Battle of Bunker Hill - MA Genealogy Trails

(a) The occupation of Charlestown Heights on the night of June 16, 1775, was of stragic
value, however transient, equalizing the relations of the parties opposed and projecting
its force and fire into the entire struggle for American Independence (pp. 290-302)

(b) "The Siege of Boston, which followed, gave the freshly organized Continental army that
discipline, that instruction in military engineering, and that contact with a well-trained
enemy which prepared it for immediate operations at New York & New Jersey. (pp 37-44).

No battle during the American Rebellion of 1861-1865 was so really decisive as was the first battle of Bull's Run. As that Federal failure enforced the issue which freed four millions of people from slavery, and had its sequence and culmination, through great struggle, in a perpetuated Union, so did the battle of Bunker Hill open wide the breach between Great Britain and the Colonies, and render American Independence inevitable.

The repulse of Howe at Breed's Hill practically ejected him from Boston, enforced his halt before Brooklyn, delayed him at White Plains, explained his hesitation at Bound Brook, near Somerset Court House in 1777, as well

Just as a similar resistance by Totleben at Sevastapol during the Crimean War prolonged that struggle for twelve months, so did the hastily constructed earthworks on Breed's Hill
forewarn the assailants that every ridge might serve as a fortress, and every sand-hill be-
come a cover for a persistent and earnest foe.

The simple narrative has been the subject of much discussion. Its details have been shaped
and colored, with supreme regard for the special claims of preferred candidates for distinction, until a plain consideration of the issue then made, from a purely military point of view, as introductory to a detail of the battle itself cannot be barren of interest to the readers of a magazine which treats largely of the local history of Massachusetts.

The city of Boston was girdled by rapidly increasing earthworks. These were wholly defensive, to resist assault from the British garrison, and not, at first, as cover for a
regular siege approach against the Island Post. They soon became a direct agency to force the garrison to look to the sea alone for supplies or retreat.

The vivifying force of the struggle through Concord, Lexington and West Cambridge (now
Arlington) had so quickened the rapidly augmenting body of patriots, that they demanded
offensive action and grew impatient for results. Having dropped fear of British troops,
as such, they held a strong purpose to achieve that complete deliverance which their earnest resistance foreshadowed.

Lexington and Concord were, therefore, the exponents of that daring which made the occupation and resistance of Breed's Hill possible. The fancied invincibility of British
discipline went down before the rifles of farmers; but the quickening sentiment, which gave nerve to the arm, steadiness to the heart, and force to the blow, was one of those historic expressions of human will and faith, which, under deep sense of wrong, incurred and rights
imperelled, over masters discipline, and has the method of an inspired madness. The moral force of the energizing passion became overwhelming and supreme. No troops in the world, under similar conditions, could have resisted the movement.

The opposing forces did not alike estimate the issue, or the relations of the parties in interest. The troops sent forth to collect or destroy arms, rightfully in the hands of their countrymen, and not to engage an enemy, were under an involuntary restraint which stripped them of real fitness to meet armed men, who were already on fire with the conviction that the respresentatives of national force were employed to destroy national life.

The ostensible theory of the Crown was to reconcile the Colonies. The actual policy and its physical demonstrations, repelled and did not conciliate. Military acts, easily done by the force in hand, were needlessly done. Military acts which would be wise upon the basis of anticipated resistance were not done.

Threats and blows and blows toward those not deemed capable of resistance were freely expended. Operations of war, as against an orgainized and skilful enemy, were ignored. But the legacies of English law and the inheritance of English liberty had vested in the Colonies. Their eradication and their withdrawal were alike impossible. The time had passed for compromise or limitation of their enjoyment. The filial relation toward England was lost when it became that of a slave toward master, to be asserted by force. This the American understood when they environed Boston. This the British did not understand until
until after the battle of Bunker Hill. The British worked as against a mob of rebels. The
Americans made common cause, "liberty or death," against usurpation and tyranny.

