On the night of June 16, therefore, shortly before midnight, twelve hundred Americans marched quietly from Cambridge and, advancing to Breed’s Hill, which was nearer Boston than Bunker Hill, began to throw up breastworks.
Prescott at Bunker Hill.
They worked hard all night, and by early morning had made good headway. The British, on awaking, were greatly surprised to see what had been done. They turned the fire of their war vessels upon the Americans, who, however, kept right on with their work.
General Howe, now in command of the British army, thought it would be easy enough to drive off the “rebels.” So about three o’clock in the afternoon he made an assault upon their works.
The British soldiers, burdened with heavy knapsacks, and suffering from the heat of a summer sun, had to march through tall grass reaching above their knees and to climb many fences.
Behind their breastworks the Americans watched the scarlet ranks coming nearer and nearer. Powder was low, and must not be wasted. Colonel William Prescott, who was in command, told his men not to fire too soon. “Wait till you see the whites of their eyes,” he said.
Twice the British soldiers, in their scarlet uniforms, climb the slope of the hill and charge the breastworks. Twice the Americans drive them back, ploughing great gaps in their ranks.
Bunker Hill Monument.