The Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775, was a very important battle. It was a shot in the arm to American morale, and well it should have been. Raw American militia had stood and faced two charges from the cream of the Royal Army and only retreated due to lack of ammunition. In exchange for 450 American casualties, of which 140 were killed, the Americans inflicted 1,054 casualties, including 226 dead.
Perhaps the most important casualty of the battle from the American standpoint was the confidence of the British commander General William Howe. Howe never got over the number of men that he lost at Bunker Hill, a fact which was displayed by the extreme caution he showed in command of British troops in the key campaigns in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania in 1776-1777. With more daring and speed, Howe, on several occasions, might have captured or destroyed Washington’s entire force, but the memory of Bunker Hill kept Howe slow and cautious.
An ancestor of mine, Major Andrew McClary, New Hampshire Militia, was one of the Americans who died in defense of their country that day. It is to men like him that we owe a debt that can never be repaid.