Battle of Bunker Hill

The Battle of Bunker Hill stands as one of the most consequential military engagements ever fought on Massachusetts soil. Also called the Battle of Breed's Hill, it was the first major battle of the American Revolution, fought on June 17, 1775, in Charlestown during the Siege of Boston. Though a British victory in strictly tactical terms, it was a Pyrrhic victory with heavy casualties, which encouraged the revolutionary cause. The battle forever shaped the character of Boston and the surrounding region, transforming a colonial port city into the cradle of American independence.

Background and the Siege of Boston

The Battle of Bunker Hill took place about two months after the Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775), by which time more than 15,000 colonial troops had assembled in the vicinity of Boston to confront the British army of 5,000 or more stationed there. The standoff had created a dangerous stalemate. The Charlestown peninsula and Dorchester Heights, commanding both the city of Boston and Boston Harbor, lay abandoned. Hoping to make the British "masters of these heights," General Thomas Gage, in conference with Major Generals William Howe, Henry Clinton, and John Burgoyne, planned to seize the neglected positions before the colonists could do so.

As early as May 12 the Massachusetts Committee of Public Safety had recommended fortifying Bunker's Hill, but nothing had come of the proposal. By the middle of June, upon hearing that Gage was about to occupy this hill, the committee and a council of war among the higher officers of the besieging forces decided to act.

News of Gage's intent filtered across from Boston and down from New Hampshire on June 15. Acting quickly on this intelligence, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety ordered General Artemas Ward, commander of the colonial militia surrounding Boston, to race the British to the Charlestown peninsula, capture Bunker Hill, and then seize the Dorchester hills. The following day, Ward ordered Colonel William Prescott, with the aid of one thousand colonial troops, to take and fortify Bunker Hill.

The Night of June 16 and the Fortification of Breed's Hill

On the night of June 16, the militia prepared to fortify Bunker Hill on the Charlestown Heights. Around midnight, hundreds of colonial soldiers used pickaxes and shovels to construct an earthen fort, or redoubt, atop Breed's Hill, a hill southeast of Bunker Hill. These troops also reinforced a New England-style fence of stone and double wooden rails that ran north from the hill towards the Mystic River. Their leaders, Colonel William Prescott, General Israel Putnam, and Colonel Richard Gridley, instructed them on how to build the defenses.

Prescott and other officers ultimately decided to bypass Bunker Hill, rising 110 feet and situated near the only route back to Cambridge, and instead gave "orders to march" to Breed's Hill, a smaller mount further south and within cannon range of Boston and British ships in the harbor. This decision — whether deliberate or the result of confused orders — placed the colonial fortifications in a far more provocative position than originally planned. A detachment of 1,000 Massachusetts and Connecticut soldiers gathered to defend the hill in Charlestown. Among the defenders were several enslaved and free African Americans as well.

As the sun rose, General Thomas Gage and his officers in Boston saw the newly built redoubt on Breed's Hill. Around 9:00 a.m. they met to decide on a plan of action. Gage instructed General William Howe to lead British troops across the Charles River in an assault on the redoubt.

The Battle: Three Assaults on the Redoubt

At three o'clock in the afternoon, over 2,000 British soldiers, commanded by General Howe and wearing flashing red coats, landed on the Charlestown shore. The battle between the forces of the British Crown and those of New England lasted around two hours.

On June 17, some 2,200 British forces under the command of Major General William Howe and Brigadier General Robert Pigot landed on the Charlestown Peninsula, then marched to Breed's Hill. As the British Army advanced in columns against the Americans, Prescott, in an effort to conserve the Americans' limited supply of ammunition, reportedly told his men, "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!" Popular history attributes this restraint to a command that the colonials not shoot at the advancing redcoats "until you see the whites of their eyes," but this is almost certainly apocryphal.

When the Redcoats were within several dozen yards, the Americans let loose with a lethal barrage of musket fire, throwing the British into retreat. After re-forming their lines, the British attacked again, with much the same result. Prescott's men were now low on ammunition, though, and when the Redcoats went up the hill for a third time, they reached the redoubts and engaged the Americans in hand-to-hand combat.

The colonial forces were running low on powder and ammunition, and the colonial regiments suffered from a hemorrhage of deserters. By the time the third attack came, there were only 700–800 men left on Breed's Hill, with only 150 in the redoubt. Clinton, with his commander's approval, crossed over, rallied the remnants of the first two attacks, and was able to support the third attack which overwhelmed the American defenses and took the position.

