The morning of Saturday June 17th dawned clear and warm at the Ellery family home in Charlestown, 麻萨诸塞州, where 20-year-old Relief Ellery and her widowed mother, 又名救济, had enjoyed their breakfast and were presumably having an ordinary day, albeit one where an occupying force could literally be seen on the horizon. 然后他们的世界天翻地覆.

Reacting to intelligence that the British planned to seize Dorchester and Charlestown in order to fortify the position of their troops occupying Boston, the 麻萨诸塞州 Provincial Congress had, 几天前, resolved to erect defenses on the hills of Charlestown. 6月16日晚, about 1200 colonial troops under William Prescott began to construct fortifications from which artillery could be shot into Boston at British positions. Although tasked with constructing these redoubts on Bunker Hill, the commanders decided to focus their efforts on Breed’s Hill, which was closer to Boston and thought easier to defend.

Their labors had not gone unnoticed by British sentries overnight and some British officers demanded that the invasion begin at dawn. Underestimating the ability and will of the American troops, 然而, British commanders did not hurry their attack, landing at Charlestown at about 2 in the afternoon and pausing for lunch while awaiting reinforcements. The fighting began in earnest about an hour later, with some British troops setting the town afire as others ascended the hill towards the waiting colonial forces. Twice the British troops advanced up the hill and were repulsed, 但是第三次尝试, with both sides running out of ammunition, the British finally defeated the outnumbered American troops who retreated toward Cambridge. 双方损失惨重, but the British troops sustained casualties of over 1000 dead and wounded, including nearly 100 commissioned officers.

谁是Relief Ellery?

Relief Ellery was born on 27 November 1755, the daughter of William and Relief (Barrow) Ellery who married in Charlestown, 1748年10月的马萨诸塞州. Relief Barrow was the daughter of George Barrow, 一位来自蒙茅斯郡的船长, 1748年在海上失踪的英国人, 以及波士顿的Relief Gill. William Ellery (1721-1759) was a descendant of the prominent Ellery family of Gloucester, 麻萨诸塞州, who were involved in maritime and mercantile pursuits. In 1787 Relief Ellery married Benjamin Vincent and had several children, all baptized at King’s Chapel in Boston. These teaspoons descended through her daughter Hannah Vincent who married 牧师. 詹姆斯·埃弗雷特. When Anna Sophia Tileston Everett (1825-1909), the daughter of 牧师. Everett’s brother Thomas, donated them to the Society, she provided the following story:

Miss Ellery resided with her mother in Charlestown at that time, and on the morning of that memorable day the servant handed her the spoons which had been used at breakfast, 在激动的时刻, 她立刻把钱放进口袋里. As the firing on the town increased, Mrs. Ellery was advised to leave the scene of the tumult, and with her daughter accordingly walked out toward the country, and found shelter in one of the neighboring towns. Of all their household goods no relic was left but the few spoons that were in Miss Ellery’s pocket …

约翰·艾伦是谁??

Silversmith John Allen was born in Boston in February 1671, the son of 牧师. James Allen and his second wife, Elizabeth (Houchin) Endicott. 牧师. James Allen had been a fellow of New College Oxford, but was ejected for non-conformity in 1662, 在那之后不久抵达波士顿. He served as Teaching Elder of the First Church in Boston from 1688 until his death in 1710. 大约在1685年, young John Allen was apprenticed to Jeremiah Dummer, one of New England’s best known silversmiths (and the brother of 牧师. 艾伦的第一任妻子), and was an active silversmith on his own and in partnership with John Edwards from about 1690 onward. 他的标记由首字母I组成.A. 在一颗颠倒的心.