Was the Battle of Bunker Hill on bunker hill?

Answer 1

There was no battle on Bunker hill - the fighting took place on the smaller Breed's Hill slightly further south. This battle was significant for many reasons:

• It showed up the lack of equipment among the American forces, who were not equipped with bayonets and were therefore unable to engage hand-to-hand with British troops.
• It showed up the folly of the British tactics in assaulting prepared positions, uphill, in formal battle lines against an enemy protected by earthworks and log defences.
• It showed the accuracy of American rifles compared to the British Brown Bess, which was only effective when used en masse against enemy battle lines in the open.
• It demonstrated poor leadership and strategy among the British generals, who had many other options available. An assault on the peninsula behind Bunker Hill would have been largely unopposed and would have trapped the American forces, with their fieldworks facing the wrong way.
• It was a British victory (they captured Breed's Hill and all the fortifications and gun emplacements on Bunker Hill) and the American forces ran away, some reserves refusing to go forward or carry ammunition to the forward troops - but most Americans today incorrectly think it was an American victory.