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BUNKER See also:- HILL
- HILL (0. Eng. hyll; cf. Low Ger. hull, Mid. Dutch hul, allied to Lat. celsus, high, collis, hill, &c.)
- HILL, A
- HILL, AARON (1685-175o)
- HILL, AMBROSE POWELL
- HILL, DANIEL HARVEY (1821-1889)
- HILL, DAVID BENNETT (1843–1910)
- HILL, GEORGE BIRKBECK NORMAN (1835-1903)
- HILL, JAMES J
- HILL, JOHN (c. 1716-1775)
- HILL, MATTHEW DAVENPORT (1792-1872)
- HILL, OCTAVIA (1838– )
- HILL, ROWLAND (1744–1833)
- HILL, SIR ROWLAND (1795-1879)
HILL , the name of a small hill in See also:Charlestown (See also:Boston), See also:Massachusetts, U.S.A., famous as the See also:scene of the first considerable engagement in the See also:American See also:War of See also:Independence (See also:June 17, 1775). Bunker Hill (I ro ft.) was connected by a See also:ridge with Breed's Hill (75 ft.), both being on a narrow See also:peninsula a See also:short distance to the See also:north of Boston, joined by a See also:causeway with the mainland. Since the affair of See also:Lexington (See also:April 19, 1775) See also:General See also:Gage, who commanded the See also:British forces, had remained inactive at Boston awaiting reinforcements from See also:England; the headquarters of the Americans were at See also:Cambridge, with advanced posts occupying much of the 4 m. separating
Cambridge from Bunker Hill. When Gage received his reinforcements at the end of May, he determined to repair his See also:strange neglect by which the hills on the peninsula had been allowed to remain unoccupied and unfortified. As soon as the Americans became aware of Gage's intention they determined to frustrate it, and accordingly, on the See also:night of the 16th of June, a force of about 1200 men, under See also:Colonel See also:- WILLIAM
- WILLIAM (1143-1214)
- WILLIAM (1227-1256)
- WILLIAM (1J33-1584)
- WILLIAM (A.S. Wilhelm, O. Norse Vilhidlmr; O. H. Ger. Willahelm, Willahalm, M. H. Ger. Willehelm, Willehalm, Mod.Ger. Wilhelm; Du. Willem; O. Fr. Villalme, Mod. Fr. Guillaume; from " will," Goth. vilja, and " helm," Goth. hilms, Old Norse hidlmr, meaning
- WILLIAM (c. 1130-C. 1190)
- WILLIAM, 13TH
William See also:Prescott and See also:Major-General See also:Israel See also:Putnam, with some See also:engineers and a few See also:- FIELD (a word common to many West German languages, cf. Ger. Feld, Dutch veld, possibly cognate with O.E. f olde, the earth, and ultimately with root of the Gr. irAaror, broad)
- FIELD, CYRUS WEST (1819-1892)
- FIELD, DAVID DUDLEY (18o5-1894)
- FIELD, EUGENE (1850-1895)
- FIELD, FREDERICK (18o1—1885)
- FIELD, HENRY MARTYN (1822-1907)
- FIELD, JOHN (1782—1837)
- FIELD, MARSHALL (183 1906)
- FIELD, NATHAN (1587—1633)
- FIELD, STEPHEN JOHNSON (1816-1899)
- FIELD, WILLIAM VENTRIS FIELD, BARON (1813-1907)
field-guns, occupied Breed's Hill—to which the name Bunker Hill is itself now popularly applied—and when daylight disclosed their presence to the British they had already strongly entrenched their position. Gage lost no See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time in sending troops across from Boston with orders to See also:assault. The British force, between 2000 and 3000 strong, under (See also:Sir) William See also:Howe, supported by See also:artillery and by the guns of men-of-war and floating batteries stationed in the anchorage on either See also:side of the peninsula, were fresh and well disciplined. The American force consisted for the most See also:part of inexperienced See also:volunteers, See also:numbers of whom were already wearied by the See also:trench See also:work of the night. As communication was kept up with their See also:camp the numbers engaged on the hill fluctuated during the See also:day, but at no time exceeded about 1500 men. The See also:village of Charlestown, from which a galling musketry See also:fire was directed against the British, was by General Howe's orders almost totally destroyed by hot shot during the attack. Instead of attempting to cut off the Americans by occupying the See also:neck to the See also:rear of their position, Gage ordered the advance to be made up the steep and difficult ascent facing the See also:works on the hill. Whether or not in obedience—as tradition asserts—to an See also:- ORDER
- ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
- ORDER, HOLY
order to reserve fire until they could see the whites of their assailants' eyes, the American volunteers with admirable steadiness waited till the attack was on the point of being driven See also:home, when they delivered a fire so sustained and deadly that the British See also:line See also:broke in disorder. A second assault, made like the first, with the precision and discipline of the See also:parade-ground met the same See also:fate, but Gage's troops had still spirit enough for a third assault, and this time they carried the position with the See also:bayonet, capturing five pieces of See also:ordnance and putting the enemy to See also:flight. The loss of the British was 1054 men killed and wounded, among whom were 89 commissioned See also:officers; while the American casualties amounted to 420 killed and wounded, including General See also:Joseph See also:Warren, and 30 prisoners. (See AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.)
