Essential Facts
- Date: June 17, 1775
- Location: Charlestown, Massachusetts, near Breed’s Hill
- Participants: New England Army of Observation, Great Britain
- Key American Leaders: William Prescott
- Key British Leaders: William Howe, Samuel Graves
- Who Won: Great Britain
- Part of: Siege of Boston (1775–1776), American Revolutionary War
Key Events
- 1774, September 1 — British forces raided the storehouse and removed gunpowder and weapons, triggering the Massachusetts Powder Alarm.
- 1775, April 16 — On his return from delivering a message to John Hancock and Samuel Adams in Lexington, Paul Revere stopped in Charlestown and met with Colonel William Conant. Together, they decided on a signal system Revere would use to warn Conant if the British were marching to Concord.
- 1775, April 18 — Patriots in Charlestown saw the lanterns hanging in the Old North Church and sent express riders to warn the countryside.
- 1775, April 19 — On the retreat from Concord, British forces passed through Charlestown on their way to Bunker Hill.
- 1775, June 6 — A prisoner exchange was made at Charlestown. Joseph Warren and Israel Putnam represented the Americans, while Major James Moncrief represented the British.
- 1775, June 17 — The Burning of Charlestown took place during the Battle of Bunker Hill.
The British Royal Navy Attacks Charlestown
Charlestown was located on the peninsula opposite Boston. It was settled in 1630 and had an estimated population of 2,700 people in 1775.
The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston. By the time of the battle, only about 200 people remained in Charlestown, most of whom evacuated before the fighting started.
- American troops hid in and around the abandoned buildings in Charlestown to fire on the left wing of the British forces as they moved into position to attack the American redoubt on Breed’s Hill.
- The British left wing was under the command of Brigadier General Robert Pigot.
General William Howe, the commanding officer of the British forces, instructed Vice Admiral Samuel Graves of the British Royal Navy to have his ships turn their guns on the town and bombard it.
- Cannonballs and incendiary carcasses from the ships and an artillery battery on Copp’s Hill battery set buildings in Charlestown on fire.
- The Americans were forced to abandon their positions.
AHC Note — Contemporary accounts of the battle (see Appendix below) indicate British troops on the ground also set fire to buildings in Charlestown.
Aftermath
- Americans condemned the burning of Charlestown as an atrocity.
- Charlestown was rebuilt after the British left Boston in March 1776.
Appendix
Report of the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Burning of Charlestown
AHC Note — This text is from Diary of the American Revolution, published by Frank Moore in 1863. Minor text corrections and spacing have been added to improve readability.
June 17 — Last night, a detachment from the camp at Cambridge, marched to Charlestown, and there took possession of Breed’s Hill, about half a mile from the ferry.
Their intrenching tools not coming up in season, it was twelve o’clock before they began their work. At daylight this morning they were discovered from Boston, when the men-of-war at the ferry, the battery from Copp’s Hill, and the floating batteries, kept up a continual cannonading and bombarding, which fortunately did but little execution, although their intrenchments were very far from being completed.
This continued till about two o’clock, when a large army, under the command of General Howe, landed in Charlestown, and after plundering it of all its valuable effects, set fire to it in ten different places.
Then, dividing the army, part of it marched up in the front of the provincial intrenchments and began an attack at long shot; the other part marched round the town of Charlestown under cover of the smoke occasioned by the fire of the town.
Tlie provincial sentries discovered the regulars marching upon their left wing, and gave notice to the Connecticut forces posted there. Captain [Thomas] Knowlton, of Ashford, with four hundred of said forces, immediately repaired to, and pulled up, a post and rail fence, and carrying the posts and rails to another fence, put them together for a breastwork. He then gave orders to the men not to fire until the enemy were got within fifteen rods, and then not till the word was given. The word being given, the regulars fell surprisingly; it was thought by spectators who stood at a distance that, the provincials did great execution.
The action continued about two hours, when the regulars on the right wing were put into confusion and gave way. The Connecticut troops closely pursued them, and were on the point of pushing their bayonets, when orders were received from General [Seth] Pomeroy, for those who had been in action for two hours to fall back, and their places to be supplied by fresh troops.
