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War and Conflict

American Revolution

Why was Bunker Hill important in the American Revolution?

The June 1775 battle on the hills outside Boston proved to be the bloodiest battle of the war. After the fighting in April at Lexington and Concord, more British troops arrived in Boston in late May. The Americans fortified Breed’s Hill, near Bunker Hill, and on June 17, the British were ordered to attack the Americans there. The patriots, who needed to conserve ammunition, were given the famous direction not to fire until they saw the whites of their enemies’ eyes. The patriots succeeded in driving the British back on their first two charges. But on the third charge, the patriots fled. The Battle of Bunker Hill resulted in more than 1,000 injured or dead British soldiers and 400 American soldiers killed or wounded.



Paul Revere’s 1775 ride to Lexington to warn that the British were coming.