England immediately besieged the city. The Second Continental Congress, meeting at Philadelphia in May

1775 now took charge of the war and appointed Washington commander in chief. Before he arrived at

Boston, the New Englanders had made a valiant attempt to hold Bunker Hill, preparatory to bombarding the

British troops and fleet in the city.

The first major battle of the American Revolution was fought at Bunker Hill in Massachusetts on

June 17, 1775. Two months had passed since the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord. The British had

increased their force in Boston and put General Howe in command. Thousands of colonial troops had

gathered nearby. The American headquarters learned that Howe was planning to occupy some of the hills

around Boston. To forestall him, Colonel Prescott was sent out on the night of June 16 to occupy Bunker

Hill, on a small peninsula in the Charles River, north of the city. Prescott, however, occupied the adjoining

Breed's Hill, close to the waterfront.

On the morning of June 17, the British were amazed to see trenches crowning Breed's Hill. T

reached the Quebec defenses. Montgomery came down the St. Lawrence with 450 men to aid the attack on

Gates was beaten. He retreated to North Carolina, leaving the wounded Gen. Johann de Kalb to fall into

The British strategy for the 1777 campaign was to have Burgoyne march south and Howe north

hold aloof from the United States. Vast estates of land had passed from the king, from colonial proprietors

into the lands beyond the mountains. State governments had been erected, and the first experiment in national

Some topics in this essay:
Breed's Hill, Maryland Loyalists, Revolution Washington's, Bunker Hill, St Lawrence, Morgan Jan, Rochambeau Washington, Johann Rall, North Carolina, City Howe, st leger, bunker hill, fort ticonderoga, battle fought, british plan, north carolina, british troops, york city, st lawrence, fort st johns, philadelphia york,