These orders being mistaken for a direction to retreat, the troops on the right wing began a general retreat, which was handed to the left, the principal place of action, where Captains Knowlton, Chester, Clark, and Putnam, had forced the regulars to give way, and being warmly pursuing them, were, with difficulty, persuaded to retire; but the right wing by mistaking the orders having already retreated, the left, to avoid being encircled, were obliged to retreat with the main body. They retreated with precipitation across the causeway to Winter’s Hill, in which retreat they were exposed to the fire of the enemy from their shipping and floating batteries.
The provincials sustained their principal loss in passing the causeway. Tlie regulars pursued the provincials to Winter’s Hill, where the latter, being reinforced by General Putnam, renewed the battle, repulsed the regulars with great slaughter, and pursued them until they got under cover of their cannon on the shipping. The rlegulars then returned to Bunker’s Hill, and the provincials to Winter’s Hill, where they are now intrenching and erecting batteries.
In this action fell our worthy and much lamented friend, Doctor Warren, with as much glory as Wolfe, after performing many feats of bravery, and exhibiting a coolness and conduct which did honor to the judgment of his country in appointing him a few days before one of our major generals.
The number of regulars which first attacked the provincials, was not less than two thousand. The number of the provincials was only fifteen hundred, who, it is supposed, would soon have gained a complete victory had it not been for the unhappy mistake already mentioned. The regulars were afterwards reinforced with a thousand men. It is uncertain how great a number of them were killed or wounded, but all agree that their loss is more than one thousand. General Howe says, “You may talk of your Mindens and Fontenoys, but I never saw nor heard of such a carnage in so short a time.”
Rivington’s Gazetteer on the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Burning of Charlestown
AHC Note — This text is from Diary of the American Revolution, published by Frank Moore in 1863. Minor text corrections and spacing have been added to improve readability. This article appeared in Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer, a Loyalist newspaper published by James Rivington.
Rivington’s Gazetteer, June 29 — Another account of this battle is given by a gentleman in Providence, Rhode Island, to his friend in New York, as follows:
On the evening of the 16th, Col. Putnam took possession of Bunker’s Hill with about two thousand men, and began an intrenchment, which they had made some progress in.
At eight in the morning, a party of regulars landed at Charlestown, and fired the town in divers places.
Under cover of the smoke, a body of about five thousand men marched up to our intrenchments, and made a furious and sudden attack; they were driven back three times; and when they were making the third attack, one of our people imprudently spoke aloud that their powder was all gone, which being heard by some of the regular officers, they encouraged their men to march up to the trenches with fixed bayonets, and entered them; on which our people were ordered to retreat, which they did with all speed, till they got out of musket-shot. They then formed, but were not pursued.
In the mean time six men-of-war and four floating batteries were brought up, and kept up a continual fire on the causeway that leads on to Charlestown. Our people retreated through the fire, but not without the loss of many of the men. The brave Doctor Warren is among the killed, and Colonel Gardner is wounded. We left six field-pieces on the hill.
Our people are now intrenched on Pleasant Hill, within cannon shot of Bunker’s Hill. The loss of the King’s troops must be very considerable; the exact number we cannot tell.
Among the slain is Major [John] Pitcairn. If our people had been supplied with ammunition they would have held possession most certainly. Our people are in high spirits, and are very earnest to put this matter on another trial.
William Heath’s Account of Bunker Hill and the Burning of Charlestown
AHC Note — This passage from the Memoirs of Major General William Heath, was written by Heath and published in 1901. Minor text corrections and spacing have been added to improve readability.
— in the month of June, it was determined to take possession of the heights of Charlestown. Preparations were made for the purpose, and on the 16th, at night, a strong detachment from the American army marched on, and broke ground on Breed’s Hill, in front of Bunker’s Hill. The latter ought to have been taken possession of at the same time, but it was somehow omitted.
By the morning of the 17th, the troops had a redoubt and line on its left flank in good forwardness, when they were discovered by the British. The Lively man-of-war first began to cannonade the Americans; she was soon seconded by other ships, floating batteries, and some heavy cannon on Copp’s Hill, on the Boston side, which the Americans bore with a good degree of firmness, and continued at their work.
