Episode 18 covers the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, where British forces captured the colonial position but at devastating cost. Though the patriots were forced to retreat, they proved they could stand against professional soldiers. Students will see why this British tactical victory carried the seeds of a strategic problem.

Key Takeaways

• Most of the fighting happened on Breed's Hill, not Bunker Hill, because Colonel Prescott moved his men there during the night.

• British casualties exceeded 1,000 killed and wounded, more than three times their losses at Lexington and Concord.

• The colonists were driven off only because they ran out of ammunition, not because British tactics overwhelmed them.

• Fort Ticonderoga fell to Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys on May 10, 1775, the same day the Second Continental Congress opened, giving patriots their first major offensive victory.

• The battle convinced many in both Britain and America that this would not be a short conflict.

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FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: Why is it called the Battle of Bunker Hill if the fighting was on Breed's Hill?

Bunker Hill was the original objective, and it was the larger, more prominent landmark on the Charlestown peninsula. Breed's Hill, where most of the fighting actually occurred, was smaller and closer to Boston. The name stuck because Bunker Hill was the hill the orders referred to, and early accounts used that name. The geographic mix-up was established before anyone thought to correct it.

Q2: Did Prescott actually say 'Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes'?

Several officers reportedly gave similar orders that day, including Prescott and Israel Putnam. The phrase almost certainly reflects a real tactical instruction, since conserving ammunition was critical and the order made practical sense. Whether those exact words were spoken by one man or were a common command paraphrased afterward is unclear, but the sentiment matches the tactical situation perfectly.

Q3: Why did the colonists run out of ammunition?

The colonial supply system was unreliable, and Prescott's men had worked through the night building the redoubt. Resupply during the battle was disorganized. The patriots had enough powder and shot for the first two British assaults, which they repulsed effectively, but by the third assault the ammunition was nearly exhausted. It's one reason the battle's outcome doesn't reflect the actual performance gap between the two sides.

Q4: How did the Battle of Bunker Hill affect British strategy?

It made British commanders far more cautious about frontal assaults on prepared positions. General Howe, who led the attack and watched hundreds of his men fall, became notably reluctant throughout the rest of the war to make direct attacks when flanking was possible. It also ended any hope in London that the rebellion would dissolve quickly once British regulars showed up in force.

Q5: What role did Ethan Allen and Fort Ticonderoga play in the early Revolution?

Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys captured Fort Ticonderoga on May 10, 1775, giving the patriots their first significant offensive victory and a large cache of British cannons. Henry Knox later transported those cannons to Boston in the winter of 1775 to 1776, and Washington positioned them on Dorchester Heights in March 1776, forcing the British to evacuate the city without a fight.

Two Months of Escalation After Lexington

We know it today as the Battle of Bunker Hill. Yet most of the fighting took place just south of there, on Breed's Hill. It was June 17th, 1775. By the day's end, the redcoats would have the field. The cost, however, would be great. The battles of Lexington and Concord were fought on April 19th, 1775. In the two months following, no fighting had broken out between the British and the Massachusetts Patriots, but the war was still escalating. On April 24th, 1775, colonial rebels in New Bern, North Carolina, seized six cannons from the governor's palace. In Williamsburg, Virginia, the British had seized all the gunpowder in the town's magazine.

On May 2nd, Patrick Henry led the Hanover County militia in a march on the colonial capital. The next month, Governor Dunmore fled the governor's palace, leaving the government in the hands of the Virginia patriots. On May 10th, Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys executed a surprise attack and captured Fort Ticonderoga in New York. Among the patriots who defeated the British that day was Benedict Arnold. Back in Massachusetts, over 14,000 militiamen had gathered around Boston. The war had begun two months earlier with the events covered in our episode on Lexington and Concord.

The Plan, and the Leak

The British commander, General Thomas Gage, was under pressure to bring an end to the mounting colonial rebellion. He set his eyes on seizing two strategic positions on either end of Boston: Charlestown Heights to the north and Dorchester Heights to the south. The plan was leaked. On June 16th, 1775, American General Artemas Ward, commander of colonial militias surrounding Boston, ordered General Israel Putnam and Colonel William Prescott to fortify Bunker Hill on the Charlestown peninsula just north of Boston, across the Charles River. One thousand militiamen moved onto Bunker Hill.

The men were farmers and tradesmen, mostly without formal military training. General Ward and Colonel Prescott determined that another hill south of Bunker would be better to fortify. Under the cloak of night, at the top of Breed's Hill, their men built a redoubt, an earthen fort. The structure had four sides, each six feet high and 130 feet long. Only when the sun rose over Boston and Charlestown the next day, June 17th, did Gage and his staff discover what the American rebels had done on Breed's Hill. The eventual American answer to the British siege of Boston is the subject of our episode on Henry Knox and the cannons of Ticonderoga.

Don't Fire Until You See the Whites of Their Eyes

Gage dispatched 1,500 regulars to attack the patriots, then sent another 700 as reserve forces. Their field commander was General William Howe. The forces made their way across the river to Charlestown Neck. Howe ordered his men to attack the Breed's Hill redoubt in long lines formed parallel to the walls of the fort. As the British got within 150 feet, the Americans opened fire, mowing down entire rows of regulars.

Howe's troops quickly retreated. On the second advance, his forces formed into columns perpendicular to the redoubt, making it more difficult to fire on many men in one volley. The regulars ran up the hill at a fast pace. Again, once they were within 150 feet, the rebels fired. And again, redcoats fell and the survivors turned and fled. The British launched a third attack. This time, they made it over the walls of the redoubt. The hand-to-hand combat was fierce and bloody. The redcoats thrust their bayonets at their enemies. The patriots struck back with muskets and clubs. The militiamen retreated to Bunker Hill, then left Charlestown Neck altogether.

A Terrible Blow at a Terrible Cost

The British now controlled the battlefield and the northern heights above Boston, but they were stunned at the cost. Two hundred twenty-six regulars were dead, another 828 wounded. Altogether, nearly half of General Howe's troops. On the American side, casualties were one-third of what the British suffered: 140 dead and 271 wounded. Among the American fatalities was Dr. Joseph Warren, the leader of Boston's network of spies. It was Warren who had dispatched Paul Revere to Lexington and Concord a few months earlier. The patriots had lost the day. Still, they were encouraged. With the Atlantic Ocean between Britain and the colonies, the British could not easily replace their fallen soldiers. And perhaps more importantly, the Americans realized what the high casualties among the king's army meant.

Not only could they hold their own against the British, they just might beat them and win the war. When the gun smoke cleared, the British counted their dead and wounded. Their casualties were more than three times what they had suffered two months earlier at Lexington and Concord, and more than three times what the colonists had suffered at Breed's and Bunker Hills. The British were shocked. As for the patriots, they had lost the day, but they knew they had struck a terrible blow. A year later the colonies would formally break with Britain, as we cover in our episode on the Declaration of Independence.