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The American Revolution
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anyone in the colonies. Still, Washington couldn’t come close to match-
ing the senior British commanders he’d be facing in military training or
experience. And he knew this. All he could do, he told Congress, was to
“exert every power I possess in . . . support of the glorious cause.”
The Bloody Battle of Bunker Hill
On June 17, before Washington had set out from Philadelphia to assume
command of the army, a major battle was fought near Boston. The previ-
ous night, Patriot militias had dug trenches and erected earthen fortifica-
tions on the Charlestown Peninsula. The peninsula lay north of Boston,
across the Charles River. Its southern tip was just a quarter mile from
northern Boston.
The Patriots had fortified two hills on the Charlestown Peninsula. Breed’s
Hill, the closer of the two to Boston, was about 60 feet high. Behind it,
Bunker Hill rose 110 feet. If the Patriots placed cannons on the high
ground, they might be able to threaten British positions in Boston.
British warships pounded the Patriot fortifications from the surround-
ing waters. But the shelling had little effect. Troops would be needed to
dislodge the rebels.
Four thousand redcoats had recently arrived in Boston by ship. That
brought the total number of British troops in the city to more than 8,000.
In addition, three top British generals—William Howe, Henry Clinton,
and John Burgoyne—had been sent from England. They were to assist
General Thomas Gage. He was the royal governor of Massachusetts as
well as commander-in-chief of British forces in North America.
Dr. Joseph Warren, president of the Massachusetts Provincial
Assembly, was killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Though he
held a commission as a major general in the Massachusetts
militia, Warren had chosen to fight as an ordinary private.
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