British troops, two months into the colonial…
June 1775 CE
British troops, two months into the colonial siege of Boston, open fire on June 17 on Breed's Hill on Charles Town Peninsula in what has been misnamed as the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Joseph Warren, appointed a Major General by the Provincial Congress on June 14, had arrived where the militia was forming and asked where would the heaviest fighting be; General Israel Putnam had pointed to Breeds Hill.
He had volunteered as a private against the wishes of General Putnam and Colonel William Prescott, who had requested that he serve as their commander.
Since Putnam and Prescott are more experienced with war, he had declined command.
He is among those inspiring the men to hold rank against superior numbers.
Warren is known to have repeatedly declared of the British: "These fellows say we won't fight! By Heaven, I hope I shall die up to my knees in blood!"
He fights in the redoubt until out of ammunition, and remains until the British make their third and final assault on the hill to give time for the militia to escape.
He is killed instantly by a musket ball in the head by a British officer (possibly Lieutenant Lord Rawdon) who had recognized him.
This account is supported by a 2011 forensic analysis.
His body is stripped of clothing and he is bayoneted until unrecognizable, then shoved into a shallow ditch.
British Captain Walter Laurie, who had been defeated at Old North Bridge, later said he "stuffed the scoundrel with another rebel into one hole, and there he and his seditious principles may remain." (In what may be the first recorded instance of post-mortem identification by forensic odontology, his body will be exhumed ten months after his death by his brothers and Paul Revere, who will identify the remains by the artificial tooth he had placed in the jaw.)
The British succeed in their tactical objective of taking the high ground on the Charlestown peninsula, but they suffer significant losses.
With some one thousand men killed or wounded, including ninety-two officers killed, the British losses are so heavy that there will be no further direct attacks on American forces.
The Americans, while losing the battle, had again stood against the British regulars with some success, as they had successfully repelled two assaults on Breed's Hill during the engagement.
From this point, the siege essentially becomes a stalemate.
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