57 BAUMAN RARE BOOKS 62(AMERICAN REVOLUTION). Contemporary broadside describing the Battle of Bunker Hill. Boston, 1775. One broadside leaf (6 by 12 inches), custom chemise and half morocco slipcase. $21,000 “They Fought For Their King, Their Laws And Constitution”: Scarce Revolutionary Broadside Describing The Battle Of Bunker Hill From The British Perspective Scarce and important original 1775 broadside offering a Loyalist account of the Battle of Bunker Hill, printed a week after the fighting. The first major battle of the American Revolution, the Battle of Bunker Hill, saw the revolutionaries defeated; however, their “skill and tenacity reassured colonists everywhere that the Revolution would not be strangled in its cradle” (Oxford Companion to United States Military History). This contemporary broadside describes the conflict from a Loyalist perspective, praising the British victory. John Howe, the same Loyalist printer who published General Gage’s account of the events of April 19, 1775, printed and circulated this document. While it accurately describes the action, the casualty count it contains has been heavily embroidered by the British for propaganda purposes, emphasizing their troops’ fierce bravery and courage: “This Action has shown the bravery of the King’s Troops, who under every Disadvantage, gained a compleat Victory over Three Times their Number, strongly posted, and covered by Breastworks. But they fought for their King, their Laws and Constitution.” A fine broadside, rare and desirable.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDg3OTM=