… on which the fate of America depends.”
Or so Abigail Adams wrote to husband John the day after the Battle of Bunker Hill, which was fought on June 17, 1775. The first major battle of the American Revolutionary War, it was fought more than a year before the Declaration of Independence.
After the action at Lexington and Concord in April (Paul Revere’s ride, the shot heard ’round the world), the reinforced British were camped in Boston. The Massachusetts Committee of Safety determined to contain the British in the town by occupying the heights of Charlestown north of Boston (and Dorchester south of it). The strategy was dubious, however, because the militia did not have artillery to defend the heights once occupied.
Regardless, by the morning of June 17, some 1,200 Americans were entrenched on Breed’s Hill in Charlestown — not Bunker Hill, which is higher and would have been a better choice. (In other words, the battle is known by the wrong name.) Reinforcements increased the number to 1,500 by afternoon.
The Americans were bombarded by British cannon shooting uphill and without much effect. Around 3:30 some 2,200 British troops attacked the fortified position — uphill, carrying 125 pound knapsacks. The first two assaults were thrown back, but the third succeeded as American gun powder ran out after about two-and-a-half hours.
Though the British took the hill, they suffered more than 1,000 casualties — “The dead lay as thick as sheep in a fold.” American losses were less than 500.
The Battle of Bunker Hill encouraged the colonies. It proved that American forces could inflict heavy losses on the British. It also had the effect of confining the British out of their own excessive caution. There was no more military action around Boston and the Redcoats withdrew the following March. (By then the Americans under George Washington did have cannon on Dorchester Heights.)
An American officer, William Prescott, is said to have ordered during the battle, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.”
The Massachusetts Historical Society has an excellent web site relating to the Battle of Bunker Hill.