Rference to map "Boston and Vicinity," will give a clear impression of the local surroundings at the time of the American occupation of Charlestown Heights. The value
of that position was to be tested. The Americans had previously burned the lighthouses
of the harbor. The islands of the bay were already miniature fields of conflict; and every
effort of the garrison to use boats, and thereby secure the needed supplies of beef, flour
or fuel, only developed a counter system of boat operations, which neutralized the former and gradaully limited the garrison to the range of its guns. This close grasp of the land approaches to Boston, so persistently maintained, stimulated the Americans tocatch a tighter hold, and force the garrison to escape by sea. The capture of that garrison would
have placed unwieldy prisoners in their hands and have made outside operations impossible,
as well as any practical disposition of the prisoners themselves, in treatment with Great
Britian. Expulsion was the purpose of the rallying people.

General Gage fortified Boston Neck as early as 1774, and the First Continental Congress had
promptly assured Massachusetts of its sympathy with her solemn protest against that act.
It was also the intention of General Gage to fortify Dorchester Heights. Early in April, a
British council of war, in which Clinton, Burgoyne, and Percy took part, unanimously advised the immediate occupation of Dorchester, as both indispensable to the protection of
the shipping and as assurance of access to the country for indispensable supplies.

General Howe already appreciated the mistake of General Gage, in his expedition to Concord,
but still cherished such hope of an accommodation of the issue with the Colonies that he postponed action until a peaceable occupation of Dorchester Heights became impossible, and the growing earthworks of the besiegers already commanded Boston Neck.

General Gage had also advised, and wisely, the occupation of Charlestown Heights, as both
necessary and feasible, without risk to Boston itself. He went so far as to announce that,
in case of overt acts of hostility to such occupation, by the citizens of Charlestown, he would burn the town. It was clearly sound military policy for the British to occupy both Dorchester and Charlestown Heights, at the first attempt of the Americans to invest the city.

As early as the middle of May, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, as well as the council, had resolved "to occupy Bunker Hill as soon as artillery and powder could be ad-
equately furnished for the purpose." and a committee was appointed to examine and report respectig the merits of Dorchester Heights, as a strategic restraint upon the garrison of
Boston.

On the fifteenth of June, upon reliable informatin that the British had definitely resolved
to seize both Heights, and had designated the eighteenth of June for the occupatin of Charlestown, the same Committee of Safety voted "to take immediate possession of Bunker Hill.:

Mr. Bancroft states that "the decision was so sudden that no fit preparation could be made." Under the existing conditions, it was indeed a desperate daring, expressive of grand faith and self-devotion, worthy of the cause in peril, and only limited in its immediate and assured triumph by the simple lack of powder.

Col. William Prescott, who was eager to lead the enterprise and was entrusted with its execution, and Putnam, who gave it his most ardent support, wee most urgent that the council should act promptly; while Joseph Warren who long hesitated to concur, did at last
concur and gave his life as the test of his devotion. General Ward realized fully that the
hesitation of the British to emerge from Boston and attack the Americans was an index of the security of the American defenses, and, therefore, deprecated the contingency of a general engagement, until ample supplies of powder could be secured.

The British garrison which had been reinforced to a nominal strength of ten thousand men,
had become reduced, through inadequate supplies, especially of fresh meat, to eight thousand effectives, but these men were well officered and well disciplined.

Bunker Hill had an easy slope to the isthmus, but was quite steep on either side, having,
in fact, control of the isthmus, as well as commanding a full view of Boston and the surrounding country. Morton's Hill at Moulton's Point, where the British landed, was but thirty five feet above sea level, seventy-five and one hundred and ten feet high. The Charles and Mystic Rivers, which flanked Charlestown, were navigable, and were under the control of British ships-of-war.

To so occupy Charlestown, in advance, as to prevent a successful British landing, required the use of the nearest available position that would make the light artillery of the Americans effective. To occupy Bunker Hill, alone, would leave to the British the cover of Breed's Hill, under which to gain effective fire and a good base for approach, as well as Charlestown for quarters, without prejudice to themselves.

