Bunker Hill: the third attack

General Henry Clinton crosses from Boston with about 400 men of the 2nd Marines and the 63rd Foot and rallies some 200 walking wounded. Howe’s men leave their packs behind and form in columns, and this time the attack goes straight at the redoubt with fixed bayonets, with only a feint against the fence. Only about 150 defenders are left in the redoubt, and they are almost out of ammunition.

British regulars climb Breed’s Hill, painting by Howard Pyle, 1897Wikimedia Commons, Howard Pyle, Public domain (Bunker Hill by Pyle.jpg)

The regulars carry the redoubt, and their last losses include Major John Pitcairn. Prescott is among the last to leave, parrying bayonets with his sword, and Joseph Warren is killed in the retreat. Stark and Knowlton withdraw from the fence in order and keep the hill from being surrounded. The Americans cross back over the Neck under fire from the ships, leaving their guns and tools, and by 5 p.m. the British hold the peninsula.

Sources

Richard M. Ketchum, Decisive Day: The Battle for Bunker Hill (1999).
Nathaniel Philbrick, Bunker Hill (2013).

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