Posted on 06/18/2018 9:35:52 AM PDT by rktman
“Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes!” commanded Colonel William Prescott, repeating the order of General Israel Putnam, June 17, 1775.
Colonel William Prescott’s men were in the center redoubt located on Breed’s Hill, adjacent Bunker Hill, guarding the north entrance to Boston Harbor.
Samuel Swett wrote in his “History of Bunker Hill” that as the 2,300 British soldiers advanced: “The American marksmen are with difficulty restrained from firing. Putnam rode through the line, and ordered that no one should fire till they arrived within eight rods. … Powder was scarce and must not be wasted. They should ‘not fire at the enemy till they saw the whites of their eyes. …’ The same orders were reiterated by Prescott at the redoubt.”
When a stray musket ball from a British gun killed an American soldier, men began to run away. To stop the confusion, Colonel William Prescott climbed on top of the the wall of the fortification, stood upright and walked back and forth, rallying his men.
When British General Gage saw Prescott through his telescope, he asked a local loyalist if Prescott had enough courage to fight. The loyalist replied: “Prescott is an old soldier, he will fight as long as a drop of blood is in his veins.”
Historian George Bancroft wrote that at the redoubt in the center of battle: “No one appeared to have any command but Colonel Prescott. … His bravery could never be enough acknowledged and applauded.”
Providentially for Americans, the British brought the wrong size cannon balls – 12-pound cannon balls – which did not fit their 6- and 9-pound cannons! As a result, British artillery was not able to soften the resistance.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
Best book on the subject of Bunker Hill is:
“Now We Are Enemies” by Thomas Fleming
Spoiler alert: the Americans should have won the battle but for all the desertions.
Prescott married my ggggg aunt. He had 7 in-laws fighting under his command. They never ran coz their sister would have whacked them with her broom when they got home. They were more scared of her than the redcoats.
NON print for those that prefer this format:
http://www.wnd.com/2018/06/the-forgotten-carnage-of-the-revolutionary-war/?cat_orig=education
I wonder why the British didn’t make a diversionary landing at Breed’s Hill and landed a main force farther up the peninsula and driven south into the rear of the American line?
Not that historically important, but my kin joined up with others from the Hudson River valley/Green Mountain men. Found one that even was on the rolls for disability payments. Something like that. Don’t recall exactly.
The only book I’ve ever read was Nathaniel Philbrick’s “Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution”. I thought it was good.
Is Fleming’s book better than Philbrick’s?
The Author states “ Over 1,000 British were killed in this first major action of the Revolutionary War. Nearly 500 American Continental soldiers were killed,”
Actually it was 226 Brits and 115 Colonists for a total of 341 dead. I think he became confused by total casualties dead and wounded.
Still a bloody fight by the standards of the day, but just for accuracy’s sake.
Given that experience, you REALLY wonder why General Robert E. Lee ordered Pickett's Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg, given how that charge ended in the same debacle as the British charge up Breed's Hill but on a larger scale.
General Longstreet told General Lee before the attack “General, I have been a soldier all my life. I have been with soldiers engaged in fights by couples, by squads, companies, regiments, divisions, and armies, and should know, as well as any one, what soldiers can do. It is my opinion that no fifteen thousand men ever arranged for battle can take that position” Lee made a disastrous mistake, that cost his army 7000 casualties.
How could powder be in short supply? It’s charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter. The first two are fairly abundant and the last easily manufactured. The colonists should have been drowning in the stuff.
Probably for the same reason Joe Hooker ordered the attacks on Marye’s Heights at Chancellorsville: he thought he could win.
... Fredericksburg?
That's what I thought initially as well (Burnside, Fredericksburg). But then I remembered that Hooker did order General Sedgewick to assault Marye's Heights to try to pin down Confederate forces there (Early?). Sedgewick initially did reasonably well until Hooker's forces were defeated and Lee was able to send reinforcements to Marye's Heights.
So I figured that that's maybe what IronJack was talking about ...
Usually those answers involve logistics... like not enough suitable boats.
At the time most of the powder that was available was what the NH militia men had stolen from the British.
A house divided cannot stand. As Lincoln declared that the nation will not remain divided...that it will end up one way, or the other.
We are about as divided as we were then. This time around, we will end up one way, or the other.
making basic black powder is fairly simple. Making high quality gun powder for muskets, pistols or cannons is not that simple. Basically you have to grind the components together in precise rations, then wet it down, corn the powder (size it) then dry it out. Making military grade gun powder is not a cottage industry. The stuff has to be sized for the application. F for cannon, FF for muskets, FFF for pistols and FFFF for priming powder. In the Colonies at this time there were only a few powder mills that could produce any quantity of the stuff.
I've read that the bulk of the Colonists powder came from Europe via the Carribean and that the manufacturing problem was lack of saltpeter.
It’s addressed in the book. The British attempted a landing on a stretch of beach behind Bunker Hill and fought a skirmish with colonials who were behind a low stone wall. They probably could have come back but maybe didn’t realize how easily they,could have overwhelmed this group and also I think the tides then changed, if I remember correctly.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.