When, therefore, Breed's Hill was fortified as an advanced position, it was done with the assurance that reinforcements would soon occupy the retired summit, and the cousr adopted was the best to prevent an effective British lodgment. The previous reluctance of the garrison to make any effective demonstration against the thin lines of environment strengthened the belief of the Americans that a well-selected hold upon Charlestown Heights would securely tighten the graps upon the city itself.

As a fact, the British contempt for the Americans might have urged them as rashly against
Bunker Hill as it did against the redoubt which they gained, at last, only through failure of the ammunition of its defenders; but in view of the few hourse at disposal of the Americans to prepare against a landing so soon to be attempted, it is certain that the defences were well placed, both to cover the town and force an immediate issue before the British could increase their own force.

It is equally certain that the British utterly failed to appreciate the fact that with the control of the Mystic and Charles Rivers, they could within twenty four house, so isolate Charlestown as to secure the same results as by storming the American position and without appreciable loss. This was the advice of General Clinton, but he was overruled. They did, ultimately, thereby check reinforcements but suffered so severely in the battle itself that fully two thirds of the Americans retired safely to the main land.

The delay of the British to advance as soon as the landing was effected was bad tactics. One half of the force could have followed the Mystic and turned the American left wing, long before Colonel Stark's command came upon the field. The British dined as leisurely as if they had only to move any time and seize the threatening position, and thereby lost their chief opportunity.

One single sign of the recognition of any possible risk to themselves was the opening of fire from Boston Neck and such other positions as faced the American lines, as if to warn them not to attempt the city or endanger their own lives by sending reinforcements to Charlestown.

It is not the purpose of this article to elaborate the details of preparation, which have been so fully discussed by many writers, but to illustrate the value of the action in the light of the relations and conduct of the opposing forces.

Colonel William Prescott of Pepperell, Mass., Colonel James Frye, of Andover and Colonel
Ebenezer Bridge of Billerica whose regiments formed most of the original detail, were
members of the council of war which had been organized on the 20th of April when
General Ward assumed command of the army. Colonel Thomas Knowlton of Putnam's
regiment, was to lead a detachment from the Connecticut troops. Colonel Richard Gridley,
chief engineer, with a company of artillery wa also assigned to the moving columns.

To ensure a force of one thousand men, the field order covered nearly fourteen hundred and Mr. Frothingham shows clearly that the actual force as organized with artificers and
drivers of carts was not less than twelve hundred men.

Cambridge Common ws the place of rendesvous, where, at early twilight of June 16th, the
Reverend Samuel Langdon, president of Harvard College invoked the blessing of Almighty
God upon the solemn undertaking.

This silent body of earnest men crossed Charlestown Neck and halted for a clear definition
of the impending duty. Major Brooks, of Colonel Dodge's regiment joined here, as well
as a company of artillery. Captain Nutting with a detachment of Connecticut men was
promptly sent, by the quickest route to patrol Charlestown at the summit of Bunker Hill.

The six vessels lying in the stream were the Somerset, sixty-eight, Captain Edward Le Cross; Cerberus, thirty-six, Captain Chads; the Glasgow, thirty-four, Captain William Maltby; the Lively, twenty, Capt. Thomas Bishop; the Falcon, twenty, Captain Linzee; and the Symmetry, a transport, with eighteen guns.

While one thousand men worked upon the redoubt which had been located under counsel
of Gridley, Prescott, Knowlton and other officers, the dull thud of the pickaxe and the
grating of shovels were the only sounds that disturbed the pervading silence, except as the
sentries' "All's well!" from Copp's Hill and from the warships, relieved anxiety and stimulated work. Prescott and Putnam alike, and more than once, visited the beach, to be
assured that the seeming security was real; and at daybreak the redoubt, nearly eight rods
square and six feet high was nearly complete.

