The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston.
Colonial forces fortified Breed's Hill on the Charlestown Peninsula, across the water from Boston. British troops attacked the position in repeated assaults and eventually captured the hill, but suffered much heavier casualties than the colonial forces.
Although the battle is called Bunker Hill, most of the fighting took place on nearby Breed's Hill. This naming difference is one of the battle's best-known historical details. The engagement demonstrated that colonial militia could stand against experienced British regulars.
The battle occurred more than a year before the Declaration of Independence. It was therefore an early Revolutionary War clash, not a battle fought after independence had been declared. The Siege of Boston ended when British forces evacuated the city in March 1776.