Battle of Bunker Hill

11 Key excerpts on "Battle of Bunker Hill"

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  The Life of Washington

  • Mason L. Weems(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Chapter IX

         

  Battle of Bunker’s-hill—of Sullivan’s Island—Declaration of Independence—Defeat of the Americans on Long-Island—Howe looks big—times squally —And fame of Bunker’s hill endure, Till time itself shall be no more.

  THIS hill of fame still lifts his yellow brow, half hid in sedge, on the plain of Charlestown —a lovely port north of Boston, to which it is united by an elegant bridge. To confine the British as closely as possible to Boston, the American generals, on the night of June 16, dispatched 1500 men to throw up an entrenchment on Bunker’s-hill. The party did not begin their work till about 12 o’clock; but pushed it with such spirit, that, by day-break, they had surrounded themselves with a tolerably decent ditch—without embrasures indeed, because they had no cannon to stare through them; nor even a bayonet to bristle over its ridges.

  Soon as the rosy morn appeared, they were discovered by the British men of war, which quickly saluted them with their great guns and mortars. But regardless of shells and shot, the dauntless Yankees still drank their Switchel * and plied their work.

  Finding that his ships of war, with all their thunders, had not been able to dislodge them: Gage ordered to their aid 3000 men with a train of artillery, under command of Generals Howe and Pigot. By twelve o’clock they were all safely landed on the Charlestown side, near Bunker’s-hill, the destined place of storm. An interesting scene is now about to open—for not only the British and American armies from the neighbouring heights, are eagerly looking on, but all the surrounding country, timely alarmed, are running together, in terror, to behold the coming fight. Among the crowding spectators are seen thousands of tender females, with panting bosoms and watery eyes, fixed upon the fields below, anxiously waiting the fate of their Brothers, Fathers, and Husbands. After a hurried moment spent in forming, the British troops began to advance in heavy columns, with all the martial pomp of flying colours and rattling drums. At the same time, by order of Gage, the beautiful port of Charlestown, of 300 fine buildings, with a tall steepled church, was wrapped in flames, roaring like distant thunder, and tost on eddying winds in fiery billows to the clouds—while far and wide the adjoining plains are covered with British soldiers in crimson regimentals and shining arms, moving on to the attack with incessant discharges of muskets and great guns. Close, on the brow of the hill, appears the little fort, dimly seen through smoke, and waved over by one solitary flag, and very unlike to stand the shock of so powerful an armament. But the Americans are all wound up to the height of Liberty’s enthusiasm; and, lying close behind their works, with fowling-pieces loaded with ball and buck-shot, wait impatiently for the approaching enemy. Their brave countrymen, Putnam and Warren, are in the fort, constantly reminding them of that glorious inheritance, Liberty, which they received from their gallant fathers; and now owe to their own dear children.—“Don’t throw away a single shot, my brave fellows,” said old Putnam, “don’t throw away a single shot, but take good aim; nor touch a trigger, till you can see the whites of their eyes.”

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  The American Revolutionary War and The War of 1812

  People, Politics, and Power

  • Britannica Educational Publishing, Jeff Wallenfeldt(Authors)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Britannica Educational Publishing

    (Publisher)

  If the British had followed this victory with an attack on Dorchester Heights to the south of Boston, it might have been worth the heavy cost. But, presumably because of their severe losses and the fighting spirit displayed by the rebels, the British commanders abandoned or indefinitely postponed such a plan. Consequently, after Gen. George Washington took colonial command two weeks later, enough heavy guns and ammunition had been collected that he was able in March 1776 to seize and fortify Dorchester Heights and compel the British to evacuate Boston and the harbour. Also, the heavy losses inflicted on the British in the Battle of Bunker Hill bolstered the Americans’ confidence and showed that the relatively inexperienced colonists could indeed fight on par with the mighty redcoats of the British army. The encounter is primarily remembered as the Battle of Bunker Hill, but because most of the fighting took place on Breed’s Hill, it is also known as the Battle of Breed’s Hill, and it is Breed’s Hill that is the site of the Bunker Hill Monument, a 221-foot (67-metre) granite obelisk that commemorates the conflict.

  BATTLE OF TICONDEROGA

  Held by the British since 1759, Fort Ticonderoga (in New York) was overrun on the morning of May 10, 1775, in a surprise attack by the Green Mountain Boys under Ethan Allen, assisted by Benedict Arnold. The artillery seized in the Battle of Ticonderoga was moved to Boston by Henry Knox for use against the British.