Scarcely had objects become distinct, when the battery on Copp's Hill and the guns of the
ship, Lively, opened fire, and startled the garrison of Boston from sleep, to a certainty that the Colonists had taken the offensive.

At nine o'clock, a council of war was held at Breed's Hill. Major John Brooks was sent
to ask for more men and more rations. Richard Devens of the Committee of Safety, then in
session, was influential in persuading General Ward to furnish prompt reinforcements. By
eleven o'clock, the whole of Stark's and Reed's New Hampshire regiments were on their
march, and in time to meet the first shock of battle. Portions of other regiments hastened
to the aid of those already waiting for the fight to begin.

The details of men were not exactly defined, in all cases, when the urgent call for reinforce-
ments reached headquarters. Little's regiment of Essex men; Brewer's, of Worcester and
Middlesex with their Lieutenant Colonel Buckminster, Nixon's, led by Nixon, himself; Moore's from Worcester; Whitcomb's of Lancaster and others promptly accepted the
opportunity to take part in the offensive, and challenge the British garrison to a contest
at arms, and well they bore their part in the struggle.

The completion of the redoubt only made more distinct the necessity for additional
defences. A line of breastworks, a few rods in length, was carried to the left and then to
the rear, in order to connect with a stone fence which was accepted as a part of the line,
since the fence ran perpendicularly to the Mystic River; and the intention was to throw
some protection across the entire peninsula to the river. A small pond and some spongy
ground were left open, as non-essential, considering the value of every moment; and
every exertion was made for the protection of the immediate front. The stone fence, like those still common in New England, was two or three feet high, with set posts and two
rails; in all, about five feet high, the top rail giving a rest for a rifle.

A zigzag "stake and rider fence" was put in front, the meadow division-fences being stripped for the purpose. The fresh-mown hay filled the interval between the fences.
This line was nearly two hundred yards in rear of the face of the redoubt, and near the
foot of Bunker Hill.

Captain Knowlton, with two pieces of artillery and Connecticut troops, was assigned,
by Colonel William Prescott, to the right of this position, adjoining the open gap already
mentioned. Between the fence and the river, more conspicuous as low tide, was a long gap
which was promptly filled by Stark as soon as he reached the ground, thus, as far as possi-
ble, to anticipate the very flanking movement which the British afterward attempted.

Putnam ws everywhere active and, after the fences were as well secured as time would allow,
he ordered the tools taken to Bunker Hill for the establishment of a second line on higher
ground in case the first could not be maintianed. His importunity with General Ward had
secured the detail of the whole of Reed?s, as well as the balance of Stark?s regiment, so that the entire left was protected by New Hampshire troops. With all their energy they were able to gather from the shore only stone enough for partial cover, while they lay down or kneeled to the fire.

The whole force thus spread out to meet the British army was less than sixteen hundred men.
Six pieces of artillery were in use at different times, but with little effect. The cannon cartridges were at last distributed for the rifles, and five of the guns were left on the field when retread became inevitable.

Reference to the map will indicate the position thus outlined. It was evident that the landing could not be prevented. Succcessive barges landed the well-equipped troops and they took their positions and their dinner, under the blaze of the hot sun, as if nothing but ordinary duty was awaiting their leisure.

It was nearly three o?clock in the afternoon when the British army formed for the advance.
General Howe was expected to break and envelop the American left wing, take the redoubt in
the rear and cut off retreat to Bunker Hill and the mainland. The light infantry moved closely along the Mystic River. The grenadiers advanced upon the stone fence, while the British left demonstrated toward the unprotected gap which was between the fence and the short breastwork next the redoubt. General Pigot with the extreme left wing moved directly upon the redoubt.

The British artillery had been supplied with twelve-pound shot for six-pounder guns, and thus disabled, were ordered to use only grape. The guns were, therefore, advanced to the edge of an old brick-kiln, as the spongy ground and heavy grass did not permit ready handling of guns at the foot of the hill slope, or even just at its left. This secured a more effective range of fire upon the skeleton defences of the American centre, and an eligible position for a direct fire upon the exposed portion of the American front, and both breastwork and redoubt.

