Redcoats, Patriots and Bunker Hill Essay

As the winter of 1783 pull near, the last of the British man sailed from New York passing behind an independent nation. A land bound(p) to be the richest and most powerful state in the galaxy of nations.It is possible that some of the redcoats marching into the blue-blooded ship that cold November day had attacked ambush cumulation eight old age ago, and stared at astonish custodyt at the hail of bul allows coming their way from the muskets of the patriots. The British had at rest(p) on to win the action but at enormous cost, losing more than half their men.It was supposed to ca-ca been an easy battle. Their superiors, the officers of the most powerful army on earth had thought that they would all overwhelm the rival and had opted for a frontal assault, only to see their men mowed push down repeatedly by a thinking and suitable enemy.The Battle of Bunker cumulus has been enveloped in hagiography by e precise American historian as a victory in defeat, an American Dunkir k and as oneness of the first military engagements of the war of liberty. It is all this and overmuch more. Its importance in shaping history too lies in the cardinal crucial mental victories it gave to the American troops. First, it changed forever the stereotypical image of the Patriots being a rag tag bunch of homegrown reserves who could function adequately only under the competent and train officers of the British army. Second, it brought immense pride to the Patriots and served as a rallying cry, a force mobiliser for the galore(postnominal) engagements that were to happen in the next eight geezerhood.The British were confident of their military prowess and with good reason. They had fought the cut all over the world in The septet long time war, which lasted from 1756 to 1763 and lock(ed) horns (with them) on ein truth continent where the two had outposts. (Allan, T., P 100) They had mobilized troops effectively over colossal distances, achieved tremendous expertis e in military logistics and training and won brilliant battles. The firepower and strength of their navy enabled them to discontinue ports and intercept supplies. Canada and Florida had come to them from the French and the Spanish afterward the Treaty of Paris and British hegemony extended over huge tracts of the inhabited world. The world was theirs to rule and they were a truly awesome military power.The Patriots were in their eyeball a motley group of undisciplined soften time soldiers, made up of planters, traders and frontiersmen with very junior-grade knowledge of arms and the mechanics of warfare. In America, the colonists had fought aboard the redcoats against the French and the Spanish in The Seven Years War but always under the teaching of British officers. In fact, they had been badly mauled when the Indians of the Northwest went on the warpath in 1763, and had turned in desperation to the British for succor. The colonial militia was unable to master them, and in the end it was British regulars who put down the uprising. (Allan, T., P 101)Many of the militia had joined only for ad hominem advancement. As Lieutenant Scott, a Bunker pitchers mound veteran was to say later I lived in a country town I was very ambitious I was asked to enlist as a private soldier I offered to enlist upon having a lieutenants commission, which was granted. I imagined myself now in a way of promotion if my captain was killed I should rise in rank, and should still have a chance to rise higher. These, sir were the only motives of my entering into the dish for as to the dispute between Great Britain and the colonies, I know nothing of it (Sommers, R.J.)Thus, notwithstanding the small setbacks on their way to Boston, a very confident British army looked ready to overrun Boston in the summer of 1775. As the British ships began to arrive with troops ready for battle, Major public John Burgoyne was to comment What Ten Thousand peasants keep 5000 kings troops shut u p Well, let us get in and well soon find human elbow room. (Allan, T., P 107)General doubting Thomas Gage, the British commandant in Chief, shared this brashness. A few years before the battle, he had written to say, They will doubtlessly be lions whilst we are lambs, but if we photograph the bent on(predicate) path they will undoubtedly prove very meek. (Allan, T., P 108)As day broke on June 17, 1775, about 1200 ill equipped and under trained American soldiers were readied on lineages heap to face the advancing redcoats. As thousands of people watched from the pass of churches and houses in nearby Boston, 2500 British troops, supported by heavy cannon fire from the ships attacked the American barricades at three in the afternoon.. The patriots, under the command of Colonel William Prescott let the British come right up the mound before opening fire, practically from where they could see the whites of their enemys eyes (Battle of Breeds hillock/Bunker Hill) Casualties wer e heavy and the redcoats retreated in consternation.The battle lasted for nearly three hours before American ammo ran out. The British had to make three charges before they could take the defenses on the hill. The last charge was at bayonet point with the heavily outnumbered Americans fighting with rifle butts and rocks until they were arranged to retreat. One of the last to leave the American lines was, General Joseph Warren. The hero lingered only to lose his life with a gunshot in the temple.The cost to the British was terrible. The kettle of fish victory lost them a thousand men including many officers nearly forty percent of their full(a) force. The militia lost four hundred.The British hence went on to capture both the hills and Charleston was cannon balled until it burnt to the ground.After Bunker Hill, a chastened Thomas Gage wrote, They showed a conduct and spirit against us they never showed against the French, and everybody has judged them from their former appearanc e and behavior. (Allan, T., P 108)The British would never forget Bunker Hill. It was the pushover that never was, the small dune on the outskirts of Boston where the Americans turn up they could fight. The fighting was to continue for six more years during which time redcoats and patriots were to engage in battle as north as Quebec and as south as South Carolina. Most of the fighting however go on in the broad vicinity of Bunker Hill, on the seaboard between Philadelphia and Boston.At last, on family 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed and Britain recognized the independence of its American possessions. The war that had started at Bunker Hill, in the summer of 1775 finally ended. The infant nation stretched from gallium in the south to the Great Sea in the north, from the Mississippi in the West to the Atlantic in the East.The Bunker Hill Monument stands on Breeds Hill, in an overdeveloped area in Boston. in that location is no hint or sign of the redcoats or the patriots wh o volleyed and bayoneted here more than two hundred years ago.Works CitedAllan, T., ed., Winds of conversion, History of the World 1700-1800, m Life Books, (1990), ISBN 07954 0984 8Battle of Breeds Hill/Bunker Hill, phalanx Science, WPI, (2004), 21 June 2006, Sommers, Richard J. Ambition. Parameters 30.4 (2000) 171. Questia. 21 June 2006 .BibliographyAllan, T., ed., Winds of Revolution, History of the World 1700-1800, Time Life Books, (1990), ISBN 07954 0984 8Bailyn, B., The Battle of Bunker Hill The Massachusetts diachronic Society, (2003), 21 June 2006, Battle of Breeds Hill/Bunker Hill, Military Science, WPI, (2004), 21 June 2006, Battle of Bunker Hill 1775, HistoryCentral.com. (2004), 21 June 2006, Beard, James Franklin. Cooper and the Revolutionary Mythos. azoic American Literature 11.1 (1976) 84-104. Questia. 21 June 2006 .Sommers, Richard J. Ambition. Parameters 30.4 (2000) 171. Questia. 21 June 2006 .Webster, Daniel. Daniel Websters First Bunker Hill Oration. New York A merican Book Company, 1910. Questia. 21 June 2006 .