Bunker Hill`s Battle Essay, Research Paper

The sounds of muskets being fired, its ammunition ricocheting off rocks

and splintering trees are heard all around. The pungent smell of gun powder

stings the nose, and its taste makes the mouth dry and sticky. The battle is

still young, but blood soaked uniforms and dead or dying men can already be

seen, causing the fear of death to enter many of the soldiers’ minds. It is

remembered that freedom is what the fight is for, so we must continue to gain

independence. The battle has been going on for a short time now, although vision

is already obscured from all the smoke and dust in the air. It is becoming

increasingly difficult to breathe, with all of these air borne substances

entering my lungs. People are still being struck by musket balls for the cries

of agony rise above the many guns’ explosions. This is how the battle to be

known as Bunker Hill began. On June 17, 1775 the Battle of Bunker Hill took

place. It is one of the most important colonial victories in the U.S. War for

Independence. Fought during the Siege of Boston, it lent considerable

encouragement to the revolutionary cause. This battle made both sides realize

that this was not going to be a matter decided on by one quick and decisive

battle. The battle of Bunker Hill was not just an event that happened overnight.

The battle was the result of struggle and hostility between Great Britain and

the colonies for many years. Many of the oppressive feelings came as a result of

British laws and restrictions placed on them. It would not be true to say that

the battle was the beginning of the fight for independence. It is necessary to

see that this was not a rash decision that occurred because of one dispute, but

rather that the feelings for the British had been getting worse for a long time

and were finally released. Perhaps two of the most notable injustices, as

perceived by the colonists, were the Stamp Act and the Intolerable Acts. The

Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament to raise money for repaying its

war debt from the French and Indian War. The Act levied a tax on printed matter

of all kinds including newspapers, advertisements, playing cards, and legal

documents. The British government was expecting protest as result of the tax but

the level of outcry they received. The colonists were so angry because they had

no voice in Parliament which passed the law, thus came the famous cry, "No

taxation without representation!" The colonists would protest these laws

with the Boston Tea Party. The British responded to this open act of rebellion

by imposing the Intolerable Acts, four laws designed to punish Boston and the

rest of Massachusetts while strengthening British control over all the colonies.

These were not the only incidents that caused unrest to exist between the two

countries. There had been friction between British soldiers and colonists for

some time because of the Quartering Act, a law which required townspeople to

house soldiers. This unrest and tension resulted in the Boston Massacre, an

event that resulted in colonists death and both sides being more untrusting of

each other. These feelings of discontent and the growing fear of an uprising

would lead the British to proceed to Lexington and Concord and destroy colonial

military supplies. This left the colonists with the feeling of hatred and total

malice towards the British. Because of these incidents neither side trusted the

other, and had concerns that the opposition would launch an attack upon them.

When the British planned to occupy Dorchester Heights on the Boston Peninsula,

the colonists became alarmed at the build up of British troops off of the coast.

The colonists decided that action had to be taken so as to stop the threatening

British movement in this territory to protect themselves from an attack. It was

because of this last situation as well as the bad blood that had accumulated

over the years, which would lead the colonies into a confrontation with the

British. The Battle of Bunker Hill started when the colonists learned about the

British plan to occupy Dorchester Heights. The colonists were understandably

shaken by this news. They thought of this as the last straw, and they had to

protect their land and freedom. A crude "army" was made to defend the

hill. The army was not a national one, for no nation existed. Instead, the army

was made up of men from Cambridge, New England, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New