  SIEGE OF BOSTON

  After the Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775), American militiamen besieged the British-held city of Boston from April 1775 to March 1776. By June 1775, 15,000 raw, undisciplined, ill-equipped colonials—by then called the Continental Army—surrounded a force of 6,500 British regulars commanded by Gen. Thomas Gage.

  After the Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775), Gen. George Washington assumed command of American forces, while, in October of that year, Gen.William Howe succeeded Gage as British commander. Fighting remained stalemated for months, with both sides hesitant to attack. Finally, on March 4, 1776, Washington seized Dorchester Heights and trained his cannon—newly arrived from Fort Ticonderoga—on the city and harbour. Howe was forced to evacuate Boston by ship (March 17), and the siege ended.

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  Patriots

  • A. J. Langguth(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Simon & Schuster

    (Publisher)

  Boston and the Battle of Bunker Hill THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY Passage contains an image

  Bunker Hill

  1775

  MAJOR GENERAL Henry Clinton was out reconnoitering for the British on the night of June 16, 1775, when he heard stirring on a hill overlooking Boston. Short and plump, somewhat fussy but well regarded in the king’s army, Clinton was one of three major generals who had arrived less than three weeks earlier to shore up General Gage’s command. Their orders had been signed long before Lexington, and the three—Clinton, William Howe and John Burgoyne—landed in America full of contempt for Gage’s performance. When General Burgoyne was told that there were about five thousand British soldiers stationed in Boston, he had made a joke that circulated widely among both the loyalists and the patriots.

  “What!” Burgoyne had jeered. “Ten thousand peasants keep five thousand king’s troops shut up? Well, let us get in, and we’ll soon find elbow room!”

  The logical place to make that room was on the three crucial hills around Boston—Dorchester Heights, Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill, which looked down upon Charlestown’s peninsula. The Americans could entrench themselves there and then fire down on the ships in the harbor or on the town itself. General Gage had been advised to secure one or all of the hills but had chosen instead to keep his men in Boston. With some accuracy, Lord Chatham had described Gage and his men to Parliament as “an impotent general and a dishonored army, trusting solely to the pickaxe and the spade for security against the just indignation of an injured and insulted people.”

  On this night, General Clinton heard the sound of pickaxes and spades from one of the hills above Charlestown and knew they didn’t come from the British. Clinton rushed back to headquarters and urged Gage to land two divisions on the hills at daybreak. William Howe was also present and instantly agreed, although he was as torn as Gage in his allegiances. A large and florid man of forty-six, Howe had recently stood for Parliament as a Whig and had assured his constituents that he would never fight against the Americans. But when the king ordered him to Boston, Howe couldn’t refuse. He had another incentive: as a dedicated gambler, he needed active-duty pay to clear his debts.

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  Voices of the American Revolution

  Stories of Men, Women, and Children Who Forged Our Nation

  • Kendall Haven(Author)
  • 2000(Publication Date)
  • Libraries Unlimited

    (Publisher)

  They had ex- pected the untrained rabble to break and mn on the first advance. It was terrifying to leam that the American volunteers (who outnumbered the British army in Boston three to one) would—and could—stand rock-solid and destroy a trained British force. Bun- ker Hill made the British very cautious and fearful of American attack. General Gage never again dared to venture outside of Boston. Patriot forces were rousingly encouraged by the battle. They had fought and sur- vived, and they hadn't been routed or destroyed. This "success" led to the Canada Ex- pedition of late 1775 and kept a steady stream of new recruits pouring in. Patriot forces would never again feel totally terrified about facing British regulars. Follow-up Questions and Activities 1. What Do You Know? • How did British forces differ from American Patriot forces at the beginning of the war? • What were the Patriots trying to do when they built a stronghold on Breeds Hill? • Why could the Patriots claim to have won the Battle of Bunker Hill? Why could the British claim victory? 2. Finding Out More. Following are three important topics from this story for you to research in the library and on the Internet. The reference sources at the back of this book will help you get started. • How many Patriots died during the Battle of Bunker Hill? How many were wounded? How many British were killed? What percentage of each force was killed or wounded? Compare these numbers with the losses at the battles of Saratoga, Germantown, Monmouth, Cowpens, and Yorktown. Where were the losses the greatest? • Colonel Prescott of Massachusetts and General Israel Putman (Old Put) of Connecticut commanded the Americans during the Battle of Bunker Hill. Where did they come from? Find out the history of these two men. What mili- tary service had they performed before the Revolution? What did they do dur- ing the rest of the war? • Robert Ballard was 12 and was allowed to be in the trenches during the Battle of Bunker Hill.