The advance of the British army was like a solemn pageant in its steady headway, and like a
parade for inspection in its completeness. This army, bearing knapsacks and full campaign
equipment, moved forward as if, by the force of its closely knit columns, it must sweep
every barrier away. But, right in the way was a calm, intense love of liberty. It was represented by men of the same blood and of equal daring.

A strong contrast marked the opposing Englishmen that summer afternoon. The plain men
handled plain firelocks. Oxhorns held their powder, and their pockets held their bullets.
Coatless, under the broiling sun, unincombered, unadorned by plume or service medal, pale
and wan after their night of toil and their day of hunger, thirst, and waiting, this live
obstruction calmly faced the advancing splendor.

A few hasty shots, quickly restrained, drew an innocent fire from the British front rank.
The pale, stern men behind the slight defence, obedient to a strong will, answered not
to the quick volley and nothing to the audible commands of the advancing columns -
waiting, still.

No painter can make the scene more clear than the recital of sober deposition, and the
record left by survivors of either side. History has no contradictions to confuse the realities of that momentous tragedy.

Short, crisp and earnest, low-toned, but felt as an electric pulse are the words of
Colonel William Prescott. Warren by his side repeats. The words fly through the
impatient lines. The eager fingers give back from the waiting trigger. Steadmen,
until you see the white of the eye. Not a shot sooner. Aim at the handsome
coats. Aim at the waistbands ?Pick off the commanders.Wait for the word,
every man, steady.

Those plain men, so patient, can alread count the buttons, can read the emblems on the
breastplate, can recognize the officers and men whom they had seen parade on Boston
Common. Features grown more distinct. The silence is awful! The men seem dead
waiting for one word. On the British right the light infantry gain equal advance just as
the left wing almost touched the redoubt. Moving over more level ground, they quickly
made the greater distance and passed the line of those who marched directly up the hill.
The grenadiers moved firmly upon the centre, with equal confidence, and space lessens
to that wich the spirit of the impending word defines. That word waits behind the
centre and left wing, as it lingers at breastwork and redoubt. Sharp, clear, and

From redoubt to river, along the whole sweep of the devouring flame, the forms of men wither as in a furnace heat. The whole front goes down. For an instant the chirp of the cricket and grasshopper in the fresh-mown hay might almost be heard; then the groans of the wounded, then the shouts of impatient yeomen who spring forth to pursue, until recalled to silence, and duty. Staggering, but reviving, grand in the glory of their manhood, heroic in restored self-possession, with steady step in the face of fire, and over the bodies of the dead, the British remnant renew battle. Again, a deadly volley, and the shattered columns, in spite of entreaty, or command, speed back to the place of landing, and the first shock of arms is over.

Putnam hastened to Bunker Hill to gather scattering parties in the rear and urge coming rein forcements across the isthmus, where the fire from British frigates swept with fearful energy,but nothing could bring them in time. The men who had toiled all night, and had just proved their valor, were again to be tested.

The British reformed promptly, in the perfection of their discipline. Their artillery was pushed forward nearer the angle made by the breastwork next the redoubt, and the whole line advanced, deployed as before, across the entire American front. The ships of war increased their fire across the isthmus. Charlestown had been fired and more than four hundred houses kindled in one vast wave of smoke and flame, until a sudden breeze swept its quivering volume away and exposed to view of the watchful Americans the returning tide of battle. No scattering shots in advance this time. It is only when a space of hardly five rods is left, and a swift plunge could almost forerun the rifle flash, that the word of execution impels the bullet, and the entire front rank,from redoubt to river, is swept away. Again and again, the attempt is made to rally and inspire the paralyzed troops; but the living tide flows back, even to the river.

At the first repulse the thirty-eighth regiment took shelter by a stone fence, along the road which passes about the base of Breed?s Hill; but at the second repulse, supported by the fifth, it re-organized, just under the advanced crest of Breed?s Hill for a third advance.

