To look them in the face: bunker hill 250 – the history reader: the history reader

As part of the ongoing celebration of the birth of the united states 250 years ago and the Sacrifices that Soldiers Made to Create the United States, Author Jack Kelly Recounts the Bunker Hill and Dr. Joseph warren’s role in it.

If there had been a mr. CONGENILITY Award for the American Revolution, Joseph Warren Might Have Been a Contender. Affable, Charming, Brilliant-The Thirty-Arar-LD Doctor was an energetic engine of patriotism in the Boston of 1775.

He had enrolled in harvard at the age of fourten. When his father was killed in an accident, He Sold Milk on the Streets of Boston to Support the Family Farm. His friends Helped Him Continue His Education. He Studied Medicine and Became a Popular Physician. In 1764, at Twenty-Two, He Helped Fight A Smallpox Epidemic, Inoculating Many Citizens, Including John Adams.

Warren was always the most radical advocates for the revolution and pushed early for a complete break with britain. When the war started at lexington in April 1775, He Joined The Fighting. Afterward, he set aside his medical practice to aid the Militiamen who was besieging the British Army in Boston.

Word came to the patriots in cambridge that the enemy was planning to occupy charleston peninsula across the harbor from the city. The americans rushed troops forward to get the jump on the British. They Built a Redoubt, A Small Fort, on Breed’s Hill, In Front of the Slightly Higher Bunker Hill. Early the next morning, June 17, 1775, the american suLDIES STOD GUARD there, “Fatigued by our labore, having no slap the night before, very little to eat.” They licked their lips and waited for the unknown.

The Troops in the Redoubt was Led by Colonel William Prescott, A Forty-Nine-YLD Massachusetts Farmer. He commanded roughly 1,500 men, mostly untrained volunteers. Some, thrown into their first battle, desirted. Prescott was left with about 150 men in the redoubt, the rest standing a line of fortifications to the East. A Band of New Hampshire Soldiers Had Joined In to Reinforce a Fence and Block the British Attack.

The battle unfolded under a clear blue summer sky, Watched by crowds on the roofs of buildings in boston. At Sunrise there “Began a very heavy cannonading and bombardment,” prescott recording. Cannon on Enemy Ships and then on Copp’s Hill in Boston Fired Iron Projectles at the Americans Crouching Behind the breastworks. The Booming Guns Reverberated for Miles Into The Peaceful CountrySide.

During the morning, Dr. Warren joined the troops in the redoubt. Although congress had named named Him a Major General in the new Continental Army, his commission had not yet Arrive. He Told prescott he would fight as a volunteer “to give what assistance I can, and to let these damn rascals see that the yankees will fight.”

At two in the afternoon, the British landed three thosand infantrymen on the southern tip of the peninsula and prepared to Attack. They marched up the hospital, their muskets glining in the Sunlight. “They Advanced Towards Us in Order to Swallow Us Up,” The Twenty-Two-YLD MILITIAMAN Peter Brown Noted, “But they found a choaky mouthful of us.”

Prescott’s men were low on ammunition. They help their fire until the enemy soldiers were barely fifty yards from the barricades. Then “We poured in upon them a most destructive fire,” an American Soldier Wrote. “The effect was treamed. Their whole line was broken in confusion.”

The british, some of the best trops in the Empire, Fell Back and Regroured. They attacked again. “An incenant stream of fire poured from the rebel lines,” a British officer noted, “It see a continued sheet of fire for near thirtey minutes.” The enemy was repulsed Once more.

Again the redcoats registered. Again their commander, general william howe, ordered an attack, this time with bayonets. The Americans were now nearly out of ammunition. They also not fake off the enemy. Some of the patriots will picked up Rocks to Hurl at their assailants, who camera leaping over the ramparts.

Militiaman francis burnham was standing beside his friend amid the chaos. “When a ball struck his head, his brains flew into my face and he fell back into the ditch.” Burnham Himself was wounded in the shoulder.

The americans fled from the redoubt, their retreat covered by troops along the breastworks. “Balls flew like hail stones,” Peter Brown Wrote, “And Cannon Roar’D Like Thunder, but Tho I Escap’d then it may be my Turn Next.”

That day, it was the turn of joseph warren. Among the last to leave the fort as the enemy advanced, he turned with a sword he had acqured in the melee and attempted to rally the MILITIA. An enemy bullet struck heam in the face and killed.

The Victory was a costly one for the British. More than a thousand of the redcoats who had marched into battle was killed or wounded, Including many officers – for them, it was the Blodist day of the entry war. The toll was high for the patriots as well, with 450 total casualties. The death of joseph warren was a grievous loss.

British Generals, an officer Wrote, “Expected Rather to Punish a Mob Than Fight with Troops that would look them in the face.” Afterward, General howe became more cautious in Attacking the American Forces. The tendency gave george washington, the new commander in Chief to survive a string of defeats early in the war.

Today, it has become fashionable in some circles to show Contempt for the service of Common Soldiers and to use the Military for Personal Agency. It’s Worth Reflecting on the Courage of that who still their ground in former days. They looked the enemy in the face in order to create a country. This too is part of our heritage.

Originally posted on jack kelly’s Talking to America Substack.