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  Sealed with Blood

  War, Sacrifice, and Memory in Revolutionary America

  • Sarah J. Purcell(Author)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • University of Pennsylvania Press

    (Publisher)

  God only knows whose fate it will be to fall. But Shreve reassured his wife, I have a great Desire once, more to Return, But knowing I owe my service to my Country am Determined to Defend our Rights and privaleges so just, with all my [p]owers. 12 Shreve did not want to die, but he was willing to risk his life for patriotic politics. Perhaps Shreve was just the kind of soldier for whom Daniel George had designed his portable account of Joseph Warren's glorious martyrdom. Carrying the martyr's image allowed fighting men to see Revolutionary values compressed into the form of an inspirational hero. There were many ugly ways to die in the Revolutionary War, all of them inglorious in their reality. Just one example will illustrate the brutality, a bru-tality to which Americans were not accustomed. The Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775, during which Warren himself was struck down, was the first full-scale battle of the war, and though it was less severe than much of the fighting later in the war, both the Americans who had fortified Breed's Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and the waves of British redcoats who streamed up the hill to displace them faced dire consequences. The American forces lost 140 men, and the British lost 226. Eight hundred twenty six British soldiers and 271 American militiamen were wounded in the battle. But these num-bers can only begin to describe the horror of death among the smoke and intense heat on Breed's Hill. As line after line of redcoats charged up the hill carrying heavy packs, they were picked off by musket and artillery fire that littered the hill with bodies and induced mass confusion. When Howe's troops finally mounted the hill and stormed their opponents' redoubt, they charge d with bayonets and stabbed to death thirty Americans who were wielding their muskets as clubs. One British officer, who was well accustomed to battle, wrote several weeks later: the shocking carnage that day never will be out

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  The Indispensables

  The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware

  • Patrick K. O'Donnell(Author)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Atlantic Monthly Press

    (Publisher)

  C HAPTER 18 B UNKER H ILL Elbridge Gerry watched with mounting horror as his roommate and friend, Doctor Joseph Warren, methodically laid out his best clothes, cleaned his musket, and sharpened his sword. President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and recently commissioned as a major general in the Massachusetts militia, Warren led the community of Patriot sympathizers in Boston. He intended to join the provincial troops amassing on Bunker Hill for the expected battle with the British. On the morning of June 17, Gerry pleaded with Warren, reminding him of his importance to the cause and warning him that the fight was likely to be a bloodbath. “We [have] not powder sufficient to maintain the desperate conflict which must ensue,” Gerry said, “and should all be cut to pieces.” “I know it,” Warren replied. “But I … should die were I to remain at home while my fellow citizens are shedding their blood for me.” “As sure as you go, you will be slain,” Gerry warned. Warren responded with a familiar Latin phrase: “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.” (“It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.”) 1 In the late eighteenth century, the land around Boston, especially the area where the Battle of Bunker Hill took place, looked quite different from the way it does today. In the eighteenth century, open ground sprawled across hills. A little more than three miles east of Hastings House in Cambridge, where Warren prepared for battle, Bunker Hill sat on the Charlestown peninsula, to the north of Boston. a The summit was only 110 feet high but was the highest point on the peninsula. To the north, the Mystic River flowed past, and the Charles River lay to the south and east. A narrow strip of land, known as the Charlestown Neck, connected the western side to the mainland. Bunker Hill was on the west side, fairly close to the neck, and it was the original military objective for both the provincials and the British

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  History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts

  • Samuel Adams Drake(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Jazzybee Verlag

    (Publisher)

  As the peninsula enlarges in proportion as you advance from the neck, Bunker Hill is of course situated in the narrowest part, while Breed's is in the center of the broadest. The first hill rises one hundred and ten, the second seventy-five feet above the rivers at their shores. This, of itself, is enough to instruct the unmilitary reader as to the relative strategic value of the two summits. In reality, Bunker Hill not only effectually blocked the way into or out of Charlestown, but it also commanded the neighboring summit. It was therefore, in every sense, the key to the peninsula.

