Bunker Hill Day

One of the less appreciated benefits of state employment is that you learn a lot about some of the more obscure holidays in Massachusetts. Of course this is because some of these days are actually observed as holidays by some state offices, but that’s besides the point. For instance, March 17 is most commonly known as St Patrick’s Day, but it’s also Evacuation Day which celebrates the British evacuation of Boston in March of 1776. (That the British actually left a week or so after March 17th makes the holiday’s observation on St Patrick’s day more than a mere coincidence). Patriot’s Day may be best known now for the Boston Marathon and an 11:00 a.m. Red Sox game, but it’s also the anniversary of the first fighting of the American Revolution on April 19, 1775 at Lexington and Concord. (Historians in Lowell also remember April 19, 1861 as the date that three soldiers from Lowell were killed in Baltimore, making them the first men to die in the American Civil War). And that brings us to Bunker Hill Day – today. On June 17, 1775, more than 3000 British soldiers under the command of General William Howe (no relation) attacked a smaller group of Americans who had entrenched on Breed’s Hill (not the adjacent Bunker Hill). While the Americans were not part of a trained army, they were commanded by many combat veterans of the French and Indian War such as Israel Putnam and John Stark. Before Bunker Hill, those who sought reconciliation between England and the American colonies could rationalize Lexington and Concord as an unfortunate incident that got out of hand. But Bunker Hill was a vicious and costly battle – nearly half the British soldiers involved were casualties – that was the point of no return in America’s war for independence. For more information on the Battle of Bunker Hill, please visit the following websites: http://www.masshist.org/bh/;
http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Depts/MilSci/BTSI/Hill/ ; http://www.usahistory.info/Revolutionary-War/Bunker-Hill.html