"The Battle of Bunker Hill maps" Topic

The Battle of Bunker Hill, The British Plan, 17 June 1775

The Battle of Bunker Hill, First Attack, 17 June 1775

The Battle of Bunker Hill, The Second Attack, 17 June 1775

The Battle of Bunker Hill, The Final Attack, 17 June 1775

Hope you enjoy!

Amicalement
Armand

Thanks muck for your time and effort,have wargamed this fight in 25/28mm 2/3 times, we try to set it up "Breeds and Bunker Hills close to this map.

No mention my friend.

Amicalement
Armand

yea, great find. thanks for posting.

This was a battle that should have never been fought, why didn't the British just land behind the Colonials and cut off their access to the peninsula and capture them all?

General Clinton, who had urged an attack as early as possible, preferred an attack beginning from the Charlestown Neck that would cut off the colonists' retreat, reducing the process of capturing the new redoubt to one of starving out its occupants. However, he was over ruled by the other British generals. Howe, who was the senior officer present and would lead the assault, was of the opinion that the hill was "open and easy of ascent and in short would be easily carried." General Burgoyne concurred, arguing that the "untrained rabble" would be no match for their "trained troops"

Glad you enjoyed them too my friend Ironwolf!

Amicalement
Armand

This was a battle that should have never been fought, why didn't the British just land behind the Colonials and cut off their access to the peninsula and capture them all?

This is a commonly asked question; there are actually several very good reasons why Howe did not do this and they have nothing to do with British arrogance or complacency.

1) The Neck itself was protected on both sides – to the south by the bund of the Mill Pond (which you can see on the maps), which prevented boats of any size landing on the southern side of the Neck, and to the north by the fact that the Mystick River had never been charted (which is why none of the RN ships was used to enfilade Stark's men on the beach). The RN has been criticised for this, but in all fairness there had never been any need to chart this river as it became "shrank" fairly quickly beyond the peninsula, and did not lead anywhere significant.

2) The RN only had enough boats to carry half of Howe's force in one lift; any landing point thus had to be a very short row from the embarkation point near the North Wharf in order for the second wave to be brought across before the first wave might be overwhelmed. Add to this the fact that the tide was ebbing – which meant fully laden boats had to be rowed against the current, thereby fatiguing the crews – and a closer landing point was clearly more desirable.

3) A landing on the Neck would have left the British first wave trapped for at least 2-3 hours between Putnam's force on Bunker Hill and Washington's main army at Cambridge. Each was significantly larger than the entire landing force, never mind just the first wave. The extra time taken to ferry across enough troops to fight the battle would also have used up a lot of the day, leaving the British limited time to achieve victory and facing the prospect of being trapped between two enemy forces overnight.

4) Moulton's Hill was the highest ground on the peninsula not either occupied by the Rebels or within range of their weapons. It offered a reasonably good position for deploying the heavier British guns (12-pdrs and Howitzers). Moulton's Point also had a gently sloping beach, which meant that artillery could be landed – any other landing point could either be easily observed and troops shifted to oppose it, or any exit was severely limited by natural obstacles (eg the cliff above the beach on the north side of the peninsula).

As a general point, whilst the maps are quite could from the view of topography, the explanation of the assaults is very basic and actually rather confusing in places – eg I assume that MA and SA are Main Attack and Secondary Attack?

Also, that map seems to indicate the elevation for Breed and Bunker Hill were the same – which they weren't:

"The Charlestown Peninsula, lying to the north of Boston, started from a short, narrow isthmus (known as the Charlestown Neck) at its northwest, extending about 1 mile (1.6 km) southeastward into Boston Harbor. Bunker Hill, with an elevation of 110 feet (34 m), lay at the northern end of the peninsula. Breed's Hill, at a height of 62 feet (19 m), was more southerly and nearer to Boston.[11]"

The rebels were supposed to fortify Bunker Hill, but marched past and instead fortified the lower elevation.