The significance of the See also:battle of Bunker Hill is not, however, to be gauged by the losses on either side, heavy as they were in proportion to the numbers engaged, nor by its purely military results, but by the moral effect which it produced; and when it is considered from this standpoint its far-reaching consequences can hardly be over-estimated. " It roused at once the fierce See also:instinct of combat in See also:America ..., and dispelled ... the almost superstitious belief in the impossibility of encountering See also:regular troops with hastily levied volunteers, . . . No one questioned the conspicuous gallantry with which the provincial troops had supported a See also:long fire from the See also:ships and awaited the See also:charge of the enemy, and British soldiers had been twice driven back in disorder before their fire."' The See also:pride which Americans naturally See also:felt in such an achievement, and the self-confidence which it inspired, were increased when they learnt that the small force on Bunker Hill had not been properly reinforced, and that their See also:ammunition was See also:running short before they were dislodged from their. position 2 Had the See also:character of the fighting on that day been other than it was; had the American volunteers been easily, and at the first assault, driven from their fortified position by the troops of See also:George III., it is not impossible that the resistance to the British See also:government would have died out in the North American colonies through lack of confidence in their own See also:power on the part of the colonists. Bunker Hill, whatever it may have to See also:teach the student of war, taught the American colonists in 1775 that the odds against them in the enterprise in
1W. E. H. See also:Lecky, See also:History of England in the Eighteenth See also:Century, iii. 428.
2 General Gage's despatch. American See also:Remembrancer, 1776, part If, p. 132.which they had embarked were not so overwhelming as to deny them all prospect of ultimate success.
In 1843 a See also:monument, 221 ft. high, in the See also:form of an See also:obelisk, of See also:Quincy See also:granite, was completed on Breed's Hill (now Bunker Hill) to commemorate the battle, when an address was delivered by See also:Daniel See also:Webster, who had also delivered the famous dedicatory oration at the laying of the corner-See also:- STONE
- STONE (0. Eng. shin; the word is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Stein, Du. steen, Dan. and Swed. sten; the root is also seen in Gr. aria, pebble)
- STONE, CHARLES POMEROY (1824-1887)
- STONE, EDWARD JAMES (1831-1897)
- STONE, FRANK (1800-1859)
- STONE, GEORGE (1708—1764)
- STONE, LUCY [BLACKWELL] (1818-1893)
- STONE, MARCUS (184o— )
- STONE, NICHOLAS (1586-1647)
stone in 1825. Bunker Hill day is a See also:state See also:holiday.
See R. See also:Frothingham, The Centennial: Battle of Bunker Hill (Boston, 1895), and See also:Life and Times of Joseph Warren (Boston, 1865) ; 'Boston See also:City See also:Council, Celebration of Centen. Aniv. of Battle of Bunker Hill (Boston, 1875) ; G. E. See also:Ellis, Hist. of Battle of Bunker's (Breed's) Hill (Boston, 1875) ; S. Sweet, Who was the See also:Commander at Bunker Hill ? (Boston, 185o) ; W. E. H. Lecky, History of England in the Eighteenth Century, vol. iii (See also:London, 1883) ; Sir George O. Trevelyan, The American Revolution (London, 1899) ; See also:Fortescue, History of the British See also:Army, vol. iii. pp. 153 seq. (London, 1902). (R. J.
End of Article: BUNKER HILL
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