{"id":176189,"date":"2019-01-18T16:00:45","date_gmt":"2019-01-18T16:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.factstoryhub.com\/?p=176189"},"modified":"2025-02-20T13:39:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T13:39:22","slug":"bunker-hill-facts","status":"publish","type":[],"link":"https:\/\/www.factstoryhub.com\/bunker-hill-facts\/","title":{"rendered":"15 Historic Facts About The Battle of Bunker Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"
It wasn’t easy for the United States to become the country we know today.\n
The bloody battles were part of the process of establishing the United States as an independent nation.\n
American colonies faced obstacles from the British Empire which was much superior to them.\n
One of those obstacles led to the Battle of Bunker Hill, during which British troops and the colonial army fought in order to gain control of the peninsula in Charleston, Massachusetts.\n
In order to explain the events that led up to the battle and describe the battle itself, here are 15 detailed facts about the Battle of Bunker Hill.\n
When colonial forces besieged Boston, they received information about possible upcoming troops from the British side into the adjacent hill, called Bunker Hill.\n
The colonial army sent 1,500 men to fortify the area in order to deter the British threats.\n
William Prescott supposedly said to his troops, \u201cDo not fire until you see the whites of their eyes.\u201d\n
He wanted his army to shoot the enemy from a close distance, so shots could become more lethal.\n
By using that strategy, Prescott also wanted to use a limited stock of ammunition more efficiently.\n
That strategy worked effectively until the colonial forces ran out of ammunition.\n
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British claimed a victory, but with many costs. The casualties from the British side were significantly higher.\n
About 1,150 soldiers out of 2,400 British troops either got killed or wounded, while American colonial forces got away with 450 wounded and killed soldiers.\n
On top of that, the British army lost their valuable officers.\n
Although the colonial army could not control the area against the British forces, they could discourage the British from making further frontal attacks in the future.\n
Originally, colonial militiamen planned on building a fort on Bunker Hill; however, they passed the hill in darkness and chose Breed’s Hill instead.\n
Breed’s Hill was much smaller but closer to British positions.\n
Some historians consider that the choice of Breed’s Hill was militarily nonstrategic, but a lot more threatening for the British who were about to attack.\n
About 2,400 British troops marched against 1,500 colonial militiamen under the commands of General William Howe.\n
Some historians believe that it was the poor judgment of general Howe that brought to the high number of casualties on the British side.\n
He could have easily surrounded colonists from the sea using mighty British ships.\n
Instead, he ordered soldiers to march uphill, hoping Americans would retreat.\n
However, Americans showed unexpected resistance.\n
They could deter two waves of British attacks until they run out of ammunition and engaged in hand-to-hand battle during the third wave. \n
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Colonial troops could complete only half of the fort when the British troops started to fire cannonballs at 5 in the morning.\n
Their unpreparedness was even described in one loyalist soldier’s letter to his mother.\n
Peter Brown, the soldier who wrote the letter, described to his mother how the soldiers felt insecure in the half-finished fort.\n
Proclamation of Rebellion was the strict message from the British Empire that the rebellion by American colonies will be treated as a treacherous act.\n
Therefore, those actions would be punishable by law.\n
Through the Proclamation, George III ordered officials of the British Empire \u201cto use their utmost endeavors to withstand and suppress such rebellion.\u201d\n
In some historical documents, British soldiers were described as redcoats because of the uniforms they wore during the battles.\n
But why did the British Empire have red as their military color?\n
There are several theories: A red dye was cheaper than blue and yellow, and red is much visible during smoky battles.\n Unlike British troops, American loyalists fought in their civilian clothing.\n Each British soldier was equipped with muskets and bayonets.\n Americans also had muskets, but some soldiers used other available weapons instead of bayonets.\n The British took both of the hard-earned Hills under their control and fortified them until they evacuated Boston completely.\n During the Lexington and Concord battles, British Marine General John Pitcairn achieved fame as a person who fired the first shots of the war in Lexington Greens.\n When he got shot, he fell into the hands of his son who was also a Marine officer.\n After the battle of Bunker Hill, he died of deadly gunshot wounds.\nThe weapons used by American soldiers were inferior to what British soldiers used.\n
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After the Battle of Bunker Hill, the British army fortified Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill.\n
Major John Pitcairn got killed while he was commanding British Marines up the Hill.\n
The 6th U.S. President, John Quincy Adams, observed the Battle of Bunker Hill.\n
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