The Death of General Warren by John Trumbull
Battle of Bunker Hill
June 17th marks the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, the first battle of the American Revolution fought by the Continental Army from a defensive position against the regular British Army. Fought in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on June 17, 1775, it was one of the most important of the war.
PRELUDE
Immediately after the battles of Lexington and Concord, the New England militia swelled to fifteen thousand. They began a siege of Boston. British General Thomas Gage knew the rebels well. He understood that his 3,000 troops could not stop the rebellion. Gages’ superiors in London, determined to break the stalemate at Boston, sent General s Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne, to get aggressive, and crush the rebellion once and for all.
On the Continental side, William Prescott’s bravery in the Indian Wars had led to an offer from the King’s Royal Army, of a commission which Prescott declined. Colonel John Stark of New Hampshire, also an experienced Indian fighter, had the unwavering loyalty of his men. Once captured by the Abenaki tribe while trapping, Stark was eventually adopted by the tribe in recognition of his bravery. George Washington was not yet in command. Only on June 15th was George Washington appointed Commander in Chief.
FORTIFICATIONS
On June 15th it became clear that the British were going to leave Boston and attack. The militia acted. William Prescott and his men marched into Charleston and occupied the heights at Bunker Hill. Overnight, they built defensive works at nearby Breeds Hill. In the morning, the British seeing Breed’s Hill occupied, laid aside their original plans and attacked the next day on June 17, 1775.
Although the Breed’s Hill fortifications were weak (built overnight), Prescott did two important things. First, he sent artillery to disrupt the British, along with Captain Thomas Knowlton’s Connecticut men to support them. Knowlton, another experienced veteran of the Indian wars, saw the weakness in the defensive line. Knowlton ignored his orders. He immediately took his troops to the weakest point (on the left) where he found a fence used to keep livestock from roaming. He spread his forces along this fence (now famously known as “the rail fence”), fortifying it further with stones and hay.
Prescott’s second action was to send for reinforcements. Col. John Stark arrived in the afternoon. Stark spotted another glaring weakness in the defenses, an open gap on the far left of the defensive line at the beach, where the British could walk through and attack the defense works from the left flank. He immediately plugged this gap by having his troops build a fence of nearby stones thus extending the Militia’s left flank all the way to the beach. Now a strong defensive line was in place!
THE BATTLE – “DON’T FIRE UNTIL YOU SEE THE WHITES OF THEIR EYES”
The left flank was exactly General Howe’s main point of attack. He was counting on the rebels wasting ammunition by firing too soon (as untrained troops usually did) and then running away at the sight of bayonets, gleaming in the sun, rapidly approaching.
But that was not to be. Both Stark and Knowlton knew how to steady their men. Stark placed marking sticks on the beach at a distance of 50 yards (within the musket s range of accuracy). Then, during the attack, they stood behind their men, talking softly, urging them to hold fire until the last possible moment. Legend has it that during this wait, someone, perhaps Stark or Knowlton, uttered those famous words “don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes”.
Well, the fire was resolute and accurate. The militia did not run. Instead, the British light infantry and grenadiers attacking the beach and the rail fence fell like autumn leaves. General Howe, personally leading the first attack, appeared visibly disturbed by the carnage around him. Howe had no choice but to regroup and attack again (to do less would have been too great a stain on Britain’s and his own military honor). During this second assault the Continental militia ran out of ammunition. They retreated, taking most of their casualties during this retreat.
AFTERMATH
The British captured the hill although at an exorbitant cost in lives. Of the 2,300 British soldiers, more than 200 were killed and more than 800 wounded, a casualty rate of over 40%. Of all the British officers killed in the entire war, almost 25%, or about 100 British officers, were killed here in Cambridge, on this day, at Bunker Hill. Continental militia casualties were light in comparison: slightly more than 100 killed, and about 300 wounded. Most of these casualties occurred during the retreat from the breastworks.
The battle results horrified the British. It became known, in Howe’s own words, as a very costly victory. Howe had later remarked: “when I look to the consequences of it, in the loss of so many brave officers, I do it with horror. The success is too dearly bought”.
The following August in Brooklyn, after executing a brilliant flanking maneuver which placed total victory within his grasp, Howe failed to crush the Continental Army. Instead of rapidly proceeding against the Continental fortified positions, he turned cautious, using slower, siege tactics. This caution provided George Washington and the Continental troops the opportunity to escape from Brooklyn and continue the war.
Had Howe acted more aggressively, the war might have ended then and there in Brooklyn. The history we know here in Princeton, which is so important to the founding of our nation, might have been much different. There might have been no “Ten Crucial Days” and no glorious victories in Trenton and Princeton. We will never know how much the horror of Bunker Hill weighed on Howe’s mind at that decisive moment in Brooklyn.
Barry Singer, West Windsor, New Jersey
The author, a volunteer with the Historical Society of Princeton, is a speaker about the American Revolution and conducts walking tours in historic Princeton.