  In approaching Charlestown by Charles River Bridge, on arriving in view, you see at the right a monument, gray, massive, austere, shooting high above the roofs and even the steeples in its neighborhood; but as only two thirds of its height are visible, you have no idea that it is situated on an elevation. In fact, the elevation is inconsiderable, though it cost four or five hundred lives to scale it on the 17th of June 1775. Considerably farther to the right is the United States Dockyard, with its mammoth buildings and its big warships.

  The monument stands on the plateau of Breed's Hill, and on the spot where Prescott built the redoubt. It is one of the pillars of regenerated America. The dockyard occupies the ground from which General Howe thrice advanced to storm the plateau. History has, however, very properly entitled the action the Battle of Bunker Hill, from the highest elevation of the range which the battle embraced.

  Turning now your back to Charlestown, you have the northern section of Boston before you.

  High above the buildings is a clump of foliage; behind that springs a brown spire, sharp and pointed as a lance. The trees rise above the ancient cemetery of Copp's Hill; the steeple is that of Christ Church. The bridge on which we stand traverses the old ferry-way, where the ships of war lay and cannonaded the Americans. To command it, and the then village of Charlestown, the British had established a field-battery in the cemetery and a frigate in the stream. The church-belfry, already famous, is the reported station to which Gage, the British generalissimo, ascended alone in order to witness the victory of his troops, and from which he descended silent, abstracted, gloomy, when it was won. We are now ready to proceed.

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  Ten Great Events in History

  • (Author)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • The Floating Press

    (Publisher)

  It was resolved to take a new position threatening the town and the shipping in the port. The place selected was the highland on the Charlestown peninsula known as Bunker Hill, and the time fixed upon for the enterprise the night of June 16th. Eight hundred men armed with shovels and picks assembled at six o'clock. The movement was known to be a perilous one, and every man felt that he took his life in his hand. President Langdon, of Harvard College, 317 offered prayer with the ancient Puritan fervor. Colonel Prescott took command of the military operations and Colonel Gridley conducted the engineering. In early evening they set out. The march was in profound silence. With suppressed breathing and stealthy tread they made their way—an army of ghosts entering the land of shadows. But the grim faces of the officers and the clinched hands of the men showed more than ghostly purpose. About midnight the march ceased. Clear in the starlight they could see British ship and camp, and could hear the sentinel proclaim, All is well. A redoubt eight rods square was laid out, and these eight hundred husbandmen bent their seasoned muscles to the work. The embankment grew up in the darkness, and at day-break its six feet of height amply protected the workers within. In the American camp all was excitement and expectation. Supporting parties were organized, supplies hurried up, and means for re-enforcement and retreat provided. It was now that the fatal weakness of the patriot organization was made manifest. Different leaders had notions inconsistent with each other, and divided councils led to indecisive action. The brunt of the coming engagement was left to one tenth of the patriot forces. Scarred veterans scented the battle from afar, and hastened to the front to share the danger and the glory. 318 With no command, officers were content to act as volunteers and handle muskets.

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  Howard Fast

  A Critical Companion

  • Andrew F. Macdonald(Author)
  • 1996(Publication Date)
  • Greenwood

    (Publisher)

  From this high ground, cannon captured from the British at Fort Ticon- deroga could command the harbor and drive out the British navy, re- turning Boston to its citizenry. They build a redoubt, or small fortress, near the top of Breed's Hill, and raise an earth and stone entrenchment down to the Mystic River—both provocative actions. The alternative would be to continue the siege in the hope that enough troops would remain to deter the British; however, it is hay-cutting time, and even the American farmers who did not return home would still face the problem of diminishing food and supplies. Most of the population of Boston is camping out in the surrounding towns, and Feversham sleeps on the floor with dozens of others. From the British perspective, the military problem is complicated by ignorance of American strength and intentions. The humiliation suffered at Lexington and Concord requires a forceful response, but the limited number of troops Howe has available creates the possibility of another embarrassing defeat if the Americans do indeed stand and fight. Howe originally planned to push the rebels off Breed's and Bunker Hills on June 18 but instead orders an attack on the afternoon of the seventeenth when a British ship begins to shell the redoubt on its own initiative. Seven Days in June 153 The next sections are also titled "June 17," but each has a time at- tached. "9:00 A.M." describes the American uncertainty over whether the redoubt will be an easily flanked death trap and American leader Arte- mus Ward's cowardice or treachery in refusing to reinforce the weakly defended entrenchment position. Howe is still obsessed with Mrs. Lor- ing. In "June 17, 11:00 A.M." Mrs. Loring and Mrs. Hallsbury are given chairs on a British man-of-war from which they can see the victory that Howe has promised his mistress.

