Tuesday marked the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, the 1775 confrontation in which colonists clashed with British redcoats with gruesome and far-reaching consequences. The Brits technically prevailed in capturing the earthen “fort” that the rebels had constructed atop Breed’s Hill on the Charlestown peninsula. But the king’s forces took heavy casualties in the process as they stormed the beach and then the hilltop breastworks, from which the newly formed Continental Army fired their muskets with deadly and surprising accuracy.
Bunker Hill was a turning point in the freshly launched revolution. The bloodletting was far more severe than at Lexington and Concord, the first clash between the British garrison and the citizens of New England in April 1775. Bunker Hill began in earnest the siege of Boston, which culminated in March 1776 with the withdrawal of General Howe and the British — along with a fair number of Loyalist Bostonians— to safer harbor in what is now Nova Scotia.
For many years, the anniversary of Bunker Hill was observed as a holiday here in Boston and throughout Suffolk County. Regrettably, that tradition ended in 2010 when state lawmakers and then-Governor Deval Patrick pushed to remove the holiday from the state calendar.
This year’s Bunker Hill anniversary is momentous, in part, because it also coincides with the 250th birthday of the United States Army, which was created by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, three days before the hostilities in Charlestown. General George Washington, a Virginian, took command of the forces that survived the British onslaught and assembled in Cambridge near Harvard Square two days after Bunker Hill.
Bunker Hill was— and remains— a formative event in history of the still-forming American republic. Thankfully, our friends and neighbors in Charlestown still gather each June to celebrate the spirit of resistance to a foreign crown that drove those first patriots to take up arms. This year also featured a reenactment event, which took place in Stage Fort Park in Gloucester, which more accurately resembles the old battlefield and offered sufficient space for an amphibious landing.
It is particularly fitting that we recall— at this critical moment in our own time and place— both the heroism and idealism that motivated those revolutionary Americans, including scores who lost their lives on Bunker and Breeds hills.
It’s time for us to start thinking about ways that we might remember and celebrate the next big milestone a bit closer to home: Dorchester Heights, now located in present-day South Boston, was once part of the town of Dorchester and was central to the defeat of the British in March 1776 by Gen. Washington and his forces. Like Bunker Hill, “Evacuation Day” was once a revered local holiday— and on its 250th anniversary, perhaps it should be once again. The liberation of Boston from British occupation was— and remains— the most consequential date in our city’s history.
In the meantime, we recommend that anyone with an interest in diving deeper into this history make a visit to a gem in our own backyard here in Dorchester. The Commonwealth Museum, located between UMass Boston and the JFK Library and EMK Institute on Columbia Point, is currently presenting a special exhibit of artifacts from the Battle of Bunker Hill and the events of the American Revolution.
Items on display include an actual drum and sword used by American servicemen at Bunker Hill. The museum is free. Go check it out for yourself! You can make plans by visiting sec.state.ma.us/divisions/commonwealth-museum/exhibits/current/rev-250.htm.
–Bill Forry
