17 June 1775, afternoon
Bunker Hill: the first two attacks
At about 3 p.m. the British advance. Howe sends his light infantry along the narrow Mystic beach in column against Stark’s stone wall and his grenadiers, four deep, against the rail fence. Pigot’s regiments and the marines make a feint against the redoubt. Snipers fire on them from Charlestown, and Admiral Samuel Graves has the village set on fire.
View of the attack on Bunker’s Hill with the burning of Charlestown, engraving by Lodge after Millar, 1783Wikimedia Commons, Lodge after Millar, Public domain (AttackBunkerHill.jpg)
The defenders hold their fire until the regulars are about 50 paces away. On the beach the light companies melt away, some of them running back to their boats, and the grenadiers lose their commander, James Abercrombie. Pigot’s men stop to exchange fire and fall back too, and 96 regulars are dead.
The second attack goes the same way. Howe advances against Knowlton at the fence while Pigot goes straight at the redoubt, and after about 30 minutes of firing both are thrown back. Behind the American lines confusion grows, many men desert, and the powder runs low.
Sources
- Richard M. Ketchum, Decisive Day: The Battle for Bunker Hill (1999).
- Nathaniel Philbrick, Bunker Hill (2013).
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