Bunker Hill

SCOPE wrote, last week, that many important events that occurred 250 years ago, during the Revolutionary War, were passing without enough fanfare.  Here is another.

Two hundred and fifty years ago yesterday, the Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775. 

The majority of the battle was fought on the adjacent Breed’s Hill, so why is it called the battle of Bunker Hill?  Because Bunker Hill was the original objective of the British troops.

The British were besieged in Boston when they decided occupy Bunker Hill, for strategic reasons.  They attacked, uphill, an entrenched position.  Two assaults on the colonial positions were repulsed with significant British casualties but the redoubt was captured on their third assault, after the defenders ran out of ammunition and retreated.

As a result, the British suffered 1,054 casualties (226 dead and 828 wounded), and a disproportionate number of these were officers; about 100 commissioned officers were among the dead and wounded. The casualty count was, reportedly, the highest suffered by the British in any single encounter during the entire war.

The 1,200 colonial defenders suffered about 450 losses, in total, of whom 140 were killed.

British Commander General Clinton remarked in his diary that "A few more such victories would have shortly put an end to British dominion in America.”

Many things done have unintended consequences and although the battle, itself, was not terribly significant, their losses effected British strategy in future battles. The British adopted a more cautious planning and maneuver execution in future engagements, which was evident in the subsequent battle in New York City where the British had a chance to destroy Washington’s army but hesitated and allowed Washington to escape, eventually to Valley Forge.

The engagement also convinced the British of the need to hire substantial numbers of Hessian mercenaries to bolster their strength in the face of the new and formidable Continental Army.  You may remember that those Hessians also ended up at Valley Forge.  (But that’s a year away.)