Battle of Bunker Hill
As an introduction we can say that first The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, only days after George Washington was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army and despite the name, the battle was actually fought on Breed's Hill. The Battle of Lexington and Concord, the patriot militia controlled the hills surrounding Boston. The patriots heard through their spies that the British were planning to attack Bunker Hill. The patriots sent 1600 men to set up fortifications on Breed's Hill, which was closer to Boston. On June 17, 1775 General Howe led 2600 British soldiers up Breed's Hill. British warships also fired on the patriot’s position.
With the outbreak of the war General Gage, the British commander in chief, found himself with the odds against them in Boston by the American Continental Army, occupying the hills to the West of the city. On the night of 16th June 1775 around 1,500 American troops of the Massachusetts regiments and Putnam’s Connecticut regiment occupied Breed’s Hill and Bunker Hill on the peninsula. Plans were hurriedly put in motion by the British to attack the Americans and drive them from their position. Major General Howe, one of the three generals sent from Britain to assist General Gage, was given the command. More American troops gathered on Bunker Hill but few of them could be persuaded to move to the forward positions on Breed’s Hill.
General Howe now launched a frontal assault on the redoubt with the main body of his troops. This attack was driven back with heavy loss, in spite of an American shortage of ammunition. A final attack was made, concentrating on the center of the American position. The American ammunition was all but exhausted and this final assault forced the Americans to retreat and leave the peninsula. The British suffered some 1,150 killed and wounded and the Americans were estimated at 450 killed and wounded. The British took over the Bunker and Breed’s Hill positions and fortified them, holding them until they evacuated Boston at the end of the year. The battle was the first action for the Continental Army and showed how much work there was to be done in making an effective army.
The battle had a number of lessons for the British. The British troops were undisciplined and disorganized. For both sides Bunker Hill was the start of a journey in military education.
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