The Battle of Bunker Hill

[Newsletter]

"The Battle of Bunker Hill"

By: AH1Tom

After the first shots of the Revolutionary War on April 19, 1775, local militias continued to gather in Massachusetts to hold the British forces in Boston. They are now about 20,000 strong.

By the end of May 1775, British reinforcements arrived to break the siege. This plan included seizing two of the heights outside of Boston: Dorchester Heights to the south and Charlestown Heights to the north. Leaders of the New England militia soon received word of this plan.

On the night of June 16th, the militia prepared to fortify Bunker Hill on 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.

As the sun rose, General Thomas Gage and his officers in Boston saw the newly built redoubt on Breed's Hill. Gage instructed General William Howe to lead British troops across the Charles River in an assault on the redoubt. Starting at first light, and lasting about two hours, the British Navy fired their cannons from their ships off the coast of Charlestown toward the redoubt.

The British forces faced many challenges as they sought to land at Charlestown and take Breed's and Bunker Hills. First, they had to wait until midday for the tide to rise so that their Navy could ferry roughly 2,400 troops across the Charles River to Charlestown. The British regulars next had to face Charlestown's swampy terrain, and an enemy already dug in. Additionally, the British Navy could not provide adequate cannon fire coverage to protect their soldiers in the field. The shallow waters and low tide prevented ships from getting a clear aim of the colonial position.

With the delays in the British troops' attack, additional colonial forces arrived. These reinforcements helped fill gaps in the colonial defenses. In anticipation of combat, colonial officers prepared their troops who lacked combat experience. Several officers planted stakes in the ground beyond their defenses to mark at what point their soldiers should fire upon the British Regulars.

Around 3:30 p.m., General Howe advanced his troops towards the colonial defenses. Some attacked the redoubt, breastwork, and rail fence. Another force moved along the beach on the Mystic River in an attempt to bypass the rail fence, flank the colonial defense, and attack the rear of the redoubt. Unknown to Howe, colonists barricaded the beach and stopped the British troops in their tracks.

The musket fire proved devastating when the advancing British came into range. The pasture that was supposed to be the avenue for a flanking attack became a field of slaughter. On the hill, fire from both the redoubt and from buildings at the edge of the abandoned settlement of Charlestown harassed the feint attack as well.

At one point Prescott ordered his men to cease fire. Uncertain whether the colonists had fled the redoubt, British units marched closer, only to receive another heavy volley of fire. Meanwhile, British gunners trained their cannons on the abandoned town and set the buildings ablaze with red-hot heated cannonballs to drive out skirmishers at the edge of town.

Howe was forced to order a withdrawal when all momentum was lost. After regrouping his forces and incorporating reinforcements, a final assault marched to the left of the redoubt rather than the right. As the British forces increased pressure upon the redoubt, men inside were exhausted and running desperately low on ammunition. As British soldiers and Marines mounted the walls, they engaged with bayonets in a bloody melee inside the redoubt. Any colonist able to flee ran as the British pursued. The British forces gave chase as far as the next hill—today's Bunker Hill. Survivors and forces that never engaged regrouped on the mainland on hills opposite Bunker Hill. Both sides awaited a counter-assault or follow-up attack. Neither came.

After two hours of combat, British troops casualties totaled 1,054. Colonial losses totaled an estimated 450 soldiers by comparison. When the smoke cleared, the town of Charlestown lay destroyed. Residents were forced to move or start their lives anew.

News of the battle helped unite the thirteen colonies. In the aftermath of the battle, George Washington was appointed by the Continental Congress to lead a new Continental Army in June 1775. General Washington assumed command of the colonial forces around Boston in July 1775. This army ultimately forced British troops to evacuate Boston in March 1776.


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The Battle of Bunker Hill by Howard Pyle, 1897

Image Credit: The Battle of Bunker Hill by Howard Pyle, 1897, published in Scribner's Magazine in February 1898. Public Domain