FREE ESSAY ON BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL

BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL

The Battle of Bunker Hill - 17 JUN 1775
Following the events in Massachusetts at Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775, state
militiamen from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont gathered in
Cambridge and the area surrounding Boston. British General Gage and 6,500 soldiers and
marines were in possession of Boston proper, while the American force consisted of over
16,000 men. Sickness and missing brought the number of available soldiers closer to
9,000. In addition the American force was extremely short of gunpowder, having only some
30 or so half barrels of powder beyond that carried in the horns of the citizen soldiers.

In the two months following Concord, efforts were made to bring organization and order to
the United States Army. But the work was difficult and the progress slow. By mid-June the
army was still a collection of individual Militia regiments, headed by officers who were
viewed more as friends and fellow citizens of the common soldier rather than trained and
capable leaders. The Continental Congress was working on legislation to regularize the
militia and see that they were paid by the Congress, but by mid-June still had not acted.
To make matters worse, militia units were responsible only to their own militia
commanders and their own state governments. General Artemus Ward was commanding general
of the Massachusetts militia, leading the largest contingent of troops, and held nominal
authority over the non-Massachusetts forces. 
General Gage considered his force too small to effectively attack the Rebels and hold the
countryside outside of Boston. At the same time he became concerned that the surrounding
heights of Dorchester and Charlestown provided an excellent opportunity for Rebels to
place cannon and threaten Boston. Consequently, he began to plan measures to secure these
strategic positions. But word leaked out and the Boston Committee of Safety recommended
to Ward that he beat the British to their own move and seize Bunker Hill above
Charlestown. Col. William Prescott supported the plan and was asked to lead a night
mission to establish a redoubt (small fort) on Bunkers Hill. Together with 300 men of
Prescott's regiment, and parts of Ebenezer Bridge's and Colonel James Frye's regiment
were added 200 Connecticut men under Captain Thomas Knowlton from Putnam's regiment and
Captain Samuel Gridley's artillery company with two light guns. About 5 o'clock in the
evening of June 16th this force assembled on the common in Cambridge and after a prayer
set off quietly for the Horse's Neck. 
Positioned like a drop of ink extending into the harbor just to the north of Boston, the
Charlestown peninsula is approximately one and a quarter miles long and lies between the
Charles River on the West and the Mystic river on the East. On the north, the peninsula
is joined to the mainland by a narrow stretch of land (called the Neck), which is only
thirty feet wide at high tide. Bunker's Hill rises across the narrow western end of the
peninsula and at 100 feet high, dominates the Neck of the peninsula. Any fortifications
constructed there would be out of effective range of the British battery on Copp's Hill
in Boston and would be too high to allow elevation of shipboard guns in the harbor. To
the south and east of Bunker's Hill lies Breed's Hill, some 60 feet high gradually
sloping to the harbor and Charlestown to its south and west. 
Under the cover of darkness, the American force crossed the Neck and mounted Bunker's
Hill. On the far slope the column stopped and a violent argument broke out among the
leaders, with Prescott saying that Ward's verbal orders had been to fortify the lower and
more exposed Breed's Hill. Colonel Gridley, who was serving the role of engineer added to
the problem contending that valuable time was being lost. At last the decision was made
to make Breed's Hill the primary fortification and Bunker Hill the secondary
fortification, if and when time permitted. The column moved on the Breed's Hill where at
its farthest point, Gridley staked out the outline of a redoubt approximately 132 feet
square. As the clock struck midnight, the men began to dig, throwing up dirt as quickly
as they possibly could. 
Prescott next detailed a company to patrol the shore and another to lie by close to the
town. About 4 o'clock, the lookout on His Majesty's sloop-of-war Lively, with 20 guns,
spotted the work on the redoubt and sounded the alarm. Captain Thomas Bishop immediately
beat to quarters and opened fire on the redoubt. Bishop who had recently been found
guilty by court-martial for intentional neglect of duty over the disposition of the
proceeds of a captured Spanish ship was doubtlessly determined not to be seen being
neglectful agaThe Admiral of the fleet, sent a boat to stop the shooting but then seeing
the problem for himself in the improving light, ordered his ships and the Copp's Hill
battery to open fire on the redoubt. 
Gage called a hasty council of war. After exploring a number of options with Generals
Clinton and Howe, Gage decided on an amphibious assault with a landing on Moulton's Point
below Breed's Hill. In the meantime, Prescott's men had consumed their one-day's ration
in the course of digging the redoubt and a lucky cannonball had crashed the two barrels
of water that had been brought along. As the cannon bombardment continued, the men in the
redoubt began to question the wisdom of remaining under fire. In the light of the full
day, British troops could be seen across the harbor assembling in Boston. Colonel
Prescott was determined to fight. He had already alleviated the men's fears by leaping to
the parapet after the first man was killed by a cannon shot, and slowly strolling along
its exposed top to demonstrate the relative lack of danger from cannon fire. Now with the
British preparing operations against them they were ready to leave. In fact some did
leave, heading up and over Bunker's Hill and on to the Neck and Cambridge. 
In the meantime, General Issac Putnam had ridden out to confer with Col. Prescott soon
