The American Revolution : The Battle Of Bunker Hill

For many, the American victory over Great Britain in the Revolutionary War remains a question of how colonial forces were able to overcome superior forces in conventional, face-to-face encounters. The British army was, unquestionably, superior in military skill and classical tactics to the American regulars. They were extremely disciplined and very proud. The redcoats also held the advantage of superior leadership and a strong chain of command. Overconfidence in themselves, and the difficulty of fighting so far from the mother country were, perhaps, their downfall. The British did not anticipate the power of an occupying citizenry to defend a land they considered their own. Although it will be seen that the American regular army, with its alliance

Have you ever heard “don't shoot till you see the whites of their eyes.” That is what William Prescott said during the battle of bunker hill.General Howe lead the british up a hill into battle.There was three waves the first time they went up the british was plowed down by the colonist.The second time they went up they were shot down again.The third time the british went up the colonist were out of ammo and was forced to use their bayonets.

Even after three years of war, the British were still losing. Eventually, they decide to change their strategy. Invading the South with a smaller army instead of the North seemed like the perfect idea. The Loyalists were plentiful in the South, and with their support, it seemed likely that they would win the war. But only in the beginning their new plan had worked.

The purpose of this paper is to identify three factors that contributed to the failure in the British Southern Campaign in the American Revolutionary war. This paper will examine British and American Southern Loyalist defeat in the Battle of Kings Mountain, and discuss assumptions the British made including loyalists support, logistics, and terrain advantage. It is important to study past military actions to identify mistakes and apply lessons learned to current U.S. military operations.

The battles at Lexington and Concord were simply formalized versions of the resistance that had been going on in the streets of Boston for 10 years. The Sons of Liberty introduced violence into the British-American dispute and made reconciliation impossible, which was Adams’ goal all along, namely to alienate the moderates and make them choose sides. Events also revealed that “news” and “propaganda” often were one and the same, depending on who did the “reporting.” With that strategy in mind, Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty proved that rioting, looting, and violence—disgusting as they often were—could be effective Revolutionary

The Battle of Trenton marked a decisive victory for the Colonial Army that helped to solidify the American people in fighting for independence from Great Britain. General Washington was able to leverage available human and counter-intelligence to gain the upper hand and defeat the Hessian force garrisoned in the town. Had Washington not acted on the intelligence available at the time, it is possible that the Colonial cause would not have lasted though that winter. This paper will analyze the two forces that took part in the battle and describe how each side used, or failed to use available intelligence. Additionally, it will postulate alternate outcome should Washington not have acted on the information available.

As the Revolutionary war began it seemed that the British held all of the advantages. They had won recognition as the most powerful nation in the world through their military exploits in the Seven Year’s War. The British had a population with more than three times the people of the colonies that produced an experienced, professional Army that was able to deploy fifty thousand troops to the colonies. They had the wealth and credit, as well as the alliances needed to secure the services of thirty thousand Hessian troops, and they had the support of as many as thirty thousand armed Loyalists (Feldmeth, 2004). The British Army, in addition to being highly professional was also supported by the largest naval force in the world. This let them establish superiority over the sea and allowed their Army freedom of movement to any place on coastlines of the rebellious colonies (Wright & MacGregor, 1987). The British also had a political establishment that was geared towards supporting troops in the field. Their

The British enrolled about fifty thousand American Loyalists and enlisted the services of many Indians, who though unreliable, who fair-weather fighters, inflamed long stretches of the frontier”(135). This extra help from colonists, Loyalist, hessians, and the Indians only add to the army creating a bigger advantage towards the colonists. Even though they did not win it can said that the British seemed to have a bigger lead on the colonists. Colonists presented themselves as weak and disorganized, where one would presume that they wouldn’t win at all, “Yet the American rebels were badly organized for war. From the earliest days, they had been almost fatally lacking in unity, and a new nation lurched forward uncertainly like an uncoordinated centipede”(136). Organization is important for the colonists because they are competing against a well-developed and trained army.

