And So It Began
June 17, 1775 -
The first battle of the Revolutionary War, the Battle of
Bunker Hill (which actually occurred on neighboring Breed's Hill)
took place in Boston. At the time, the City of Boston was under siege by British troops. Two days prior to the battle the American colonists learned that the British were planning to take
control of Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill, which overlooked Boston
and its harbor. Under the cover of night on June 16, Colonel William Prescott took 1,200 American soldiers to dig in and occupy the hills. The next morning
the British awoke to see Breed's Hill fortified
overnight with a 160-by-30-foot earthen structure. Immediately the British ships
opened a barrage of fire against the fortifications and continued into the afternoon. At about 3 p.m., Major General William Howe led 2,300
British troops in a charge up Breed's Hill. Many British
soldiers who expected the colonists to simply flee the fortifications did not
even load their muskets. Rather than fleeing the colonists patiently waited until the Red
Coats were well within range and opened fire. Despite outnumbering the
Americans nearly 2-1, the British were driven back twice before they
successfully captured the hill. The victory for the British was a bitter one
that cost them over 1,000 casualties in comparison to the approximately 400
casualties on the American side.
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A Second War of Independence
June 18, 1812 -
Incensed by trade restrictions imposed by the British navy
and Britain's military
support of American Indians who were attacking settlers moving into the Ohio
and Michigan territories, the U.S.
Congress declared war on Great Britain,
thus beginning the War of 1812. The war would rage on for three years before
ending in a stalemate with neither side gaining territory. However, the war confirmed, once and for all, America's
independence, which many in the British Empire had
refused to acknowledge. Perhaps the most famous battle of the war was the
Battle of New Orleans, which was a decisive American victory and
launched Andrew Jackson on the path that would eventually lead to the
Presidency. Check out Johnny Horton's 1959 performance of the country classic The Battle of New Orleans here.
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Text Messaging Morse's Telegraph  |
June 20, 1840 - Samuel Morse patented the electronic telegraph machine, revolutionizing communication. Morse also developed a code for transmitting messages over the telegraph using a standardized sequence of short and long elements to represent letters, numerals, punctuation and special characters. Morse Code is still used today primarily by ham radio operators.
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Perfecting Relief
June 23, 1917 - In a baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the Washington Senators, Boston pitcher Babe Ruth walked the first batter and then was ejected from the game for punching the umpire following an argument over the call. Ruth was relieved by Ernie Shore, who went on to retire the next 26 batters without allowing another baserunner. Although the game was technically a no-hitter (shared by two pitchers) many baseball historians consider it a perfect game.
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"Don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes!"
- Col. William Prescott
(allegedly)
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The Bunker Hill Flag was one of two flags flown by the colonists during the Battle of Bunker Hill (as can be seen in the painting to the left). At the time there was no national flag for the American colonies. It is one of the earliest flags associated with American independence.
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