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JJDESIGNS NEWS UPDATE 3rd MARCH 2025
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY COLLECTION
THE AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 1775 – 1783
THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL, 17th JUNE 1775.
THE ASSAULT ON THE REDOUBT AT BREED’S HILL
Boston was the third largest town in North America, and stood on a Peninsula connected to the mainland by a neck just wide enough to cross at high tide. The harbour, large enough to be strategically significant, and central to the town’s economy, was formed by a chain of islands stretching out to sea, guarded by reefs and ledges.
North west of Boston was Charlestown, a largely rural peninsula one and a half miles long. Charlestown stood at the south east corner with three hills behind it. Bunker’s Hill, nearest the neck of the Peninsula, Breed’s Hill 200 yards above the town and Moulton’s Hill to the north east.
On the 16th June 1775, 3 detachments from Massachusetts regiments under the command of Colonel William Prescott and engineer Captain Richard Gridley, crossed the Charlestown neck and arrived at Bunker Hill.
Captain Richard Gridley and Prescott disagreed as to where they should locate their defense. Some work was performed on Bunker Hill, but Breed’s Hill was closer to Boston and viewed as being more defensible, and they decided to build their primary redoubt there.
Prescott and his men began digging a square fortification about 130 ft a side with ditches and earthen walls. The walls of the redoubt were about 6 feet high.
Work began at midnight, and around 4am one of the British warships spotted the earthworks on Breed’s Hill and opened fire.
The British command agreed that the works posed a significant threat, but were at this time sufficiently incomplete and isolated to offer a chance of a successful attack.
The original British plan was to bypass the redoubt to the north and capture Bunker’s Hill and the neck of the peninsula, thus isolating the redoubt on Breed’s Hill.
The Americans repulsed two British assaults, with significant British casualties. The British captured the redoubt on their third assault, after the defenders had run out of ammunition. The colonists retreated over Bunker Hill, leaving the British finally in control of the Peninsula.
The battle was a tactical victory for the British, but it proved to be a sobering experience for them; they incurred many more casualties than the Americans had sustained, including many officers. The battle had demonstrated that inexperienced militia were able to stand up to regular army troops in battle. Subsequently, the battle discouraged the British from any further frontal attacks against well defended front lines. American casualties were much fewer, although their losses included General Joseph Warren, and Major Andrew McClary, the final casualty of the battle.
NEW BRITISH MARINE LIGHT INFANTRY
The Marines, which only became “Royal Marines” in 1802, were the Royal Navy’s private army, administered by the Admiralty and controlled by senior naval officers. The rank and file were volunteers and wore army style uniforms and equipment. However they were trained to serve on warships and undertake amphibious operations. The 50 companies, shared between Chatham, Portsmouth and Plymouth, were not regimented, and detachments, or in some cases individual replacements were assigned on an ad hoc basis.
The first Marines sent to Boston were to form a battalion of 600 men under Major Pitcairn, but by March only 336 were present, as they soon became an object of inter service rivalry over pay, food and conditions. Although initially physically inferior to their army comrades, and short of essential equipment for service on land, incessant drilling and regular marches into the countryside soon created a fine unit.
Another group of over 700 men arrived in May, and the whole force formed two battalions, with grenadier and light companies.
The 1st and 2nd Marines were to play an important part in the assault on the southern defenses of the Breed’s Hill redoubt.
It was during one of the assaults by the 47th Regiment and the 1st Marines, that the American commander Prescott ordered his men to hold their fire until the British were within 30 yards. This action supposedly gave rise to the order, “Don’t fire till you see the whites of their eyes”!
The volley forced the Marines and regulars back out of range to regroup.
Adjutant, Lieutenant Waller, managed to reform two companies, and with the 47th Regiment on their left, the two battalions finally swarmed over the defenses and into the redoubt, probably being the first troops to enter.
This third attack was made at the point of the bayonet and successfully carried the redoubt. However the final volleys of fire from the colonists cost the life of Major Pitcairn. The defenders had run out of ammunition, reducing the battle to close combat. The advantage turned to the British as their troops were equipped with bayonets on their muskets, while most of the colonists were not.
Colonel Prescott, one of the last men to leave the redoubt, parried bayonet thrusts with his normally ceremonial sabre.
MARINE STANDARD BEARERS
As Previously mentioned two battalions of British Marines were posted to Boston in 1774, with more arriving in May 1775.
In February 1775 the Marine divisional headquarters at Portsmouth and Plymouth were ordered to send their divisional colours “with the Marines” to Boston, with assurances that they would be replaced with new ones.
The Royal Marines Museum in Britain has remnants of an original colour said to have been carried at Bunker Hill.
It is a section of the red silk cross of St. George, with the embroidered device in gold.
It is impossible to know whether this was saved from a King’s Colour or a white colour with red cross, although evidence suggests that Marine battalion colours had a plain white field.
A special thank you to Steve Hill of The Dupage Flag Company for his detailed research on these standards.
Don Troiani’s work “The Redoubt, Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17th 1775” painted in 2009, shows the British Marines assaulting the dirt walls of the redoubt. The painting clearly shows the Red colours being carried by a Marine officer.
As I was unable to decide which flag to produce… I just made both, and leave it up to the collector which flag to display.
And finally, another thank you to John O’Brian for his help researching the British Marines Drummer uniforms, which will be available along with the new light infantry this summer.
