Battle+of+Bunker+Hill

Battle of Bunker Hill

Date: 17, June 1775 Place: Charlestown, Massachusetts Combatants: British troops of Boston Garrison against troops of American Continental Army. Generals: Major General Howe against General Artemas Ward and General Israel Putnam. Armies Size: 2400 British troops against, 1500 Americans.



It is one of the most important Colonial Victories in the U.S. War for independence. The Americans learned that the British in Boston intended to secure certain heights outside the city. General Artemas Ward hearing rumors of this ordered the fortification of Bunker Hill on the Charlestown peninsula. He then decided on 15 June to occupy Bunker Hill, 110 feet high, and, just behind it Breeds Hill, 75 feet high, inside Charlestown Neck. General Howe marched at their head. The British soon launched an attack up the slope. In several hours of bloody fighting the Americans were dislodged, but only after the British lost 228 dead and 826 wounded 42 percent of the 2500 regulars engaged. In all of the twenty battles of the Revolution war, Bunker Hill exacted a heavy toll on British officers. In this one battle alone one-eighth of the British officers in the entire War were killed and one-sixth were wounded on that day. Bunker Hill showed the Americans that the British were not invincible. It showed British Government that the rebels were a serious opponent, that the mightiest army in all of Europe had a real fight on its hands.

Process of the Battle