By June 17, Charlestown had become a virtual ghost town. During the Battle of Bunker Hill, American snipers took to stationing themselves inside the empty village. The troops used superheated cannonballs and baskets filled with gunpowder to lay the town low. Some buildings went up in flame.
Such destruction was without precedent: Although the British had torched some isolated homes at Lexington, this was the first occasion in which an entire village or town was deliberately set ablaze during the Revolutionary War. Though the redcoats prevailed, their victory was a Pyrrhic one. Nearly half of the estimated British troops who fought at Bunker Hill were killed or wounded. How many men did the Americans lose? Four hundred and fifty—out of an overall force of Bunker Hill thus became a morale boost for the patriots—and a cause for concern back in England.
Fun fact: On top of being a silversmith and perhaps the most famous messenger in American history, Paul Revere was a part-time dentist. He learned the trade under an Englishman named John Baker in the s.
One of his clients was Dr. Joseph Warren, the man who would dispatch Revere— and fellow rider William Dawes —to warn some Massachusetts statesmen that British troops were headed towards Lexington and Concord on a fateful, much-mythologized night in April During the Battle of Bunker Hill, Warren, a Major General, decided to fight right on the front line with patriot volunteers despite his rank and was killed.
More than Americans perished, while more than others were wounded. Despite losing their strategic positions, the battle was a significant morale-builder for the inexperienced Americans, convincing them that patriotic dedication could overcome superior British military might. Additionally, the high price of victory at the Battle of Bunker Hill made the British realize that the war with the colonies would be long, tough and costly.
But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Tasked on the night of June 16, , with fortifying foot-tall Bunker Hill on the Charlestown peninsula, which jutted into Boston Harbor, Colonel William Prescott instead directed the 1, patriots joining Tensions had been building for many years between residents of the 13 American colonies and the British authorities, particularly in Massachusetts.
On the night The Americans inflicted heavy Over a thousand colonials marched east from Cambridge with orders to fortify Bunker Hill, a foot rise on the Charlestown peninsula jutting into Boston Harbor. The reasons for this maneuver are murky. But their threatening position, on high ground just across the water from Boston, forced the British to try to dislodge the Americans before they were reinforced or fully entrenched.
On the morning of June 17, as the rebels frantically threw up breastworks of earth, fence posts and stone, the British bombarded the hill. Exhausted and exposed, the Americans were also a motley collection of militia from different colonies, with little coordination and no clear chain of command.
By contrast, the British, who at midday began disembarking from boats near the American position, were among the best-trained troops in Europe. And they were led by seasoned commanders, one of whom marched confidently at the head of his men accompanied by a servant carrying a bottle of wine. Another observer was British Gen. However, the seemingly open pasture proved to be an obstacle course. The high, unmown hay obscured rocks, holes and other hazards.
Fences and stone walls also slowed the British. The Americans, meanwhile, were ordered to hold their fire until the attackers closed to 50 yards or less. When the rebels opened fire, the close-packed British fell in clumps. In some spots, the British lines became jumbled, making them even easier targets. The Americans added to the chaos by aiming at officers, distinguished by their fine uniforms. The attackers, repulsed at every point, were forced to withdraw.
The disciplined British quickly re-formed their ranks and advanced again, with much the same result. And the British, having failed twice, devised a new plan.
They repositioned their artillery and raked the rebel defenses with grapeshot. And when the infantrymen marched forward, a third time, they came in well-spaced columns rather than a broad line. His men resorted to throwing rocks, then swung their muskets at the bayonet-wielding British pouring over the rampart.
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