Best wishes,
john jenkins
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY COLLECTION
THE AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 1775 – 1783
THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL, 17th JUNE 1775.
THE ASSAULT ON THE REDOUBT AT BREED’S HILL
Boston was the third largest town in North America, and stood on a Peninsula connected to the mainland by a neck just wide enough to cross at high tide. The harbour, large enough to be strategically significant, and central to the town’s economy, was formed by a chain of islands stretching out to sea, guarded by reefs and ledges.
North west of Boston was Charlestown, a largely rural peninsula one and a half miles long. Charlestown stood at the south east corner with three hills behind it. Bunker’s Hill, nearest the neck of the Peninsula, Breed’s Hill 200 yards above the town and Moulton’s Hill to the north east.
On the 16th June 1775, 3 detachments from Massachusetts regiments under the command of Colonel William Prescott and engineer Captain Richard Gridley, crossed the Charlestown neck and arrived at Bunker Hill.
Captain Richard Gridley and Prescott disagreed as to where they should locate their defense. Some work was performed on Bunker Hill, but Breed’s Hill was closer to Boston and viewed as being more defensible, and they decided to build their primary redoubt there.
Prescott and his men began digging a square fortification about 130 ft a side with ditches and earthen walls. The walls of the redoubt were about 6 feet high.
Work began at midnight, and around 4am one of the British warships spotted the earthworks on Breed’s Hill and opened fire.
The British command agreed that the works posed a significant threat, but were at this time sufficiently incomplete and isolated to offer a chance of a successful attack.
The original British plan was to bypass the redoubt to the north and capture Bunker’s Hill and the neck of the peninsula, thus isolating the redoubt on Breed’s Hill.
The Americans repulsed two British assaults, with significant British casualties. The British captured the redoubt on their third assault, after the defenders had run out of ammunition. The colonists retreated over Bunker Hill, leaving the British finally in control of the Peninsula.
The battle was a tactical victory for the British, but it proved to be a sobering experience for them; they incurred many more casualties than the Americans had sustained, including many officers. The battle had demonstrated that inexperienced militia were able to stand up to regular army troops in battle. Subsequently, the battle discouraged the British from any further frontal attacks against well defended front lines. American casualties were much fewer, although their losses included General Joseph Warren, and Major Andrew McClary, the final casualty of the battle.
NEW BRITISH MARINE LIGHT INFANTRY
The Marines, which only became “Royal Marines” in 1802, were the Royal Navy’s private army, administered by the Admiralty and controlled by senior naval officers. The rank and file were volunteers and wore army style uniforms and equipment. However they were trained to serve on warships and undertake amphibious operations. The 50 companies, shared between Chatham, Portsmouth and Plymouth, were not regimented, and detachments, or in some cases individual replacements were assigned on an ad hoc basis.
The first Marines sent to Boston were to form a battalion of 600 men under Major Pitcairn, but by March only 336 were present, as they soon became an object of inter service rivalry over pay, food and conditions. Although initially physically inferior to their army comrades, and short of essential equipment for service on land, incessant drilling and regular marches into the countryside soon created a fine unit.
Another group of over 700 men arrived in May, and the whole force formed two battalions, with grenadier and light companies.
The 1st and 2nd Marines were to play an important part in the assault on the southern defenses of the Breed’s Hill redoubt.
It was during one of the assaults by the 47th Regiment and the 1st Marines, that the American commander Prescott ordered his men to hold their fire until the British were within 30 yards. This action supposedly gave rise to the order, “Don’t fire till you see the whites of their eyes”!
The volley forced the Marines and regulars back out of range to regroup.
Adjutant, Lieutenant Waller, managed to reform two companies, and with the 47th Regiment on their left, the two battalions finally swarmed over the defenses and into the redoubt, probably being the first troops to enter.
This third attack was made at the point of the bayonet and successfully carried the redoubt. However the final volleys of fire from the colonists cost the life of Major Pitcairn. The defenders had run out of ammunition, reducing the battle to close combat. The advantage turned to the British as their troops were equipped with bayonets on their muskets, while most of the colonists were not.
Colonel Prescott, one of the last men to leave the redoubt, parried bayonet thrusts with his normally ceremonial sabre.
MARINE STANDARD BEARERS
As Previously mentioned two battalions of British Marines were posted to Boston in 1774, with more arriving in May 1775.
In February 1775 the Marine divisional headquarters at Portsmouth and Plymouth were ordered to send their divisional colours “with the Marines” to Boston, with assurances that they would be replaced with new ones.
The Royal Marines Museum in Britain has remnants of an original colour said to have been carried at Bunker Hill.
It is a section of the red silk cross of St. George, with the embroidered device in gold.
It is impossible to know whether this was saved from a King’s Colour or a white colour with red cross, although evidence suggests that Marine battalion colours had a plain white field.
A special thank you to Steve Hill of The Dupage Flag Company for his detailed research on these standards.
Don Troiani’s work “The Redoubt, Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17th 1775” painted in 2009, shows the British Marines assaulting the dirt walls of the redoubt. The painting clearly shows the Red colours being carried by a Marine officer.
As I was unable to decide which flag to produce… I just made both, and leave it up to the collector which flag to display.
And finally, another thank you to John O’Brian for his help researching the British Marines Drummer uniforms, which will be available along with the new light infantry this summer.
Best wishes,
john jenkins
