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The last stop on the British escape route from the Battles of Lexington and Concord was
Charlestown. They threw up hasty fortifications but a few days later General Thomas Gage decided
he was spread out too thin and withdrew over the Charles River into Boston. It was the first of many
tragic mistakes by the Commander in Chief of Britain's American Forces. Two months later, the
British high Command, now augmented by General's William Howe, Henry Clinton and John
Burgoyne, decided they actually did need to occupy the heights of Charlestown. Two hills dominated
the peninsula, which was only attached to the mainland by the Charlestown Neck and became an
island when the neck was covered by water at high tide. They were Bunker's Hill at an elevation of
105' above sea level and Breed's Hill at 70' but about 700 yards closer to Boston.Massachusetts
Council of Safety Responds
Unfortunately for the British Army, the patriot intelligence network was still quite strong. The
Committee of Safety had been debating whether to preemptively take the heights as long as Gage's
staff had. On Thursday, June 15sources confirmed that the British would begin operations on
Sunday, June 18. Immediately the Rebels mad plans to take Charlestown first. There was some
dispute as to whether to fortify Bunker Hill or Breed's Hill. General Israel Putnam favored Breed's as
he felt it would provoke more of a response because it was closer. General Artemus Ward, wary of
the mission altogether, favored Bunker Hill. History shows that Putnam won out. All night on the
June 16, Rebel shovels and pick axes flew. At dawn on the 17th, The British Ship Lively woke up all
of Boston when she fired on the newly discovered Rebel redoubt on Breed's Hill.