Michael Burgan - The Battle of Bunker Hill: An Interactive History Adventure

For the best You Choose experience,
view in portrait (vertical) orientation.

YOU are in Boston as the Revolutionary War begins. The British are attacking a patriot fort just outside the city. The city is divided between British Loyalists and American rebels. Which side are you on? And can you survive?

In this book, youll explore how the choices people made meant the difference between life and death. The events youll experience happened to real people.

Chapter One sets the scene. Then you choose which path to read. Follow the links at the bottom of each page as you read the stories. The decisions you make will change your outcome. After you finish one path, go back and read the others for new perspectives and more adventures. Use your device's back buttons or page navigation to jump back to your last choice.

YOU CHOOSE the path you take through history.

All of Boston buzzes with news from yesterday, April 19, 1775. British troops and American battled outside the city. You try to do what you normally do. But not much has been normal in Boston for a long time.

For almost seven years, British soldiers have been living in and around the city. The Americans call them Redcoats and Lobsterbacks because of the long red jackets they wear. The soldiers make sure the .

American militia and British soldiers first battled near the towns of Lexington and Concord.

It was different during the French and Indian War (17541763). Then King Georges soldiers defended the colonies. Now, many colonists are tired of British control. For one thing, taxes keep going up and the colonists have no say. Some colonists want to break ties with the king. They call themselves patriots.

Other colonists like being British. These Loyalists think King George has a strong army and good trade ties. Loyalists wish the rebel patriots could work with the king.

The harbor made Boston a busy colonial port city.

In 1773, some patriots threw crates of tea into the harbor in protest of a tea tax. The British parliament responded with more laws. The relationship between the colonists and Britain has not improved.

On April 18, 1775, General Thomas Gage sent British troops to Concord. They tried to take patriot weapons and destroy battle supplies.

Patriots Paul Revere and William Dawes spread the word that British troops were coming. Patriots turned out to fight the British near Lexington and near Concord. No one knows who fired the first shot. But the battle raged all day.

Wounded British soldiers are still making their way to Boston. You hear the British soldiers talk. They are amazed the patriots fought so well. They are eager for revenge.

You also learn that thousands of patriot soldiers are coming. Theyre from across Massachusetts and parts of New England.

General Artemus Ward and his men are in Cambridge, just west of Charlestown. Patriot troops are also heading south to Roxbury. The patriots plan to start a of Boston. Goods and supplies will not be able to get into Boston. The British troops will be surrounded.

Of course, colonists living in Boston get most of their goods from British ships too. No one knows how life is going to change now that war has come to Boston. One thing is clear another battle is coming soon. What will you do?

Youre not a professional soldier. Like most patriots, youre a simple farmer. But you want freedom from the British. After the Battles of Lexington and Concord, you decided to join the militia. You left Boston and went to train in Cambridge. For two months now, you have been training here.

Its evening now in Cambridge. Being away from your family and your farm is hard. You stay in a home that once belonged to a Loyalist. Many Loyalists fled Cambridge soon after the Lexington and Concord battles.

Many patriot soldiers left their farms to join the militia.

You take some leftover bread from your pocket. Each day, patriot soldiers are given a pound of meat and a pound of bread. You sit down to eat a few slices and start writing a letter to your wife. You ask her to send a fresh shirt. All the marching drills and shooting practice dirties your clothes quickly. The day doesnt allow much time for washing. A clean, mended shirt would sure feel good.

You have heard that the British armies have women traveling with them. They mend and wash for the soldiers. That would be nice, but you wouldnt want your wife to be so close to danger.

On the morning street patrol, you overhear townspeople talking.

Did you know General Gage is planning to move some Redcoats out of Boston?

Yes, the other replies, I heard he plans to take them to Dorchester.

You know Dorchester is on high ground just south of Boston. The patriots would like control of that area. It would help in the siege of Boston. With a few cannons, patriots could trap British boats in the harbor. The British must not be allowed to take that hill.

By the time you return from patrol, General Ward has orders for the patriots to strike from the north first. Ward directs Colonel William Prescott to lead about 1,000 men to Bunker Hill. The men will build a small fort called a .

Its only a couple of miles march from Cambridge to the hill. But you will need to work fast. The British already have ships in the area. And it will not take long for the Redcoats in Boston to row across the half mile of water.Will you join Prescott in his mission?

You carry your shovel and your musket. Its late on the night of June 16, 1775, and Colonel Prescott leads you and the others out of Cambridge. You meet up with 200 troops from Connecticut led by General Israel Putnam. Putnam, Prescott, and Richard Gridley, a military engineer, decide to send troops to Breeds Hill instead of Bunker Hill. It is closer to Boston.

Gridley outlines where the redoubt will go on the hill. You take your shovel and begin digging. The dirt forms the walls of the redoubt. Other men build a barrier called a breastwork. It extends beyond one of the walls. As you work, Colonel Prescott walks up and down the trenches. He tells you, Fasterwe must finish before sunrise. And be as quiet as possible! We dont want the British to know what were doing.