Bunker Hill Monument on Breed’s Hill

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See the Historic Sites web page for an interactive location map.

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VISITING BUNKER HILL

Bunker Hill was the scene of the first major battle of the American Revolution. It is located in Charlestown, which is across the Charles River from the historic district of Boston. The two areas are connected by the Charlestown Bridge—there is a pedestrian walkway on the bridge. Just after crossing, the Freedom Trail® forks: a left leads to the Charlestown Navy Yard (another attraction within Boston National Historical Park), while continuing straight takes you to Bunker Hill. I suggest seeing the Navy Yard first, then taking a Freedom Trail shortcut to Bunker Hill.

Boston’s Freedom Trail crosses the Charlestown Bridge on its way to Bunker Hill and the USS Constitution

Before discussing Bunker Hill further, a clarification must be made. The hill on which the Bunker Hill Monument now stands is the same one where the Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775. However, it isn’t actually Bunker Hill, but Breeds Hill. Bunker Hill is another hill to the northwest. Both are named after farmers who had been dead for a hundred years by the time the battle took place. By 1775, the two were often confused. Many people referred to the entire area as Bunker Hill, while others made a distinction between the hills. They even show up flip-flopped on various maps. Furthermore, the names weren’t important at the time because the battle was originally called the Battle of Charlestown Heights. The Bunker Hill moniker didn’t come around until the 1800s.

Today Breeds Hill is a small park, and on a nice day you will find many people relaxing on the grass and benches. The hill is also home to the 220-foot tall Bunker Hill Monument, a statue of Patriot commander Colonel William Prescott, and a granite lodge that houses a small exhibit area and a statue of Joseph Warren, a popular Patriot leader who was killed in the battle. Visitors are welcome to climb to the top of the monument for views of the surrounding area. On the other side of High Street is the Bunker Hill Museum.

People enjoying the park at the top of Breeds Hill where the Bunker Hill Monument is located

Statue of Colonel William Prescott, the Patriot’s commanding officer at the Battle of Bunker Hill

Boston National Historical Park Rangers conduct short lectures and host other events pertaining to Bunker Hill on select days of the week during the tourist season. See the National Park Service’s Calendar web page for days and times (type “Bunker Hill” in the Keyword Search area). For a schedule of other activities at Bunker Hill, see the National Park Service’s official Things to Do web page for Boston National Historical Park.

See the following web pages here on National Park Planner for more information on the Bunker Hill attractions:

Bunker Hill Monument

Bunker Hill Lodge

Bunker Hill Museum

BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL

After the skirmish at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, the British realized that reconciliation with the Patriots was beyond hope. They also realized that the 20,000-man Patriot militia could easily surround Boston by taking the high lying areas of Dorchester and Roxbury south of Boston, and Charlestown to the north of the city across the Charles River, so they made plans to seize these areas. However, Patriot spies learned of the plan, and the militia quickly acted by occupying the high ground in Charlestown with 1,500 men on June 16, 1775.

As mentioned earlier, there was some confusion about the names of the hills in Charlestown. Thus, when political leader and popular Patriot Joseph Warren ordered Colonel William Prescott to fortify Bunker Hill, Prescott ended up on Breeds Hill. Nobody knows if this was done on purpose or as the result of confusion, though in actuality it wasn’t all that important since Prescott found Breeds Hill to be the more strategic. It was the smaller of the two hills, but it was more centrally located. (The battle was originally called the Battle of Charlestown Heights, which confirms that the identity of a particular hill wasn’t necessarily important at the time. It wasn’t until the early 1800s that the name Battle of Bunker Hill came to be.)

On the night of June 16^th, the Patriots quickly built an earthen fortification on Breeds Hill. When the British woke up on the 17^th and saw the fort, they decided to immediately attack before the Patriots had become entrenched in the area. The fighting began at dawn with the shelling of Charlestown by the British from ships in the harbor and cannon located on Copps Hill. By 2 PM in the afternoon, with 2,000 troops having landed in Charlestown, the British began the land assault.

It took three attempts by the British to scale Breeds Hill and overrun the fort. Each time they took heavy losses as Patriot muskets fired upon them from a superior position. However, after the second assault the Patriots were running low on ammunition, and they were quickly overwhelmed during the third assault. Those who could turned and made a hasty retreat. Though defeated, the Patriots put a severe dent in the British forces in Boston, inflicting casualties of 800 wounded and 230 killed while sustaining a loss of only 300 to 400 killed or wounded. Among the Patriot dead was Joseph Warren, who had arrived around noon at Breeds Hill.

The loss made the British so apprehensive about further fighting near Boston that they never attempted to take Dorchester or Roxbury. Two weeks later George Washington arrived and instigated a siege of Boston by taking these high areas. This lasted until March 1776, at which time the British troops and loyal citizens evacuated Boston and sailed to Nova Scotia.

The following video outlines the battle tactics at Bunker Hill.