had one of these hot shot unceremoniously come in contact with our wagons.”

                After retreating from Lexington in April,  the Americans caught word of a British plan to fortify Dorchester Heights and they decided to take  the peninsula first.  The patriots were instructed to establish defensive positions on Bunke6r’s Hill but for unknown reasons, they established themselves on nearby Breed’s Hill. The 10,000 patriots repelled two charges by the British but a final bayonet charge breached the breastwork and the patriots were forced to retreat.  Most of the American causalities were inflicted during the retreat.

                Although the battle was victorious for the British, almost half of the British soldiers were either killed or injured.  The battle became a rallying point for the colonists’ resistance against British rule.

                On their way to the Battle of Bunker Hill, the regiment commanded by Colonel Timothy Pickering passed through Danvers, stopping in front of the Bell Tavern at the intersection of Washington and Main Streets.

                The cornerstone of the Bunker Hill Monument was laid in 1825, on the fiftieth anniversary of the battle.  The 221 foot high monument was opened o the public in 1842.  The following year, the town of Danvers voted to provide expenses and a carriage to Major General Gideon Foster so he could attend the dedication services.

                Foster also played a role during the War of 1812, when he became the commander of a company of exempts nicknamed the “Ringbone Rangers” who were called on at a time when residents frequently spotted ships that were part of the large British squadron hovering of the coast.

                The “Ringbones” consisted of those who were either too old or who were past officers, andpresented “anything but a uniform appearance”.  They were described as Old Colonels and Majors, doctors, sheriffs, and school-masters.  Standing side by side, armed with muskets, rifles, fowling-pieces and King’s arms, “some were old, some were near-sighted, peering through their spectacles, some lean as a rake and some pot-bellied, making it extremely difficult to make a straight line. One gigantic man, who was unable to procure a gun, raved about it like a mad-man.  At last, he went back into a barn and came out with a very long handled pitchfork, with which he stepped into the ranks, holding it at shoulder arms.”

                Gen. Foster “repeatedly referred to the muskets as Firelock, as in the days of the Revolution.  Instead of ‘shoulder arms!’, he commanded the Exempts to ‘shoulder firelock’, which he would abbreviate to ‘hullock!’.”