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  William Howe and the American War of Independence

  • David Smith(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Bloomsbury Academic

    (Publisher)

  35 More than a third of them (35 per cent) had three years of service or fewer. However, Preparations for War 39 there was a significant seasoning of older troops, with more than 900 men (over 15 per cent of the garrison) having fifteen years or more of service to their credit (enough, theoretically, to have allowed them to take an active part in the French and Indian War or Seven Years’ War). 36 The figures do not seem out of place with general conceptions about the make-up of an army (the callow youths looking to a few grizzled veterans for reassurance is a staple of military lore), but the retreat from Concord was a particularly harsh introduction to the realities of war. It was in the period after this baptism of fire, as militia gathered around Boston to open what became a lengthy siege and the British soldiers brooded on their first taste of war, that the Cerberus arrived, carrying Howe, Clinton and Burgoyne. Less than a month later (the three generals arrived on 25 May 1775), Howe led a British force against the Americans on Breed’s Hill. As this was Howe’s first taste of combat against the rebellious colonists, the engagement, known popularly as the Battle of Bunker Hill, has been examined in tremendous detail, and the heavy losses suffered by the British in driving the Americans from their fortifications have been cited by some as a reason for Howe’s subsequent reluctance to attack the Americans when drawn up behind defensive works. 37 The battle once more highlighted indiscipline among the British troops, notably the grenadiers and light infantry. Whereas at Concord the poor performance of the men could at least partly be attributed to their inexperience and the extreme nature of the stresses they were placed under, at Bunker Hill there was more evidence of a simple lack of steadiness. It could still be argued that this stemmed initially from inexperience, but it had a more damaging effect on the course of the engagement.

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  The Siege of Boston

  • Allen French(Author)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Perlego

    (Publisher)

  [115] See Frothingham's "Siege," and Appendix III of Vol. 3 of the "Writings of Washington." Both of these books quote Swett's "History of Bunker Hill Battle."

  [116] "Writings of Washington," iii, 491.

  [117] "Writings of Washington," iii, 22.

  [118] Ibid., iii, 71.

  [119] Washington's correspondence with Major Christopher French is an interesting instance of the patience of a great man with the impatience of a small one.

  [120] The letters that passed between Washington and Gage, and later between him and Howe, are to be found in the volumes of his "Writings," and make interesting reading. Washington had at this time no prisoners in his hands other than those taken as described, because the prisoners of the 19th of April had been exchanged on the 6th of June.

  [121] Fonblanque's "Burgoyne."

  [122] "Writings of Washington," iii.

  [123] "Writings of Washington," iii.

  [124] Ibid.

  [125] Henshaw's "Orderly Book."

  [126] Ibid.

  [127] Trevelyan's "Revolution," Part I.

  CHAPTER XII

  EVENTS IN BOSTON FROM JUNE TO DECEMBER, 1775

  The history of events in Boston after the Battle of Bunker Hill is of a quite different tenor from that which we have just been considering. From the time when the wounded, and the more distinguished of the dead, were carried over from Charlestown on the evening of the seventeenth of June, the sober truth struck home, not yet to the Tories and the common run of officers, but to the generals. They were in a tight place, from which it would be difficult to escape with credit.

  They might—and some of them did—reckon it out by common arithmetic. If it cost a thousand men to take a hill, and required another thousand to garrison it when taken, how much could the British army master of the rolling country that lay before its eyes? Beyond the exit from either peninsula the next hill was already fortified, and the Americans prepared to "sell it at the same price."[128]

  The British generals wrote very plainly in explaining the situation to their superiors at home. To be sure, Gage was a trifle disingenuous in reviewing the past. While admitting that the recent trials at arms proved the rebels "not the despicable rabble too many have supposed them to be," he ignored his original boast concerning lions and lambs. In stating that in all previous wars the Americans had never showed so much "conduct, attention, and perseverance," he admitted his ignorance of colonial history. But Gage was endeavoring to salve his smart and conceal his own shame.

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