On Display in the State Library

June 17th marks 247 years since the Battle of Bunker Hill in Charlestown, one of the earlier battles of the Revolutionary War. To mark the anniversary, this month we’re exhibiting “A plan of the Action at Bunkers Hill on the 17th of June 1775 between His Majesty's troops, under the Command of Major General Howe, and the American Forces.” This map is a 1793 facsimile of an original from 1775. 

The map was originally prepared by Sir Thomas Hyde Page, who was a British military engineer and cartographer. He was sent with a corps of engineers to America and served under Sir Robert Page. At Bunker Hill, he acted as aide de camp to General William Howe, who was in command of the British forces for that operation. During the battle, Page was severely wounded and lost his leg, and was evacuated back to England. During his recovery, he drew maps of various conflicts in Boston, including the one on display here. The map is an accurate and detailed depiction of the battle, done by someone who was there. You can read more about Page on this page.

Our version of this map is not a 1775 original, which was published soon after the battle and has a slightly different title, referring to the “American Forces” as the “Rebel Forces.” Our version was published in 1793 in London as part of The History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War by Charles Stedman. If you visit us and look closely at the display, you’ll see that the map is actually in two pieces, showing where it was removed from a bound book. The 1793 version also differs from the original by including a reference to the plan, which identifies key movements of the military forces. The map depicts hedgerows, redoubts (a temporary fortification), the placement of British and American forces, and lines of fire from ships in the Charles River and a section of Boston that we now know as the North End. 

In the center of the map is a noticeable illustration labeled “Warren’s redoubt,” which was constructed at the top of the hill. “Warren'' refers to Joseph Warren, who was a member of the Sons of Liberty, a physician, the 2nd President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, and as of a few days before the battle, a commissioned major general in the Massachusetts militia. This spot on the map references where he was killed when British troops stormed the redoubt. Warren, who chose to engage in battle as a private rather than staying a safe distance away as his rank would allow, was honored in death as a martyr for the patriot cause. The British did win the battle by taking the hill, but their casualty losses were higher than expected and the colonial militia was not as easily defeated as expected.

Visit the main library’s reading room throughout the month to see this map on display, or click here to see the digitized version in the collection of the Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library. And if you’d like to read more about Joseph Warren, check out Founding Martyr: The Life and Death of Dr. Joseph Warren, the American Revolution’s Lost Hero by Christian Di Spigna.

By Elizabeth Roscio
Preservation Librarian