Key Figures and Casualties

Colonel William Prescott commanded about 800 Massachusetts and 200 Connecticut troops during the battle. The death toll on both sides was severe. By the end of the engagement, Patriot gunfire had cut down some 1,000 enemy troops, with more than 200 killed and more than 800 wounded. More than 100 Americans perished, while more than 300 others were wounded. The British suffered 1,054 casualties, including 89 officers, killed or wounded.

A serious loss to the Patriot cause was the death of Joseph Warren. He was the President of Massachusetts' Provincial Congress, and he had been appointed a Major General on June 14. His commission had not yet taken effect when he served as a volunteer private three days later at Bunker Hill. Warren was an American doctor and prominent member of many political groups, including the Masons and the Sons of Liberty. He rose to prominence with his Boston Massacre Day orations in 1772 and 1775. He later served as President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and penned the Suffolk Resolves, resolutions later adopted by the First Continental Congress.

On December 5, 1775, thirteen colonial officers — including William Prescott, commander at Breed's Hill — sent a petition to the Massachusetts General Court asking for recognition for "A Negro Man called Salem Poor" who "in the late Battle of Charlestown, behaved like an Experienced officer, as Well as an Excellent Soldier." The identities and contributions of African American soldiers, both enslaved and free, who fought at Bunker Hill remain subjects of ongoing historical study.

Aftermath and Strategic Significance

The American patriots were defeated at the Battle of Bunker Hill, but they proved they could hold their own against the superior British Army. The fierce fight confirmed that any reconciliation between England and her American colonies was no longer possible.

Despite renewed British control of the peninsula, colonial forces still trapped the British in Boston. As supply issues and shortages plagued them, the British prepared for further military commitment. Meanwhile, the colonies scrambled to assemble more soldiers. Britain replaced General Gage with General Howe in early October 1775, and two weeks after the battle at Breed's Hill, on July 2, 1775, George Washington arrived in Cambridge to take command of the Continental Army.

The engagement proved to be the only major battle of the prolonged siege of Boston, which lasted until March 17, 1776, when the British were finally forced to evacuate the city. The battle of Bunker Hill showed the British that they were in for a fight, and showed the American Congress that American militia, properly led and trained, would be a match for the regulars.

On July 5, the Continental Congress adopted the "Olive Branch Petition," a formal appeal to King George III that expressed hope for reconciliation between the thirteen colonies and Great Britain despite the fighting at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. Many delegates, as well as many Americans, sought to avoid a permanent break. The petition explained the colonists had only taken up arms to resist enforcement of unjust policies. The petition was rejected by the British government, and the King issued a Proclamation of Rebellion, which essentially declared war on his rebellious American subjects.

The Bunker Hill Monument and Legacy

The first monument on Breed's Hill, installed in 1794, was a wooden pillar dedicated to Doctor Joseph Warren. It was later decided to install a more permanent memorial. On June 17, 1825 — 50 years after the Battle of Bunker Hill — the cornerstone was laid for the Bunker Hill Monument. In attendance were some 40 veterans from the original battle, and another 190 from the Revolutionary War. The ceremony was led by General Marquis de Lafayette and statesman Daniel Webster.

The completed Bunker Hill Monument — a 221-foot-tall granite obelisk — was erected in 1843 as a memorial to those who died in the Battle of Bunker Hill. The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge was specifically designed to evoke this monument.

The National Park Service operates a museum dedicated to the battle near the monument, which is part of the Boston National Historical Park. A cyclorama of the battle was added in 2007 when the museum was renovated. Every year, community members and the general public gather at the Bunker Hill Monument to remember the events of June 17, 1775. The granite obelisk marks the site of the battle known as "The Battle of Bunker Hill."

The battle's name has outlasted historical accuracy. While named after the highest hill in the area, Bunker Hill, the battle took place on Breed's Hill, the hill situated closest to the Charles River. The confusion dates back to the engagement itself, and the misnomer has endured for over 250 years, embedded in the street names, institutions, and cultural identity of the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston.

Today, Bunker Hill Day is observed as a legal holiday in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, commemorating the sacrifice of the colonial soldiers who stood their ground on the slopes of Breed's Hill in June 1775 — a moment that helped forge the American national identity.