Battle of Bunker Hill

The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775 on Breed’s Hill, during the Siege of Boston early in the American Revolutionary War. Because most of the fighting did not occur on Bunker Hill itself, the conflict is sometimes more accurately (thought less frequently) called the Battle of Breed’s Hill.

On June 13, the leaders of the besieging colonial forces learned that the British generals in Boston were planning to occupy the unoccupied hills around Boston. In response to this intelligence, 1200 colonial troops under the command of William Prescott stealthily occupied Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill, constructed an earthen redoubt on Breed’s Hill, and built lightly fortified lines across most of the Charlestown Peninsula.