The British army in Boston were greatly alarmed at this near approach, and immediately resolved on an attack, before the works could be completed. A detachment was formed for the purpose, consisting of ten companies of Grenadiers, ten of Light Infantry, and the 5th, 38th, 43d, and 52d regiments, and a corps of artillery under the command of Maj. Gen. Howe and Brig. Gen. Pigot.
In the afternoon, they landed on Charlestown Point without opposition, where they were afterwards reinforced by the 47th regiment and first battalion of marines. The regiments in Cambridge camp were ordered down to support the detachment at Charlestown, and to occupy other posts thought to be essential, and contiguous thereto. The British began their attack with a severe fire of artillery and advanced in a slow and regular pace.
The Americans who had marched on to the aid of the detachment, consisting of the New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut troops, hastily formed a line of defense composed of rails and other materials found nearest at hand. This line extended down towards the low ground on the left, and was nobly defended.
The Americans reserved their fire until the British came very near, when they gave it to great effect; it staggered, and even broke them, but they rallied, and returning to the charge again and again, drove the Americans from the lines on the left of the redoubt, and had nearly surrounded it, when the Americans rushed out of the redoubt, their ammunition being expended, and made their retreat, even through a part of the British forces.
About this time, Maj. Gen. Warren, who had been but a few days before commissioned, and was then on the hill as a spectator only, was killed. A number of the Americans were killed in retreating from Breed’s Hill to Bunker Hill, and some in passing off over the Neck. Perhaps there never was a better-fought battle than this, all things considered; and too much praise can never be bestowed on the conduct of Col. William Prescott, who, notwithstanding any thing that may have been said, was the proper commanding officer at the redoubt, and nobly acted his part as such, during the whole action.
Just before the action began, Gen. Putnam came to the redoubt, and told Col. Prescott that the entrenching tools must be sent off, or they would be lost; the Colonel replied, that if he sent any of the men away with the tools, not one of them would return; to this the General answered, they shall every man return. A large party was then sent off with the tools, and not one of them returned; in this instance, the Colonel was the best judge of human nature.
In the time of action, Col. Prescott observing that the brave Gen. Warren was near the works, he immediately stepped up to him, and asked him if he had any orders to give him. The General replied that he had none, that he exercised no command there — “The command,” said the General, “is yours.”
While many officers and soldiers gallantly distinguished themselves in this action, others were blamed, and some were brought to trial by court-martial. This was a sore battle to the British, who did not forget it during several campaigns, nor until a tide of successes in their favour had removed it from their minds. Their whole force on this day, which was in action, was supposed to be about 2,000, and their whole loss, in killed and wounded, was said to be upwards of 1,000, of whom 226 were killed, and of these 19 were commissioned officers, including one Lieutenant-Colonel, two Majors, and seven Captains. Another account stated their killed and wounded to be 753 privates, 202 sergeants and corporals, and 92 commissioned officers; in the whole, 1047. The loss of the Americans, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, about 450.
At the time the British made their attack, the houses in Charlestown were set on fire, and burnt most furiously, which increased the horrors of the scene.
At the same time, a furious cannonade and throwing of shells took place at the lines on Boston Neck, against Boxbury, with intent to burn that town; but although several shells fell among the houses, and some carcasses near them, and balls went through some, no other damage was sustained than the loss of one man killed by a shot driving a stone from a wall against him.
Bibliography
- Blanco, Richard, The American Revolution 1775–1783: An Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, 2021.
- Heath, William. Memoirs of Major General William Heath, 1901.
- Fremont-Barnes, Gregory and Ryerson, Richard. The Encyclopedia of the American Revolutionary War. 2006.
- Ketchum, Richard M. Decisive Day: The Battle of Bunker Hill. 2014.
- Moore, Frank. Diary of the American Revolution, from Newspapers and Original Documents, Vol. 2, 1863.
- Nelson, James M. With Fire and Sword: The Battle of Bunker Hill and the Beginning of the American Revolution. 2011.
- Philbrick, Nathaniel. Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution. 2013.
- Ward, Christopher. War of the Revolution. 2011.
