The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on this day in 1775. I was born just a mile away from the battlefield and so take a proprietary interest in this first real battle of the Revolutionary War.
Tension had been building in the Colonies for the ten years previous to the battle. After the French and Indian War, Britain imposed taxes on the American colonies to help pay off war debts. The Americans saw no point in paying for defense now that the French were out of the picture.
Britain sent troops to the Colonies to enforce her will, which led to the Boston Massacre in 1770 and the Tea Party in '73. Britain really tightened the screws after the Tea Party, and in response the Americans began forming well regulated militias and stockpiling weapons. It was a British expedition in April, 1775 to confiscate some of those weapons that ignited the powder keg of war.
By June the British has several warships and thousands of soldiers in Boston. Back then, Boston was a knob of land at the end of a peninsula. The American militias occupied the countryside around the city and threatened the British in Boston with cannons. This forced the British to attack the American position in Charlestown directly north of Boston.
To defend Charlestown the Americans initially planned to build an earthen fort or redoubt on Bunker Hill, but decided they would be better off on a nearby unnamed hill which was later named Breed's Hill. Once the name Bunker Hill was associated with the battle, it became impossible to switch it to the more accurate Breed's Hill
After being repulsed twice by the Americans, the British took the redoubt when the Americans ran out of ammunition. The British suffered more casualties in this battle than in any single engagement for the rest of the war. The Americans went on to lose most of the battles in the coming years, but won the battles that mattered, with some timely help from the French.
It took 17 years (1825-43) to build Bunker Hill Monument which when completed was the first monument of its kind in the U.S. When I was a kid it cost ten cents to walk the 294 stairs to the top. Now admission is free and there's still no elevator. The view from the top is magnificent.
The monument was a big deal at the time. Pioneers on the Oregon or Mormon Trails passing Chimney Rock in western Nebraska called the landmark Monument Rock because it reminded them of pictures they had seen of the new Bunker Hill Monument.
The original sponsors of the monument hoped to preserve the battlefield for posterity, but had to sell off most of the land to finance the building of the granite obelisk. Lafayette came over from France to lay the cornerstone. Bunker Hill Monument is now managed by the National Park Service and was renovated at at great expense in 2007. The monument has been closed for Covid so don't go there till you see the Open sign.
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