British General Thomas Gage lands his troops on the Charlestown Peninsula overlooking Boston, Massachusetts, and leads them against Breed’s Hill, a fortified American position just below Bunker Hill, on June 17, 1775.
As the British advanced in columns against the Americans, American General William Prescott reportedly told his men, “Don’t one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes!” When the Redcoats were within 40 yards, the Americans let loose with a lethal barrage of musket fire, throwing the British into retreat. After reforming his lines, Gage attacked again, with much the same result. Prescott’s men were now low on ammunition, though, and when Gage led his men up the hill for a third time, they reached the redoubts and engaged the Americans in hand-to-hand combat. The outnumbered Americans were forced to retreat. However, by the end of the engagement, the Patriots’ gunfire had cut down nearly 1,000 enemy troops, including 92 officers. Of the 370 Patriots who fell, most were struck while in retreat.
The British had won the so-called Battle of Bunker Hill, and Breed’s Hill and the Charlestown Peninsula fell firmly under British control. Despite losing their strategic positions, the battle was a morale-builder for the Americans, convincing them that patriotic dedication could overcome superior British military might.
The British entered the Battle of Bunker Hill overconfident. Had they merely guarded Charlestown Neck, they could have isolated the Patriots with little loss of life. Instead, Gage had chosen to try to wipe out the Yankees by marching 2,400 men into a frontal assault on the Patriots’ well-defended position on top of the hill. The British would never make the same mistake again.
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An Amazing Fact: During the First Battle of Bull Run in the American Civil War, citizens from Washington, D.C., were so confident that the Northern army would win effortlessly that they brought picnic baskets and watched the fighting from a nearby hill.
It was the first major battle in the American Civil War. The Confederate Army had 9,000 troops camped in Manassas, Virginia, just 26 miles outside the nation’s capital. With 30,000 Union troops at his disposal, General Irvin McDowell devised a plan to push the Confederate Army back. An easy victory was anticipated by all.
So Washingtonians, confident of the Union Army’s superior strength, flocked by the hundreds to a hill outside the capital to watch the presumed victory. Many brought picnic baskets with bread and wine and peered through opera glasses to get a closer look at the battlefield. One woman was overheard saying, “That is splendid! Oh, my! Is not that first-rate? I guess we will be in Richmond this time tomorrow.”
By 4:30 in the afternoon, the telegrapher in Washington spread the news that the Union Army had achieved a glorious victory. All were relieved.
But it was premature. In a sudden turn of events, the tide mysteriously changed and the Confederate Army pushed back. By late afternoon, galvanized by the determination of General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson (who received his nickname as a result of the battle), the Confederates overtook the exhausted Union Army and completely turned them back. It was the bloodiest battle in United States history to that point, and it alerted both sides to the reality that the Civil War would not be a short affair.
Jesus wisely proclaimed that “if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand” (Mark 3:25). Yet the universe has been at war for thousands of years—ever since Lucifer rebelled in heaven. The battle has been long. There have been many casualties. But we are not simply bystanders, watching from a distant hill. We are key players, invited by God to lovingly “fight” on His behalf.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Ephesians 6:12
After the battle (British losses were significantly higher than Colonial) General Israel Putnam commented: “I wish we had another hill we could sell them at the same price.”