The Parallel Lives

In the year 1775, two peninsulas jutted into Boston’s Harbor. Each was connected to the Massachusetts mainland by a narrow isthmus.

The first peninsula jutted due north, looked like a thumb, and upon it sat the city of Boston. The second jutted due east, looked like a hand, and upon it sat the city of Charlestown. The distance between the two cities, north across Boston’s harbor, was perhaps two or three miles.

British red-coats, an army of 6000 regulars, were stationed inside Boston.

In mid-June, they learned that New England’s colonial militias, some 15,000 New England men, had dug dirt fortifications into that northern peninsula, on its two hills, Breeds and Bunker.

From those heights, the militias could lob cannon balls into Boston or sink British warships in the harbor. In essence, the colonial militiamen now laid siege over Boston, trapping the British.

The British General, Thomas Gage, decided that his army must drive out the militia men from the two hills. He ordered Major General William Howe to cross Boston’s harbor, march up Breeds Hill and Bunker Hill, and take possession of that northern peninsula.

At 1:00 p.m., on June 17, 1775, boats ferried the armed British redcoats north across the harbor to the Charlestown peninsula. At 3:00 p.m., the British began their march up Breeds Hill.

The colonial militias held the higher ground and repelled the first British charge. A second time the redcoats tried to storm Breeds Hill, but then were halted and forced to retreat.

After all, the colonial militia men were protected behind fences and earthworks, and poured a devastating, close-range fire straight into the British ranks as they advanced. “Hundreds of red-coated regulars fell. Some British units lost half their men or more.”

On the third attempt the redcoats succeeded, because the militia men had run out of ammunition. The American defenders retreated to the mainland by way of that narrow isthmus.

Although defeated at Breeds and Bunker hills, the American men felt exhilarated that they had fought so bravely. Although victorious, the British redcoats felt sobered. They learned that day that the colonial militiamen, despite their lack of discipline and arms, were determined fighters.

It was civil war, the English from England fighting the English from the American colonies.

Historians consider Breeds and Bunker Hill the bloodiest single-day battle of the American Revolutionary War. Casualties were devastating.

The British suffered 1,000 casualties, more than 200 killed and 800 wounded. The Americans suffered 400 to 450 casualties, some 115 killed and 305 wounded.

The battle boosted American morale, caused the British army to adopt a more cautious military strategy throughout the war, and prompted the Americans to create a unified army.

Two days before the battle, on June 15, delegates to the Second Continental Congress, then meeting in Philadelphia, appointed the proud, 43-year-old Virginian, George Washington, as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, by a unanimous vote.

Washington wanted the job. He had appeared in Philadelphia, dressed in a blue and buff military uniform that he had designed. The delegates knew his intention to lead troops.

George Washington arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, outside Boston, on July 2, 1775, assumed command of the Continental Army on July 3, and continued to lay siege upon Boston. However, his army’s condition appalled him.

He believed he was the general of “an exceeding dirty and nasty people.” Their camps were sloppy. They demonstrated little deference to their superior officers, they were disorganized, and they displayed poor sanitation procedures.

Washington knew he must shape this first American army into a disciplined fighting force if he hoped to defeat the superior British army and win the revolution. So the war began.