ked both Boston and its harbor, thus making the hills critical vantage points. In order to beat the British to the high ground, General Prescott took 1,200 of his often times undisciplined, disobedient, and sometimes intoxicated soldiers to dig into and fortify Bunker Hill with the cover of night on June 16. When dawn broke, the British were stunned to see Breed's Hill fortified with a 160-by-30-foot earthen structure. General Gage dispatched 2,300 troops under the command of Major General Howe to take control of the hill. General Prescott and his men did not take Bunker's Hill, but Breed's Hill instead. How did this happen? One proposed idea is that Colonel William Prescott, since fortifying the hill in the middle of the night, chose the wrong hill. Another theory is that the map the Colonel used was incorrect, since many maps during this period had commonly misidentified the hills. Another suggestion, and probably the most practical, is that Breed's Hill is closer to where the British ships were positioned allowing the colonists a better attacking position than at Bunker Hill. Regardless of the reason, the Battle of Bunker Hill actually took place on Breed's Hill. The battle broke at the break of dawn. British troops, shortly after they awoke, began to take pot shots at Colonial fortifications. One soldier wrote, there would be firing for about twenty minutes, then a lull, and then the ships would start firing again. At about 3:00 PM Thomas Gage, the British commander, ordered men to try to take control of the hill. It took Gage this long to issue a command due to a shortage of boats and an unfavorable tide. Peter Brown, an American soldier, would later write about this, There was a matter of 40 barges full of Regulars coming over to us; it is supposed there were about 3,000 of them and about 700 of us left not deserted, besides 500 reinforcements the enemy landed and fronted before us and formed themselves in an oblong square and af...
