°Battle of Bunker Hill°

    “Don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes!” Colonel William Prescott, commander of the American force, shouted to his 1200 minutemen standing upon Breed's Hill. The Battle of Lexington and Concorde is the battle that kicked off the American Revolution, however the first large-scale engagement of the war and also one of the bloodiest battles of the American Revolution, was The Battle of Bunker Hill. The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775 in Charlestown, Massachusetts across the Charles River from Boston and the Boston Harbor. Many people tend to call the battle, the Battle of Bunker Hill, but the fighting really took place on Breeds Hill, which was right next to Bunker Hill. 

    Five days before the battle at Breeds Hill, General Thomas Gage would declare martial law. Stating to give pardon to anyone who would lay down their arms and pledge himself to King George. He did this to avoid further uprisings and armed conflict. Unfortunately, this had the opposite effect and upset many of the colonists. On June 16, 1775 the Americans became aware of the British plan to take control of Bunker and Breed’s Hills, so the rebels decided to invade the area before the British in a hope to fortify it and be prepared for the Redcoats.

    Soon after the order was given by General Gage, the British started moving troops to the east of Breed's Hill from Boston. General Howe's men lead the attack with 5,000 troops up the hill, but they were not alone; cannon fire from British ships in the river also covered them. While this was going on, some of the British ships loaded their cannons with incendiary shells and destroyed completely Charlestown, where a fraction of American troops were shooting fire at the British soldiers on the battlefield. This first attack failed and the British retreated. The British attacked for a second time, but their second attempt to take the hill failed. The British attacked for a third time, and this time the British soldiers came as close as forty yards before the patriots opened fire.

    The effect of this battle was to electrify both sides of the Atlantic. The Yankee farmers had held their ground. They had been defeated, not by the professional soldiers drawn up against them, but by a lack of ammunition. Throughout the colonies, Americans began to believe that independence from Britain was not only desirable but possible. The official British report of the battle arrived almost two weeks after the American version and so dull that almost no one paid any attention to it.