Two Negro soldiers especially distinguished themselves, and rendered the cause of the colonists great service.  Major Pitcairn was a gallant officer of the British marines.  He led the charge against the redoubt, crying exultingly, “The day is ours!” His sudden appearance and his commanding air at first startled the men immediately before him.  They neither answered nor fired, probably not being exactly certain what was next to be done.  At this critical moment, a Negro soldier stepped forward, and, aiming his musket directly at the major’s bosom, blew him through.[579] Who was this intrepid black soldier, who at a critical moment stepped to the front, and with certain aim brought down the incarnate enemy of the colonists?  What was his name, and whence came he to battle?  His name was Peter Salem, a private in Col Nixon’s regiment of the Continental Army.

“He was born in Framingham [Massachusetts], and was held as a slave, probably until he joined the army:  whereby, if not before, he became free. ...  Peter served faithfully as a soldier, during the war."[580]

Perhaps Salem was then a slave:  probably he thought of the chains and stripes from whence he had come, of the liberty to be purchased in the ordeals of war, and felt it his duty to show himself worthy of his position as an American soldier.  He proved that his shots were as effective as those of a white soldier, and that he was not wanting in any of the elements that go to make up the valiant soldier.  Significant indeed that a Negro was the first to open the hostilities between Great Britain and the colonies,—­the first to pour out his blood as a precious libation on the altar of a people’s rights; and that here, at Bunker Hill, when the crimson and fiery tide of battle seemed to be running hard against the small band of colonists, a Negro soldier’s steady musket brought down the haughty form of the arch-rebel, and turned victory to the weak!  England had loaded the African with chains, and doomed him to perpetual bondage in the North-American colonies; and when she came to forge political chains, in the flames of fratricidal war, for an English-speaking people, the Negro, whom she had grievously wronged, was first to meet her soldiers, and welcome them to a hospitable grave.

Bunker-hill Monument has a charm for loyal Americans; and the Negro, too, may gaze upon its enduring magnificence.  It commemorates the deeds, not of any particular soldier, but all who stood true to the principles of equal rights and free government on that memorable “17th of June.”

“No name adorns the shaft; but ages hence, though our alphabets may become as obscure as those which cover the monuments, of Nineveh and Babylon, its uninscribed surface (on which monarchs might be proud to engrave their titles) will perpetuate the memory of the 17th of June.  It is the monument of the day, of the event, of the battle of Bunker Hill; of all the brave