By reinforcements from
England and
Ireland,
General Gage's army in
Boston, at the close of May, 1775, was 10,000 strong.
With the reinforcements came
Gens. William Howe,
Sir Henry Clinton, and
John Burgoyne, three officers experienced in the military tactics of
Europe, but little prepared for service in
America.
Thus strengthened,
Gage issued a proclamation (June 12) of martial law, and offering pardon to all who should return to their allegiance, except
Samuel Adams and John Hancock.
At that time the
New England army before
Boston numbered about 16,000 men, divided into thirty-six regiments, of which
Massachusetts furnished twenty-seven, and the other three
New England colonies three each.
John Whitcomb, a colonel in the
French and Indian War, and
Joseph Warren, president of the Provincial Congress, were appointed (June 15)
major-generals of the
Massachusetts forces.
These provincial troops completely blockaded
Boston on the land side, and effectively held the
British troops as prisoners on the peninsula.
Gen. Artemas Ward, the military head of
Massachusetts, was regarded, by common consent, as the
commander-in-chief of this
New England army.
The
Americans had thrown up only a few breastworks — a small redoubt at
Roxbury, and some breastworks at the foot of
Prospect Hill, in
Cambridge.
The right wing of the besieging army, under
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Gen. John Thomas, was at
Roxbury, consisting of 4,000
Massachusetts troops, four artillery companies, a few fieldpieces, and some heavy cannon.
The
Rhode Island forces were at
Jamaica Plain, under
General Greene, with a regiment of
Connecticut troops under
General Spencer.
General Ward commanded the left wing at
Cambridge.
The
Connecticut and
New Hampshire troops were in the vicinity.
It was made known to the committee of safety that
General Gage had fixed upon the night of the 18th of June to sally out and take possession of and fortify
Bunker Hill (an elevation not far from
Charlestown) ; also
Dorchester Heights, south of
Boston.
Both of these points would command the town.
The eager provincials determined to anticipate this movement, and the
Massachusetts committee of safety ordered
Col. William Prescott to march, on the evening of the 16th, with 1,000 men, including a company of artillery, with two field-pieces, to take possession of and fortify
Bunker Hill.
This force, after a prayer by
President Langdon, of Harvard, passed over Charlestown Neck; but, going by
Bunker Hill, they ascended
Breed's Hill (much nearer
Boston), where they had a better command of the town and the shipping.
They had been joined on the way by
Major Brooks and
General Putnam, and by wagons laden with intrenching tools.
The patriot troops worked incessantly all night under the skilful
engineer Gridley, and at dawn a redoubt about 8 rods square, flanked on the right by a breastwork which extended northwardly to marshy land, met the bewildered and astonished gaze of the sentinels on the British shipping in the
Charles River.
The guns of their vessels were immediately brought to bear upon the redoubt on
Breed's Hill, and the noise of the cannonade aroused the sleepers in
Boston.
The
Americans on
Breed's Hill continued their work until eleven o'clock on that very hot June morning, under an incessant shower of shot and shell, with a scanty supply of provisions, after having worked all night.
Putnam had removed the intrenching tools at noon to
Bunker Hill for the purpose of casting up intrenchments there, and the right flank of
Prescott was strengthened by a few reinforcements thrown into
Charlestown at the southern slope of the hill.
On the left a fortification against musket-balls, composed of a rail-fence and new-mown hay, was hastily constructed, almost at the moment of attack.
The
British clearly saw their impending danger, and, to thwart it, picked corps of their army, 3,000 strong, led by
Generals Howe and
Pigot, embarked in boats from the wharves in
Boston, and landed at the eastern base of
Breed's Hill.
Meanwhile the troops who had worked all night and half of a hot June day in throwing up intrenchments on
Breed's Hill were not relieved by others, as they should have been.
Colonel Prescott, at first, did not believe the
British would attack his redoubt; and when he saw the movement in the town he felt assured that he could easily repulse any assailants, and it was nine o'clock before he applied to
General Ward for reinforcements.
Putnam had urged, early in the morning, the sending of troops.
Ward, believing
Cambridge to be the point of attack, would not consent to sending more than a part of
Stark's New Hampshire regiment at first.
Finally, the remainder was sent; also, the whole of
Colonel Reed's regiment on Charlestown Neck was ordered to reinforce
Prescott.
General Putnam was on the field, but without troops or command.
The same was the case with
General Warren, who hastened to the scene of action when the conflict began.
Stark's regiment took a position on the left of the unfinished breastwork, but 200 yards in the rear, and under imperfect cover, made by pulling up a rail-fence, making parallel lines with the rails, and filling the intervening spaces with new-mown hay.
At a little past three o'clock in the afternoon
Howe's great guns moved towards the redoubt and opened fire upon the works.
They were followed by the troops in two columns, commanded respectively by
Howe and
Pigot.
The guns on the British ships, and a battery on
Copp's Hill, in
Boston, hurled random shots in abundance on the
Americans on
Breed's Hill.
The occupants of the redoubt kept silent until the enemy had approached very near, when, at the word “Fire!”
1,500 of the concealed patriots suddenly arose and
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poured such a destructive storm of bullets upon the climbers of the green slope that whole platoons, and even companies were prostrated.
Flags fell to the ground like tall lilies in a meadow.
The assailants fell back to the shore, and a shout of triumph went up from the redoubt.
Some scattering shots had come from the houses at
Charlestown; and
Gage, infuriated by the repulse, gave orders to send combustibles into that village and set it on fire.
It was done, and soon the town was in flames.
This conflagration added new horrors to the scene.
The
British again advanced, and were again driven back to their landing-place.
Then
General Clinton passed over from
Boston to aid
Howe and
Pigot, and the troops were led to the assault a third time.
The powder of the provincials, scanty at the beginning, now failed.
Some British artillery planted pieces near the breastwork and swept it from end to end, while grenadiers assailed the redoubt on three sides at once and carried it at the point of the bayonet.
Stark, meanwhile, had kept the
British at bay at the rail-fence until the redoubt was carried, after which all of the surviving provincials fled in good order across Charlestown Neck, enfiladed by the fire from the vessels and floating batteries on the
Charles River, but received very little hurt.
Of the 3,000 British troops engaged in the fight, 1,054 were killed or wounded — a proportionate loss which few battles can show.
The loss of the provincials was 450, killed and wounded.
Among the former was
General Warren, whose loss was irreparable.
He came to the redoubt without command, and did not take it from
Prescott.
He fell, as he was leaving the redoubt, from the effects of a bullet-wound.
The result of the battle was a substantial victory for the
Americans.
They failed only because their ammunition failed.
It tested the ability of the provincial army to meet a British force in the field; and so unsatisfactory was the battle to the
British ministry, that
Gage was superseded in command by
General Howe.
The general impression at the time was that the battle was on
Bunker Hill, and so it figures in history as the “
Battle of Bunker Hill.”
It was fought on
Breed's Hill, some distance from the former.
The battle was seen by thousands who were on the neighboring hills and the roofs and balconies in
Boston.
The battle lasted about two hours.