Hampshire, and Rhode Island. Also, this hastily combined force of men had no

assigned commander in chief, but did what their revered Generals instructed them

to carry out. On June 15, 1775 the American colonists heard news that the

British planned to control the Charleston peninsula between the Charles and

Mystic Rivers. Bunker’s and Breed’s Hill on this peninsula overlooked both

Boston and its harbor, thus making the hills critical vantage points. In order

to beat the British to the high ground, General Prescott took 1,200 of his often

times undisciplined, disobedient, and sometimes intoxicated soldiers to dig into

and fortify Bunker Hill with the cover of night on June 16. When dawn broke, the

British were stunned to see Breed’s Hill fortified overnight with a

160-by-30-foot earthen structure. The British General, Gage, dispatched 2,300

troops under the command of Major General Howe to take control of the hill. So

it came to be that General Prescott did not actually fortify Bunker’s Hill, but

Breed’s Hill instead. How did this happen? One proposed idea is that Colonel

William Prescott, since fortifying the hill in the middle of the night, chose

the wrong hill. Another theory is that the map the Colonel used was incorrect,

since many maps during this period had commonly misidentified the hills. Another

suggestion, and probably the most practical, is that Breed’s Hill is closer to

where the British ships were positioned allowing the colonists a better

attacking position than at Bunker Hill. Regardless of the reason, the Battle of

Bunker Hill actually took place on Breed’s Hill. The fighting began as soon as

the day did. As soon as the men on British frigate awoke they opened fire on the

colonial fortifications. Carol McCabe states that one soldier wrote there would

be firing for about twenty minutes, then a lull, then the ships would start

firing again. At about 3:00 PM Thomas Gage, the British commander, ordered men

to try and take control of the hill. It took Gage this long to issue a command

due to a shortage of boats and an unfavorable tide. Peter Brown, an American

soldier, would later write about this, ?There was a matter of 40 barges full

of Regulars coming over to us; it is supposed there were about 3,000 of them and

about 700 of us left not deserted, besides 500 reinforcements. . . the enemy

landed and fronted before us and formed themselves in an oblong square. . . and

after they were well formed they advanced towards us, but they found a choakly

[sic] mouthful of us.? When the British forces were firmly established on the

ground at the base of the hill they proceeded to charge. The British just

expected to march up the hill and just scare the colonists away. The British

Regulars advanced with bayonets fixed; many of their muskets were not even

loaded. The British troops, wearing their bright red wool jackets and weighed

down by heavy equipment, marched up hill over farm fields and low stone walls

hidden in the tall grass. As the colonists saw this massive red line approach

slowly and steadily, they remained calm and did not open fire. The fact they

waited so long to commence an attack was that General Prescott has been assumed

to have given the famous order, "Don’t shoot until you see the whites of

their eyes." If this command was given it would have been to either help

preserve their already low ammunition supplies, and to help keep the men from

shooting out of their capable ranges. Once the British came within range, the

colonists began firing, and the British soldiers stated to fall rapidly. The

British forces were driven back twice, but on their third and final thrust

forward the British were able to break through the colonists’ line, overrunning

the tentative American fortifications, thus taking the hill. The colonists had

run out of ammunition and supplies. The colonists fled back up the peninsula

since it was there only escape route. This battle, which lasted for

approximately three hours, was one of the deadliest of the Revolutionary War.

Although the British technically won the battle because they took control of the

hill, they suffered too many losses to fully benefit from it. The British had

suffered more than one thousand casualties out of the 2,300 or so who fought.

While the colonists only suffered 400 to 600 casualties from an estimated 2,500

to 4,000 men. Besides having fewer deaths than the British, the colonists

believe they had won in other ways as well. The Americans had proved to

themselves, and the rest of the world that they could stand up to the British

army in traditional warfare. And only a few days later, George Washington would

lead a group of men up to Dorchester Heights, aiming their cannons at the

British, and then watched the Red Coats retreat from the hill. So even though

the British had won the battle, it was a short lived victory since the colonists

took control of the hill again, but this time with more soldiers to defend it.

The Battle of Bunker Hill was important for a variety of reasons. The first one

being that it was the first battle of the Revolutionary War, and because of the

fierce fighting that defined the battle it foreshadowed that it was going to be

a long, close war. Another important event that came from the battle was that it

allowed the American troops to know that the British army was not invincible,

and that they could defeat the British in traditional warfare. The losses

experienced on the British side also helped to bolster the colonists confidence.

So it came to be that the Battle of Bunker Hill would be the foundation that the

colonists would look back to for the many battles that occurred during the

American Revolution. The first being that the British suffered heavy losses and

would no longer convinced of a victory when they went to battle the colonists.

Fifty years after the battle a movement began to rise in the young United States

to create a memorial to the battle atop Breed’s Hill. So, the Bunker Hill

Memorial Association was formed and they bought fifteen acres of land atop of

Breed’s Hill. Then in 1825 the cornerstone to the monument was laid. Chronology

of the battle Time AMERICANS BRITISH midnight Colonists begin construction of

fortifications on Breeds Hill 4am British warships fire on the newly discovered

fortification 2pm American reinforcements arrive; rail fence construction

Begins. British soldiers land on Moulton’s point 3:30pm First battle is repulsed

at the rail fence 4pm Second assault is repulsed at flashes and at redoubt

4:30pm Colonists withdraw. Final assault succeeds at redoubt 5:30pm End of

battle.

1. http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Depts/MilSci/BTSI/hill/hill.html

2. http://www.greeceny.com/arm/welch/bunker.htm

3. http://www.bit-net.com/~ddillaby/bunker_hill.html

4. http://www.nps.gov/bost/bunkhill.htm 5. Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 1996