A misnamed engagement of the American Revolution, the Battle of Bunker Hill was fought between British regulars under Gen. William Howe and New England militiamen under Col. William Prescott and Gen. Israel Putnam on June 17, 1775.

The second battle of the war, the British lost 1,150 men, out of 2,500 engaged, and 92 officers -- one in four of the British officers killed in the whole war.

General Gage had decided to seize and fortify Dorchester Heights and Charlestown which, if taken by the Americans, would make Boston quite untenable. When the Americans learned that the British in Boston intended to secure certain heights outside the city, Gen. Artemas Ward, hearing rumors of this, ordered the fortification of Bunker Hill on theCharlestown peninsula.  He then decided on 15 June to occupy Bunker Hill, 110 feet high, and, - just behind it - Breed's Hill, 75 feet high, inside Charlestown Neck.  From Breed's Hill, small cannon could threaten Boston and its shipping.
 
 

Bunker Hill was a British victory. But even a few like them would still leave America victorious, as the British commanders knew. As General Clinton admitted, "It was a dear bought victory, another such would have ruined us." It was a battle that should never have been fought on a hill that should never have been defended.

All of Howe's staff officers were killed or wounded on Bunker Hill.

Only gradually did Americans begin to see Bunker Hill as a kind of victory. One of the first to reach this conclusion was a young Rhode Island general, Nathanael Greene.  "I wish we could sell them another hill at the same price," he said. Today we know that the battle crippled the British army in America and threw it on the defensive for more than a year.

                                                    So many people were killed, terrible! Next......