today we're looking at the battle of bunker hill
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the questions down in the description so after the first shots of the american revolution were fired
at lexington and concord in april of 1775. the american militia surrounded boston with
the british and loyalists which loyalists were americans who wanted to remain loyal to britain
they had them trapped inside boston now although the militia had the british surrounded they simply
did not have the guns and ammunition to march into boston and force the british out so the british
commander at the time of lexington and concord was general thomas gage gage was viewed by king george
iii back in england as being basically a coward for not easily defeating the american forces
and then after the loss of fort ticonderoga the british were really losing confidence in gage so
general william howe who was a veteran of the french and indian war and had fought alongside
american colonists during that war was sent to boston to aid gage in trying to fix the situation
howe was somewhat reluctant to fight and had even gone so far as to say he would not fight against
those who he considered to be his american brothers yet nonetheless he was given orders to
break the stalemate there in boston howe's plan was to take the high ground overlooking boston
at a place called bunker hill which is located on the charlestown peninsula just to the north
of the heart of boston however the british weren't aware that there were american spies collecting
information and they learned of the british plan to take bunker hill and they passed that
information onto the american militia on the night of june 16 1775 the militia under the command of
colonel william prescott rapidly began to build earthworks and defenses to prepare for the
british attack however they did not build their defenses on bunker hill instead they moved one
hill closer on breeds hill to build their defenses so although it's called the battle of bunker hill
the true fighting took place on breeds hill at dawn on june 17 1775 the british spotted the
approximately 2 400 militia men sitting atop breed's hill and the british navy began to bombard
them with cannon fire in the meantime general william howe moved forward with his plan ferrying
close to 3 000 british troops across the charles river and began to get them in formation for a
direct assault on the american position on top of the hill the british began to move up the hill in
lines marching straight at the american militia it is said that american commander colonel william
prescott knowing that the americans did not have a lot of ammunition gave his men the order
to not fire until they could see the whites of their eyes the americans waited until the
british were within less than 30 yards and then they let loose the british having no cover as
the americans did began to fall back as they were being cut down by musket fire general william howe
pulled his troops back and reorganized convinced that his well-trained army could overwhelm the
untrained militia sitting on top of the hill again the british marched straight at the american line
and again they were repulsed suffering terrible casualties now for a third time the british
reorganized in an attempt to have a direct assault on the militia position now they were having to
step over and around fellow fallen soldiers on the battlefield but this time however when
the british reached the crest of the hill the militia ran out of ammunition and were unable
to hold off the attack the british closed in on the militia lines and attacked hand-to-hand
fighting with their bayonets which gave them a huge advantage as most of the militia did not
have bayonets the militia retreated over bunker hill and fell back to cambridge massachusetts
and by 5 pm the british had control of bunker hill the battle of bunker hill was a victory for
the british but it came with heavy losses for the british they suffered over 1 000 casualties which
our soldiers killed wounded or missing compare that to the americans who had 450 casualties
among the killed in the battle was dr joseph warren who was one of the leaders of the sons of
liberty and the man who sent paul revere on his midnight ride barely two months before despite
losing the battle americans looked at it as kind of a victory because here was this militia that
fought the most well-trained well-equipped army in the world and inflicted so many casualties many
americans believe they would have won the battle if they would have simply had enough ammunition
so bunker hill gave americans really a false sense of hope believing that this war might be
easy and they they might you know be able to win this war fairly easily and of course they'll find
out later that's not going to be the case for the british this was a tactical victory as they did
take the ground however with the number of losses they sustained they could not push forward and
the battle did not break the siege of boston the british were still trapped and by october of 1775
general thomas gage was removed and william howe took over command of british troops in north
america now news of the battle reached george washington while he was in new york as he was
on his way to take command of the militia around boston and form them into the continental army but
that's for another episode so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
you