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Battle of Bunker Hill 3334 Views


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Description:

The Battle of Bunker Hill was one of the most important battles of the American Revolution. Why? It was the first time the Americans could fend off the British—and it helped pave the way to an American victory. USA! USA!

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English Language

Transcript

00:08

Bunker Hill, a la Shmoop.

00:13

One of the most decisive battles of the American Revolution was the Battle for Bunker Hill.

00:23

Which was really fought on Breed's Hill, but we'll let that slide.

00:27

Bunker Hill was an important battle, because it proved that the Americans could stand against the British.

00:33

It gave them a sense of hope.

00:38

British forces had planned to send troops from Boston to occupy the surrounding hills.

00:46

The colonial troops, however, had spies everywhere.

00:50

So William Prescott snuck twelve hundred American troops onto the hills.

00:57

When the British found out, they were bloody ticked off.

01:00

The British sent their armies against the Americans.

01:06

And the Americans held them at bay.

01:10

So they sent their forces again.

01:14

And the Americans, yet again, held them at bay.

01:18

By now the British lost a few good men.

01:22

Stubborn as a mule, they decided to rush the hill again.

01:27

Luckily for them, it was on this third charge that the Americans ran out of ammo.

01:35

The British took the hill, but many Americans retreated and made it out alive.

01:41

While it was technically a British victory, the hill wasn't really worth a tinker's cuss.

01:49

The British suffered heavy losses at the battle.

01:52

So heavy, in fact, that one British officer remarked,

01:56

"A few more such victories would have surely put an end to British dominance in America."

02:02

And the American forces knew that they had a chance of winning this crazy war.

02:07

Given the effect on morale, do you think that the war might have ended differently

02:10

if Bunker Hill had ended differently?

02:13

Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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