after the Lively opened fire. Soon he rode back to Cambridge in search of General Ward to
urge the reinforcement of Prescott. Ward was concerned that reinforcing Prescott would
weaken his forces elsewhere and felt he had to wait to learn for certain where the
British would attack. By 11 o'clock, two British gondolas approached the Neck as close as
possible and began firing at anything that moved along the neck. What actual affect this
effort had remains unclear, though there were some casualties. By noon the British were
in the boats and Howe with about 1,500 men embarked at one. Whether Ward had issued
reinforcement orders or not before the British made their move, he did so now, sending
orders to nine Massachusetts regiments, John Stark's and James Reed's New Hampshire
regiments, and several artillery companies. All was confusion, with each regiment moving
as it thought best and all the time men and officers dropping off and melting into the
woodwork. The scene at the neck was chaotic. Several Massachusetts regiments blocked the
entrance fearful of crossing under direct cannon fire. 
Colonel's Stark and Reed of the New Hampshire troops got the order to advance at two in
the afternoon. Hastily assembling their men, they discovered that many were short of
powder and shot. When the men were issued shot, time was lost as the men beat the shot
into the proper caliber for the weapon each carried. When the New Hampshire troops
arrived at the entrance to the Neck and found the Massachusetts troops blocking the way,
Major Andrew McClary pushed his way to the frond and asked, If Massachusetts didn't
happen to need the road just then, would they mind moving over to let New Hampshire
through? The Massachusetts men moved smartly into the ditches as Stark and Reed calmly
marched their men across the Neck. 
By two, Howe had his troops landed and surveyed situation and determined that he needed
more men. He sent a boat back across to Boston requesting reinforcements. The artillery
battery that had been brought over by boat was now deployed on the forward slope of
Breed's Hill and opened fire at 3 pm. By now two recently appointed American generals had
arrived on the scene: Dr. Joseph Warren and General Seth Pomeroy. Neither wished for
command and asked but to be directed to where the fighting was expected to be the
hottest. They went to the redoubt and greatly cheered the now weary and thirsty
defenders. 
By three, Howe's reinforcements had arrived and he formed the men on line in three ranks.
In the meantime, Stark and the New Hampshire troops and some other units had arrived and
using a stone fence and placing hay between an existing fence and hastily assembled wood
fence extended the breastworks from the redoubt left to the water. As the British
advanced, the Americans determined not to fire until the British were close. Stark had
placed a stake in the ground 30 yards in front of his fence and urged his men to wait
until the enemy passed the stake before firing. In the redoubt, Prescott is said to have
instructed his men not to shoot until they saw the whites of their eyes. On Bunker's Hill
a strange collection of men gathered. Some who had straggled in from the neck and others
who had given themselves leave from the ensuing fight. General Isaac Putnam tried sorely
to roust the men either to commence work on the Bunker Hill defenses or to go in support
of Prescott and Stark. All his efforts, even threatening at sword point, were of no
avail. The only regimental commander who was with him was Col. Samuel Gerrish, who
depending on accounts was either trying to help Putnam or hiding himself. Generally
considered a coward, Gerrish managed to elude scandal until a skirmish several weeks
after Bunker's Hill showed his true colors. 
When the British closed to thirty yards the Americans opened fire with devastating
effect. In some companies 7 out of 10 were killed in others 9 of 10 died. The survivors
stumbled back down the hill. When Howe returned to the bottom, he asked why the artillery
battery had ceased firing while they were still approaching the Americans. To his chagrin
he discovered that boxes of 12-pound shot had been sent over and that the artillery had
only 6 pound cannons. Howe ordered them to shoot grape shot and sent back across the
water for the proper shot. On Howe's left the American Company, still in the town, had
taken to firing into his left flank. The Admiral landed and asked if burning the town
might be of assistance and Howe readily agreed. The Admiral returned to his fleet and
ordered the firing of red-hot shot into Charlestown. The town of 400 buildings caught
fire in 50 places and immediately went up in a huge conflagration. 
The British came on twice more with similar losses. The third try succeeded, just barely
in over-running the redoubt. The men with Prescott being out of powder and trying to make
do by breaking the powder out of artillery casings and using scrap metal for bullets.
Finally, in the midst of hand-to-hand fighting Prescott called a retreat and the
survivors scrambled over the back of the redoubt and trough the narrow exit. Joseph
Warren was killed when he was shot in the back of the head. 
Finally, several more American Regiments got across the neck in good order and passing to
the right of Bunker's Hill laid down a covering fire for Prescott's men. Gardner was
first and was soon wounded. Michael Jackson took over for him and was soon joined by
companies of Connecticut troops. Soon the British advanced on them and were in a bloody
stand-up fight. In good order the troops fell back turning time and again to lay down
delaying fire. Thus, did most of the men escape across the Neck to Cambridge. 
The British wanted to pursue but the men were just played out. Howe proceeded to fortify
Bunker's Hill and the Americans began throwing up breastworks on the far approaches to
the Neck. In the initial British report, 19 officers and 207 enlisted men were killed, 70
officers and 738 enlisted men were wounded. On the American side, numbers varied, but
Ward's record book showed 115 killed and 305 wounded. 
Works Cited