[Extract]
Yesterday being dark and cloudy, General Putnam broke ground, with four hundred men, on Lechmere's Point, at ten o'clock in the morning. The mist was so great as to prevent the enemy from discovering what he was about, until twelve, when it cleared up, and opened to their view our whole party at the point, and another at the causeway, throwing a new bridge over the creek that forms the Island at high water. The Scarborough ship-of-war, which lay off the point, immediately poured in upon our men a broadside. The enemy, from Boston, threw many shells, and obliged us to decamp from the point, with two men badly wounded. The bridge, however, was ordered to be raised by the brave old General, and was completed last night. The garrison of Cobble-Hill were ordered to return the ship's fire, which they did, and soon obliged her to heave tight upon her springs, and to cease firing. But the battery in New-Boston kept up the fire of shells till twelve o'clock last night. Our party at the point renewed their work in the evening, and continued it all night. This morning at day-light, by a signal of two rockets from Boston, the Scarborough weighed anchor, and has left the point clear. She is now anchored at Charlestown ferry, out of harm's way. The work at the point is well secured, and will be completed this night.
The Scarborough's flight is a proof of the enemy's weakness, and of the strength of our two last posts, Cobble-Hill and Lechmere's Point.