Most people did not expect the colonists with their under trained militia to last long against the British superpower. The colonists did just that. In the night of June 16, 1775, a detail of 1200 troops under orders from Artemas Ward, and led by William Prescott was supposed to entrench themselves on the rise on Bunker Hill, but instead misunderstood the instructions and went to Breed’s Hill by mistake. The next morning, the British were shocked to see Americans threatening them. In the 18th century, British military custom urged that the British soldiers attack the American soldiers, even though the Americans were in a superior position. Major General William Howe, leader of the British forces could easily have surrounded the Americans with his ships, but chose to march his troops up the hill; to the Americans. Howe might have believed that the Americans would retreat in the face of a smashing, head-on attack. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how a person looks at it, William Howe was wrong. The Americans stood their ground, dug in their heels, and stood firm. In the first wave, the Americans waited until they were within forty meters, then opened fire. The British force retreated with their wounded for a second wave. The British rushed up yet again. Again they retreated, suffering a great number of casualties. By the time the

The British seemed unbeatable. Their military was one of the best in the world in the eighteenth century. The British had a very well trained, disciplined,well paid, well fed and well equipped army. Their army had a lot of money being passed to them by the English crown allowed them to be financed and well prepared for any situation. The British navy even dominated the seas. On the other side, their opponent, the Patriots didn’t have more than a meager army. The Americans had shortages of ammunition, food, clothing, blankets, and shoes from the difficulty of raising enough funds to finance their necessities.Their army lacked basic training and discipline and they lacked a real navy on the seas causing them to have no way to defend themselves on the coastlines. The British previously had victory after victory

What was the tipping point for the American’s independence? Was it the colonists fighting on their own, or did they have help and did that help result in winning their independence? In order to answer these questions, we must first look at the financial stability New England was in. According to (shy and Tyndall P.202, 2016) "recruiting, supplying, equipping, training, and paying soldiers and sailors, are monumental challenges" for the 13 colonies. New England neither had the finances, nor the professional army with full-time soldiers to win the war.

During April of 1775 the Revolutionary War had officially begun, at Lexington, with “the shot heard around the world.” I wish I had known who had fired that shot, so I could praise them for being the best help they could for our country. The 700 British against the 77 minutemen right near my home in Boston was not a pretty sight, and the fact that 8 of our people died and we lost the battle, made me second guess the war. I had seen war before and how detrimental it was to all involved, but I knew this war had to be fought and I was ready to be strong and brave for my country. The Battle of Concord, however, had lifted my spirits and made me realize that there was no turning back, so we had to fight. As three British died, and as their 700 soldiers retreated back through Boston, I fired at them from my home, in hopes of aiding the war effort and making them pay for the pain they had caused me, by killing or wounding 300 of them. An American victory really lifted my spirits, and made me want to win the war that had begun at all

On April 18, 1775, an American rebel leader named Joseph Warren learned that a British Army unit occupying Boston would deploy from the city into the countryside. The British mission was to confiscate rebel arms and equipment from a nearby town called Concord within the same colony of Massachusetts. Warren dispatched two men during the middle of that night, Paul Revere and William Dawes, to alert the militiamen in Concord “the British were coming”.

It is said that the Battle of Saratoga, two collective battles fought between the Colonial America and the British armies in fall of 1777, is the world’s “most important battle of the last 1000 years”. However, many people don’t know the story behind the battles or haven’t even heard of them. The American Revolutionary War was about two and a half years running at this time, and patriot morale was down. The British military was proving to be the strength they were known to be, and they were looking to put the war to an end. However, many things came together to create the perfect storm. There is no doubt that the victory at Saratoga was a turning point in the war that led to America’s victory.

We, as a military can still learn much from the actions that George Washington took. The siege operation that was implemented emphasized just how important it can be for an army to have the ability to replenish their supplies. Without this capability, the British troops were rendered ineffective because they were severely depleted of rations, manpower, and even bullets. The Colonial Army basically gave General Cornwallis no other option than to lay down their arms and surrender.