The Battle of Bunker Hill was a major battle of the American Revolutionary War, occurring on 17 June 1775 during the Patriots' Siege of Boston. The British attempted to seize the heights outside of Boston in order to retain control over Boston Harbor, but the Patriots occupied Breed's Hill (having initially planned to occupy Bunker Hill, but become confused during the night) overlooking Charlestown. The Royal Navy bombarded Charlestown as the British Army launched several frontal assaults against the Patriot entrenchments on Breed's Hill, suffering heavy losses (40%, their highest casualty rate during the Revolution) before ultimately capturing the rebel positions. The Americans lost the hill, but they won a newfound confidence in their ability to stand up to the well-trained Redcoats; the British determined to never again attack the American entrenchments outside Boston, settling in for a siege.
Background[]
Bunker Hill was not the first time Boston had witnessed violence between rebels and the British. Boston had seen its fair share of conflict. After occupation by British forces in 1768, tensions escalated, culminating in the Boston massacre. In the wake of the Tea Act of 1773, its port was also the setting for colonial dissent in the Boston Tea Party. The British punishments that followed pushed the rebels to discuss training and readying their own militias. In the first battles of Lexington and Concord, local militiamen had defeated British regulars. Even then, war between Britain and the colonies was not considered inevitable.
History[]
The mob of militia that trudged into the rebel positions guarding Boston could hardly be called an army. Some of the men had received rudimentary military training, but there was little organization or discipline. Since few of these amateur soldiers thought they were signing up to fight an actual war, they had no reservations about leaving whenever they felt like it. Yet they had the invaluable advantage of good leaders: John Thomas of Massachusetts, Israel Putnam of Connecticut, John Stark of New Hampshire, and Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island. Above them was their commander in chief, Artemas Ward. Hardly an inspiring leader, Ward was nonetheless dedicated and patient, and without personal ambition. Thanks to Artemas Ward, and to Dr. Joseph Warren - the president of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress - the armed mob outside Boston gradually came to resemble an army. It lacked weapons and ammunition, and had virtually no artillery, but Ward, Warren, and the army's leaders at least kept the army well led and housed.
Best-laid plans[]
General Thomas Gage, the royal governor of Massachusetts, dared not to send another expedition into the countryside to search for arms. Britain could not afford another Concord. But within a month of that event, the British would have the advantage. Transports full of fresh, well-equipped Redcoats were already on the way from Britain and Ireland, and with them three new and aggressive generals: William Howe, Henry Clinton, and John Burgoyne. When their ships began to arrive at Boston in mid-May, British spirits soared and Gage resolved to take the war to the enemy.
Meanwhile, the rebels did their best to make life miserable for the British. In late May, militia led by generals Stark and Putnam raided Noddle's Island and Hog Island; the British response was confused and ineffective, and they lost a warship in the process. The events at Noddle's Island boosted colonial morale and humiliated the British, strengthening Gage's determination to crush the rebels. In mid-June 1775, Gage sat down with his generals to plan an offensive. Rebel forces, they knew, were concentrated in two places. The larger rebel army centered on Artemas Ward's headquarters at Cambridge, while a smaller force under John Thomas held onto Roxbury, at the base of Boston Neck. Weighing up their options, the British generals decided on an all-out assault on the weaker position at Roxbury. They could overrun Thomas' force, they reasoned, before Ward would be able to respond, and then the Redcoats could turn north and roll right over Ward's main army. Confident of success, they scheduled the attack for early morning on Sunday, 18 June 1775.
However, in Boston, the British could keep no secrets. Word of Gage's plan found its way to Ward's headquarters. To buy time and prevent the complete destruction of their army, General Ward and Dr. Warren took a desperate gamble. They decided to seize the high ground overlooking Charlestown, right across the Charles River from Boston itself. This, they hoped, would draw Gage's attention away from Roxbury and force the British to make battle on terms more favorable to the rebels.
Risky choice[]
On the night of 16 June, little more than a day before the British planned to attack Roxbury, Putnam and Patriot Colonel William Prescott - the officer chosen for the task - led a small force to Charlestown under cover of darkness. They had orders to fortify the largest rise on the Charlestown peninsula, known as Bunker Hill. After arriving on site, though, Prescott and Putnam changed their minds. They marched their men instead to a smaller height called Breed's Hill. Breed's was much closer to the British ships in the harbor and well within range of British guns. It would be harder to defend, but taking possession of the hill would be a challenge that Gage could not possibly ignore. From midnight to dawn, Prescott's men labored stealthily to dig a four-sided earthen fort atop Breed's. At daybreak, watchful British sentries realized the rebels' intentions. Soon British ships and shore batteries began to pound the exhausted rebels with incessant artillery fire.
Gage also responded promptly. Scrapping plans for a Roxbury assault, he approved General Howe's proposal: an immediate and direct assault on the rebels. Howe's plan was a solid one. While the British artillery kept up their bombardment, Howe would lead a force across the Charles River by boat. The center of his assault force would pin the rebel forces in front, and his right wing would roll up the rebel left. It took several hours for the British to gather boats for the new plan; during that time, the rebels strengthened their fortifications on Breed's Hill.
Hollow victory[]
The British attack on Bunker Hill
The British assault, conducted in the afternoon of 17 June, did not go according to plan. Howe's assault on the rebels' left flank faltered and fell apart. The rebel militia repulsed the British attack, inflicting heavy casualties, and the Redcoats withdrew after a botched attempt to renew the British assault. Howe, shocked by the extent of his losses, regrouped his army and sent it forward in a final push, focused on the Breed's Hill redoubt. In this attack, too, the British suffered severe casualties, but the Redcoats were determined. The colonial militiamen were running low on ammunition, and finally hte rebels gave way. Howe's badly bruised army drove the remaining rebels from the heights of Charlestown, which had been set alight in the fray. There, the Redcoats finally stopped - victorious but bloodied. British casualties - those killed, injured, or lost - numbered 1,000 men, or 40% of the force.
Aftermath[]
After events at Bunker Hill, few on either side thought the conflict could be settled by peaceful reconciliation. Bunker Hill had been a British victory, but it was purchased at a tremendous cost. The battle marked the end of Gage's career in America, and William Howe soon replaced him as senior British commander. In a last-ditch attempt at peace, in June 1775 the Second Continental Congress sent the Olive Branch Petition to King George III. At the same time, however, they sent a seemingly contradictory document: the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms. After Bunker Hill, Patriot forces settled down to mount a long-term Siege of Boston. The experience of battle, though, bolstered American confidence. They saw it as proof that militia could be equal or even superior to well-disciplined professionals; a belief that would later prove problematic for George Washington, in his quest to create a standing army.