Frothingham quotes this statement of a British officer: Most of our grenadiers and light
infantry, the moment they presented themselves, lost three fourths, and many nine-tenths
of their men. Some had only eight and nine men to a company left, some only three, four
and five.

Four hundred additional marines and the forty-seventh regiment were promptly landed.
This fresh force, under Clinton, was ordered to flank the redoubt and scale its face to the
extreme left. General Howe, with the grenadiers and light infantry, supported by the artillery, undertook the storming of the breastworks, bending back from the mouth of the redoubt and, so commanding the centre entrance.

The Americans were no less under a solemn responsibility. At the previous attack, some loaded while others fired, so that the expenditure of powder was great, almost exhaustive. The few remaining cannon cartridges were economically distributed. There was no longer a possibility of reinforcements. The fire from the ships swept the isthmus There were less than fifty bayonets to the entire command.

During the afternoon Ward sent his own regiment, as well as Patterson' and Gardner'
but few men reached the actual front in time to share in the last resistance. Gardner did,
indeed, reach Bunker Hill to aid Putnam in establishing a second line on that summit, but
fell in the discharge of the duty. Febiger, previously conspicuous at Quebec, and afterward, at Stony Point, gathered a portion of Gerrishe' regiment, and reached the redoubt in time to share in the final struggle; but the other regiments, without their fault, were too late.

It was not until a pressure upon three faces of the redoubt forced the last issue, that the defenders poured forth one more destructive volley. A single cannon cartridge was distributed for the final effort, and then, with clubbed guns and the nerve of desperation, the slow retreat began, contesting man to man and inch by inch. Warren fell, shot through the head, in the mouth of the fort.

The battle was not quite over, even then. Jackson rallied Gardner' men on Bunker Hill, and with three companies of Ward's regiment and Febiger's party, so covered the retreat as to save half of the garrison. The New Hampshire troops of Stark and Reed, with Colt's and Chester's companies,still held the fence line clear to the river, and covered the escape of Prescott's command until the last cartridge had been expended, and then their deliberate, well-ordered retreat bore testimony alike to their virtue and valor.

The British did not pursue. Clinton urged upon General Howe an immediate attack upon Cambridge; but Howe declined the movement. The gallant Col. William Prescott offered to retake Bunker Hill by storming if he could have three fresh regiments; but it was not deemed best to waste further resources
at the time.

The British loss was nineteen officers killed, and seventy wounded, itself a striking evidence of the prompt response to Prescott's orders before the action began. Of rank and file, two hundred & seven men were killed and seven hundred and fifty eight were wounded -Total: ten hundred and fifty-four.

Such is the record of a battle which, in less than two hours, destroyed a town, laid fifteen hundred men upon the field, equalized the relations of veterans and militia, aroused three millions of people to definite struggle for National Independence and fairly open the war for its accomplishment.

Colonel Frye - 10 killed. 38 wounded & 4 missing
Colonel Little - 7 killed. 23 wounded & none missing
Colonel Brewer - 12 killed. 22 wounded & none missing
Colonel Gridley - none killed. 4 wounded and none missing
Colonel Stark - 15 killed. 45 wounded and none missing
Colonel Woodbridge - none killed. 5 wounded and none missing
Colonel Scammon - none killed. 2 wounded and none missing
Colonel Bridge - 17 killed. 25 wounded and none missing
Colonel Whitcomb - 5 killed. 8 wounded and two missing
Colonel Ward - 1 killed. 6 wounded and none missing
Colonel Gerrishe - 3 killed. 5 wounded and none missing
Colonel Reed - 3 killed. 29 wounded and one missing
Colonel Prescott - 43 killed. 46 wounded and none missing
Colonel Doolittle - 6 killed. 9 wounded and none missing.
Colonel Gardner - none killed. 7 wounded and none missing
Colonel Patterson - none killed. 1 wounded and one missing
Colonel Nixon - 3 killed. none wounded and none missing