Decisive Day: the Battle for Bunker Hill

For a class last week, I read a set of books about the military part of the Revolution: A People Armed and Numerous, by John Shy (a collection of essays- very readable- which I’d recommend for anyone interested in a social history of the military during the Revolution); The Glorious Cause, by Robert Middlekauff (which I did not read, but faked my way through); Decisive Day, by Ralph Ketchum (a book about the Battle of Bunker Hill); The Valley Forge Winter, by Wayne Bodle (which I would not recommend. It’s well researched but it’s very dense, and it doesn’t have nearly enough maps to be able to tell what or where it is he’s talking about most of the time); and A Revolutionary People at War: The Continental Army and American Character, 1775-1783, by Charles Royster (which I wish I’d been able to read more of, but would still recommend. Like A People Armed and Numerous, it’s a social history of the military and tries to explain why colonists fought and what drove them to get involved).

I thought I’d focus this entry on Ralph Ketchum’s Decisive Day: The Battle for Bunker Hill. It was the most enjoyable read of the set—highly readable and written like a story. Bunker Hill is underrated. Most people know about or have heard of Lexington/Concord, Saratoga, Yorktown, yet Bunker Hill was just as crucial and just as much of a turning point as the victory at Saratoga which led the French to enter the war against the British. After Lexington and Concord (April 1775), war with Britain was still not inevitable. Colonists were angry at the bloodshed, but reconciliation may have still been possible. Colonists also gained some confidence at Lexington and Concord, dealing the British a huge blow when they picked off retreating British soldiers all the way back to Boston. But Concord was not fought by an American army. It was volunteers and militiamen fighting against a small contingent of British troops. How would an American army, made up of ragtag farmers and apprentices and old men, stand a chance against the disciplined, well-trained professional British army in a real battle? There were a lot of doubts on the American side, a lot of confidence amongst the Brits. In June 1775, though, the newly formed American army proved that it could stand a chance. Though they technically had to retreat and cede Bunker Hill to the British (important because of its high position and the ability of soldiers there to guard or attack Boston), the British suffered an enormous number of casualties and lost nearly half of their officers. They also suffered psychologically. General Howe, one of Britain’s commanders in chief, never underestimated the American army again, and in later battles, never waged a frontal attack on entrenched American troops, so as to avoid a disaster like the battle at Bunker Hill.

The Americans lost men but gained confidence in themselves, the new army, and the Continental Congress, which they now turned to with faith in its ability to lead them through a war. They did, however, lose one of their best men and most able leaders: Joseph Warren. An officer, Warren died covering for his retreating men. His body was not found initially, but the Americans got word that his body lay mutilated in a grave with some other soldiers, thus dishonored by the British. The Americans found out where he was buried, dug him up, and Paul Revere identified him by two false teeth that he had personally put in not long before the battle. Warren almost surely would have gone on to be one of the great leaders of the Revolution. He died bravely, protecting his men who retreated, the last to leave. A movie really could be made about Bunker Hill.

I’d highly recommend Ketchum’s Decisive Day. It’s not too bogged down with military jargon and maneuvers, and it reads like a story. It helps the reader gain a sense of the significance of the battle of Bunker Hill, a crucial though largely ignored event in the War for Independence.